Religious contact: There is no religion without another religion
Findings from a discussion with researchers from the Centre for Religious Studies (CERES) at Ruhr University Bochum.
The Ev.-luth. Mission in Lower Saxony (ELM) sees itself as a bridge builder between cultures and religions. Encounters across cultural and religious boundaries are therefore at the heart of its work. Such contacts encourage people to question their own convictions, recognise differences and gain new perspectives. They can trigger personal development - and this is precisely where their potential for religions as a whole lies.
Because not only people, but also religions change in contact with each other. CERES researchers use the term "religious contact" to describe this process. The philosopher of religion Dr Knut Martin Stünkel puts it succinctly:
"There is no religion without another religion."
Religions therefore do not emerge and develop in isolation, but in exchange, in comparison and often also in differentiation from others.
This perspective focusses on religion as a dynamic process. One's own teachings and convictions are often only formulated more clearly in comparison with others. Mission is a particularly visible form of religious contact: When people carry their faith into new contexts, encounters arise that can be characterised by exchange, misunderstandings, learning - but also by conflict.
"When a religion feels compelled to go to another country, meets people there and tries to convert them, it also encounters what it describes as another religion."
Dr Patrick Felix Krüger emphasises how diverse such processes are. Every encounter with a different religious or cultural perspective challenges us to rethink our own position. This can lead to change - or to a more conscious demarcation. Religious contact therefore does not automatically mean rapprochement, but can also reinforce differences. However, it is precisely this tension that is a prerequisite for genuine dialogue.
"Because if these different perspectives weren't there, we wouldn't have a dialogue. Then the whole thing would simply take place in a monologue."
History also shows how different religious contacts are. In the 19th century, numerous missionary movements were active worldwide, each with their own dynamics. While local religions were devalued in some regions, an intensive exchange developed elsewhere, for example between Christian and Hindu traditions of thought in India.
Religious contact is also evident in concrete objects, such as crosses or representations that combine different cultural and religious influences. Dr Felicity Jensz refers to examples from missionary contexts, such as crosses made with materials that were unusual in Europe, or depictions that combine different cultural and religious influences. Such artefacts make visible how new forms of expression emerge from encounters.
"You could say it's a contact zone where different cultures and religions come together - and something new can emerge from this."
For the ELM, the concept of religious contact opens up a helpful perspective on its own work. Mission thus appears less as a one-sided transmission of faith and more as a reciprocal process of encounter. This presents challenges - but also opportunities for understanding, self-reflection and shared learning.
