Abstract:
This article explores the dialectical relationship between liberating trust in reality and religious
faith in God, interpreted from a Christian–Muslim perspective. An underlying conviction is
that liberation constitutes a necessary mutual correlate of a “true” religiosity, i.e. liberation is
to be conceived as both prerequisite for and realization of a genuine religiosity, and vice
versa. As opposed to a “true” religiosity, born from liberating trust and finding its fulfilment
in prophetic action aimed at liberation of human realities, religious belief and practice that
stem from fundamental mistrust are likely to deteriorate into either religious fundamentalism
or indifferentism. The article focuses on fundamental trust in reality as capable of evoking
the liberating and uniting force of religious theory and praxis. It aims to render explicit the
religious and ecumenical potential (hitherto not fully realized) of the theological–ethical
considerations of Hans Küng, in particular within a Christian–Muslim framework. The first
part of the article, more conceptual in character, examines Küng’s views on fundamental
(mis)trust and its religious implications. The second part seeks to identify theological
insights that shed light on the specifically Christian and specifically Muslim interpretations
of liberating trust. My hope is that this study may contribute to a truly global ecumenism
whose objective is to render religion an instrument of liberation, not oppression.
