By Samantha Lin

ROME — On March 13th, the third Interfaith Café in the yearlong series hosted at The Lay Centre examined the challenges and fruits of interreligious dialogue through an unusual lens.

Professor Cecil Mel Robeck is an ordained minister in the Assemblies of God, a senior professor of church history at Fuller Theological Seminary and has spent the past 30 years, building ecumenical relations around the globe.

He engaged in dialogue with Father Felix Körner, SJ, professor of theology and Islamic studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University, about engaging in interreligious dialogue and its consequences for ecumenical dialogue.

Professor Robeck began the discussion by reflecting on his experience of reaching out to other Christians in an effort to build bridges of ecumenical understanding. He said learning from other traditions enriched his own faith and allowed him to build authentic relationships with others. The primary obstacle to dialogue is fear, he said.

Father Körner introduced his perspective by outlining three fundamental “truths” of interreligious dialogue: interreligious encounters promote ecumenical dialogue; ecumenical dialogue profiles interreligious dialogue; and interreligious dialogue uncovers intra-Christian disagreement.

Father Körner said the call for all Christians is to engage with their non-Christian neighbors in a rapidly globalizing world. However, he unerlined: “Our hope for interfaith dialogue is different. We do not want to formulate a common doctrine; we are not looking for faith formulae which we can both sign. The hope is, rather, that we can be friends in difference.”

After their introductions, the two scholars continued commented and questioned each other’s statements, uncovering agreements as well as disagreements. Both men agreed that, because God is everywhere, parts of his truth can indeed be found everywhere, including in other religions.

The audience asked their own questions and contributed commentary. When asked about what the role of evangelization should be in interreligious dialogue, Professor Cecil Mel Robeck and Father Körner spoke on the meaning of “evangelization,” the forms it takes and the ways Christians can be authentically Christian while still engaging with people of other faiths.

The next Interfaith Café will take place April 16. For more information and to RSVP, please contact info@laycentre.org