Second Lecture - Theology of Interreligious Dialogue - PDF

Theology of Interreligious Dialogue Prof. dr. Marianne Moyaert 2024-2025 Part 1: Religionization in Early Christianity Until the 19th century Christians imagined the world as consisting of Christians, Jews, Muslims and...

Theology of Interreligious Dialogue Prof. dr. Marianne Moyaert 2024-2025 Part 1: Religionization in Early Christianity Until the 19th century Christians imagined the world as consisting of Christians, Jews, Muslims and pagans Binary construct True worship and false worship Vera religio and religio falsa How did this fourfold map come into being? 1. Religionized Categories in Early Christianity Early Christianity as a Diverse Phenomenon Diversity in Roman Imperial Culture (Before Constantine) Christianity was diverse and evolving (Fredriksen, 2014a). Identities were fluid, with unclear boundaries between heretical, orthodox, Jewish, and Christian groups (Paget & Lieu, 2017). No official form—Christianity was a work-in-progress in a non-Christian world (Buell, 2005). Makes more sense to speak of "Christianities" rather than a unified Christianity. Role of Apologists Christians were in a minority position. Apologists aimed to create Christian self-understanding (Soormally, 2019): Define true vs. false worship. Set norms for belonging and faithful living. Used discursive strategies shared with non-Christian neighbors for self-making (Knust, 2006). 3 Faculty, department, unit... 1. Religionized Categories in Early Christianity Christian Apologists projected a Christian way of life while delegitimizing others (Stroumsa, 1998). Efforts of (de)legitimization intersected with: Ethnicization, gendering, sexual slander (Drake, 2013). Non-Christians were labelled and essentialized as 'others,' while Christianness was imagined as the ultimate standard Logic of dichotomization reversal Logic of inclusion/encompassment Other is inferior or incomplete, but there is room for overlap Promise-fulfilment; potential-realization; shadow-light; seed-fruition Religionized categories are imaginary constructs Do not tell us much about Christianity’s others Not descriptive categories Rhetorically produce difference Hermeneutical figures Messiness of reality – more complex ! 4 Faculty, department, unit... 1. Religio in Roman Antiquity Christian worship/religio Context of Roman Empire Christian apologists (second-third CE) tasked with formulating a sense of Christianness in a sometimes hostile context (Non-Christian) gentiles (Non-Christian) Jews Important First Christians were Jews – Christ following Jews Multiple Christian communities, which sometimes disagreed Intra-Christian discussions or conflicts sometimes has consequences for ‘non’- Christians 1. Religio in Roman Antiquity Pax Romana, pax deorum Religio – worship – traditional cultic obligations To be Roman is to be religious, i.e. to perform one’s cultic obligations vis-à-vis the gods Roman peace ~ peace with the gods Other people have other standing obligations to their gods While conquered people could continue to practice ancestral cultic traditions, they were also expected to conform to Roman religio. 1. Religio in Roman Antiquity Two criteria for respectable religion Ethnicity – cf. relegare Antiquity – cf. relegere Religiones were respected if linked to a people (ethnicity) and if ancient (tradition) Jewish religio was sometimes ridiculed but for the most part respected Romans perfectly understood that different people were bound to different gods (ethnicity) and had to maintain different ancestral obligations (antiquity). For Romans it was perfectly normal to “show respect to the gods of others and in many circumstances – situations calling for political politesse or diplomatic engagements, visions of or visitations from divinities other than one’s own – such a show of respect was a simple matter of courtesy and common sense. After all, any god is more powerful than any human” (Fredriksen, 2006b, p. 236). 