Fusion of Horizons: Search for New Paradigms in Inter-Religious Dialogue

Abstract

The FABC recommends the exercise of dialogue in three different areas of life in Asia: (i) dialogue with the Asian poor, (ii) intercultural dialogue and (iii) interreligious dialogue. Interreligious dialogue, which is the subject of our discussion, is classified into four types: Dialogue of life, Dialogue of action, Dialogue of theological exchange and Dialogue of religious experience.
Employing the analytical and critical methodology, this paper aims at investigating various paradigms of interreligious dialogue that have been practiced down through the centuries, in view of developing a most feasible paradigm, based on the writings of Hans-Georg Gadamer. Accordingly, we have critically analysed the following models: (i) the ideal of both/and (Hegel), and (ii) the ideal of either/or (Kierkegaard), (iii) the metaphor of two books (Bonaventure), (iv) the intercultural hermeneutics (Schleiermacher and Gadamer), and (v) the fusion of horizons (Heidegger and Gadamer).
Finally, our discussions boil down to Hans-Georg Gadamer’s understanding of
“fusion of horizons” and its implications in interreligious dialogue. According to Gadamer, “to acquire a horizon means that one learns to look beyond what is close at hand.” A genuine fusion of horizons through dialogue always involves rising to a higher universality that overcomes our own particularity and that of the other. A fusion of horizons thus envisages respect for the differences of different religions. Here, one does not try to acquire mastery over the other and other religions based on our pre-judgments, rather strive to partake in the other and share the other’s alterity. In order to foster interreligious dialogue as “fusion of horizons, we have to shun “ethnocentrism,” and cultivate certain essential qualities like (i) openness to change, (ii) interreligious consciousness, and (iii) empathetic understanding.
To conclude, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, in “Dialogue and Proclamation,” advocates the people living in religious pluralistic societies to engage in meaningful dialogue for “the integral development and liberation of all people.”