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Christian Approaches to People of Other Faiths A Choice between Dialogue or Evangelism?

Throughout history Christians have lived in multi-faith communities, yet in Britain today Christians have a sense of 'newness' about living alongside people of other faiths. The growth of religious pluralism since the end of World War 2 has proved variously to be a surprise, a challenge, a puzzle and an invitation to Christian communities. In response, Christians and the Church collectively have sought appropriate ways to relate to people and communities of other faiths. These responses have tended to take one of two forms, either dialogue or evangelism. A dialogical approach can be defined as people of different faiths meeting, building relationships and sharing in a joint search for truth and peace. An evangelistic approach can be defined as Christians meeting people of other faiths, building relationships and seeking to make disciples of Christ. Selecting which approach to take is usually based on soteriological beliefs. At one end of the spectrum there are those who believe that salvation is through knowledge and acceptance of Christ alone and who have chosen to be evangelistic in their approach, while those who believe that salvation lies within each different faith have chosen dialogue. It would be true to say that the two approaches of dialogue and evangelism have at times been defined in opposition to each other. In more recent years, however, those who are involved in dialogue have begun to identify more clearly the importance of witness in their approach and those involved in evangelism to identify more clearly the importance of dialogue. In this way, the choice between dialogue and evangelism has become less stark. Moreover, many Christians believe that there is no choice to be made because all Christians are called to both. This is the teaching of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, although it does not use the language of dialogue and evangelism but of dialogue and proclamation.' This article focuses on the practice of evangelism and dialogue as it responds to a Christ-centred understanding of salvation. It describes and analyses a dialogical approach to evangelism which draws on both inter-faith dialogue and evangelism among people of other faiths. There are critiques of this approach and this article