This panel of presenters explore interreligious friendship from diverse perspectives, with particular attention to difference. Margaret Gower identifies interreligious friendship as a participatory practice that encourages attentiveness to difference, drawing on autoethnography as well as writings by James Frederick, David Burrell, Barbara Brown Taylor, and Simone Weil. John D. Dadosky examines friendship as a model for the Catholic Church’s relationship with diverse religions in a post-Vatican context and highlights the diverse forms of difference that may be encountered when it comes to comparative theology and interfaith dialogue. Shalahudin Kafrawi explores theological concepts of fraternities in Indonesia, a country characterized by difference as it has sought to be both multicultural and Muslim. Laura Duhan-Kaplan investigates the possibility of enemies becoming friends and collaborating to do good, despite differences, drawing parallels between the biblical admonition to help an enemy’s donkey—weighed down by its burden—and approaches to interreligious dialogue.
Taking its title from the last line of Mary Oliver's poem "Upstream" -- "attention is the beginning of devotion" -- this paper argues that interreligious friendship offers a meaningful perspective onto both religious reflection on friendship and interreligious studies. First, it describes interreligious friendship as a place for attention, a practice of attention, and a prize of attention. From there, it argues that interreligious friendship can train each friend in attention -- to self, other, and difference. In the end, it suggests that attention to difference is an important corrective to the, perhaps more familiar, appeals to common ground in pursuit of common good.
John Henry Newman once declared that friendship is the best preparation for loving the world at large. For the Catholic Church, following Vatican II (1962-1965), there was a dramatic about-face from previous generations in its approach to other religious faiths. The Declaration on Non-Christian Relations, Nostra Aetate (1965), a short document from the Council, officially declared a positive appraisal of other religions for the first time in the church’s history. This paper examines the role of friendship as a model for the Catholic church’s relationship with other religions in a post-Vatican context, and more specifically the role of interfaith friendship, as a method in interfaith dialogue and comparative theology. Friendship offers a unique model wherein two or more people can engage commonalities, similarities, and differences through a prior commitment of filial understanding.
This paper aims at presenting Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)’s view of fraternities beyond the boundary of Islamic fold to unite members of Indonesia’s multicultural communities. The first part of the paper will elaborate on how Indonesia’s biggest socio-religious organization sees the challenges of multicultural communities such as intolerance, social conflicts, and violent religious extremism. The second part will demonstrate how Nahdlatul Ulama offers the theological concepts of fraternities that appeal to Muslims’ political identity and is consistent with Islam’s multicultural values as articulated in the concepts of Islamic fraternity (ukuwwah islamiyyah), national fraternity (ukhuwwah wathoniyyah), and human fraternity (ukhuwwah basyariyyah). Finally, the paper will evaluate NU’s epistemology to arrive at the inclusive concepts of fraternities. While these concepts derive from, and express, Islamic identity, they respect and affirm the values of multicultural Indonesia.
“If you see your enemy’s donkey falling down under its burden...help him unburden it” (Exod. 23:5). Traditional Jewish sources (Talmud, Targum Onkelos, Maimonides) place this verse in conversation with a parallel verse in Deuteronomy about helping a friend’s donkey. Can one turn an enemy into a friend by helping their donkey? If so, how does this happen? Does the helper learn to set aside hate, at least briefly? Does the donkey’s owner change their perception of the helper? Do both work together to do good, despite their differences? Do both realize that indulging their hate affects innocent others as well? In this paper, I summarize, interpret, and add to the discussion. Next, I draw parallels with approaches to inter-religious dialogue (MacKenzie, Falcon, and Rahman). What kinds of dialogue and shared activity help us “lift the donkey,” i.e., set aside hate, change our perceptions, and work towards shared goods?