One Year Anniversary of ‘Summa Theologica’

Forty-seven posts and over two-hundred comments later it is hard to believe that it has been one year to the day since I ventured out into the blog medium with ‘Summa Theologica – Interfaith Dialogue.’  I want to thank my visitors and readers for their comments and participation.

I’ve engaged in interfaith dialogue and discussion for many years.  While I’ve had wonderful opportunities to discuss issues of faith face to face, I’ve been able to increase the frequency of conversation via message boards and chat rooms.  During these discussions and observations of discussions of others, I noticed common patterns and predictable areas of misunderstanding between Evangelicals and Mormons.  I’ve sought, through trial and error, to find better and more effective means of coming to terms, learning each other’s languages and paradigms and increasing mutual understanding. I feel I’ve been able to have true dialogue on a wide variety of topics with Evangelicals and Catholics, as well as Latter-day Saints.  This experience has also affirmed by belief in dialogue and my commitment to dialogue as one of the means of education and understanding.

Experiencing some of the joys in that area, despite resistance, misunderstandings, and all the challenges that go with the territory, I began my blog in an effort interact with a larger audience.  I did not expect that it would quickly put me in contact with so many individuals who are interested in this topic.  I’ve also been pleased to become acquainted with scholars working in the field of the Mormon-Evangelical dialogue.  That has been both exciting and promising.

Reflections and Observations

One of the great strengths of the blog medium is the potential to communicate and interact with individuals regardless of location and circumstance.  It isn’t always easy to find people who share a similar perspective on how to approach interreligious dialogue.  One of the greatest drawbacks of the blog medium is that it brings together total strangers who have considerably different experiences and backgrounds and who do not have any kind of relationship.  One of the critical ingredients for effective interreligious dialogue is to have a relationship of trust and a history of trust in discussing matters close to one’s heart.  While a sense of community and familiarity can also arise in virtual environment the inherent nature of the blog medium poses considerable challenges.

As an illustration, I recently had the opportunity to meet with and have an extended discussion with a friend of mine who I had not seen in some time.  As we discussed our beliefs and experiences over lunch, I really felt true understanding was taking place.  Our questions were not driven by a desire to find flaws or logical errors in each others religious systems, but we were genuinely curious to learn about our respective experiences.  I was extremely satisfied not only to reconnect with an old friend but also with the ability to discuss and explain my own perspective in a way that my friend could appreciate and understand.  In addition, I learned things from my friend that was only possible because of our relationship of trust.  Once again it was impressed upon me that it would be very difficult to achieve a similar result without that face to face interaction.

As a result, I’ve tried to leverage the blog medium to what it does best.  It is a great way for people of similar interests to get in contact with one another.  I feel I have more people to receive feedback from now than I did when I began.  It is a great way to share information on online resources, books, articles, lectures, events and other experiences.  I’ve tended to discuss method and approach rather than specific substantive answers to interreligious topics that inevitably generate a barrage of highly predictable polemics that is less than useful.  I’ve done this not to avoid tackling difficult issues bur rather because I truly believe that a meta-dialogue of approach and method is what is needed now.

Challenges and Opportunities

I often use the term “dialogue” as a shortcut for something much more than two people of different faiths exchanging words.  It is an attitude, a perspective, a paradigm and an approach.  For some time now there has been a push for Mormons, Evangelicals and others to be able to sit down and discuss their faith with civility and respect.  My hope is that we can move beyond this goal and such tenor would be the standard rather than the radical.  I appreciate all those who have labored to create the environment for such civil conversation, but for me and I also suspect for them, this never was the ultimate goal.  This is a necessary foundation for moving the dialogue to the next level, but it is not the next level.

The typical exchange that I’ve observed between Mormons and Evangelicals is that one offers a depiction of the other’s faith and then the other asserts it is a mischaracterization, and the process is repeated, and repeated, and repeated.  The interlocutors are generally stuck in this process, confined to this no man’s land, and can’t seem to get out of it.  Some clearly don’t want to get out of it.  Other observers even argue that this is inevitable state of affairs either because there is no official Mormon orthodoxy or it is too hard to figure out what Mormons believe, or whatever the reason.  I don’t believe this to be the case.  Learning about another’s faith tradition simply cannot be done with one book or one conversation.  It isn’t an easy thing to do.  It requires time, patience, and a desire to get it right.

Here too, it isn’t simply about presenting the facts straight, but rather to offer charitable and redeeming interpretations of each other’s tradition and especially an interpretation in which a faithful adherent can see herself or himself.  This is crucial.  I’ve learned that many people are simply not ready to do this and they aren’t inclined to do this.  But until we learn how to do this, we will remain in no man’s land and never move to the next level.