Faith, Ethics, and Communication: Some Recent Writing in Philosophical Theology

Four very different books on the relationship between faith and ethics are reviewed from the point of view of coping morally and intellectually with difference. Marty focuses on the stranger in pluralist societies and finds that more than mere tolerance is needed as a response to religious difference. Humility and hospitality draw more deeply on the resources of the religions as a basis for true civility. Muers explores the communicative possibilities of silence: how can one speak of God's self‐communication without silencing others? She draws conclusions for sensitive questions such as the right to privacy. Schweiker identifies “spaces of reasons” in which the religions can be moral resources in a “time of many worlds.” Burrell sets up an inter‐religious dialogue across the ancient world, bringing thinkers as diverse as Aquinas, al‐Ghazali, and Maimonides into conversation about the relationship between creator and creature.