1. Religio in Roman Antiquity Romans did distinguish between religio and superstitio Religio : State-governed, Virtue, Disciplined, ordered, reasonable, cultic obligation, appropriate, moderate behaviour, Citizens Superstitio : Chaotic, unruly, Vice, Irrational, improper, and perverted, credulity, Excessive, shameful public behaviour Women, slaves, country-dwellers Foreigners, non-Romans, … Ethnoreligious othering when religio is considered a marker of ethnicity, delegitimizing a people’s religio is one way to inferiorize and essentialize them as a whole. ~sexualization 2. Christians in Roman Empire Christians? The vast majority of the people among whom Christians lived did not share their religious beliefs and practices. Christian traditions were considered new and no clear marker of ethnicity some Christians kept the Jewish law, others were Romans (or gentiles) but they were all suspect because they did not respect Roman cult Christians were projected as superstitious and their Roman identity or loyalty was questioned Accusations of immoral behavior 2. Christians in Roman Empire Christian apologists would develop a counterargument stating that their religio was not recent in origin Justin Martyr Christian religio was a restoration of ancient knowledge that had been distorted: … the advent of our Saviour Jesus Christ; who, being the Word of God, inseparable from The universal power of the divine Logos, operative throughout human history and sowing seeds among peoples and their traditions 2. Christians in Roman Empire Consensus Gentium Even among those who worshiped many gods, rudiments of Christian religio could be found. That gentiles worshiped many gods, proved that they actually felt the “need of some god, the altar with its victims implied convictions of sin, and the lustrations betokened the conscious want of purity” (Eadie, 1869, p. 3212). “Because the Christian Logos was the original source of all truth, anything true was necessarily Christian” (Chidester, 2000). 2. Christians in Roman Empire Tertullian “The human soul which is by nature Christian” “Testimonium animae naturaliter christianae” the soul of man (his claim to universality) is capable of realizing that there is a God creator. Those who call God by the names of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars or Minerva, actually worship the Christian God. All human beings have the potential to know God and God’s natural law and all are predisposed to Christian religio. 2. Christians in Roman Empire Crafting a sense of Christian ehnicity Christians are Hebrews True people of God (not the Jews) Supersessionist logic Heirs of God’s covenant Geneaology - Adam : first human What is unique about Christian peoplehood (ethnicity) is its universal and inclusive scope Amongst Christians there are no more Greeks or Jews Baptism creates a new people, which is restoring the humanity to its original calling 2. Christians in Roman Empire Potential Christian inclusivity Boundary – making Baptism Only true religio leads to salvation Christians – non-Christians Supersessionist logic Anti-Judaism ! 2. Christians in Roman Empire Christians against the Nations: vera and falsa religio Anti-Christian ridicule For not participating in Roman cult and tradition Offense to the gods threatens pax Romana Persecution! Tertullian builds a defense Christians cannot be guilty of offense, because the Roman gods are profane idols These gods simply do not exist 2. Christians in Roman Empire If they definitely are not gods, then definitely it is not a religion; if it is not a religion because they definitely are not gods, then we are definitely not guilty of injuring religion [Si enim non sunt dei pro certo, nec religio pro certo est: si religio non est, quia nec dei pro certo, nec nos pro certo rei sumus laesae religionis]. (Apol. XIV, 1). If we follow this line of reasoning, it was not Christians but rather Romans who were guilty of an offense against the true religion of the true God [veram religionem veri Dei] (Tertullian, Apol. XIV,1). Text box 5: Imaginary patterns of religionization and the messiness of daily life Religionization is the process of selfing and othering predicated on religious difference. Typically, binaries are made based on imaginary constructs: true and good religion are contrasted to false and bad religion, here called superstition. The problem of superstition is now projected onto non-Christian gentiles. Their way of worshipping the gods is false religion. There is but one true way of worshipping and that is the worship of the one true God. Vera religio Superstitio/falsa religio Christian Non-Christian Christians Ethnici The object of worship: one true God The object of worship: many false gods Genuine worship Idolatry Purifying Contaminating 18 Faculty, department, unit... 2. Christians in Roman Empire Crafting the Jew as