Full Description
This title was first published in 2002. Judaism, Christianity and Islam, as Abrahamic religions, share much theological common ground and the momentum for dialogue between them at theological levels has greatly increased in recent decades. This book explores the relationship between religion and the modern democratic state from the perspective of these three monotheistic traditions. It investigates how the three religions in dialogue might overcome their historic antagonism as a prelude to working for the development of the global common good. As part of the test of religious ideals, some of the contributions bring theory down to earth by examining the role of religion in three democratic states with different histories - Turkey, Indonesia, India - and also in relation to a culture of human rights. Drawing together leading Muslim, Christian, and Jewish authors from America, Europe and Asia, the book presents a rare collaboration of faiths and ideas to make a contribution to studies of inter-religious dialogue and the changing role of religion in the democratic state.
Contents
I: Setting the Dialogical Scene; Introduction: Why Democracy and Why Three Religions?; 1: From the Age of Monologue to the Age of Global Dialogue; II: Religions in the Democratic Way; Introduction; Reflections on Judaism in the Democratic Way; 2: Democracy: A Moral Imperative in Judaism; 3: Grounding Democracy in Reverence for Life: A View from Judaism; 4: The Ambiguous State of Israel in the Modern World; Reflections on Christianity in the Democratic Way; 5: Contextual Theology and the Dialogical Building Blocks of Democracy; 6: Separating God and Caesar?; 7: Taking Democracy into a Global Ethic: The Christian Next Step; Reflections on Islam in the Democratic Way; 8: Democracy and the Concept of Shura; 9: Democracy at the Heart of Islam; 10: How Democratic is Islam?; III: Testing the Theory in Practice; Introduction; Tensions Between Religion and Democracy in Three States; 11: Indonesia: A State in Transition; 12: Turkey: A State on the Move; 13: Secular India: Striving Towards a Pluralist Ethos; Human Rights: A Testing Ground of the Religious Support for Democracy; 14: The Roots of Civil and Political Rights in the Islamic Concept of Human Being; 15: Human Dignity and Rights as Essential Values in Judaism; 16: The Complex Relationship of the Catholic Church and Human Rights; IV: The Bigger Picture; Introduction; 17: Insiders or Outsiders? Propositions for European Religions, States and Societies; 18: The Global Ethic and World Religions in an Age of Globalization; 19: Weaving Threads: Deep-Dialogue, Interreligious Encounters and Global Democracy
