Interfaith Dialogue and Mystical Consciousness

Interfaith dialogue can be understood through the lens of mystical consciousness. The article argues that the Trinity can be directly experienced in interfaith contexts and proposes an interfaith framework that accounts for the possibilities, complexity, and challenges of such encounters. It applies Gavin Flood's three orders of discourse—traditions' experience and texts, interpretation within traditions, and academic inquiry—to the study of interfaith mysticism, using a phenomenological emphasis on hermeneutics. The inquiry draws on Hindu mystical figures (Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Aurobindo) and Christian interfaith thinkers (Henri Le Saux, Bede Griffiths, David Steindl-Rast), in conversation with Raimon Panikkar and Francis X. Clooney.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract This article focuses on the meeting of faith traditions—interfaith dialogue—from the perspective of mystical consciousness. In doing so, it aims to understand the dynamics and potentialities of interfaith mysticism. The contribution of this article to religious studies, in combination with theological inquiry, is threefold: first, it illuminates how the Trinity is directly experienced in interfaith contexts; second, it provides an interfaith framework that accounts for the possibilities, complexity, and challenges of interfaith encounters; third, it shows how Gavin Flood’s three orders of discourse—traditions’ experience and texts, interpretation within traditions, and academic inquiry—can be applied to the study of interfaith mysticism, employing a phenomenological emphasis on hermeneutics. The inquiry is located within the context of representatives of Hindu mystical consciousness (Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Aurobindo) and the Christian interfaith tradition (Henri Le Saux, Bede Griffiths, David Steindl-Rast), in conversation with Raimon Panikkar’s and Francis X. Clooney’s approaches to interreligious studies.