Divine Hospitality

Book excerpt: In face of unprecedented awareness of religious diversity, as well as the dangers of conflict, interreligious dialogue has become vital. Yet, these authors maintain, it is the commitment to think together about religious faith and our inherited traditions that genuinely moves mutual understanding to new levels. Here is such a religious experiment, an interreligious theological quest, framed in the interests of peacemaking. Fadi Daou and Nayla Tabbara, a Maronite priest and a Muslim Sunni, respectively, share one objective: to show what the Christian and Muslim faiths teach with regard to religious "otherness" and to indicate the relationship which may link the believer of another religion to God. It is this honest attempt to find divine hospitality that opens each religion to spiritual solidarity and to the reality, presence, and gift of the other. *** "This is truly an exceptional book. Fadi Daou and Nayla Tabbara have shown that the teaching of theology is not enough, and that . . . it is necessary to promote spiritual communion between believers from different religions and to translate theological questions into terms of daily life." --Jean-Marc Aveline, Institut Catholique de la Mediterranee[Subject: Religious Studies, Muslim Studies, Christian Studies]