Interfaith Dialogue

This book explores the unique usage of pictorial art to undertake interreligious dialogue. It presents a practical guide to help educators learn and teach an effective and enjoyable interreligious dialogue within their academic settings. It offers an alternative to prevailing approaches to interreligious dialogue through its Structured Arts-based Educational Dialogue (SAED). The SAED approach will transform pictorial art into a channel for dialogue through the artwork’s form, content, and subject matter, serving as speaking points in the dialogical process informing the life experiences and religious ideas of the dialogue partners.

Ubuntu is an African moral force and worldview that has held its primal societies peacefully together. It is interesting to observe that contemporary awareness of this concept in scholarship particularly associates Ubuntu with potentials to inspire global dialogue and peace efforts aimed at achieving harmonious human coexistence. Surprisingly though, this irenic dimension of Ubuntu has not received any systematic discourse as the literature on the concept shows. Accordingly, employing the human relations approach, this chapter draws on the pervasive literature on the intersections of Ubuntu and dialogue and particularly explores the intrinsic dialogic dimensions of Ubuntu for global peacebuilding efforts. Its basic presupposition is that the emphasis placed on the value of human relationship and peaceful coexistence by both concepts not only requires a systematic discourse, but also shows that indigenous cultural resources are available and viable for local and global conflict resolution efforts.

Baha’u’llah’s Bishārāt (Glad-Tidings):
A Proclamation to Scholars and Statesmen
Christopher Buck and Youli A. Ioannesyan
Baha’i Studies Review 16 (2010): 3–28.

This article is a historical and textual study of the one of the major writings of Baha’u’llah: the Lawḥ-i Bishārāt (‘Tablet of Glad-Tidings’), revealed circa 1891, and advances new theories as to its provenance and purpose. The ‘Tablet of Glad-Tidings’ is a selective compendium of Baha’u’llah’s laws and principles, sequentially presented in a series of fifteen ‘Glad-Tidings.’ As the Arabic term, bishārāt, suggests, these ‘Glad-Tidings’ were a public announcement of some of the essential teachings of the new Baha’i religion. The ‘Glad-Tidings’ is the most extensive of several ‘Tablets’ by Baha’u’llah that present key teachings in a numbered structure. The Glad-Tidings may, in part, be regarded as serially articulated ‘world reforms’ intermixed with religious reforms emanating from Baha’u’llah in his professed role as ‘World Reformer.’ The ‘Glad-Tidings’ also functioned analogously (albeit anachronistically) to a press release, serving not only as a public proclamation, but to rectify the inaccuracies and gross misrepresentations that had previously circulated in print. Intended for widespread translation and publication, the Glad-Tidings was sent to scholars — notably Russian orientalist, Baron Viktor Rosen (1849–1908) and Cambridge Orientalist, Edward Granville Browne (1862–1926) — and possibly pre-revolutionary Russian statesmen as well. As a ‘Proclamatory Aqdas,’ the Tablet of Glad-Tidings was part of a much broader proclamation by Baha’u’llah, who proclaimed his mission to the political and religious leaders of the world. This study will argue that the Baha’u’llah may have revealed the Tablet of Glad-Tidings for E.G. Browne — or rather through him, since Baha’u’llah evidently intended that Browne should translate and publish the Bishārāt in order to make the nature of the Baha'i teachings more widely known. This would then correct the distortions that had previously been published regarding Baha’u’llah's purpose and the nature of the religion that he founded, thereby, promoting a public awareness that a new world religion was on the horizon of modernity.

Why should Christians engage in interfaith dialogue with Muslims? Does Islam have anything to offer Christians? What is Islamophobia, and what should we do about it?

These are just some of the questions addressed in Finding Jesus among Muslims, an urgent new book from author Jordan Denari Duffner. Drawing from church teaching, the stories of saints and martyrs, and her extensive personal experiences living among Muslims in both the United States and the Middle East, Duffner explains why all Christians are called to participate in interreligious dialogue, especially with Muslims. Her intelligent and fresh approach makes Duffner a welcome voice on some of the most important social and religious questions of our day.

