Theological learning in the presence of the other

I’ve just come back from a long week immersed in learning about theologies of religious pluralism/comparative theologies. One insight that emerged for me is that missiologists and practical theologians may well be much further down this road than many systematicians. I think that the energy around missiology — which in 1910 helped grow an ecumenical movement — has in some ways evolved into a space for theologies of religious pluralism. Witness, for example, this study document coming out of an association of churches in Germany and across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. They are launching several years of study around the theme “Christian witness in a pluralistic world,” in part as preparation and then follow-up to the Edinburgh 2010 meeting.