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On Being in the Middle: Inter-religious Dialogue and Network Centrality

ABSTRACT It is often maintained that participants in inter-religious dialogue will benefit from increased access to other perspectives that deepens understanding of their own tradition and the traditions of others, but this is rarely examined empirically and with attention to bringing the human sciences into conversation with theological thinking about dialogue. Drawing on theory and methods from social network analysis, this research conceptualized inter-religious dialogue as a communication network and investigated the impact of differences in access to communication flows on dialogue participants. Interviews with those most connected (hubs) and those least connected (outliers) showed differences in the characterization of dialogue experiences, relationships to the ‘home’ community, and the ability to recognize similarities and differences and to engage in perspective-taking. Hubs were more freely able to migrate into the experiences and practices of the dialogue partner’s tradition, while being rooted in their home tradition. This research highlights the importance of the network perspective for studying dialogue as a relational and community practice and offers a description of the unique experiences and capacities of network hubs situated in the ‘middle’. It also underscores the way in which theological and human scientific analyses can interact in a complementary and enriching way.