After Moses had completed his term of service that he had pledged to his father in law, he was overcome by homesickness. On his way to Egypt he enters the sacred vale of Tuwa seeking warmth and guidance from its inhabitants. Instead, he witnesses  a bush or tree. burning with cold fire without consuming it. Then, from the tree, he hears the voice of God commissioning his prophet-hpod and instructing him in his religion. This is the preliminary stage of a dual mission to bring the message to the Pharaoh and to the Bani Israel.

Interreligious co existence is an essential propogation of mutual understanding and adequate relationship. In this age of disruption and discrimination' the need of interfaith harmony has increased manifold. Interreligious co existence is inevitable for world religions. It can enable suffering humanity to find out techniques and methods to sit together, in a much more acceptable atmosphere. The purpose of the research is to investigate the status of interfaith harmony in the world religions and the divinal concept & historical evidences of inter-faith harmony in Islam?Islam teaches mutual respect; the code of selfless service to the whole of divine creation and especially man and inculcates understanding and realization of basic truth. A Muslim, 'if he understands the acual meaning of Islam'can never talk of any religion disparagingly and respect all religions and their Prophets as it is included in the foundational believes. Islam teaches respect for Divine guidance and revelation, but in cautions enough to discriminate between the authentic record and the less correct versions. But whatever content of religious scripture may have taken, a Muslim is bound to show respect toward theses scriptures. Islam initiated an era of inter-religious, inter-faith and international tolerance and goodwill. The primary consideration and the ultimate target are to bring about universal peace in the world.The research article throws light on interfaith harmony in the world religions briefely and Islamic basic concept of interreligious co existence in the light of the religious dogma' in details. The descriptive methodology with analytical tone is adopted.

Interfaith dialogue has been touted as a means to solve many of the religious divisions that have arisen in an increasingly global and multi-faith society. In Australia, now a multi-cultural and multi faith society, a range of organisations exist to facilitate this dialogue, most coming in to existence after the 1960’s This paper will review the early dialogue between Muslims and non-Muslims as portrayed in the public record. It covers pre and post-Colonial Australia, up until the 1950’s. As inter-faith dialogue becomes more important in an increasingly global society, it will examine the effect that micro and meso level dialogue has influenced social harmony at some levels. By examining the public record and the narratives surrounding the Macassans, Afghans and other early Muslims, this paper will firstly argue that micro and meso dialogue prior to the 1950s’ between Muslims immigrants and non-Muslims made a contribution to the social harmony in Australia. Secondly, despite many at...

