Toward a theology in service of dialogue among religions, cultures, and societies

Abstract

Even theological activity, in the variety of its expressions, can contribute to “bridging worlds,” to building bridges between worlds that risk being perceived and experienced as separate. Or, at the very least, theology can join forces with those who strive to imagine and build bridges. This is the hypothesis that orients the recent commitment of the “Associazione Teologica Italiana” (Italian Theological Society - ATI), a collective subject of ‘doing theology’ founded in 1967 that offers the opportunity to some 250 Italian theologians, the vast majority of whom are Catholics, to share thoughts and projects, to contribute to the understanding of the Christian faith and to dialogue with the cultural and religious context. Since its beginnings, the ATI has placed itself ‘in the cone of light’ of the Second Vatican Council and has sought to be faithful to the dialogical style witnessed by Pope St. Paul VI’s encyclical Ecclesiam suam. Today the ATI too, like other subjects of ‘doing theology’ in Italy, knows that it has to deal with a complex reality, from many perspectives, with a country characterised by different religious sentiments, by polarising tensions, by a crisis of confidence in the future that is evident first of all in the decrease in the youth population (from 2002 to 2023 the number of young people between the ages of 18 and 34 fell by 22.9%: three million fewer) and in the fear of migratory movements. [extract]