Is the Religious Truth Capable of Pluralism? Reflections on Understanding Truth in a Plural Religious Context

Abstract

The following considerations will proceed in three steps: First, the formation of religious identity in a secular and multi-religious context will be examined. The prevailing plural understanding of truth, however, stands in contrast to the principle of bivalence that underlies classical philosophical and theological conceptions of truth. According to this principle, there can only be untruth besides the one truth. This one truth is independent of life-world conditions and generally valid. The second step will sketch out the basic types of philosophical conceptions of truth in general, in order to ask in the third step whether and to what extent these are sufficient for the understanding of truth in the context of religion. I argue for going beyond a cognitive-propositional understanding of truth in this context and to also include personal and existential dimensions.