c. 1999 Religion News Service

DANVERS, Mass. _ As the millennium approaches and religious voices grow louder across the country, some evangelical Christian scholars are taking the opportunity to reflect on their place among the panoply of world religions.

Gathered for the 51st annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, three scholars presented research Wednesday (Nov. 17) on the topic of”What Evangelicals Have to Offer to Interreligious Interchange,”hoping to articulate a vision of how evangelical Christians can enter into dialogue with members of other religious communities.

The scholars offered guidelines and conceptual approaches for evangelicals who are interested in establishing relationships with members of other religions.

Though the scholars had different backgrounds and emphases, they agreed on two basic principles _ the religious reality for the next millennium will be increasingly pluralistic, and the need for interfaith understanding is becoming more urgent.”Not too long ago I would have had to go to Singapore to see a lot of things I can now see in Chicago, and in a few more years I will be able to see in Indianapolis,”said Winfried Corduan, a professor at Taylor University in Upland, Ind., and the author of”Neighboring Faiths”(InterVarsity Press, 1998).”We can’t avoid it,”he said.”We are in a pluralistic society.” In his lecture, Corduan warned against Christians operating on incorrect assumptions about other religions, such as assuming all Jews desire the reinstitution of animal sacrifices as a way of reaching heaven, or Muslims worship the Prophet Muhammad, Islam’s founder, as a god.”Evangelicals, like anyone else, need to make sure that they have as correct a picture of the other religion as possible when they engage them in interaction,”he said.”This does not mean becoming an expert or never making mistakes, but it does mean studying to whatever our best abilities may be at a given time and being willing to learn from their adherents what they believe,”he added.

True mutual understanding will only happen among religions, the scholars argued, if a distinction is made between interreligious dialogue and evangelization, which is a central tenet of Christian faith and practice.”Interreligious dialogue is the meeting of parties who seek mutual and reciprocal understanding about that which they regard as of supreme or ultimate importance,”said James F. Lewis, a scholar from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., another presenter at the conference.”It does not aim to bring about salvation or conversion,”he said.

Lewis encouraged Christians to maintain their focus on spreading the gospel, but when entering into interreligious dialogue to distinguish between their civic duties and their religious responsibilities.”The Christian is a member of two worlds,”said Lewis,”the world he lives in now and the world to come. He has a responsibility in this world, to be a good citizen, so there is a practical side to dialogue.” Lewis emphasized that the apostles of the early church, particularly Paul, were well-educated in the religious backgrounds of the places they visited, and although Lewis distinguishes dialogue from missionary activity, he says there is a connection with these early apostles in any effort to understand another’s religion.”Why not just skip dialogue? Incredible! Impossible! And in terms of the practice of the church, it’s unbiblical,”he said.

Dudley Woodberry, a professor from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., who has worked extensively on Christian-Muslim dialogue, presented a list of”guidelines”for those interested in pursuing this type of encounter.”We have to compare equals _ the ideals of all the faiths being discussed, and the practice of each,”was one guideline.

Other guidelines included avoiding unnecessary confrontation, establishing ground rules for discussion and allowing each person to define his or her position.

Woodberry also recommended having a balanced representation of each party involved in the discussion, representing both genders equally, and meeting in a place that is comfortable to whichever group is in the minority.

The 2,850-member ETS, founded in 1949, is the largest professional organization for evangelical professors in the United States.

A total of more than 1,100 scholars and practitioners of evangelical Christianity attended the three-day annual meeting, which ended Friday.

DEA END LEBOWITZ