RSS 1.0Interreligious Dialogue
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This Globethics collection gathers contributions, resources and perspectives on interreligious dialogue; in particular it looks at tolerance toward religious diversity and gathers theological texts that promote interreligious dialogue and social inclusiveness from different religious traditions.
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مکالمہ بین المذاہب کا تجزیاتی مطالعہContinues Scientific development made the world a global village , which brought different religions & civilizations closer to each other. This resulted in clash of civilization and differences among the followers of different religions. Sometimes these differences grow to the intensity which bring different followers in direct tussle and confrontation. So to bridge or minimize this gap some modern Muslim scholars have made efforts by using different slogans for this purpose, i.e. interfaith harmony, interfaith dialogue, unity of religions etc. and hold seminars , workshops and conferences almost all over the world. These efforts created queries in the minds of different peoples, whether difference of opinions is unlawful? Can we give up religious obligations for bringing all the people under the banner of this unity. The given article critically discusses the aims and motives behind these efforts; and draw a line of demarcation in Islamic perspective for creating harmony among the people of different religions and civilizations.
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The Study of Social Sciences in Developing Societies: Towards An Adequate Conceptualization Of Relevance<p>Since the 19th century, there has been a strong awareness of a lack of fit between the western1 social sciences and non-western realities. Many examples of the irrelevance of western concepts, theories and assumptions have been noted in the literature. The fact that the social sciences emerged in the West, were initially practised in the Third World by colonialists and other European scholars, and then finally implanted among the locals during and after formal independence, had raised the question of the relevance of these bodies of knowledge to Third World societies and their problems. Some nonwestern scholars in the 19th century and more during the postcolonial period recognized that the social sciences cannot be transplanted to a different historical and socioeconomic setting  without doing injustice and violence to their respective realities. In short, there was recognition of the problem of irrelevance of western social science and of the need to generate relevant alternatives. For the most part, those who made these observations do not regard the entire western social science tradition as irrelevant and do not reject knowledge on the grounds of origin. The general idea was that the western social sciences are indigenous to their own settings and that the call for relevance is meant to contribute to the universalization of the social sciences. However, what is meant at a conceptual level by irrelevance and relevance has rarely been the subject of discussion. This conceptualization is vital because it lies at the heart of the projects to make social science relevant.</p>
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Theology of Prayer after Auschwitz: Elie Wiesel and Johann Baptist Metz in ConversationThe political theology of Johann Baptist Metz was a clarion call for theologians to foreground the social and political dimensions of Christian life. To this day, Metz is remembered as a key figure in the transition from an idealist to a post-idealist Christian theology that prizes history as the medium of hope. This essay offers an additional reason in support of Metz’s relevance, namely, that his theology can offer a rich response to Elie Wiesel’s charge that there can be no theology either “after” or “about” Auschwitz. I argue that Wiesel does in fact bequeath to us a vision for the future of theology after Auschwitz, and further, that Metz provides a form of Christian theology that fits the criteria offered by Wiesel. More specifically, Metz shows that prayer does not avoid raising questions about suffering to God; rather, prayer remembers the dead, demands accountability for wrongdoing from those who stand before God in prayer, serves as a means of resisting apathy, and gives agency to the dead.
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Tillich and Laozi: Revealing the Existential and Religious Depth of Experiences of MigrationAt the heart of migration live multifold tensions of leaving and arriving, of homelands and host countries, grief and loss as well as strength and resilience, of identities, traditions, belongings as well as growth, potentials, and adventures. The stories of migration are, in essence, stories of a constant negotiation between being and becoming. In this article, I characterize the existential and religious themes in migration stories through Christian philosophical theologian Paul Tillich’s framework of the polar structure of reality and the Daoist dialectical thinking of Laozi in the Daodejing. While both acknowledge contradictions as principles of human existence, they are distinct in making meanings of the contradictory world we call life. Tillich appears to suggest that we live anxiously in tension, being pulled painfully in different directions; however, Laozi approaches tension with an emphasis on acceptance, living comfortably with it. Contextualizing such findings within the multicultural orientation framework (MCO), attention is given to the roles of culturally embedded beliefs and values in meaning-making.
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Atheists Finding God: Unlikely Stories of Conversions to Christianity in the Contemporary West: By Jana S. HarmonBook Review: Atheists Finding God: Unlikely Stories of Conversions to Christianity in the Contemporary West. Jana S. Harmon. New York: Lexington Books, 2023. xv+240pp. $100.00 (hardback). $45 (e-book) ISBN: 9781793641328.
