Ecumenical with the Truth?: Jehovah’s Witnesses and Dialogue

The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ stance towards ecumenical and interfaith dialogue is an uncompromising one, regarding all manifestations of religion outside the Society as ‘false religion’ and part of Babylon the Great. The article discusses the history of Watch Tower Society’s stance towards Roman Catholi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal for the study of new religions
Main Author: Chryssides, George D. 1945- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: equinox 2012
In: International journal for the study of new religions
Further subjects:B Watch Tower
B Ecumenism
B Jehovah’s Witnesses
B Interfaith
B Global Ethic
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ stance towards ecumenical and interfaith dialogue is an uncompromising one, regarding all manifestations of religion outside the Society as ‘false religion’ and part of Babylon the Great. The article discusses the history of Watch Tower Society’s stance towards Roman Catholicism, and to the formation of the Evangelical Alliance in 1846. Under Rutherford’s leadership a new understanding of Christian apostasy and other faiths emerged, based on the Protestant writer Alexander Hislop’s The Two Babylons. The second part of the article turns to the present-day dialogue movement, arguing that the key Christian ecumenical themes of baptism, eucharist and ministry, are of no concern to Jehovah’s Witnesses. Interfaith dialogue involves harmful associations, and ecumenical and interfaith worship run counter to the Witnesses’ ways of worshipping God. Finally, attention is given to Hans Küng’s global ethic, which the Watch Tower Society contrasts with its own ‘global solution’ to the world’s problems.
ISSN:2041-952X
Contains:Enthalten in: International journal for the study of new religions
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1558/ijsnr.v3i1.5