Padre Claudio Monge, consultore del Pontificio consiglio per il dialogo interreligioso e responsabile del Centro di documentazione interreligiosa dei domenicani Dominican Study Institute di Istanbul, Laura Mulayka Enriello, fondatrice dell'Accademia di studi interreligiosi (ISA) di Milano e coordinatrice della Commissione educazione della CO.RE.IS. (Comunita religiosa islamica italiana), e Ritanna Armeni, giornalista, scrittrice e conduttrice televisiva, sono tre dei quattro autori (con Gadi Luzzatto Voghera) del nuovo libro L'ospitalità di Abramo (ed. Emp) della collana di dialogo interreligioso " Punti di incontro ". Ogni libro della collana con testo in italiano e arabo propone un brano tratto, di volta in volta, dalle Scritture sacre di ebrei o cristiani o musulmani, commentato da vari autori appartenenti a queste fedi o laici " diversamente credenti " o non credenti, che accettano di incontrarsi e confrontarsi senza pregiudizi. Un testo di stringente attualità quello dedicato dall'Emp all'ospitalità «in questi tempi difficili per i migranti, gli esiliati e gli sfollati», come sottolinea anche il filosofo e islamologo Mustapha Cherif che ha firmato la prefazione al volume. «Per un'aperta spiritualità, non esiste alternativa migliore che quella dell'ospitalità e del vivere insieme nel rispetto del diritto della differenza – ha scritto Cherif-. Abramo/Ibrahim è per eccellenza il profeta della sacra ospitalità, qualità che viene generalmente rinnovata dai veri credenti di ogni religione. L'arte del vivere è frutto della fede, al tempo stesso innata e riflessiva, e si oppone a ogni forma di egoismo, di esclusione e di violenza. La Bibbia e il Corano riportano la dimensione dell'ospitalità come valore primario del cuore della fede». Ne è convinto anche padre Claudio Monge che anticipa: «nella Lettera agli Ebrei si legge " Non dimenticate la philoxenia; alcuni, praticandola, senza saperlo hanno accolto degli angeli " (13,2). L'amore per lo straniero (philoxenia) e l'ospitalità fanno tutt'uno. L'ospitalità è la celebrazione, più o meno cosciente, della presenza di un Dioche non solo accoglie ma che si fa anche accogliere dall'uomo. Per la tradizione cristiana si tratta di accedere al cuore stesso di un Dio che è Trinità e cioè accoglienza». Laura Mulayka Enriello si sofferma invece sul tema dell'ospitalità nell'Islam e di come il radicalismo ne sia la negazione. «Il Corano, nei suoi 114 capitoli – afferma – insegna uno sforzo e una " guerra " rivolti al perfezionamento di sé, combattendo la propria " anima incline al male " , mentre verso il prossimo prescrive una carità interiore ed esteriore (zakat), esortando a ricercare insieme la Verità, al Haqq, che è Dio stesso. È questo il senso ultimo dell'ospitalità, insegnato dall'esempio di Abramo, Ibrahim, alle " tre perle " della sua discendenza, Ebraismo, Cristianesimo e Islam. La deriva del radicalismo, lungi dall'essere parte della nostra religione, è la negazione di questa ospitalità sacra, rivolta prima di tutto verso Dio, che il Corano con la storia di Abramo ci richiama». L'importanza dei testi sacri per chiunque, anche per i laici, per imparare a guardare il mondo con occhi diversi viene ricordata infine da Ritanna Armeni. «Attraverso il testo sacro, il laico può rompere il pensiero unico, sottrarsi all'omologazione culturale – racconta la giornalista-. Il testo sacro propone una rottura, " esce dal coro ". Aiuta quindi i laici a cercare una verità non accettando supinamente quello che il senso comune propone. E offre la possibilità di uno sguardo critico sulla realtà del mondo e sulla quotidianità».

Dr. Brannon Ingram has written this review of Da'wa and Other Religions for "Reading Religion"(http://readingreligion.org/books/dawa-and-other-religions). Ingram writes, "Movements for da‘wa have been the subject of much academic work in recent years, with the Tablighi Jama‘at, the world’s largest Muslim revivalist movement, receiving the bulk of the attention. Until now, no scholar has attempted to examine the concept da‘wa itself from the classical period to the present. Matthew J. Kuiper’s Da‘wa and Other Religions: Indian Muslims and the Modern Resurgence of Global Islamic Activism attempts to do so, and succeeds in offering readers a wide-ranging overview of da‘wa. Though it focuses on modern South Asia, this book will be of interest to scholars of Islam in any region or period."

Nous vivons une ère de promotion de la « culture du dialogue ». Dialogue entre les Églises, dialogue entre les religions, dialogue entre les cultures, mais aussi dialogue social… La « culture du dialogue » s'est imposée au sortir de la Seconde Guerre mondiale comme la garante de la paix sociale dans les sociétés occidentales. S'il a toujours été entendu que le dialogue inter-religieux pouvait comprendre plusieurs niveaux, à la fois de rigueur et de convivialité, il semblerait que le plébiscite actuel des médias et des pouvoirs publics aux formes démonstratives de rencontre inter-religieuse produise ses effets sur la « culture du dialogue », en réduisant notamment le dialogue inter-religieux à son aspect social, et en occultant sa portée spirituelle. Le présent volume entend interroger l'histoire du dialogue inter-religieux, en se concentrant sur trois points : le moment de sa genèse, dans les années soixante, ses relations avec l'État dans plusieurs contextes nationaux, et enfin ses opposants.

