243 Relational Epistemology and the Art of Living Together 7 on absolute truth and epistemology. The conversation about this topic started in the 11th meeting, when one member of the outsider group indicated that she had heard DCU students reflecting on their first experience with her school in a way she did not like: ‘I hear among those students comments such as our faith is unquestionably the good one. Of course, that’s in the Bible. But it’s how you deal with it in practice’. A few moments earlier, she had observed that, in a religiously and culturally diverse context, ‘it does not always go the way you would like it, maybe, but you also have to reckon with the other party’. A little later, the same teacher further explained her meaning as follows: Because if you bring that to the kids in the classroom, that the Christian faith is the way it should be and the other’s faith doesn’t matter, then you close all of the doors. And that’s what I mean a little bit by creating that open attitude, that you can also have respect for how they are in life and that you get further with that. Also, if you want to bring them to God, you get further with that this way than if you immediately close all of the doors. In this quotation, the open attitude functions as an elementary aspect of presenting the Christian truth claim, although the nature of this open attitude is more strategic than substantive and theologically driven. Yet, the transcript of the 11th meeting shows the start of a gradual shift by the conversational community from perceiving an open attitude as strategically necessary (to not close doors, as the quotation references) to validating elements of an open attitude as substantive—that is, as part of what the Christian message and Christian theology are about. In the 11th meeting, this process of openness as not only strategically but also theologically driven began with some pedagogical notions, as made clear in the following reactions from two members of the insider group (P1 and P2) and two members of the outsider group (P3 and P4): P1: We had a staff day at DCU last Thursday and social safety is a theme with us now. That woman also said, connect first, communicate first.... P2: Slow down as well. P1: Communicate first, slow down, connect. You don’t have to agree right away, but seek contact. And you actually say that too. They don’t have to leave out their own beliefs, but open up to the other person first. P3: Yes, exactly. P4: And I think, before you can do that at all, you first have to know who you are yourself. You have to know very well what you yourself stand for. Because only then can you be flexible, can you be open, and if you know that very well, you won’t immediately fall over when someone says or thinks something
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