Inter-or intra-religious dialogue?

This paper was originally presented at the Fethullah Gülen Conference, St Patricks Melbourne Campus, ACU, 15th-16th July 2009 and revised as Conversation on Inter-religious Dialogue for the Gold Coast Sea of Faith Public Lecture, 1st November 2009. It examines obstacles to dialogue especially between Christians and Muslims. Such obstacles arise from doctrinal differences as well as historical, cultural and political complexities. If interreligious dialogue is to succeed, it must not only deal with doctrinal issues, but create the circumstances in which people of diverse religious traditions may come to understanding (not necessarily agreement). For this, Raimon Panikkar suggests that a different kind of hermeneutic what he calls diatopical hermeneutics is required. Elements of this type of religious encounter include humility, empathy and hospitality or what Panikkar calls intra-religious dialogue. These are examined in relation to Islamic-Christian dialogue.