Journal of European Baptist Studies, Volume 7, No. 3, 2007

hristians. Consequently, it seems that Hryniewicz is following the same path as Cobb, balancing between religious absolutism and relativism. It is about a constant transformation of the universalistic statements of the respective religions as a result of a conscious dialogue between them. Christianity is a true religion inasmuch as it releases people to a constant quest for the i o truth. The truth is found ‘in between’, therefore knowing the truth is not an event but a constant, dialectic process of deconstruction and reconstruction. 19 This refers not only to the relationships between religions but also to Christianity itself, characterised after all by considerable internal diversification. Waclaw Hryniewicz notes that also in the New Testament the fundamental truths were expressed: by various although complementary notions. This demonstrates the multiplicity of perspectives. There is nothing like the only perspective ... The complementariness of numerous ideas teaches 16 Hryniewicz, Kosciol jest jeden, p. 263. 17 Ibid., pp. 195-196. 18 J.B. Cobb, Jr, Hans Kiing’s Contribution to Interreligious Dialogue, in P.F. Knitter (ed.). Transforming Christianity and the World: A Way Beyond Absolutism and Relativism (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2002), p. 175. 19 See J.B. Cobb, Jr, ‘Responses to Relativism: Common Ground, Deconstruction, and Reconstruction’, in Soundings 73 (Winter 1990), pp. 595-616. 22 Journal of European Baptist Studies us how to be open in thinking from a different perspective, the perspective of somebody else. It is only by mutually complementary perspectives and ways of thinking that we come closer to the correct interpretation and fuller understanding of who Jesus Christ is for a Christian. One perspective complements another, corrects it and broadens for the reception of the mystery 20 exceeding all our human notions and experiences.“ From the inter-religious perspective the particular truths are, on the one hand, relative, but on the other, absolutely necessary as parts of the whole. Therefore, every point of view must be taken into consideration and treated with respect. Consequently, it is important that there should be an inclusive inter-religious community which—preserving the dynamic (i.e. constantly transformed) diversity of its members—will stimulate its mutual inspiration and growth. This may result for example in the Buddhisation of Christianity or Christianisation of Buddhism, just as in the period following Vaticanum Secundum there was much discussion about the Catholisation of Protestantism and Protestantisation of Catholicism. In this process, Cobb differentiates between transformation and deformation; the dialogue between the various confessions and religions should neither lead to their homogenisation and loss of specificity nor to a hostile confrontation (and, consequently, a religious war). 21 Dialogue always leads to the transformation of its partic