Proclamation and Interreligious Dialogue as Prophetic Dialogue

Abstract

The author addresses the challenging relationship of proclamation and interreligious dialogue from the perspective of prophetic dialogue, a concept developed by the author and Stephen Bevans. The first part of the article highlights the origin of the term "prophetic dialogue," its practice as entering someone else's "garden," and its theology as two dimensions of missio Dei. The article then describes the two components of mission-proclamation and interreligious dialogue-and considers each within the framework of prophetic dialogue. Schroeder proposes that this perspective provides an avenue for understanding the complementarity of the theology and practice of these two components of mission.

Paradigms and Styles of Advaita Mission: An Experiment in Interpretation

“…Bevans and Schroeder themselves instead classify three "types" of missionary theology that continually interact in distinctive ways to shape diverse movements at each and every moment of Christian history: "Mission as Saving Souls and Extending the Church"; "Mission as Discovery of Truth"; and "Mission as Commitment to Liberation and Transformation" (2004: 32-72). From their surveys, both Thangaraj and Bevans and Schroeder also offer constructive proposals for new, synthetic missionary models for the present day-"missio humanitatis" in the case of the former (Thangaraj 1999: 47-60), "prophetic dialogue" in the case of the latter (Bevans and Schroeder 2004: 348-95;Schroeder 2013)-but there seems little reason to believe that these models, too, will not eventually be superseded. Adaptation to new historical contexts, then, does not merely apply to the practice of individual missionaries or missionary organizations; it cuts to the fundamental understanding of "mission" itself, as a category of thought and practice.…”