April 29, 2011

What are the Paths to Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue?: The Gulen Movement in the Interreligious Context

Fr. Thomas Michel*

1. Where do we begin?

Many people see the need for interreligious and intercultural dialogue but are not sure where to begin. I have often been asked, “How do you go about starting up dialogue with others?” Especially because I am a Christian who has lived and shared life with Muslims for many years, they ask, “How do you go about beginning a dialogue with Muslims? Where do you start?”

It’s a good question, and its one that I found myself asking back in 1978 in Indonesia. I had just finished my graduate studies in Islamic thought and was back in Indonesia and wondering where to begin to meet Muslims and enter into dialogue with them. On one occasion, I asked a prominent Muslim scholar how to go about this. The wisdom of his answer is one that has stayed with me and proven itself true over the years, so that by now it has also become my answer.