Reconciling Evangelization and Dialogue

I have posted under my name at the side a draft of my Scarpa Conference essay, “Reconciling Evangelization and Dialogue through Love of Neighbor.”  It begins with a brief analysis of the controversy generated by Pope Benedict’s Regensburg address, and then proceeds to explore one of the tensions with sparked such intense reactions—the difficulty in reconciling robust focus on Christian identity (evangelization) with a careful attention to the sensitivities and sensibilities of people of other religions (dialogue).  Drawing on elements in John Paul II’s “missionary spirituality” as outlined in Redemptoris Missio (1990), it explores the extent to which evangelization and dialogue might be reconciled through the imitation of the self-emptying, universal and concrete love of Christ.  It then describes a few “witnesses” of this kind of love in action in politics and law.  I’d welcome your feedback (and many many thanks to several of you for taking the time for in depth conversations about the draft).  It will be published by the Villanova Law Review together with the essays by Rick Garnett, Patrick Brennan and Avery Cardinal Dulles.  Thanks again to Patrick for putting together such a terrific event.  Amy