Refuge in Crestone: A Sanctuary for Interreligious Dialogue

Aaron Thomas Raverty

doi:10.5771/9780739183762

Summary

As globalization proceeds at an ever increasing and more unrelenting pace, relations among the world’s religions are taking on both a new visibility and a new urgency. Christian theologians and others intent on innovative formulations in the theology of religions are making interreligious dialogue with non-Christians a priority. One way to promote creative scholarship in this quest is to tap into interdisciplinary resources, and the author of this volume is uniquely qualified to do so since he holds graduate degrees in both theology and cultural anthropology. Refuge in Crestone: A Sanctuary for Interreligious Dialogue elucidates how the praxis of interreligious dialogue, as outlined in key Vatican documents in the Catholic Church, could be better served by attending to the qualitative ethnographic methods of sociocultural anthropology. Because the material, behavioral, and cognitive aspects of dialogue—as revealed in daily life, common social and political action, religious experience, and theological exchange—are embedded in culture, they are amenable to ethnographic analysis. Using the unique, multi-religious Colorado site of Crestone and its environs as a fieldwork “laboratory” and self-described “Refuge for World Truths,” the ethnographic data gleaned from this project exemplify the creative interdisciplinary contributions of anthropology to theologizing. It seeks to demonstrate, using an empirical, multi-religious community as its focus, how anthropology can support interreligious dialogue. The results of such dialogue could not only assist the scholarly community by helping theologians arrive at new formulations in the burgeoning area of the theology of religions, but might also serve the more practical goal of promoting peace—as an alternative to violence—in today’s complex and sorely troubled world.

Keywords

Search publication

Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2014
Copyright Year: 2014
ISBN-Print: 978-0-7391-8375-5
ISBN-Online: 978-0-7391-8376-2
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 183
Product Type: Monograph

1. Contents No access
2. List of Illustrations No access
3. Acknowledgments No access
Introduction No access Pages 1 - 22
1 Interreligious Dialogue as Praxis No access Pages 23 - 36
2 Ethnographic Method and Interreligious Dialogue No access Pages 37 - 58
3 Refuge Place as Sacred Space No access Pages 59 - 80
4 Spiritual Monuments within the Refuge No access Pages 81 - 120
5 Ritual Interface and Dialogue Opportunity No access Pages 121 - 148
Conclusion No access Pages 149 - 166
References No access Pages 167 - 176
Index No access Pages 177 - 182
About the Author No access Pages 183 - 183