Dogma, praxis, and religious perspectives on multiculturalism

Enlightenment worldviews that cast religious belief, thought, and action in overly essentialist terms. Religious and theological thinking need to be s een as evolving rather than reified. This article traces the development of debates about culture in general, and multiculturalism in particular, in c ontemporary religious thinking. It analyses several specific theological vi ews on religious pluralism, from exclusivism to syncretism and apologetics. Each of these perspectives, like others before them, mirrors historical de velopments as well as trends in political philosophy in interesting ways. T hus, while much of our political debates over the role of religion remain m irrored in exclusivist analyses, contemporary religious thought provides ne w ways of thinking about the socio-political implications of the multiple s ystems of belief present in the world. It is thus critical to reincorporate the study of religious thinking into debates about the purpose of politica l community and the interaction between ethical thinking and historical pra xis.