Dialogue Derailed

Ambrose Mong, O.P., is visiting professor at the University of Saint Joseph, Macau, and part-time lecturer at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He holds an MA in English from the University of British Columbia, an STB from the Angelicum, Rome, as well as an MPhil and PhD in Religious Studies from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

• Foreword by Peter C. PhanPreface and AcknowledgementsIntroduction1 Foundations and Development of Ratzinger's Theology2 Challenge of Religious Pluralism3 Ecclesiology: All Roads Lead to Rome4 Ecumenism: Logos versus Ethos5 Threat of Secularism6 Dictatorship of Relativism7 Tissa Balasuriya: Mary and Human Liberation8 Jacques Dupuis: Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism9 Peter Phan: Being Religious Interreligiously10 Theological Context and Vision11 Perspective of the Federation of Asian Bishops' ConferencesBibliographyIndex

"Mong's analysis of Joseph Ratzinger's fight against the 'dictatorship of relativism' is comprehensive and penetrating, enough to recommend the book to anyone who cares about the contours of contemporary Catholic theology."Scott Steinkerchner, Blessed Sacrament Priory, Madison, Wisconsin"If theologians, like Ratzinger, begin from a perspective of the priority of the universal church over the local; if they emphasise the vast cultural riches of the West and have a Western aesthetic, they will end up at odds with theologians - particularly those from Asia - who work from a conviction of the local church's autonomy and cultural validity. Mong carefully and respectfully presents Ratzinger's entire theological system and argues that as brilliant as it is, it is unable to dialogue with the cultural and religious context of Asia, or any place except the developed West."Stephen B. Bevans, co-author of Contextual Theology for the Twenty-First Century"Ambrose Mong leaves us greatly in his debt for introducing us to the rich interrelationships, not only between liberation theologies from different continents but also between different faiths." John Riches, The Expository Times, Volume 129, Number 10, July 2018."In this readable and informative work, Ambrose Mong, a Chinese Dominican friar and academic, presents a lucid and scrupulously fair exposition of Ratzinger's thought, as well as a serious critique of it.While noting Mong's penetrating critique, we must also be grateful for somebody who, throughout his long life, has always wanted to stand up for such central Christian truths, and steadfastly refused to negotiate or relativise them away."Ven. Dr Edward Dowler, Church Times, 25 May 2018."this book is well researched and provides a much-needed Asian perspctive on some of the growing pains within the Catholic Church as today it grapples with its mission in a globalised world"Patricia Madigan, OP, The Australasian Catholic Record, vol.95, issue 4, October 2018