. . . while the goal of inter-religious dialogue is sometimes thought to be a single religious understanding, that proves to be a mistake, and a dangerous one, because of its tendency to impose closure not warranted by intellectual honesty. The current dialogue is lodged in another pursuit; of freely giving each person the voice to speak for his or her faith tradition. . . . This posture of open engagement might be said to be a mode of peacemaking; a way of engaging difference that is very far from the all too common view of the other as dispensable enemy. The dialogue over the past ten years is in fact testimony to the refusal to permit the powers of division to define for us who our enemies are. To put it positively, it is an admission that we have become friends and that difference does not negate the possibility of trust and deep and lasting friendship. --From the Introduction
