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My name is Paul Knitter. I teach at Union Theological Seminary in New York city, and
I believe I've known John since the early 80's. We've been partners in a number of projects
- a book on the myth of christian uniqueness was the first of our projects and have been
through a number of really exciting adventures. But where I have most proudly stood together
with John as well as stood with with him with a great sense of relief was when I had the
priveledge of being with him when he and I were singled out, this would have been in
the 90s, by the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who accused by name, John (who was called
a presbeterian theologian) and a Paul Knitter (a catholic ex-priest theologian) as the new
threats to the well-being of the Catholic church. The Cardinal, who is now Pope Benedict
16th noted that after the threat of liberation theology that the vatican had taken care of,
the new thread was now the tsunami or dictatorship of relativism, and John Hick and Paul Knitter
were behind that threat.
Well, it staggered me, but what was so reassuring to know that I was accused along a man of
such intellectual depth and personal integrity as John Hick. So eventhough I was accused
by (I'm a Roman Catholic) by my Pope, I was proud to stand with John Hick.