Interfaith Dialogue and Mystical Consciousness
Harvard Theological Review October 1, 2022 DOI: 10.1017/s0017816022000335 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Keywords | Interfaith dialogue Consciousness Hermeneutics Context archaeology Conversation Interpretation philosophy Epistemology Religious studies Theology Islam Linguistics |
| Citations | 3 |
| Key points | Proposes that the Trinity is directly experienced in interfaith contexts and that an interfaith framework can account for the possibilities, complexity, and challenges of interfaith encounters. |
Abstract
Abstract This article focuses on the meeting of faith traditions—interfaith dialogue—from the perspective of mystical consciousness. In doing so, it aims to understand the dynamics and potentialities of interfaith mysticism. The contribution of this article to religious studies, in combination with theological inquiry, is threefold: first, it illuminates how the Trinity is directly experienced in interfaith contexts; second, it provides an interfaith framework that accounts for the possibilities, complexity, and challenges of interfaith encounters; third, it shows how Gavin Flood’s three orders of discourse—traditions’ experience and texts, interpretation within traditions, and academic inquiry—can be applied to the study of interfaith mysticism, employing a phenomenological emphasis on hermeneutics. The inquiry is located within the context of representatives of Hindu mystical consciousness (Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Aurobindo) and the Christian interfaith tradition (Henri Le Saux, Bede Griffiths, David Steindl-Rast), in conversation with Raimon Panikkar’s and Francis X. Clooney’s approaches to interreligious studies.