Dialogue Ad Extra: The Relevance of Unitatis Redintegratio and Nostra Aetate

Abstract

This article addresses the issue of dialogue ad extra based on the documents of the Second Vatican Council, especially the decree on ecumenism Unitatis redintegratio and the declaration Nostra aetate on interreligious dialogue, grounding the analysis on paragraph 8 of the constitution Lumen genti­um in particular. To this end, we use the conciliar texts, with references to the history of the drafting of the documents, as well as to the problems that arose during the period of reception of the Council, and how some documents on ecumenical and interreligious dialogue have addressed them. We develop this question by first elaborating on religious pluralism, to which the Council attempts to respond. Secondly, we study the ecclesiological background that made the opening to dialogue possible, taking into account particularly ecumenical dialogue and interreligious dialogue. The study allows us to affirm that Unitatis redintegratio and Nostra aetate are concretizations and extensions of the constitution Lumen gentium. Therefore, without the ecclesiological background proposed by the constitution, dialogue ad extra as proposed by the Council and developed in the postconciliar period would not have been possible.