Review of John R. Mabry, ed. Spiritual Guidance across Religions: A Sourcebook for Spiritual Directors and Other Professionals Providing Counsel to People of Differing Faith Traditions, (Woodstock, Vermont: SkyLight Paths Publishing, 2014). In Calvin Theological Journal 52, no. 1 (April 2017): 126-28.

Are you wondering if humanity is progressing in a positive trajectory? Or do you still feel unsettled with humanity’s spiritual evolution. This book will plant some seeds for you to ponder and find a way to personally rise above what is happening around you.
Follow me on my Spiritual Journey, and search for the pearls that I have discovered along the way.

The correlation between religion, race, and culture lead to the establishment of human civilisation. Peoples from different background were able to have mutual understanding and develop harmonious society. Primarily, spiritual practices empower this civilisation and create perfect soul. A distinguished scholar named Fethullah Gulen is a leading scholar of his own theories in inter-religious dialogue local and international context. This article aims to discuss on the ideas of Fethullah Gulen especially relates to the interfaith dialogue. This is a qualitative research where it applies literature review as its method and design. The outcome of this research is the thought of Fethullah Gulen in inter-religious dialogue influenced by Said al-Nursi (the leaders of the Turkish-Islamic thinker). The approach of Said and Fethullah highlights element of tolerance and mutual dialogue. Fethullah Gulen movement appears to be more active through education using distinctive mediums of ideas. Abstrak Peradaban umat manusia terbina dengan wujudnya interaksi dalam aspek agama, bangsa dan budaya. Melalui interaksi yang berlangsung, masyarakat dari pelbagai latar belakang akan dapat saling mengenali seterusnya membina persefahaman dalam membangunkan sebuah masyarakat yang harmoni. Asasnya adalah daripada jiwa yang suci yang terhasil dari amalan kerohanian. Berpasak daripada ini, Fethullah Gulen merupakan sarjana yang terkehadapan dari sudut pemikirannya dalam dialog antara agama dalam konteks lokal dan global. Justeru, artikel ini akan membincangkan pemikiran Fethullah Gulen dalam dialog antara agama. Metode kajian adalah bersifat kualitatif melalui kajian kepustakaan dan pendekatan sejarah. Kajian mendapati, pemikiran Fethullah Gulen dalam dialog antara agama sebahagian besarnya terkesan daripada pemikiran tokoh pemikir Islam Turki, Said al-Nursi dalam menekankan pendekatan toleransi dan dialog. Selain itu, pendekatan Gulen khususnya melalui pergerakan Gulen dilihat lebih aktif dalam mengembangkan ideanya menerusi pendidikan dalam pelbagai medium.

During the years in which France succumbed to nazi ideology and was occupied by German forces, Henri de Lubac, a French cardinal and one of the great contemporary thinkers the Catholic Church can boast of, played a decisive role in the French resistance to anti-Semitism. Active as a priest, de Lubac collaborated in the composition of ''official'' proclamations such as the famous 1941 ''Chaine Declaration" and also arranged conferences, wrote books, and participated in various resistance activities. One of de Lubac’s most intimate friends, Yves de Montcheuil α student companion among others, was shot to death in July 1944 by the Gestapo. De Lubac made clear his commitment to oppose what he termed Europe's "collective apostasy" under Nazism in α confidential letter to his religious superiors in April 1941. The commitment is amply demonstrated in a 260-page book of de Lubac's memoirs published in France, entitled Résistance Chrétienne et l'Antisémitisme: Souvenirs 1940-1944.

Today Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam have the largest populations among world religions. These three worldviews have made monumental contributions in shaping the visual arts of human civilization. This paper serves to provide a brief historical summary and theological exegesis of the visual culture present in these three traditions, as well as draw comparative conclusions. One will see the overlapping similarities and differences in worldview, delineating significant implications for the varying limitations in subject matter and cultural adaptability. The study of interfaith aesthetics is important, not only in light of the proliferation of pluralistic artistic imagery made ubiquitous in the visual age, but also to provide holistic balance to interfaith dialogue, which has tended to focus on theology of sacred texts and not recognizing how visual culture has a profound effect on shaping one’s understanding of the earth, humanity, and the Divine.

