ix

Foreword

The Bible is the record of a great dialogue. God's word -which both expresses and enacts the divine will - created the whole universe. This same creating, judging and promising word/event of God shaped the world of nations, one particular people, the person of Jesus, and the early church.

To examine what dialogue means does indeed belong to the core of biblical studies. But it needs to be admitted that the biblical story concentrates mainly on God's dialogue with just one people, the people of Israel, and - through Christ - with the early church. It tells us little about the way in which other peoples, living in other cultures and epochs, were challenged by God and how they responded. In the biblical record nothing is explicitly spelled out about what we might learn from such great teachers as Gautama Buddha or from such formidable prophets like Mohammed. To reflect biblically about God and the people of other faiths is therefore a difficult and risky enterprise.

One could easily make a strong case showing that according to the Bible God has nothing to do with people of others faiths. In order to support this view one would simply have to pick out of their context passages such as Hosea's condemnation of Canaanite fertility cults or some exclusivist sayings of Jesus in John's Gospel. By using similar proof-texting the opposite affirmation also could be made, namely that God has much to teach us through God's presence among people of other faiths. In order to "prove" this, one could point to the biblical Wisdom literature, with its amazing openness to what can be learned from Egyptian or Mesopotamian wisdom. Further support could be found in the first part of the prologue to John's Gospel, in speculations on the "cosmic Christ" or the "Christ incognito" based on passages in Colossians and Ephesians.

The author of this study has rightly rejected such a proof-texting misuse of the Bible. He attempts to listen to the whole biblical message. On the basis of this he thinks biblically on a highly controversial question which is crucial for our time and for which no ready-made answers are available in the Bible. In the course of it the author must state his own understanding on how the Bible is to be interpreted. He uses insights gained in a series of study conferences whose reports are collected and introduced in the volume The Bible: its Authority and Interpretation in the Ecumenical Movement (WCC, Geneva 1980; cf.

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especially the 1971 report on "The Authority of the Bible" and the 1977 report on "The Significance of the Old Testament in its Relation to the New").

What, then, can we learn from this exploration on the Bible and people of other faiths? First of all, many of the critical questions which constantly arise in connection with the dialogue between Christians and people of other faiths are honestly taken up here and discussed in the light of the biblical message. Secondly, the author shows convincingly that among the variety of biblical traditions there is one which not only legitimizes such a dialogue but challenges us to enter into it. Thirdly, here are important biblical insights about the theological presuppositions and the necessary spiritual attitudes for such a dialogue.

No final answers are proposed and readers are challenged to join an ongoing exploration. Some will disagree with the kind of biblical interpretation followed in this study. Others will miss important aspects of the theme, for instance a discussion of the relationship between the Bible and the scriptures of other faiths, or the discussion of the question whether God does not have a continuing special relationship with the Jewish people and, if so, what it implies for the Jewish-Christian dialogue. Still others may want to emphasize parts of the Bible which they consider to be especially relevant for God's relationship with people of other faiths and are not sufficiently dealt with in these chapters, as for instance the biblical Wisdom literature.

The scope of the theme taken up in this book is indeed much larger than this small volume suggests. Personally I do not know of any study which explores this theme in such a clear, concise and competent way as is done by Wesley Ariarajah. I therefore heartily recommend the reading and discussion of this book.

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