An analysis of the major tensions inherent in the Catholic Church’s response to the religious other: From Vatican II and Nostra Aetate to Dominus Iesus

McGee, Philip (2011) An analysis of the major tensions inherent in the Catholic Church’s response to the religious other: From Vatican II and Nostra Aetate to Dominus Iesus. MTh(R) thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

It should be noted from the very beginning that the following dissertation will be a Catholic Christian’s attempt to view the religious other through the specific hermeneutical lens of Catholic tradition whilst remaining fully aware of the inevitable influence of modernism as perceived through the prism of the enlightenment. After offering an initial short overview of the Catholic Church’s historical stance toward followers of other religions, with particular focus on Buddhism, I hope to highlight the ongoing tensions that exist within the Catholic Church in its relationship toward these other religions; tensions which have arisen in a variety of different forms despite the immense strides achieved by the Second Vatican Council and in particular the Church’s watershed document Nostra Aetate. Chapter two therefore will be an outline of this change in attitude within the Catholic Church toward other religious traditions, particularly Buddhism, as well as an acknowledgement of areas of tension. In chapter three I will briefly outline the history of various secretariats set up at an official level within the Church to deal with her response to the key documents of Vatican II and to offer guidelines and support for dialogue. In chapters four and five I will look more closely at documents produced post-Vatican II relevant to the Church’s attitude toward the religious other, documents which were innovatory and which fleshed out the abstract and generalised content in the statements contained in Nostra Aetate. I will also highlight and analyse the rising tensions in the Church’s response to interreligious dialogue specifically in relation to issues of evangelisation and the reaction against pluralist and relativistic theologies of religion at an official level. In my final chapter I will analyse the various theological stances which the Church views as incompatible with the Catholic faith and once more highlight the tensions implicit in views related to uniqueness and unicity for those engaged in dialogue, arguing in favour of the legitimacy and need for a multiplicity of theological perspectives within the umbrella of the Catholic Church. Ultimately it is to an investigation in the tensions manifesting in these areas of dialogical and theological exchange as perceived by the Secretariat for non Christians, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, in the form of Papal statements and encyclicals issued in the fields of either interreligious dialogue or guidelines for evangelisation, that this dissertation naturally gravitates.

• Item Type: Thesis (MTh(R))
• Qualification Level: Masters
• Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BX Christian Denominations; B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BQ Buddhism; B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > Theology and Religious Studies
• Supervisor's Name: Clague, Ms. Julie
• Date of Award: 2011
• Depositing User: Mr Robbie J. Ireland
• Unique ID: glathesis:2011-3283
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 30 Mar 2012
• Last Modified: 10 Dec 2012 14:05
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/3283