“As faith communities and religious leaders, we are
obliged constantly to remind people about the obligation and
responsibility to choose peace through dialogue,” said Bartholomew,
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
07 February 2014
He addressed the 17th Eurasian Economic Summit, speaking on behalf of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, a founding member of the World Council of Churches (WCC).
The summit was held 4 to 6 February in Istanbul, Turkey by the Marmara Foundation.
“Human conflict may well be inevitable in our world; but war and violence are certainly not,” said Bartholomew. “If our age will be remembered at all,” he continued, “it may be remembered for those who dedicated themselves to the cause of peace”.
Speaking about interfaith dialogue, the Ecumenical Patriarch noted that “historical conflicts between Christians and Muslims normally have their roots in politics and not in religion itself.”
“Christians and Muslims have lived together, sharing the same geographical region, in the context of the
Byzantine and the Ottoman Empires,” he pointed out.
These historical models, Bartholomew said, reveal “possibilities in our own world, which is shaped by pluralism and globalization.”
“This is precisely why a dialogue, which acknowledges differences but also suggests ways to negotiate differences, may prove helpful to map out appropriate avenues of communication.”
“It is the only way of discovering the peace,” added the Ecumenical Patriarch.
Speech by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the 17th Eurasian Economic Summit in Istanbul
WCC programme for inter-religious dialogue and cooperation
07 February 2014
He addressed the 17th Eurasian Economic Summit, speaking on behalf of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, a founding member of the World Council of Churches (WCC).
The summit was held 4 to 6 February in Istanbul, Turkey by the Marmara Foundation.
“Human conflict may well be inevitable in our world; but war and violence are certainly not,” said Bartholomew. “If our age will be remembered at all,” he continued, “it may be remembered for those who dedicated themselves to the cause of peace”.
Speaking about interfaith dialogue, the Ecumenical Patriarch noted that “historical conflicts between Christians and Muslims normally have their roots in politics and not in religion itself.”
“Christians and Muslims have lived together, sharing the same geographical region, in the context of the
Byzantine and the Ottoman Empires,” he pointed out.
These historical models, Bartholomew said, reveal “possibilities in our own world, which is shaped by pluralism and globalization.”
“This is precisely why a dialogue, which acknowledges differences but also suggests ways to negotiate differences, may prove helpful to map out appropriate avenues of communication.”
“It is the only way of discovering the peace,” added the Ecumenical Patriarch.
Speech by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the 17th Eurasian Economic Summit in Istanbul
WCC programme for inter-religious dialogue and cooperation
If you are interested in some new ideas on interfaith dialogue and the Trinity, please check out my website at www.religiouspluralism.ca. It previews my book, which has not been published yet and is still a “work-in-progress.” Your constructive criticism would be very much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteMy thesis is that an abstract version of the Trinity could be Christianity’s answer to the world need for a framework of pluralistic theology.
In a constructive worldview: east, west, and far-east religions present a threefold understanding of One God manifest primarily in Muslim and Hebrew intuition of the Deity Absolute, Christian and Krishnan Hindu conception of the Universe Absolute Supreme Being; and Shaivite Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist apprehension of the Destroyer (meaning also Consummator), Unconditioned Absolute, or Spirit of All That Is and is not. Together with their variations and combinations in other major religions, these religious ideas reflect and express our collective understanding of God, in an expanded concept of the Holy Trinity.
The Trinity Absolute is portrayed in the logic of world religions, as follows:
1. Muslims and Jews may be said to worship only the first person of the Trinity, i.e. the existential Deity Absolute Creator, known as Allah or Yhwh, Abba or Father (as Jesus called him), Brahma, and other names; represented by Gabriel (Executive Archangel), Muhammad and Moses (mighty messenger prophets), and others.
2. Christians and Krishnan Hindus may be said to worship the first person through a second person, i.e. the experiential Universe or "Universal” Absolute Supreme Being (Allsoul or Supersoul), called Son/Christ or Vishnu/Krishna; represented by Michael (Supreme Archangel), Jesus (teacher and savior of souls), and others. The Allsoul is that gestalt of personal human consciousness, which we expect will be the "body of Christ" (Mahdi, Messiah, Kalki or Maitreya) in the second coming – personified in history by Muhammad, Jesus Christ, Buddha (9th incarnation of Vishnu), and others.
3. Shaivite Hindus, Buddhists, and Confucian-Taoists seem to venerate the synthesis of the first and second persons in a third person or appearance, ie. the Destiny Consummator of ultimate reality – unqualified Nirvana consciousness – associative Tao of All That Is – the absonite* Unconditioned Absolute Spirit “Synthesis of Source and Synthesis,”** who/which is logically expected to be Allah/Abba/Brahma glorified in and by union with the Supreme Being – represented in religions by Gabriel, Michael, and other Archangels, Mahadevas, Spiritpersons, etc., who may be included within the mysterious Holy Ghost.
Other strains of religion seem to be psychological variations on the third person, or possibly combinations and permutations of the members of the Trinity – all just different personality perspectives on the Same God. Taken together, the world’s major religions give us at least two insights into the first person of this thrice-personal One God, two perceptions of the second person, and at least three glimpses of the third.
* The ever-mysterious Holy Ghost or Unconditioned Spirit is neither absolutely infinite, nor absolutely finite, but absonite; meaning neither existential nor experiential, but their ultimate consummation; neither fully ideal nor totally real, but a middle path and grand synthesis of the superconscious and the conscious, in consciousness of the unconscious.
** This conception is so strong because somewhat as the Absonite Spirit is a synthesis of the spirit of the Absolute and the spirit of the Supreme, so it would seem that the evolving Supreme Being may himself also be a synthesis or “gestalt” of humanity with itself, in an Almighty Universe Allperson or Supersoul. Thus ultimately, the Absonite is their Unconditioned Absolute Coordinate Identity – the Spirit Synthesis of Source and Synthesis – the metaphysical Destiny Consummator of All That Is.
For more details, please see: www.religiouspluralism.ca
Samuel Stuart Maynes