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The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Comparative Theology: A Festschrift in Honor of Francis X. Clooney, SJ: Edited by Axel M. Oaks Takacs and Joseph L. KimmelBook Review: The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Comparative Theology: A Festschrift in Honor of Francis X. Clooney, SJ. Axel M. Oaks Takacs and Joseph L. Kimmel, eds. Chicester, UK, and Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley Blackwell, 2024. xxviii+ 526pp. $195.00 (hardback). ISBN: 9781394160570.
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Trauma Talks in the Hebrew Bible: Speech Act Theory and Trauma Hermeneutics: By Alexiana FryBook Review: Trauma Talks in the Hebrew Bible: Speech Act Theory and Trauma Hermeneutics. Alexiana Fry. Lexington Books, 2023. vii+137pp. $90.00 (hardback). ISBN: 9781666900552.
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“It Is Not in Heaven” (Deut 30:12): On the Vulnerability of Religious Knowledge as a Starting Point for Comparative TheologyThis article argues that religious knowledge is by definition vulnerable knowledge and that an acknowledgment of this epistemic precondition is essential for comparative theology as an academic practice of interreligious dialogue. After introducing Yan Suarsana’s poststructuralist account of religious truth as a theoretical framework, I provide a comparative theological approach to the vulnerability of religious knowledge through my analysis of the famous Talmudic story of the Oven of Akhnai. My analysis of this story reframes Suarsana’s approach through the perspective of Jewish-Christian comparative theology. However, this close reading of the text in its literary and historical contexts also leads to a more nuanced understanding of epistemic vulnerability and its interdependence with social and communal vulnerability. Epistemic vulnerability thus needs to be taken seriously not only from a theological perspective, but also from an ethical one. Finally, I reassess to what extent, given the generally vulnerable nature of all forms of theologizing, comparative theology is characterized by a special kind and degree of vulnerability.
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Fear and Virtuous Action: Applying Accounts of Fear by al-Ghazālī and Thomas Aquinas to a Study of an Historical Case of InjusticeThis comparative theological study prompts insights into the emotion of fear and its relationship to virtuous action by bringing two accounts of fear into conversation: The Book of Fear and Hope, a practical, pastoral work by Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī, and categorizations by Thomas Aquinas of the passion and gift of fear in his Summa Theologiae. An immersive interfaith fellowship study at Heart Mountain, Wyoming, a site where Japanese American citizens were unconstitutionally concentrated following the attack on Pearl Harbor, provides the historical framework and motivation for this comparative theological study. The use of the historical case—a particular, real-world context—as a springboard to comparative study reveals unique insights into the relationship between fear and theological hope. Thus, it challenges the hermeneutical imagination by questioning how fear is cultivated and activated within systems of oppression, both in the past and today.
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Within Judaism? Interpretive Trajectories in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam from the First to the Twenty-First Century: Edited by Karin Hedner Zetterholm and Anders RunessonBook Review: Within Judaism? Interpretive Trajectories in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam from the First to the Twenty-First Century. Karin Hedner Zetterholm and Anders Runesson, eds. Lanham: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2023. xii+419pp. $125.00 (hardback). ISBN: 9781978715066.
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Between Judaism and Freemasonry: The Dual Interpretation of David Rosenberg’s Kabbalistic Lithograph, Aperçu de l’Origine du Culte Hébraïque (1841)This article addresses a highly detailed and complex lithograph with the title Aperçu de l’Origine du Culte Hébraïque (“An Overview of the Origin of Hebrew Worship”), which was designed and executed in Paris in 1841 by a Hungarian rabbi, David Rosenberg. It explains the Kabbalistic meaning of the lithograph and its application to Freemasonry. Rosenberg’s endeavour will be analysed within the wider Masonic historical context. The probable reasons behind the reinterpretation of the lithograph from a Judaic into a Masonic work will be explored, thus also including Rosenberg’s possible personal motives.