Between September 2013 and January 2014 I completed a small study of interfaith dialogue in Coventry, a small city in the Midlands region of England using a combination of interviews, participant observation and focus groups. From the data, what becomes apparent is the difficulty of engaging with the wider population. There are committed individuals who work hard running interfaith activities and organisations and the local authority is taking a leading role in supporting these. However, the reach of such work is unclear.

Practitioners speak about pursuing social cohesion through dialogue and the commonalities across religions in terms of shared belief in God and values expressed in texts. Yet, such discourse excludes the growing numbers nationally and locally who appear to be religiously indifferent and uninterested, as well as the actively nonreligious minority. They are not considered. Yet, focus group participants from across the city, both religious and nonreligious, expressed little awareness of interfaith work, or concern with it. This chapter explores this tension against the backdrop of wider sociological research on indifference and social change, youth and religion in Britain, and interfaith dialogue and cohesion. Religious indifference is ambivalent in the religiously ambivalent context of contemporary Britain, with power, relevance, and peaceful coexistence at stake.

Jessica Kingsley Publishers, due 2016
Explores the relationship and dialogue between religion and atheism, focusing upon Christian, Islamic, Buddhist and other, e.g. Pagan, traditions in their encounter with secularism and atheism. It explores such issues as faith and reason, science and religion, gender and sexuality, 'texts of terror', and the use and abuse of arguments, evidence, and concepts.

Interfaith groups can be fruitfully interpreted through a Durkheimian framework as moral communities gathered on the basis of shared values and ritualistic discourses. The function of the interfaith society is to generate social solidarity through the invocation of their commonly held sacred values in a variety of modalities that can be considered the “denominations” of the interfaith “religion.” One consequence of understanding interfaith communities in this light is that it deprioritizes questions about the social impact or concrete results of interfaith engagement, as interfaith work becomes less about producing results and more about developing meaningful relationships that are not subject to proof or quantification. Rather than a change agent, interfaith dialogue is actually an emergent form of multi-religious moral community, an enactment of European cosmopolitanism which attracts mostly people who already agree with each other about the value of pluralism. This argument is grounded in ethnographic data on interfaith engagement in Rome, Italy.

The Prophet Mohammed sent letters to many of the Kings and emperors  in and around the Middle East. One of these was to Heraclius in Byzantium. This letter had a curious effect upon the Emperor, yet it disappeared from Islamic History. Traces of its passage suggest it was first passed Rome and from thence transferred as an heirloom to the Holy Roman Empire and its Frankish line of kings. This booklet attempts to uncover these traces of the letter as well as report its contents and delivery to Heraclius.

This ethnography examines the disaster relief work of the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Aceh, Indonesia, following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. MCC's work is informed by the theologies and historical experiences of the North American Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. An intentional focus of mcc's work was a substantive interfaith encounter between MCC workers , all of whom identified as Christian, and Acehnese Muslims. Through an examination of interpersonal relationships, organizational partnerships, and materiality, I trace the ambiguities and transformative potential within these interactions. Encounters are not simply the unfurling of predetermined scripts, but rather dynamic spaces of negotiation. Focusing on encounters counteracts tendencies to reify and essentialize religious disaster relief.

While the root causes of extremism and interreligious conflict in Northern Nigeria have eluded manystudies,historical accounts have shown that the current pattern of ethno-religious intolerance was not always the case. There is ample evidence that the region's post-independence government provided opportunities for various ethnic, cultural and religious groups to partake and be represented in the region's socio-political and economic space. There is now an emerging consensus that the root of the current pattern of intolerant and destructive conflict in Northern Nigeria in particular, and the country in general lies with the collapse of Nigeria's post-independence structures and degeneration of the national political and economic space beginning from 1966. Invariably, an effective response to extremism and interreligious conflict requires proper diagnosis of the root causes and honest implementation of appropriate security and conflict management strategies and remedies. However, given that interreligious disconnect and disharmony is a major root cause of these conflicts, interfaith dialogue should be engaged to promote understanding and cooperation among stakeholders and to prevent the spread of extremism and interreligious conflict.

