Lausanne World Pulse – Evangelicals and Interfaith Dialogue: A New Paradigm

By Gina A. Bellofatto
June / July 2014

The Importance of Interfaith Dialogue
While interfaith dialogue in this survey has largely referred to formal, appointed settings, there is much to be said for evangelical engagement in the informal, “continual dialogue with their neighbors of other faiths,”⁷ which surely, in such a diverse American society, is opportunistic for many evangelical Christians.

Many evangelicals see dialogue as merely the first step in the evangelization process; in any other setting “dialogue” is something of a “dirty word.”⁸ Perhaps rightly so. Criticism abounds that “the broad evangelical community is gradually losing its conviction about the ‘lostness’ of humanity and…this was one reason for mainline denominations losing their motivation for world mission.”⁹

When used effectively, interfaith dialogue can serve as a “specific missionary activity”¹⁰—although notably the Body of Christ is diverse in its gifts. Not all will be equipped nor called to learn about the world’s religions and engage in formal interfaith dialogue. Nevertheless, more evangelicals could prayerfully reflect upon their attitudes toward other religions and seriously consider seeking whether or not God is calling them to serve as evangelical voices in a field where there are so few to be found.

Endnotes

1. Tennent, Timothy C. 2007. Theology in the Context of World Christianity. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 135–161.

2. Lochhead, David. 1988. The Dialogical Imperative: A Christian Reflection on Interfaith Encounter, Faith Meets Faith Series. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 52.

3. Panikkar, Raimon. 1999. The Intrareligious Dialogue. New York: Paulist Press, 23.

4. See scholars such as Paul F. Knitter. 2002. Introducing Theologies of Religions. Maryknoll, N.Y..: Orbis Books; Clark H. Pinnock. 1992. A Wideness in God’s Mercy: The Finality Of Jesus Christ in a World of Religions. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan; and John Hick. 1982. God Has Many Names. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.

5. Covell, Ralph. 1991. “The Christian Gospel and World Religions.” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 15(1); 12-17. Some phrases Covell uses to describe evangelical attitudes include triumphalism, cocksure attitude, aggressiveness, cold, analytic logic, no sensitivity to people, and a continued colonial mentality. However, Covell does claim, “during the last two decades, we have turned the corner on some of these attitudes.” He states that it is only some of these attitudes that have been set aside, not all.

6. Ibid., 16. Also see Harold Netland. 1988. “Towards Contextualized Apologetics.” Missiology 16(3): 289–304.

7. Lamb, Christopher. 1984. “Nineveh Revisited: Theory and Practice of Interfaith Relations.” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 8(4):156-158.

8. Covell, 13.

9. Ibid.

10. Zago, Marcello. 1998. “Mission and Interreligious Dialogue.” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 22(3):98-101.

Gina A. Bellofatto graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary with an MA in religion, where her studies focused on Christian mission and its intersections with the world’s religions, in particular evangelicals and interfaith dialogue. She worked at the Center for the Study of Global Christianity under the direction of Todd M. Johnson. She specialized in Jewish demography, contributing to the World Christian Database and the World Religion Database. Bellofatto also served as senior editorial assistant on the forthcoming Atlas of Global Christianity (Edinburgh University Press).