Eight Dispositional Postures For Religious Dialoguing: The Positive Enactment of Prescriptive and Proscriptive Cooperation

Abstract

Formal religious dialogue is an honourable enterprise with a long and distinguished history. However, the cultivation of attitudinal prescriptions and proscriptions for official dialoguers has been scantily researched. The literature was reviewed, and eight dispositional postures were identified and explicated herein, namely: (a) agreeing to disagree; (b) non-aggression, non-confrontation; (c) truthfulness and fairness; (d) honesty, sincerity, trust, respect, integrity and love; (e) mutual cooperation; (f) critical but nonevaluative reflections; (g) tolerance of faith proclaiming statements; and (h) an expectation of change, mutual transformation and risk-taking. It was concluded that a thoughtful application of these eight postures would greatly improve the quality and effectiveness of future dialogue praxis.