Nostra Aetate - In Our Time

48 looks at the theologian and says: “ I don ’ t understand. ” Why does Jesus Christ not understand? In the history of Islamic Philosophy, the texts of Mir- damad – the master and teacher of Sadroddin Shirazi, the great Iranian theologian, philosopher and mystic – are also very complicated and infinitely far from understanding. On the first night after he passed away, one of them asked Mirdamad: “ Who is your God? ” He replied: “Ostoghosson fogh al ostoghssat.” Ostoghoss is originally a Greek word Stikion or stikos, meaning the identity of everything in the last station of our knowl- edge and research. The angel did not understand the word, so she went to ask Almighty God. But the Almighty told her: “Do not worry, when Mirdamad was alive I did not understand his language at all.” We have a verse in the Holy Koran, 54:17: “ قال تعالى: { وَلَقَدْ يَسّرْنَا الْقُرْآنَ لِلذّكْرِ فَهَلْ مِنْ مُدّكِرٍ { ” This verse, meaning “and we have indeed made the Koran easy to understand and remember. Then is there any that can deny this?” is repeated four times in chapter 54. It is said that the theology of Karl Rahner begins where and when traditional theology ends. In the new theology, we need to focus on two pillars. Firstly, that the centre of theology is for the benefit of man, and secondly that theology should be understanda- ble and readable by the people. These two elements shed light on each other, and offer a context of relevance for each other. I think, as Buddha says in the Book of the Twos , that we need liberation of mind and liberation by wisdom. When I say “ mind ” in this context, it refers to an old theology. In that theology, based on Martin Buber ’ s epoch-making book, I and Thou , we are talking about the God. Our relation with Him is the relation between I and He. There is a huge gap between us. When I say “ liberation by wisdom ” , I mean a new theology, which defines the relation between me and the God as: I and you. What is wisdom such that it can be a roadmap for this new theology? I mean the wisdom that the prophet Solomon asked Almighty God, Jehovah: ל - ־ ן ֶּת ע ָּד ַמוּ ה ָמ ְכ ָח ה ָּת ַע “Grant me knowledge and wisdom” (2 Chronicles 1:10). Wisdom is knowledge plus light. Light is definitely love to the human being. The value of a human being in every scripture or holy text – jurisprudence – is the criterion by which we can know which theology is important to interreligious relations. NOSTRA AETATE AND THE RELIGIONS OF ABRAHAM Dr. Mohajerani greets Rev. Charles Gibbs at the Parliament of the World’s Religions, Salt Lake City, 2015