Living in a Pluralistic Reality

Abstract

In the past decades, pluralism has gained a central position on many forums. In theological and, more specifically, in ecclesiological contexts, it has been a main issue, involving a more positive attitude toward other religions and cultures. At the same time, pluralism lias also lead to the appearance of fears. tensions, and misunderstandings. In light of my own experience, I would like to offer a few points for reflection and further constructive debates. For more than half of my life, I lived in daily contact with a pluralistic society. Although I was born in Italy, at that time still a typical monocultural and monoreligious society, I also lived in India for almost three decades and traveled extensively to other pails of Asia. This experience gave me the opportunity to encounter a multifacctcd. multiethnic, multicultural, and multircligious society, or societies. to be more precise, I personally realize how enriching it is to be exposed to a wide spectrum of otherness and diversities to the point that I perceive and share, in all its depth, Leonard Boff’s perspective when he underlines that the tendency to make an absolute of one’s own comprehension of reality may lead to an impoverishment.