Unchristian First Christians were Jews Many Jews also rejected Christian understanding of Jesus Challenging for Christians to deal with this rejection Intra-Christian dispute about how to deal with gentile Christians Keep Jewish law or not? 2. Christians in Roman Empire Crafting the Jew as Unchristian Christ-following Jews who began to reconsider the relationship between Jews and Gentiles. Some believed that gentile Christians while not having to uphold all the Jewish laws, would also not be able to fully participate in the Christian life. Others were convinced that one did not have to be Jewish to obtain full membership or full participation in the community of Christians (cf. the conflict between Jacob, Peter and Paul). Some sought to maintain a distinction, others sought to ignore it, stating that in the Christian community there would be “neither Greek nor Jew” (Rom 10.12), that all would be saved in Christ’s name, and that the meaning and significance of the Jewish Law and its prevailing food restrictions, ritual obligations and festivals had to be reconsidered Boundaries were projected and contested.  2. Christians in Roman Empire Crafting the Jew as Unchristian Christians were in disagreement about the ‘right way’ to be Christian and this disagreement provoked discussions about (1) how to read scripture and its prophecies; (2) the meaning and status of the Jewish Law and (3) the relation between Christians, who claimed to be heirs of God’s promises, and the Jews who rejected Jesus (Lieu, 2002, p. 95). As apologists sought defend their respective position, they made their case for what they believed was religiously normative by projecting the ‘Jew’ as falling outside this norm. 2. Christians in Roman Empire Adversus Iudaeos tradition “The hermeneutical Jew” an imagined Jew based on Christian-biblical and theological categories rather than on knowledge drawn from personal interaction Jews do not understand their scriptures, which they read according to the flesh Christians read according to the Spirit Blind to the true meaning of their own scriptures, Jews are blind to Gods’ plan of salvation. Christians, on the other hand, were masters of a more allegorical reading of scripture and of metaphorical and multi-layered interpretations of ritual. 2. Christians in Roman Empire Supersessionism Old and New people of God All the blessings and promises that God had once extended to Israel were transferred to the Church. To belong to Christian peoplehood – the new spiritual people of God – would entail not upholding Jewish ritual laws, thereby at the same time underscoring their spiritual redundancy. Not to participate in Jewish ritual becomes thereby a Christian identity- marker. 2. Christians in Roman Empire Crafting the Jew as Unchristian Blind, stubborn, carnal, … Law-Spirit Ritual-Spirit Deicide charge Intergenerational and collective guild Murder of God Rejected by God Outcast Hated Text box 8: Supersessionist patterns of religionization Jewish Christian Israel Church Tribal Universalist Exclusivist Inclusivist Literalist reading Allegorical reading Wilful ignorance (stubbornness) Knowledge Law Christ fulfils and supersedes the Law Carnal Spiritual Dietary laws excluding gentiles Commensality with gentile Christians Jews No more Greek or Jew Circumcision Baptism 25 Faculty, department, unit... 2. Christians in Roman Empire Making the figure of the heretic Christian norm – deviation Orthodoxy = original – heresy = perversion Historically not correct Multiple Christianities Heresy: school of thought 2. Christians in Roman Empire Making the figure of the heretic Product of religionization the heretic too is projected as falling outside the realm of vera religio, the Christian realm. Typically, heretics are accused of falsely claiming the name ‘Christian’ for their beliefs and practices. Pretending to be Christian, they poison the one Christian truth with their false and innovative teachings. They are both insiders and outsiders and this makes them particularly dangerous. 