In 2008, the Council of Europe Ministers of Foreign Affairs set out a new framework for approaching ethno-religious diversity within member states. As a direct response to expressed concerns about the failure of multiculturalism, or at least of multicultural policies, Intercultural Dialogue was promoted as a better way of connecting communities. However, critics claim it is unclear how the approach differs from previous integration frameworks; furthermore, they argue that ICD contributes towards unequal platforms for exchange between minorities and the majority group and can reinforce exclusion. This paper examines such concerns by exploring practitioners’ understanding of the concept. Structured interviews were conducted with 52 delegates at the World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue held in Baku in 2015 These distinctive findings demonstrate that participants frequently discussed ICD interchangeably with other concepts and frameworks, most commonly multiculturalism and inter-faith ...

The paper suggests some new approaches in the interfaith dialogue and relationship-building, what should be unlearned and what should be learned along the way. The author speaks about unlearning universalistic views and the stereotypes about Islam and Muslims, and learning to recognize the multiplicity of the world and practicing the spirit of intellectual humbleness.

I commend Campbell for her research about social media. It is vital that the religious academy takes time and care to explore this topic. I agree that negative memes about other faiths can be harmful and should be addressed. In my response, I will discuss how memes operate based on folkloric and anthropological research. A key part of my argument is that we need to revisit rhetoric in order to both understand memes and effectively address anti-religious sentiment expressed through that medium. I will end my chapter with recommended action steps for the church today.

There is a burgeoning interfaith movement in U.S. higher education, inspired, in large part, by global events, and aimed at promoting tolerance of religious diversity. While there are various supporting arguments and approaches to this type of student programming, social justice oriented approaches—that is, approaches specifically centered around addressing systemic oppression and uplifting marginalized perspectives—remain rare. This lack of critical social justice reflection in the interfaith movement puts institutions at risk of alienating and/or further marginalizing religious minorities, despite intentions to do otherwise. In this article, I describe the current trends in the interfaith movement, reflect on them from a critical social justice standpoint, and envision a future for the movement that is more inclusive of, and attentive to, religious minorities. Specific critiques from a social justice perspective include (a) the lack of overt examinations of power dynamics and Christian privilege, (b) the tendency to ignore the sociocultural nature of religious identity, and (c) the frequent exclusion of non-Abrahamic religious groups.

This article analyses the debates about mixed marriages held within the Roman Curia (and especially the Roman Inquisition) between the sixteenth and the eighteenth centuries, integrating these debates with the normative and prescriptive literature. These authorities generally considered mixed marriages between Protestants and Catholics valid and even sacramental in virtue of the shared sacrament of the baptism, but at the same time constructed such unions as ‘carnal crimes’ to ‘abhor’. They believed that the most harmful effect of these polluting unions was that the Catholic partner might become tolerant of Protestantism, rendering the ‘heretic’ dangerously, contagiously familiar and abandoning future generations to heresy. Women were a particular concern for these authorities. Drawing upon traditional and somewhat contradictory ideas about women, they saw the wives in these marriages on one hand as particularly likely to be seduced by the ‘false faith’ because of their presumed weakness, but on the other hand they recognised women as a group with a special talent for beguiling men and so entrusted them with a missionary function towards their ‘heretical’ husbands. The role women could assume in mixed marriages therefore dynamised gender relations, but also caused social tension because of the challenge to patriarchal society, especially if they continued to practice their own faith and were entrusted with the religious education of the children.

The Experience of Divine Guidance is a presentation given at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in June of 2005 presenting the research findings of the doctoral dissertation "The Experience of Divine Guidance: A Qualitative Study of the Human Endeavor to Seek, Receive, and Follow Guidance from a Perceived Divine Source" - Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D., Dissertation Abstracts International, 2005, 66 (05), 2855. (UMI No. 3174544).