168

169 Kochurani ABRAHAM

169

Beyond the Tongues of Babel: Towards a Theology of Religious Pluralism

Kochurani ABRAHAM

Coming from Asia, the land of religions, religious pluralism is not something new in our context. In India my homeland, for generations, people of different faiths have lived, worked, and interacted with each other generally in an environment of peace and respect. Nonetheless, in the recent times, there are the outbursts of communal violence triggered by religious fundamentalism which are raising critical questions about the very meaning of religions today. I imagine that in the west also the coexistence of people with different religious identities is not a novelty, but it may have become intense due to the recent phenomenon of extensive migration of people from the south to the north and the consequent reconfiguration of localities which would have been more homogenous earlier. Probably, people find it easier to accept or tolerate cultural differences, but religious pluralism could be more disquieting because of its claims of divine sanction of its practices and belief systems. The growing religious fundamentalism which affirms and defends the identity of a group as opposed to other groups in the name of religion 1could be exceedingly alarming. I imagine this workshop on religious pluralism and peace at the WSF is set against this backdrop and from this emerges the search for a better understanding of the theology of religious pluralism. Way back in 1979, Raimundo Panikkar pointed to pluralism as the very practical question of planetary human coexistence and subtitled one of his reflections on religious pluralism as The Tower of Babel 2. I think the Tower of Babel imagery is still applicable as we try to make sense of the religions around us. Perhaps, we need to ask ourselves if
1 2

M. Amaladoss, Beyond Dialogue: Pilgrims to the Absolute, Bangalore: Asian Trading Corporation, 2008, p.1. Raimon Panikkar, The Myth of Religious Pluralism: The Tower of Babel - A Meditation on Non-Violence, Cross Currents 29 (1979) 197-230, here p.201.

170 Kochurarni ABRAHAM

we understand anything at all, of the language of another religion other than our own. What we need today is a theological idiom that will take us beyond the incomprehensible assertions and claims of particular religions. And so, I have titled my presentation as Beyond the Tongues of Babel: Towards a Theology of Religious Pluralism. The Tongues of Babel: A Distortion of Truth Down through human history, whenever a faith experience had been codified as religion, it tend to become dogmatic in its approach. We have a forceful example of this trend in catholic theology, in the rigid stand it held for almost twenty long centuries that salvation was possible exclusively within the Church. This standpoint can be counted among the tongues of Babel which only served to cause fear and confusion among people about the economy of salvation, or led some to take a safe, decisive distance from religion and its practices. Religions have attempted to build the tower of Babel, each in its claim to be higher or superior than others, and this has led to increasing conflict, bloodshed, and even death. Perhaps the towers of Babel erected by religions are high enough to result in the eclipse of God, borrowing an expression of Martin Buber. The tongues of Babel echo wherever fundamentalistic assertions are made about ones own belief systems, or where religions tend to appropriate God as their private possession with pretensions to being metanarratives. More than ever, we need now a new theology of religious pluralism which can help us appreciate the meaning and the place of religions in todays context. Awakening to the Mystery: A Glimpse into the Truth Behind Religions Going beyond the tongues of Babel becomes possible only if we understand the rightful place of religions in relation to what we comprehend as the mystery of the Divine. Perhaps we get glimpses into this Mystery if we look into the life and message of those from whom religions have drawn their founding visions. The Buddha consciousness was in the awakening of Gautham to the mystery of life and of the Divine, all entwined. The Zen saying, If you meet the Buddha on the path, kill him! signals the same truth, that being Buddha or the awakened one is merely a pointer to a deeper, wider reality beyond. In a similar vein, Jesus Christ pointed to something beyond himself , the Reign of God, and he invited the true worshippers to worship God in spirit and truth. According to the Hindu comprehension, it is necessary to have a plurality of ways to the Absolute as explicitated in the much quoted text of Rig Veda The One, the wise call by many names (Rig Veda 1, 164, 46).

Beyond Tongues of Babel: Towards a Theology of Religious Pluralism 171

Even though religions have stood apart, each claiming to be the only true religion, on going deeper to their roots, we see that they are mere pointers to the mystery beyond. Asian theologians point to religion as the penultimate reality, the ultimate being the Mystery that envelops everything. Though the mystery of the Divine manifests its splendour through the varied expressions of life including the religious ones, this mystery is not the possession of any particular religion.3 Thus, the roots of pluralism is traced to the freedom of God, in Gods free selfcommunication which is neither limited nor conditioned by anything exterior to it.4 We hear the same notion echoing also in the west, where it is observed that every religion is a map, not the actual territory,5 and in the acknowledgement that religions are glimmers of the inexhaustible Ultimate Reality.6 When we situate religions in relation to the Ultimate Reality or Mystery, it is meaningful from a feminist point of view as it goes beyond the theological tenets of mainstream religions which exclude women. As Raimon Panikker has pointed out rightly, it is the mystic path that overcomes the theo-logical boundaries. Even non-theist traditions feel more comfortable before the Mystery, as there is scope for trans-religionality or going beyond religions. Within the framework of the Mystery, there is space also for a cosmic encounter with the Divine, which is the common foundation on which all religions must meet and celebrate religious pluralism as a gift to humanity, appreciating and encouraging one anothers irrepeatable identities,7 but also going beyond them. From Distinctiveness to Liberative Partnership and to the Beyond Though religions have presented themselves as separate entities in the course of history, on probing into the theological meaning of their reality and diversity, we rediscover a greater connectedness. It is like the trees that stand apart, but beneath the soil, their roots are entwined like lovers lost in embrace.

