From Religious Diversity to Religious Pluralism

From Religious Diversity to Religious Pluralism 
Reflection by Diana Eck, panel response and roundtable discussions 
Plenary Session II 
 

"Pluralism is an encounter of all of our differences. It is a reconstruction and renegotiation of our common life in light of that encounter. Pluralism requires something of us; it is not a given; it is an achievement. What is required is the kind of six years of work that the Multi-faith Council here at Wellesley has put into it. This is one of the stories of the movement from diversity to pluralism that is still being written."

-- Diana Eck

"...education is neither objectivist nor subjectivist but continually dialogical, bringing our own experience into encounter with that of another and returning to ourselves to evaluated what it is that we have learned and to rethink our own presuppositions in light of that learning."

-- Diana Eck

"We've been so intent on butting our heads against the prevailing secular-rationalist culture that we're only now beginning to notice that that culture has shifted dramatically to provide significant open spaces for religious ways of learning and understanding...

We need a change whereby our colleges and universities become at one and the same time, through our cooperative vision, first--welcoming of spiritual perspectives, second--supportive of particular religious expressions, and third--exemplary of the way in which all spiritual paths are finally leading to the same sacred ground."

-- Susan Laemmle - Rabbi and Dean of Religious Life at the University of Southern California