Usus iustus e religioni. Uno sguardo sulla contemporaneità

This paper considers the actualization of usus iustus as it was examined by Christian Gnilka in his important monographies on chrêsis (Chrêsis I and II), firstly, and then it focuses on this actualization in two directions. In the first part, the paper focuses on documents of The Second Vatican Council and post-conciliar official documents that discuss the “right use” of specific aspects in non-Christian cultures and religions. In the second part, it considers scientific studies that discuss the “right use” in interreligious dialogue of non-Christian religions and their specific elements. An excellent example is offered by the German theologian of the religions Horst Bürkle’s (1925-2015) research. He brings to light two ways this “right use” can be considered: on the one hand, to offer non-Christians a better understanding of Christian thought; on the other hand, to lead to a renewed understanding of previously neglected Christian elements.