Episcopal Press and News

Anglican Communion Interfaith Network launches key document 'Generous Love'

Episcopal News Service. February 7, 2008 [020708-05]

The Anglican Communion's Network for Interfaith Concerns (NIFCON) has released a document intended for those already engaged interfaith relations and those who are considering how and whether they might begin such engagement, an Anglican Communion Office (ACO) news release announced.

The document, "Generous Love: the truth of the Gospel and the call to dialogue -- An Anglican theology of inter faith relations," is the culmination of four years' work. "The discernment of a distinctively Anglican theology of interfaith relations is set against the backdrop of and builds on similar work in other Christian traditions, notably Nostra Aetate," the ACO release notes, referring to the Second Vatican Council's Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions.

Generous Love is being sent to every Anglican diocesan bishop and to all NIFCON contacts. Recipients are being asked to disseminate the document as widely as possible.

"Much has been said about the pressing need for serious engagement and understanding between faiths so that it might be a solution to rather than the cause of disharmony or even violence," the ACO release says in response to the question: Why do we need a theology of inter faith relations? "However, such engagement requires a solid foundation from within our Christian faith and it should not be simply something arising out of political expediency or to suit the current trend."

Generous Love comes out of work that previous Lambeth Conferences have mandated NIFCON to do. It is offered ahead of the 2008 Lambeth Conference "as a tool in the equipping and training of bishops for God's mission and ministry, and through the bishops the wider church," the ACO release says.

For more information visit the NIFCON website here or contact the administrator at susanne.mitchell@aco.org or by calling +44 (0)207 313 3939.