Antonius Virdei Eresto Gaudiawan

Interreligious Hermeneutics
Moyaert, Fragile Identities

My proposal for my dissertation is discuss about multicultural education. For me, the
term multicultural is still ambiguous. But actually I know that my topic is concerned on how we
as a Catholic respect other religions. This theme is derived from the teaching on the Nostra
Aetate by which The Catholic Church respects and acknowledge some good teaching, the
message and revelation from other religions. But, on the problem of salvation, The Catholic
Church tends to soteriological concept that God is the fullness salvation of this world.
This Catholic Church teaching and principle makes me think from the reading of
Moyaert, Fragile Identity. Is it Catholic Church stand as a proportionalist, liberalist with their
expressivist model, postliberalist or particularist? It draws me to go deeper to know deeply about
the postliberalist and particularist. As it is noted from Moyaert, He go further to support
particularist by learning from Paul Ricoeur on problem of language, translation, ethics and
identity.
What the Catholic Church teaches nowadays is a way by which every Catholic
should understand other religons and respect their good teachings or dogmas in it. That’s why in
the Nostra Aetate, there is reflection on others religion, such as Moslem, Jew, and other non
Christian religions. Derived from this teaching, nowadays, in the Catholic Religious Education
for the twelveth class, there is a topic or theme about respecting other religions. In that topic,
students learn other religions, especially six official religions in Indonesia. This topic is held in
three weeks as I know.
After reading Moyaert, The Fragile Identities, arose a big question on my mind.
What is the effect of the religious education on other religions, I usually call it multicultural
religious education? What kind of interreligious dialogue and hermeneutic that is held behind
that topic? I afraid that that topic only rest on the postliberalism principle by which every student
only learn about other religion literary without any comprehensive approach to know and
elaborate with other religious people. Actually, that is what happens today in the mid of
multicultural religious education. They only study the text without any more act of going out to
meet other religious people. There is no encounter with other religious people by which they can
understand better about other religions.
Going further while following Moyaert path, we will not completely comprehend
others religion. There is a space of emptiness between religions and their community. But this
empty area and our understanding of other religions will eventually reveal our identity as a
Catholic. Then we may ask, “Do the students more acknowledge and conscious of themselves as
a Catholic after study other religions? Does their lesson makes them have a more respect and
received other religions as their part of life as have been stated by Paul Ricoeur on linguistic
hospitality that then expanded to interreligious hospitality by Moyaert?