Interpersonal negotiation styles and dealing with religious diversity : conceptual clarification and new empirical evidence

Streib H. Interpersonal negotiation styles and dealing with religious diversity : conceptual clarification and new empirical evidence. Presented at the International Seminar on Religious Education and Values, Dreibergen, Netherlands.The paper addresses the question of deve lopmental-stylistic preconditions for the capacity of dealing with religious diversity. Based upon the author’s previous typological por trayal of inter-personal and inter-religious negotiation styles – which have emerged from a cr itical divergence from, and a construc tive modification of, Fowler’s faith development theory –, the paper presents both further conceptual clarification, but, perhaps even more importantly, new empirical evidence. For conceptual clarification, prominence is given to philosophical reflections on the relation to the Other, the Strange (xenosophy) and its consequences for inter-religious dialog. Em pirical evidence is based on questionnaire data and faith development interviews from a large sample of re search participants from Germany and the USA. The conceptual clar ification and the empirical evidence for the profile of inter-religi ous negotiation styles and their arrangement in a developmenta l model finally leads to conclusions about the chances of nurturing capacities needed for dealing with religious diversity in th e classroom communication in religious education