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Relev?ncia do di?logo inter-religioso na constru??o de espa?os de paz e n?o viol?ncia : percep??es de l?deres religiosos no Sul do BrasilSubmitted by PPG Teologia (teologia-pg@pucrs.br) on 2022-10-20T13:01:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 MIRIAN_REJANE_FLORES_CERVEIRA_TES.pdf: 7091726 bytes, checksum: 921eca61a7811e91c844706587eea4db (MD5)
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Considering the evangelism mandate in the face of interfaith dialogue in South AfricaEvangelism is about forming Christian identity, but what is important is how to sustain Christian identity in a religiously pluralistic society. Can one cultivate dedication to a specific religious tradition without vilifying, assimilating, or relativising other religions? It is crucial to recognise that fostering healthy relationships with the religious ‘other’ is a critical element of ecclesial mission in the contemporary global context. As much as Christians need to be educated in intra-religious identity formation using evangelism training, they also need to be prepared for inter-religious dialogue. This article questions the role and purpose of evangelism in a post-colonial South Africa by firstly exploring the historical role of evangelism and thereafter uses current examples from interactions with the Hindu religion to reveal the way in which evangelism perpetuates outdated colonial values. It argues for the need for inter-faith dialogue as well as considers how Christian communities could engage interfaith dialogue. Contribution: The article considers the interplay of the Christian mandate of evangelism with the need for Christians to live in plurality and religious diversity. It places at the forefront the neglected need of inter-faith dialogue essential for social cohesion in broader society.
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The Reconceptualization of the Umma and Ummatic action in Abdullah Bin Bayyah’s DiscourseIn the post-Arab Spring period, Abdullah Bin Bayyah has emerged as one of the principal exponents of the anti-revolutionary front. Dissatisfied with the Islamist solution to the socio-political crisis in the Middle East, Bin Bayyah has called for the establishment of a new jurisprudence based on fiqh al-wāqiʿ (jurisprudence of reality), which acknowledges and accepts the dictates of modern reality. He conceived his call for renewal (tajdīd) as one of the best ways to restore peace and unity in Muslim societies. This article aims to shed light on those aspects of Bin Bayyah’s reformist discourse that directly affect how he envisions the role and function of the umma in the modern context. The essay then explores the place that ummatic unification occupies in Bin Bayyah’s discourse and the kind of Islamic politics his post-Arab Spring religious discourse entails. Particular attention is also paid to the ways Bin Bayyah theorizes the significance of religious allegiances within the modern nation-state. The essay also considers Bin Bayyah’s view of the role of the Muslim umma in the global community, its relationship with other religions, and the wider human community when responding to global challenges.
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Interfaith Alliances that Challenge Secularism in Mexicohis essay describes the religious diversification in Mexico that leads to a recomposition of religions and politics. Evangelicals represent a new political actor that challenges secularism. Recently they have established unusual strategic alliances that challenge to rethink secularism for Mexico. The constitutional framework of Mexican secularism was thought to contain the direct action of Catholic ducts in politics, but in the present it is exceeded. This essay takes up the proposal of the equilateral triangle of the contemporary secularism of Baubérot (2007) to reflect on the dilemmas and the possible ways to achieve a secularism that contemplates both religious pluralism, State-church separation, and freedom of conscience and its consequences.
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The Challenges of Religious Harmony and Tolerance in Developing CountriesThis study aims to analyze how the challenges of religious harmony and tolerance in Indonesia are in the social and legal aspects. This study uses a literature study approach by comparing several legal regulations and previous research related to secondary data. This study found that religious harmony is a state of inter-religious relations based on tolerance, mutual understanding, mutual respect, respect for equality in the practice of their religious teachings and cooperation in social, national and state life within the Republic of Indonesia based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution of Indonesia. The right to religion (to embrace and practice worship) guaranteed by the Constitution and other laws is not a right that can be exercised at will. This means that there are certain signs or conditions so that the exercise of that right does not interfere with the rights of other people, the security and order of the community, the state and the nation; in other words, there are restrictions that must be considered by residents. This limitation is in Article 28J paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution in conjunction with Article 73 of the Human Rights Law. Article 28J paragraph (2) stipulates that in exercising their rights and freedoms, everyone is obliged to comply with the restrictions determined by law with the sole purpose of guaranteeing recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and to fulfill fair demands in accordance with moral considerations, religious values, security, and public order in a democratic society.
