Dialogical Transformation

Exploring Avenues of Interreligious Dialogue as a Practice Promoting Spiritual Growth

By (author) J.F. Tanner

Book cover: Dialogical Transformation

Extent: 162 pages

Publisher: Peeters Publishers

Subjects: Religious Studies

Series: Studies in Spirituality Supplements

Series volume number: 25

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(April 2016)

ISBN: 9789042932579

Price: $85.00

In stock

In the midst of growing religious plurality and diversity, interreligious dialogue has been an increasingly prominent response to this situation. The present project analyzes the history and significance of interreligious encounter, particularly in the U.S. American context but with implications that go beyond this setting. Focus is placed on the hermeneutical character of dialogue and its transformative power, examining what transformation means primarily through the lenses of philosophical hermeneutics.


In the midst of growing religious plurality and diversity, interreligious dialogue has been an increasingly prominent response to this situation. The present project analyzes the history and significance of interreligious encounter, particularly in the U.S. American context but with implications that go beyond this setting. Focus is placed on the hermeneutical character of dialogue and its transformative power, examining what transformation means primarily through the lenses of philosophical hermeneutics. The transformation that arises from interfaith encounter involves a realized experience of truth disclosure. This event of growth is elucidated as transformation by integration, incorporating elements of the other into one’s own religious identity. This involves a renewal, expansion, and enhancement of understanding. For further illustration, the Buddhist and Christian traditions and their soteriological frameworks for transformation are explored. It is argued that interreligious dialogue, as a religious practice, engenders and supports the liberating transformation present in each religious worldview.

  • By (author) J.F. Tanner