2. Christians in Roman Empire Making the figure of the heretic The Notion of Heresy Heresy (hairesis) did not always have such a negative connotation. In origin, the Greek word means ‘choice’, and is used to refer to different schools of thought. medical or philosophical schools of thought (e.g. the term is applied to Stoics and Pythagoreans) Flavius Josephus applies it to various Jewish groups, like the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, and the Zealots (Ant. 13.5.9; 18.1.2; War 2.8.14). In Acts, the term is used to refer to the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Christians (see Acts 5:17, 24:5, 24:14, 26:5, 28:22). Second-century Christian apologists to mean deviating opinions which threatened the unity of the Christian community and the continuation of tradition. 2. Christians in Roman Empire Making the figure of the heretic Context of contestation, persecution Important to keep community whole, one Diverging opinions : threat Source of inspiration: Paul : image of the body Metaphor of the body: dangerous Heresy: illness, disease, contamination 2. Christians in Roman Empire Making the figure of the heretic Heresiologists Mapping all heresies Maintaining boundaries when these boundaries were not always clear The orthodoxy/heresy binary projects a clearly demarcated truth, understood as single, coherent and whole, in opposition to falsehood, which is then understood as (1) a deviation and perversion of that single truth (2) a wilful and chosen error – malign intent is assumed and (3) treacherous, i.e. it often manifests itself under the guise of orthodoxy or under the pretence of orthodoxy – so it is difficult for ordinary people to recognize. (4) when one leaves this kind of dissent to fester, it can bring real harm to the Christian body.  Heresy Orthodoxy Sickness, disease The healthy body of Christ Deviance Norm Division (schisma) Unity Contamination Remedy Falsehood Truth 31 Faculty, department, unit... 3. The Coercive Turn 312 Emperor Constantine converts 313 Edict of Milan : Christians freedom to worship 325 Council of Nicea: one Christian norm: Nicene creed (orthodox) Nicene creed : vera religio 380: Edict of Thessalonica Christianity state religio Game changer Power dynamics shift 3. The Coercive Turn The process of Christianization sets in Christian norm is inscribed into the law Christian religious adherence is a condition for Roman citizenship Laws compiled in Codex Theodosianus (chapter 16) Religionized categories: Christians (Nicene), heretics, pagans and Jews Stratified society Christians are privileged, others face oppression Christian theological categories that are imaginary become consolidated as a socio- political and cultural reality People learn to behave accordingly Role of scholarship ! 3. The Coercive Turn Criminalization of Heresy Pax Romana Pax deorum / Pax Romana Pax dei Unity of the Empire, depends on religious unity God wants to be worshiped in the proper way Disaster is a sign of God not being happy 3. The Coercive Turn Edict Thessaloniki It is Our will that all the peoples who are ruled by the administration of Our Clemency shall practice that religion which the divine Peter the Apostle transmitted to the Romans, as the religion which he introduced makes clear even unto this day. It is evident that this is the religion that is followed by the Pontiff Damasus and by Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, a man of apostolic sanctity; that is, according to the apostolic discipline and the evangelic doctrine, we shall believe in the single Deity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, under the concept of equal majesty and of the Holy Trinity. We command [iubemus] that those persons who follow this rule shall embrace the name of Catholic Christians. The rest, however, whom We adjudge demented and insane [vero dementes vesanosque], shall sustain the infamy of heretical dogmas, their meeting places [conciliabula] shall not receive the name of churches, and they shall be smitten first by divine vengeance and secondly by the retribution of Our own initiative, which We shall assume in accordance with the divine judgment (CTh 16.1.2, d. 380). 