And it is a great temptation for us to join up as religions against the secular world or against the atheistic world. Unless we can keep them in the dialogue we will not see that humanity for which I believe my Lord Jesus Christ became incarnate, died, and lives today.
Paulos Mar Gregorios
Keep Them In the Dialogue
Topic: Interfaith Pathways
“And it is a great temptation for us to join up as religions against the secular world or against the atheistic world. Unless we can keep them in the dialogue we will not see that humanity for which I believe my Lord Jesus Christ became incarnate, died, and lives today. It is that humanity and that created order to which Christianity must renew its commitment.”
Paulos Mar Gregorios, born Paul Varghese or Vargīsa Pôla (9 August 1922–24 November 1996), was the first Metropolitan of the Delhi diocese of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and served for over two decades.
The Christian Heritage
Bryant, M. Darrol., et al. Assembly of the World's Religions, 1985: Spiritual Unity and the Future of the Earth: a Report. Paragon House, 1986, p.175 [Metropolitan Paulos Mar Gregorios, The Christian Heritage].
Paulos Mar Gregorios
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Metropolitan Paulos Mar Gregorios
“I see the whole of humanity in the context of my Christianness. It is my deep-rootedness in Christian faith that enables me to be inclusive. And this is not exclusivity: it is a partial closing, which is necessary in order to be fully open. God is not just transcendent; but is also immanent in the universe. The otherness and the oneness have to be kept in dialectical tension.”
–Metropolitan Paulos Mar Gregorios [Assembly of the World’s Religions, 1985 (Paragon House)] pp. 174-175.
A Further Restoration
“I want to speak about a further restoration that is necessary… There is no word for “religion” in most of our religions…. All life was bound up with religion. There was no realm called secular and another department called religious. We have bifurcated these unnecessarily. I don’t want to go into the history of this, but today this is important, not only for the renewal of Christianity, but also for interreligious dialogue. If our intention is to unite all the religions against the so-called atheism, it will still be with the old crusading mentality, and we will lose our very heritage in the process.”
–Metropolitan Paulos Mar Gregorios [Assembly of the World’s Religions, 1985 (Paragon House)] pp. 174-175.
Our Openness to the Secular World
Our openness as religious persons to the secular world is for me of fundamental importance. Three concerns push me to that conclusion… Why do people feel despair and meaninglessness in the affluent society? [I must deal with that question in interreligious dialogue.] Second, I must deal with the question of justice in the world. If I do not deal with that question, my religion becomes pointless. The third is the ecological question. Catastrophe, ecological as well as nuclear, has become a real threat. And if my religion is to be related to that, I must also have relation to the atheist, the unbeliever, the indifferent. And it is a great temptation for us to join up as religions against the secular world or against the atheistic world. Unless we can keep them in the dialogue we will not see that humanity for which I believe my Lord Jesus Christ became incarnate, died, and lives today. It is that humanity and that created order to which Christianity must renew its commitment.
–Metropolitan Paulos Mar Gregorios [Assembly of the World’s Religions, 1985 (Paragon House)] pp. 174-175.