BQ 831 – 11/2025
Veteran of global interreligious dialogue: Dialogue and mission belong together

30. January 2025

(Bonn, 30.01.2025) Thomas Schirrmacher has compiled various lectures and essays from the last two decades that address the question of whether apologetics of the Christian faith towards other religions and worldviews is fundamentally compatible with interreligious dialogue or not and whether truth claims make dialogue with other religions and worldviews impossible or very difficult.

Christian Muslim Buddhist dialogue in the to largest Buddhist monastery in Bali 2023 © BQ/Martin Warnecke

Schirrmacher writes:

“I argue that the two sides can and must go together, that is, that a dialogue with other religions and worldviews is both 1. only intellectually honest and 2. only in line with the essence of the Christian faith if we face up to the truth claim of central Christian beliefs and at the same time seek a serious conversation on equal terms.”

The book is thus also a defense of the position of the 2011 document adopted by the Vatican, the World Council of Churches and the World Evangelical Alliance, “Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World,” which states that Christian world mission can and must go hand in hand with a dialogue with followers of other religions and with religious freedom and peace among religions.

According to a number of representatives of pluralistic theology of religion or similar concepts, dialogue can only take place if one strongly relativizes or completely abandons one’s own claim to truth. For example, Catholic theologian Paul Knitter says that dialogue is impossible if one of the partners enters into it with a claim to truth. Schirrmacher says:

“In reality, a dialogue in which both sides give up their claim to truth never takes place, at least not if representatives of Islam are involved. Dialogue in which only one side does this takes place quite rarely. Most often, in reality, an intensive dialogue takes place between followers of religions and worldviews who listen to each other in a friendly and peaceful manner, who want to serve society together, but who do not consider the essence of their faith to be open to question.”

About the author

Archbishop Prof. Dr. theol. Dr. phil. Dr. mult. Thomas Paul Schirrmacher is President of the International Council of the International Society for Human Rights (Frankfurt), President of the International Institute for Religious Freedom (Costa Rica, Vancouver, Bonn) and Co-President of Religions for Peace (New York). Since his doctorate in Missiology in 1985, he has been significantly involved in the worldwide spread of the gospel. At the same time, he has been participating in many global meetings of interreligious dialogue for decades, but he has also visited and supported many dialogue initiatives worldwide.

Global Evangelical and Jewish delegations at Yad Yashem Jerusalem 2023 © BQ/Martin Warnecke

Bibliographic information

  • Thomas Paul Schirrmacher. Kritik der pluralistischen Religionstheologie und andere Beiträge zur Zusammengehörigkeit von Dialog und Mission. Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft: Bonn, 2024. 320 S. Pb. 28 Euro. ISBN 978-3-86269-300-9.

Downloads and Links

PDF-Donwload