Missio-logoi, interreligious dialogue, and the parable of the Good Samaritan

Abstract

Although the parable of the Good Samaritan has the elements characteristic of an inter religious interchange, that is, interaction among Jews and Samaritans, it has almost never been read that way. Commentators have not picked up on the meaning of the parable from the point of view of inter religious dialogue. It should be read that way, as one reading among several. In our day and age of religiously plural cultures, an inter religious reading of the parable has much to offer us.

Interfaith friendship as incarnational mission practice: Presidential Address, ASM 2018

“…We gain some wonderful insights into this story from at least two of our colleagues. At the 2015 ASM conference Terry Muck (2016: 12) placed the Good Samaritan story in the context of bringing more than one “missiologoi,” or reading, to a text. He looked at it, specifically, in terms of interreligious dialogue, in which he masterfully showed us that “if a member of a hated religious group, the Samaritans, can behave like this [rescuing the stranger] to members of other religious groups, so should we.” In other words, the “religious other” here demonstrates that we are to treat all people (even our enemy, or those with whom we seem to have little in common because of religious difference) as if they were kin, binding up their wounds, taking them to safety, and providing for their care.…”