3 4 5 6 7

Cf. Felix Wilfred, Margins: Site of Asian Theologies, Delhi ISPCK 2008, p. 155-156 Cf. M Amaldoss, Intereligious dialogue: A View from Asia, Landas 8 (1994) p. 208-218. Knitter Paul, No Other Name? A Critical Survey of Christian Attitudes Toward the World Religions. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2000, p. 22 J.M.Vigil, The Seductive Future of Theology in J. M. Vigil (ed), Towards a Planetary Theology: Along the Many Paths of God, Montreal: Dunamis, 2010, p.185. Aloysious Pieris, Toward a Theology of Religious Pluralism: Fidelity and fairness in interfaith fellowship in Towards a Planetary Theology, p. 126.

172 Kochurarni ABRAHAM

A new theology of religious pluralism positioning religions in relation to the Mystery could help restore a deeper bonding between religions in what constitutes their essence. The Mystery they signal to, does not signify an understanding of the Divine in exclusion, but it is an unfolding of the dynamic relationship between the Divine and humanity, and with the cosmos. First and foremost, at the level of the Mystery, religions acknowledge their theological limits. In the Hindu tradition it is expressed as neti, neti not this, not that before everything we say about the Ultimate. Taoism asserts that those who can talk of the Tao do not really know what theyre talking about. Even in Christianity, the incomprehensibility of God is confessed by mystics and theologians. In the sacred space in the depths of every living religion, is the point in which, as Paul Tillich observes, religions lose their self- importance and raise themselves to a spiritual liberty, that makes possible a new overview of the presence of the Divine, in all expressions of the ultimate meaning of human life.8 Only through a sense of connectedness in this sacred space can religions engage in a liberative partnership for the construction of a new social order of right relationships among humans, between humans and the Divine and with the entire universe. Within the framework of the Mystery it becomes possible to be open to the possibility of being complemented and enriched by a revelation of God received through the religions of other peoples.9 At this level it becomes possible to discover that every religion is a spark reflecting something of the Divine light. But the questions is whether we just remain at this level of peaceful coexistence acknowledging each other or we go beyond? While the golden rule inscribed into the scriptures of the main world Religions10 signal to their latent potential for bringing about right relationship among humans and with the earth, perhaps what we need today is a theology of religious pluralism which would liberate God from religions. In the west, there are indications of the need for a theological reflection on religion which is post-religional arising mainly from the crisis of religions due to secularization. But prophets and mystics of the east and the west, were women and men who went beyond religions, pondering the ineffable Mystery of God in the lives of the suf-

Paul Tillich, Le christianisme et les religions, Aubier, Paris 1968, p. 173 J.M Vigil, Theology of Religious Pluralism, p. 319. 10 While Christianity exhorts Do to others as you would have them do to you (Lk: 6.31) Hinduism reminds Do not do to others that which, if they did to you, would cause you pain (Mahabharata, 5.15, 17) and in the words of Islam Not one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother what he desires for himself (Sunnah).
8 9

Beyond Tongues of Babel: Towards a Theology of Religious Pluralism 173

fering humans and in the creative vibrations of the universe. In the words of Rumi, A person who is truly of God is beyond religion. Kabir Das, the great mystic poet of India, openly criticized all sects and religions as he signaled to the Mystery beyond. Sree Narayana Guru in south India who initiated a social movement to liberate the ezhavas considered to be among the lowest in the caste hierarchy, proclaimed loudly that God has no religion. Would these mystics feel comfortable in the post-religional paradigm of the west? Perhaps we need to dialogue more on these in trying to spell out a new theology of religious pluralism.

Conclusion Our workshop is situated within the framework religious pluralism and peace. To conclude, I am reminded of the words of Gandhi who said there will never be peace in the world without peace between religions and I believe that peace between religions becomes possible only through their unpretentious positioning in relation to the Mystery. This would help religions renounce their absolutisms or the tongues of Babel, while being open to the changing realities of life on this planet. It situates religions as many paths, with one goal each religion finding its uniqueness, and through this uniqueness, enriching each other mutually.11 Open to the Mystery, we become conscious of Gods Spirit being present throughout the length and breadth of history, in all peoples, in all cultures and religions,12 and beyond religions. At this level we do not define who God is, but allow God to be God, and become mediators of peace, Shalom. Perhaps, a mystical encounter with God who is peace is the contribution a new theology of religious pluralism can make to the world of today. Kochurani ABRAHAM
Feminist Theologian INDIA

11 12

Declaration of the Thirteenth Annual Reunion of the Indian Theological Association, 31 December 1989. Conclusions of the Third General Assembly of the Conference of Latin-American Bishops, held at Puebla in Mexico in 1979, n. 201.