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He was co-founder in 1977 of an organisation called the Islamo-Christian Research Group (GRIC).
10 Februari 2017 12:32
Claude Geffre, a French Catholic priest and theologian who was an influential promoter of dialogue between Christians and Muslims, died on Thursday at the age of 91, the French church's National Service for Relations with Muslims said.
Geffre was co-founder in 1977 of an organisation called the Islamo-Christian Research Group (GRIC), gathering Christian and Muslim thinkers around the Mediterranean.
It aimed at encouraging religious pluralism and ending a so-called "dialogue of the deaf" between the two faiths.
The turning point in Geffre's life was the Second Vatican Council -- the paramount meeting of the Catholic Church, running from 1962-1965, that spurred efforts towards dialogue with other religions.
After Vatican II, Geffre was placed in charge of fundamental theology at the Catholic Institute of Paris, but decided he should no longer concentrate on defending dogma but instead focus on hermeneutics -- the field of studying and interpreting different religious texts.
He came under fire from hardcore traditionalists within the Catholic hierarchy who opposed what they feared was a slide to religious relativism.
In 2007, the Congregation for Catholic Education -- the Vatican body that oversees Catholic universities -- refused to approve an honorary doctorate that the Faculty of Theology in Kinshasa, the capital of Democratic Republic of Congo, sought to award Geffre for his lifelong work.
Agence France-Presse
