Christianity and the encounter of religions and cultures
May 30, at the Sorbonne
Article summary proposed by the Contacts review with LLM assistance
This article is the transcription of a lecture delivered by Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch at the Sorbonne in May 1983. It offers a theological reflection on contemporary tensions between globalization and the quest for cultural and religious identity. The approach is both analytical and testimonial: the Patriarch draws on the singular experience of the Church of Antioch, a historical crossroads between Hellenism, Semitism, and Islam, to articulate a Christian vision of pluralism. The central idea is that neither nihilistic uniformization nor identity-based withdrawal constitutes a valid response to the encounter of cultures. The theological contribution lies in the mobilization of the Orthodox concepts of divine-humanity and Uni-Trinity as foundations for an anthropology capable of uniting universality and singularity, thereby opening a non-Western Christian path to interreligious and intercultural dialogue.
This article has not been translated yet — it is available in its French version here.
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