Dynamics of Difference

Werner G. Jeanrond is a prominent and provocative theologian with a worldwide readership. This collection of essays in honour of his 60th birthday investigate the otherness of the other as a challenge of Christianity, exploring and elaborating a core concept of Jeanrond's theological thinking. His colleagues and companions, leading scholars from all over the world, track the dynamics of difference from an interdisciplinary and international perspective. Accordingly, the compilation offers a comprehensive account of the challenge of otherness in Christianity. Who is the other? Where do we encounter the other? What do we encounter when we encounter the other? And what responsibilities does the encounter with the other entail? Responding to these questions, this book analyses otherness in the Bible, otherness in contemporary theologies and philosophies, otherness in the dialogue with religious and non-religious others, otherness in ethics, the self as other, and the radical otherness of God. Investigating the many faces and facets of the other, this volume ultimately retrieves openness to the other as a necessity for both Christianity and reflections on Christianity.