 Why a center for dialogue?
As we move into the 21st century, one of our greatest challenges is that while we live in a world of global communication and instantaneous access to information, authentic dialogue and conversation about the things that truly matter has become increasingly rare. The models for dialogue in this era of mass media are almost always experts presenting their opinions and positions in what is too often the most intransigent and polemically volatile manner possible. Communication has become unidirectional: The mass media speaks at us not with us.
Our institutions are characterized by increasing specialization and structures that foster competition rather than cooperation. While our universities speak about the importance of interdisciplinary courses and research and its power to play a crucial integrating role for the community, the fact is that the professional and institutional structures present persistent roadblocks to its realization. The disciplines need space and opportunities for cooperative work—in the form of courses, research and dialogue.
Perhaps worse than this lack of communication within our institutions is communications between critical institutions of society. Our universities and colleges have isolated themselves from the communities in which they exist. Academia and the various institutions in the community at large, whether government, business or civil society, need space and opportunity to engage in dialogue in order to discover common concerns and effective paths to action.
The American system of engaged, participatory democracy is built on the sharing of a commons, a truly public sphere where citizens can communicate ideas and concerns. We are experiencing an accelerating disintegration of this public sphere. This threatens the very foundations of our democracy. This decline of the public sphere as a place for dialogue and critical discussion is part of what can only be seen as a wholesale withdrawal from engaged public life on the part of our citizenry.
The final area where dialogue has become critical is between the diverse faith communities. Hans Kung and the Parliament of the World’s Religions put it this way: “There will be no peace in the world until there is peace among the religions and there will be no peace among the religions until there is dialogue among the religions.” Not only is the lack of dialogue between the religions a source of many of the world’s most intractable problems, but the world’s religions represent a powerful resource to address the social and environmental issues with which we are faced. The most effective way to activate this resource is through dialogue.
The Brueggeman Center seeks to foster dialogue that is
1) interreligious,
2) interdisciplinary,
3) intercultural, and
4) interinstitutional.
True dialogue demands not just that we speak, but that we be willing to listen to the other voices and positions, that we be open to the possibility of new understanding and personal and communal transformation that can emerge. Through dialogue we hope to find common concerns and common ground. Our belief is that whatever the ultimate answers might be, dialogue is the starting place.
|
