Religious Pluralism

Abstract

This essay aims to lay out standards, personal and communal, for openness about religious diversity, without declining into a patronizing or trivializing relativism and without succumbing to the kindred weakness of skepticism. It is not inconsistent, I argue, to hold fast to one's religious convictions and practices while respecting and learning from other religious (and non-religious) traditions. Critical appropriation is the key here. For states and communities as well, openness and indeed support are warranted. But here too critical scrutiny is called for. Social harmony does not require unanimity or consensus, nor does diversity entail incommensurability, let alone inevitable tragedy. Sharp divisions between faith and practice are often artificial and unnecessary for a wholesome pluralism. The bien pensant reduction of all religious commitments to an imagined common core is unhelpful and often rightfully unwelcome. But equally unhelpful is the romantic if admiring stereotyping of the exotic. What's recommended here, societally, is the even-handed fostering of religious traditions (based on voluntary affiliation and support), on the grounds that, like education and the arts, religious communities promote human flourishing. But the same reasoning cautions against support for those religious trends that thwart or stymie human well-being. Societies do not require the level of coherence that individuals may pursue. But neither can they afford, for their own sake and that of their members, to ignore dangerous and destructive claims upon the human spirit.     

Apartheid,Religious Pluralism,and the Evolution of the Right to Religious Freedom in South Africa

The apartheid history of South Africa contains racial and religious discrimination, both running parallel to and supporting each other. South Africa's exodus from a society of forced religious homogeneity to one of celebrating religious pluralism adds valuable and unique patterns of thought to the promotion of religious pluralism and religious freedom. A brief history is presented of religion within the context of racial discrimination and eventual democracy in South Africa. The current plural religious demography of South Africa is presented to create a sense of the extent of diversity in the country and the extent of religious pluralism that should be considered for today. This demographical position necessitates an investigation into the current legal position on dealing with such a religiously plural state as well as the challenges it presents. This is also necessary in order to present the evolution of religious pluralism in an oppressive state to the right to religious freedom in democratic South Africa. This evolution can also serve as an example internationally to countries struggling with the issue of religious pluralism. The article is also of importance to sensitise South Africa to existing and escalating challenges against religious pluralism within the country.     

Muslim Theologies of Solidarity and Disavowal and the Challenge of Religious Pluralism

ABSTRACT

Rawls' conception of political liberalism does not reckon exclusivist salvation religions to be, for that reason alone, unreasonable. He posits, however, that exclusivist doctrines of salvation are likely to become more generous in their views of the religious other with the experience of toleration. While the religious welcome toleration by the majority, relaxation of doctrines of salvation dilutes the urgency of religious truth, and so reduces a religion's ability to justify its existence. Paradoxically, political toleration creates a countervailing demand within a religious community to articulate more precisely what is intolerable in the religious other. This paper explores the dialectic between toleration and nontoleration in the history of Muslim sects and suggests that this history offers lessons on the kinds of strategies that can be successful in promoting religious tolerance in a Muslim society, as well as the limits that might reasonably be expected in those societies.     

Change from within: Shia Seminarians' Responses to Contemporary Religious and Social Challenges

This article demonstrates how some contemporary scholars, operating from within the traditional Shiʿi establishment, have paved the way for new interpretations of Islam in general and Shiʿism in particular. To do so, the article focuses on three specific themes: the notion of the (im)purity of non-Muslims, rulings on apostasy and precepts related to women's rights. Following a brief explanation of the history of Shiʿism, the article addresses each of three aforementioned themes in turn. In each section, the article explains how the relevant theme was approached by earlier religious scholars, and how it has been treated differently by some contemporary reformist Shiʿi clerics. While not claiming the trends of thought instigated by some contemporary ʿulamāʾ are entirely homogeneous with liberal ideas about human rights, this article provides examples of Shiʿi legal standpoints being reformed to meet the challenges of the contemporary world.     

Berlinian Pluralism and Abrahamic Monotheism

This article examines the longstanding suspicion that value-pluralism is intrinsically incompatible with monotheistic commitment, an objection that threatens to undermine the resurgence of pluralist ideas in different denominational strands of contemporary Christian political theology. Since value-pluralism is often taken to be closely wedded to the logic of political liberalism, the charge of incompatibility carries a special force. For, taken together, the two claims imply that monotheistic commitment sits uneasily alongside political liberalism. Having set out the version of value-pluralism expounded in the thought of its most influential contemporary advocate, the article raises three objections to the doctrine. It then examines ways to refine it before concluding that there is no reason to suppose that, so refined, it is intrinsically incompatible with monotheistic commitment.     

三星堆宗教内涵试探

中国明起源为多源一统格局,已成为学术界的共识。三星堆明丰富多彩的化内涵,即是一个很好的例证。本通过对三星堆原始宗教的特征、源流所进行的梳理与探讨,提出了许多卓有见地的看法。     

从一元到多元:中国文明起源研究的心路历程

0 0 1年 1 2月 8日 ,由哈佛燕京学社等单位主办的中国文化研讨会第十六届年会在哈佛大学举行。会议的主题是“考古学与中国文明的再发现———纪念张光直教授学术研讨会”。在“张光直教授的考古学贡献”专题演讲中 ,有六位学者发言 ,他们就中国考古学的发展、中国古代文明起源的研究和张光直教授对中国考古学做出的杰出贡献 ,作了深入浅出的阐发。此次以中文为工具的考古学讲座 ,吸引了大量听众 ,引起很大反响。为了能够让读者及时了解演讲的内容 ,征得作者同意 ,我们特编发这组文稿。同时也希望通过这组文稿 ,使学术界对张光直教授的考古学贡献有更深层次的了解 ,从而进一步推动中国考古学和中国文明的研究。