JESUS CHRIST AS A STUMBLING BLOCK IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE?

Abstract

I start my reflections with a view at the situation of religious plurality in Switzerland and in the city of Basel and give a brief sketch of the development towards a “theology of religions” during the last decades. Then I focus on the question of how to understand the salvific relevance of Jesus Christ in relation to other religions. Is Jesus Christ a, or rather the stumbling block in interreligious dialogue? I suggest to understand the doctrine of the human and the divine nature of Jesus Christ in terms of two relations – the relation to humanity and the relation to God – and relating those two relations by the concept of representation. That allows to conceive of Jesus Christ as representing God’s creative and salvific presence in a most authentic but not exclusive way. That understanding leads to the expectation that also in non-Christian traditions occurrences of God’s grace are to be found.