3. The Coercive Turn Criminalization of heresy Name giving: Eunomeans, Macedonians, Arians, Encratites, Appolonarians Denying them the name of Christians Heresy is fake Christianity Heretics pretend to be Christians, mimic Christianity Heresy is a spatial problem To give heresy space is to allow the problem to spread and sicken the body Inside the walls of the city (imperial space) Meet in ‘churches’ The have to be driven out drom cities and villages, their homes confiscated, they have to be expelled from the whole world Theologians? Augustine: coercion is a form of love 3. The Coercive Turn Criminalization of the pagan Supersition/idolatry ~figure of the pagan Paganus = country dweller Christianity spread more quickly in larger cities (e.g. Antioch, Alexandria, Rome, Corinth) than in rural areas where ancient ‘traditions’ continued to exist much longer Christian thinkers were probably also influenced by Roman culture, where the paganus had already been associated with the superstition of the uneducated, foolish peasant, who did not live in the civilized urban Roman realm. Thus, the foolishness of the pagan intersects with the foolishness of idol worship, a topic mentioned time and again in Christian polemical treatises 3. The Coercive Turn The pagan/idolater/Hellene is a collective, a-historical, a-cultural and imaginary construct. The knowledge produced by this trope does not derive first and foremost from social interaction and, in fact, makes sense only within (Christian) theological narrative in which there is but one true religion. Consequently, the label ‘pagan’ functions without having a clear referent. The questions ‘Who is the pagan?’ ‘What do they do?’ ‘What inspires them?’ ‘What norms do they uphold?’ ‘What do they call themselves?” are just not relevant questions within a polemical Christian framework. 3. The Coercive Turn Similarly, later on, we do not really learn about Celtic, Slavic, Germanic people and their traditions. The assumption was that those people called pagans did not have “any name for themselves nor conceived of themselves as a kind of unified religious tradition...They neither had a common creed nor aimed at one” (Kahlos, 2020, p. 95). 3. The Coercive Turn The Codex Theodosianus: De Paganis Christianization of the Empire = paganization of Roman cult The laws addressing ‘pagan cult’ are likewise permeated by normative moralizing language setting up a binary between vera religio and the falsities of paganism (also called pagan superstition). adjectives and the nouns used to depict pagan cult are negative, ranging from “abhorrent”, “condemned”, “forbidden” “deviating from the dogmas of Catholic faith”, “meaningless idols”, “the worse sacrilege”, “execrable”, “insane”, honouring “vain idols”, “criminal”. Paganism is even called “an outrage against religion”. 3. The Coercive Turn The Codex Theodosianus: De Paganis The Codex Theodosianus 16.10, Pagans, Sacrifices, and Temples records twenty-five chronologically ordered laws aimed at delegitimizing and dismantleing pagan cult the abandonment, re-use or destruction of the altars and the removal of images. When confiscated temples came into the hands of the Church Some laws call for the eradication of all superstition but suggest that “temples outside the walls shall remain untouched” because they are part of cultural heritage (CTh 10.3, d. 346). Sometimes even the statues are to be left alone. They should be “measured by the value of their art rather than by their divinity” (CTh10.8, d. 382). In intercultural studies one would call this a form of code-switching – these statues are no longer religious phenomena but have become cultural ones. 3. The Coercive Turn The Codex Theodosianus: De Paganis The laws detail and forbid a whole range of cultic practices. Pagan feasts were to be transformed into workdays unless they were somehow integrated into the Christian calendar. Often transgressors would have to pay a fine. Privileges that had been granted by ancient law to priests, ministers, prefects, or hierophants of the sacred mysteries have to be abolished (CTh 16.10.14, d. 396) and those who have been “polluted by the profane false doctrine of crime of pagan rites […]. shall not be honored with the rank of administrator or judge” (CTh 16.10.21, d. 415). Especially animal sacrifice or blood sacrifice became the foil over against which Christianity would come to define itself. To the mind of Christians, sacrifice symbolized the wickedness or the madness of paganism. 3. The Coercive Turn Codex Theodosianus and the Jews Jews: ambivalent position Jews were theologically inferior and this was matched with their socio-political status of inferiority. They were not allowed to proselytize, i.e. pollute a Christian or a man of any sect, freeborn or slave, with the Jewish “stigma” (CTh 16.8.22) nor were they allowed to hold Christian slaves (CTh 3. 