The expensively produced set of five volumes, of which this is the last, originated in a series of dialogues which contributed to the EXPO 2000, in Hanover (Germany). They focus on the following themes in the world religions: The Concept of God, the Origin of the World and the Image of the Human(vol.1); The Origin and Overcoming of Evil and Suffering(vol.2); Nature and Technology(vol.3); The Progress and End of History, Life after Death, and Resurrection of the Human Person(vol.4). All have included a varied group of scholars and practitioners from different faith backgrounds whose details are recorded at the end of each book alongside an index of persons mentioned and full details of the companion volumes. This final volume also includes a useful index of subjects across all five collections.
Points that I have raised in previous reviews are worth repeating at the conclusion of the publishing enterprise. The excellent intention of the dialogues was to promote an encounter of persons, but the language of the texts suggests that Islam and Christianity etc dialogue, rather than that particular Muslims, Christians et al with particular backgrounds are doing so, and this makes a great deal of difference to claims and emphases. Neither the language nor the participants lists are gender inclusive, though two women were given the task of compiling the index of subjects and summarising the discussions! There are also problems with the lack of discussion of what is to be included or excluded as a ‘world religion’, and an assumption that the language of revelation and God is shared by all. Difficulties in translation and with use of English make some of the essays difficult to read, and ideas in them difficult to access.
The original dialogues preceded the events of September 11th 2001, but the Foreword of this fifth volume links its purpose with those events, and asserts that ‘the establishment and enforcement of international law is not possible without agreement among the world's religions, which must clarify amongst themselves what is right and wrong’, and that ‘blind aggression against the West is incompatible with Islamic jurisprudence’. Philosophy and theology are seen as influences on conceptions of legality, and philosophy, in the first chapter by the series’ editor, is presented as a mediator between religions and a replacement for the clash of civilisations, whilst acknowledging that it plays the part both as a supporting description and as critic of religion. This affirms, with reference to the theme of this volume, the worthy practical aim of the dialogues that was set out from the beginning.
As always in a multi-authored volume, and in this case one where there are discussion summaries and records of conversations as well as expositions of viewpoints, the contents are uneven. I found in Swinburne's chapter no substantial understanding of any religion other than his own style of Christian thinking, and the erroneous statement that ‘Muhammed claimed to perform no miracle except the writing of the Koran’. Although the first part of the statement is accurate, Muslims’ understanding of the origins of their sacred text and its oral transmission in the Prophet's lifetime is not accurately reflected in the latter part. Muhammed did not write, or even write down, the Qur’an. Shabhir Akhtir's chapter on the role of speculative philosophy in the dialogue of Islam and the world faiths is both stimulating and informative, as is Karl-Erich Grozinger's piece on intra-religious plurality within Judaism's understanding of the varieties of human speech about God, which makes a very positive contribution to the possibilities for dialogue and an understanding of what religious language is. Michael von Bruck addresses the very important question of the contribution of religious studies to the dialogue of the world's religions, emphasising its contemporary self-critical awareness of the hermeneutical challenges and interaction of self and others. This contribution, it needs to be said, is made more widely than in philosophy, which is the focus of this volume, for religious studies is multi-disciplinary and owes much to social anthropologists and many others. Another important issue, covered in an appendix, is whether Europe has ‘indigenous’ and ‘imported’ or ‘foreign’ traditions at all.
In addition to the weighting on Judaism, Christianity and Islam, there are also chapters which try to show ‘good manners’ or the ‘wholesome upright person’(a translation of maryada purush-sottam) in what are called the Sanatana Tradition (in the singular!), and named as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism as a bridge between the world religions. Elsewhere in the volumes under review, Sikhism and Jainism are not seen as world religions, and in a volume which shows sophistication in its understanding of diversity within a tradition such as Judaism, this single grouping of Indian traditions is bound to bring difficulties. There is also a broad and difficult attempt to look at the philosophical-religious significance of the ‘speculative philosophy of the triunity in Chinese universism’ and its contribution to the ‘Taoist-Buddhist-Christian dialogue’.
