It comes naturally for us to form our identities in terms of our social, cultural, economic, religious, ethnic realities. Along with our multiplicities of identities comes our understanding of the other, who do not share our identities. Normally we rival the other, ridicule, ignore or talk them down. The 33 articles in this volume urge us to respect the other, enable and empower the other. The other makes us what we are. To some extent, they provide us with our own identities. The book, emerging from a seminar organized on the quasquicentennial (125 years) of Jnana Deepa, Institute of Philosophy and Theology (Nov 24-28, 2015), urges us to befriend the other and treat them with gentleness, kindness and compassion. It looks on the other from Christian perspectives, drawing from philosophical, theological, psychological, sociological and multidisciplinary perspectives.

Contents
1. Inaugural Address and Homily: Befriending the Other His Grace Salvatore Pennacchio
2. Guest of Honour Address: On “Befriending the Other" His Excellency Oswald Cardinal Gracias
3. Understanding Christ as the Only Saviour Today Rt Rev Bishop Thomas Dabre
4. Jesus as the Man for Others Rt Rev Valerian D’Souza
5. Evangelization as Befriending and Building Relationships Rt Rev George Palliparambil, SDB
6. Challenge to Discover Christ within Cultures Jacob Parappally, MSFS
7. Befriending the Other and Another: Trinities and Trilogue Francis Gonsalves, SJ
8. Raimon Panikkar’s Diatopical Hermeneutics for Befriending the Other: Meister Eckhart’s World of Holistic Thinkingand the Bhagavadgita’s Experience of the World of Wholeness Francis X. D’Sa, SJ
9. Befriending the Other: Building Solidarity through Reconciliation Joseph Mattam, SJ
10. Pre-Christian Inter-Personal Values Practised by Africans as a Means of Befriending Others: Cultural-Religious Contexts Teresia Tarimo, HSS
11. Friends for a Purpose: South Africa’s UDF as a Model for the Environmental Movement Peter Knox, SJ
12. Befriending the Other: A Paradigm for Re-Building Relationships Eugenia Thomas, HSS
13. Befriending the Other as Nature’s Recipe for Greater Stability and Prosperity Job Kozhamthadam, SJ
14. Befriending Nature: The Leaf That Smiles M. Arif and Rehana Arif
15. Befriending the Other: Use and Abuse of Social Media P. T. Joseph, SJ
16. Intellectual Challenges to Christianity Isaac Padinjarekuttu
17. The Otherness in the Other Victor Ferrao
18. Befriending the Complex Other with Multiple Identities: Towards Creative Dialogue to Befriend the Other in Their Otherness Kuruvilla Pandikattu, SJ
19. Psychospiritual Perspectives on “The Other” Konrad Noronha, SJ
20. Growing as a Person: From Befriending the Self to Befriending the Other Keith D’Souza, SJ
21. Befriending Water: A Pathway to Sustainable Development Arjen Tete, SJ
22. Beyond an Unscientific Bias towards a Scientific Knowing for the Authentic Befriending of the Religious Other Chae Young Kim
23. Walking, Meditating and Rising to Befriend the Other: Transforming the Subjective and the Objective to Transpositional Subjectobjectivity Ananta Kumar Giri
24. Holistic Befriending of the Other in Buddhism Noel Sheth, SJ
25. Mysticism: A Way for Christian Muslim Befriending Midhun J Francis, SJ
26. Befriending the Other: Vatican II and the New Orientations Kurien Kunnumpuram, SJ
27. Befriending of Science-Religion: The Pursuit of Fulfilment and Happiness According to Sri Aurobindo Kamladevi Kunkolienker
28. “Be Human to Nature”: A Call from the World of Sciences S. Stephen Jayard
29. Science and Theology: Befriending Each Other Epistemically Augustine Pamplany, CST
30. Collapse of Quantum Wave Function and Its Interpretations: Befriending Consciousness According to Quantum Mechanics Gregory Mathew Malayil, CMI
31. Mirror Neurons: Neurological Appraisal of the Other as Other Roy J. J. Pereira, SJ
32. Befriending the Other: Highlights of the Conference George Cordeiro, SJ
33. Epilogue: Befriending the Other for Our Collective Survival Kuruvilla Pandikattu, SJ