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From progress to spiritual evolution: a contribution of spiritist codification to interreligious dialogue. 2018. Dissertation (Master degree) - Post-graduate Program in Religious Sciences, Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MGThe Spiritist Doctrine, codified in France in the nineteenth century, has among its main postulates the belief in a single God, in the immortality of the soul, in the plurality of the inhabited worlds, in the communicability between spirits and in reincarnation. From light blows to spinning tables in the parisian halls, the phenomenon, in the first moments, was received with disbelief or frivolity from those who participated in the meetings. Even the study carried out by the pedagogue Hippolyte-Léon Denizard Rivail, it was not imagined that such events would suffer direct action of Spirits. The teacher Rivail, under the pseudonym of Allan Kardec, was the main organizer, systematizer and codifier of the Spiritist Doctrine. Oriented by the Spirits, published several books on spiritism, among them The Book of the Spirits, that is the object of this study. Spiritist codification arises in a historical period in which philosophical and scientific thought were deeply influenced by the ideals of rationalism and positivism, as well as by the evolutionist model. The word "evolution", taken from the fascination it had in the nineteenth century, due to the idea of modernity, is central to spiritism. The aim of this research is to investigate the sense of evolution presented in the works codified by Allan Kardec, especially in the Book of Spirits, and how this understanding can contribute to interreligious dialogue. Part of the hypothesis that, for the Spiritist Doctrine, evolution is central in the life of the human being insofar as it enables changes in human behavior. Evolving implies an invitation to get out of yourself to seek the next. Religious pluralism challenges people and religions to live the responsibility of understanding the other and their beliefs as an attribute of freedom and choice. In this horizon of evolution, interreligious dialogue becomes an essential principle for spiritual advancement. It represents an increase in our ability to listen and share. The method of approach of this study was the hypothetico-deductive and of the bibliographical research, through the consultation of books and psychographic texts. Through the Spiritist Codification, especially in the Spirits' Book, a factor in the direction of evolution will be sought which may favor an understanding of otherness and religious worldviews, opening the way to varied dialogues. Finally, it can be said that Codification, because of its universalist content, the process of moral regeneration of the human being and openness to religions, can contribute, with great gains, to constructions of inter-religious dialogues.
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HUMANISTIC FORMATION AND EDUCATIONThe practice of intolerance and violence, whether in the religious field or not, is frequent in contemporary society. In this context, and from the perspective of the educational environment, one could ask: is it possible to educate for the appreciation of the human and thus reduce violence? This reflection aims to answer this question while proposing that humanistic formation should participate in an articulated way with intellectual formation in the teaching-learning process of children and adolescents. This study is part of a research on tolerance and promotion of the culture of peace in four public elementary schools II on the outskirts of Belo Horizonte in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.  Starting from the analysis of the Pedagogical Political Projects, the lesson plans of the Religious Teaching subject and the participative observation, we sought to understand how the themes of the humanities are treated in these spaces. An education for otherness and citizenship that pervades disciplines, projects and cross-cutting themes is urgent. This reflection is structured by presenting the challenges of the teaching-learning process and, from there, the importance of educating for tolerance and interreligious dialogue as principles for good knowledge and good living. With such an experience it is estimated to minimize intolerance and violence practices and educate for social reponsability Cidadania.
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Interações político-religiosas no Egito em época de transição: o caso do Patriarcado Copta de Alexandria do papado de Benjamin ao de Simão (622-701), seus antecedentes e imediatos desdobramentosO presente trabalho objetiva discutir as interações político-religiosas estabelecidas pelo Patriarcado Copta de Alexandria no período dos governos patriarcais de Benjamin a Simão (622-701), assim como alguns de seus antecedentes e imediatos desdobramentos. Pretende-se desta forma abordar as questões da atuação política e da formação da identidade copta sob o duplo impacto da continuidade da polêmica teológico-eclesiástica estruturada na sua recusa da ortodoxia imperial bizantina fundada no Concílio de Calcedônia (451) e da conquista árabo-muçulmana do Egito (639-641). A argumentação se estrutura em três etapas sucessivas e complementares. Por primeiro, um dimensionamento do papel do Egito no interior do ecúmeno romano, desde sua anexação pelo Império até os desdobramentos do Concílio de Calcedônia. Em seguida, uma reconstituição da conjuntura político-religiosa e da atuação dos agentes sociais egípcios quando da conquista árabo-muçulmana, atentando para seus imediatos antecedentes e desdobramentos. Em terceiro, uma descrição analítica das interações estabelecidas pelo Patriarcado Copta de Alexandria desde a anexação do Egito pelo jovem Califado até o início do século VIII, atentando para a inserção destas no âmbito específico da dhimmitude. Procura-se, por fim, pensar o impacto de tais interações na constituição da identidade copta como uma comunidade que se descreve como firmemente ortodoxa, autóctone e permanentemente sofredora, assim como da complexa relação entre esta autoimagem e a tradição de ação direta do cristianismo egípcio. A pesquisa fundou-se na leitura da História dos Patriarcas da Igreja Copta de Alexandria, crônica oficial desta instituição, assim como, de modo secundário, de outros documentos de época informativos sobre a situação do cristianismo egípcio nos períodos considerados.
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No Cadinho da Reconciliação: o diálogo cristão-judaico, do Parlamento Mundial das Religiões ao Vaticano IICoordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior