DIALOGUE: PHENOMENOLOGY OF PERCEPTIVITYA GERMAN EXPERIENCE

Wolf D. A. Aries

Wolf. D. Ahmed Aries is a Professor of religious sciences
in Germany. He has taught theology, with a focus on Islam, at the
Universities of Paderborn, Kassel and Oldenburg. At the University of
Paderborn, he did work on the encounter between Jewish and Islamic
curricula. He retired form formal academic work in 1997. In 1998, he worked
as the scientific counsellor for the Islamic Council for the Federal
Republic of Germany. Currently, Aries is a guest Lecturer with the
theological department at the University of
Bielefeld.

Some of the ensuing considerations may only be
comprehensible to outsiders if they are conscious of the historical
developments, which include the history of minorities and of the idea of
tolerance in Europe, of the two totalitarisms and the resulting special
situation in the Federal Republic of Germany today. When Muslims joined the
societal discourse they were not only faced with this development but also with
an established dialogue between Christians and Jews. Communication in such a
structure will always touch barriers like memory, linguistic expression,
limitations caused by the taken point of view and its resulting perceptivity.
Thus the process of dialogue does not take place in a gaping void but at certain
point of view in mind and within a certain. The conflict of memories between
dialogue partners as well as the different levels of dialogue can be explained
through this hypothesis.