Washington D.C., Dec 11, 2007 / 09:40 am
The Doctrine Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has examined a work of theologian Father Peter C. Phan, “Being Religious Interreligiously: Asian Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue.”
Father Phan, a priest of the Diocese of Dallas, Texas, is a professor in Georgetown University’s Department of Theology. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith asked the American bishops’ Doctrine Committee to evaluate the book. The committee asked Father Phan to clarify points of concern over a period of two years.
The committee’s evaluation was presented in a document titled “Clarifications Required by the Book ‘Being Religious Interreligiously: Asian Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue’.” The committee said that Father Phan’s book uses “certain terms in an equivocal manner” that “opens the text up to significant ambiguity.” It added that “a fair reading of the book could leave readers in considerable confusion as to the proper understanding of the uniqueness of Christ.”
The committee focused on three areas of theological concern: Jesus Christ as the unique and universal Savior of all humankind; the salvific significance of non-Christian religions; and the Church as the unique and universal instrument of salvation.