Relational Interreligious Dialogue: Interdisciplinary Arguments from Creator/Creature Theology and Quantum Entanglement

<p>Globalization, technological advances, and worldviews that perceive religious others with suspicion, all intensify society’s awareness of religious plurality and the subsequent necessity for effective interreligious dialogue. Engaging in interreligious dialogue through daily encounters, conversations, common concerns, and shared religious experiences advances religious pluralism. Nevertheless, the current state of interreligious dialogue is at an impasse; its existing substantive ontological approaches introduce, perpetuate, or worsen challenges of hegemony, elitism, and marginalization, as well as tensions between the diametric goals of religious unity versus unique religious identity. Substantive ontological models emphasize religious autonomy instead of any relational connections between religious traditions. These prevalent methods hinder effective interreligious dialogue.</p> <p>In response, this project proposes relational ontology as a constructive method to address existing issues within interreligious dialogue. Relational ontology asserts that reality is being as being–in–relation. By employing relational ontology, interreligious dialogue participants recognize their fundamental interconnected unity while respecting each religious tradition’s particularity. Moreover, relationality assists in neutralizing power inequalities and marginalization. To illustrate relational ontology and explain its advantages for interreligious dialogue, this project evaluates the models of quantum entanglement and Christianity’s Creator/creation relationship. Placing interdisciplinary perspectives from science and religion in dialogue essentially instantiates the project’s methodology, it validates relational ontology as an effective method for improving the effectiveness of interreligious dialogue.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Worldwide Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Theology

Year dc:date.available

2017

Author dc:creator

• Konigsburg, Joyce Ann

Contributors dc:contributor

• Marinus Iwuchukwu
• Elizabeth Cochran
• Sebastian Madathummuriyil
• Theodore Corcovilos

• Creation Theology
• Interdisciplinary
• Interreligious Dialogue
• Philosophy of Religion
• Quantum Entanglement
• Relational Ontology

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/133

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dsc.duq.edu:etd-1132