1,4; CTh 16.8.22; CTh 16.9.1; CTh 2; 5): They were not allowed to hold a public office in the government, become advocates, or enter into the imperial service or secret service (CTh 16.8.24) nor were they allowed to build new synagogues. Finally, Jews were not allowed to marry Christians (16.8.6 and 3,7,2): 3. The Coercive Turn Codex Theodosianus and the Jews Religio licita Jewish communities had a significant degree of autonomy (Fredriksen, 2014, p. 31). They were allowed to circumcise their sons, celebrate Sabbath and other feasts, and gather in the synagogues. They were also exempt from engaging in activities that profane their religion and Jews had the right not to attend court on Shabbat or any other religious or feast day. Jewish synagogues were not to be destroyed or unlawfully seized. Jews were not persecuted and massive and forced conversion did not belong to the official policy 3. The Coercive Turn Augustine’s doctrine of Jewish witness Mark of Cain No harm should be done to the Jewish people because they serve a twofold vital testimonial function in Christian societies. On the one hand, their subjugated, scattered (cursed) position bears testimony to their guilt. Their survival in exile confirms the dominion of the Church, that has replaced them as God’s beloved people. On the other hand, their scriptures and rituals testify to the roots of the New Testament in the Old, and to the truth of the prophesies of Christ. Augustine calls them “our book keepers,” (librarii nostri) How about Islam Initially, Christian commentators had little to say about Mohammad or the Qu’ran as a spiritual development and in their texts we find no trace of the now common terms ‘Islam’ or ‘Muslim’. Early Christian commentators were not interested in the Qur’anic prophecies. Their concern was the expansionary drive and military success of the Arabs and where Mohammad is named it is in reference to his role as a political leader, not as a spiritual leader. 4. Muslims enter the scene 7th century Initially, Christian commentators had little to say about Mohammad or the Qu’ran as a spiritual development and in their texts we find no trace of the now common terms ‘Islam’ or ‘Muslim’. Early Christian commentators were not interested in the Qur’anic prophecies. Their concern was the expansionary drive and military success of the Arabs and where Mohammad is named it is in reference to his role as a political leader, not as a spiritual leader. 4. Muslims enter the scene John of Damascus (7th century) Font of Knowledge Heresy “It takes its origin from Ishmael, who was born to Abraham from Hagar, and for this reason they are called Hagarenes and Ishmaelites. They also call them Saracens, allegedly for having been sent away by Sarah empty; for Hagar said to the angel, ‘Sarah has sent me away empty’” (Schadler, 2018, p. 219). Enslaved people – slaves to the Law 4. Muslims enter the scene Around this same time Beda Venerabilis (672/3-735) would call the Muslims ‘Saracens’ in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum. The term would however become a derogatory name for Muslims, who ‘pretended’ to descend “from Sara, Abraham’s legitimate wife, and not Hagar, her bondwoman, because of their shame — a story that characterized Muslims as liars, in the very act of telling a lie about them” (Heng, 2018). Muslims are thus not only an enslaved people, but are also a people of liars. 4. Muslims enter the scene Heresy – Arianism Idolatry – pagans – Appollo, Mahound, … Return to Jewish Law? 4. Muslims enter the scene John of Damascus (7th century) Font of Knowledge Heresy “It takes its origin from Ishmael, who was born to Abraham from Hagar, and for this reason they are called Hagarenes and Ishmaelites. They also call them Saracens, allegedly for having been sent away by Sarah empty; for Hagar said to the angel, ‘Sarah has sent me away empty’” (Schadler, 2018, p. 219). Enslaved people – slaves to the Law 4. Muslims enter the scene Around this same time Beda Venerabilis (672/3-735) would call the Muslims ‘Saracens’ in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum. The term would however become a derogatory name for Muslims, who ‘pretended’ to descend “from Sara, Abraham’s legitimate wife, and not Hagar, her bondwoman, because of their shame — a story that characterized Muslims as liars, in the very act of telling a lie about them” (Heng, 2018). Muslims are thus not only an enslaved people, but are also a people of liars. 4. Muslims enter the scene Muslims as pagans Idolatry Appollo, Mahound, … Muslims as Jews Return to Jewish Law? Death end