Religious Diversity And Interreligious Dialogue

This edited volume offers solutions on the challenges of religious pluralisation from a European perspective. It gives special attention to interreligious dialogue and interfaith relations as specific means of dealing with plurality. In particular, the contributors describe innovative scientific approaches and broad political and social scopes of action for addressing the diversity of beliefs, practices, and traditions. In total, more than 25 essays bring together interdisciplinary and international research perspectives. The papers cover a wide thematic range. They highlight how religious pluralisation effects such fields as theology, politics, civil society, education, and communication/media. The contributors not only illustrate academic debates about religious diversity but they also look at the political and social scope for dealing with such. Coverage spans numerous countries, and beliefs, from Buddhism to Judaism. This book features presentations from the Herrenhausen Conference on "Religious Pluralisation - A Challenge for Modern Societies," held in Hanover, Germany, October 2016. This insightful collection will benefit students and researchers with an interest in religion and laicism, interreligious dialogue, governance of religious diversity, and religion in the public sphere.

While religion can be a source of healing, peace, and reconciliation, it can also be a trigger, if not an underlying cause, for conflict between peoples of varying beliefs. With that awareness, the International Academy of Practical Theology convened its 2007 meeting around the theme of "Religion, Diversity, and Conflict." From the multiple seminars, lectures, and studies presented at that meeting, a selection was chosen for this book. Representing contributions from four continents, and drawing upon perspectives from African traditional religions, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, the book offers a rich introduction to the problems and promises of religion in dialogue with 21st-century diversity. Religion, Diversity and Conflict will serve as a veritable primer on the field of practical theology. (Series: International Practical Theology - Vol. 15)

Religious Perspectives on Religious Diversity addresses fundamental and controversial questions raised by religious diversity. What are members of religious traditions to say about outsiders and about their religions? Discussion of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish perspectives is combined with methodological work.

As dialogue among the religions of the world has increased, the promotion of these exchanges by Christians, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, raises the question of the motives behind these discussions. Some Christians reach out in good will, others display defensive hostility, still others are simply following the mandates of their church. Religious diversity--rather than pluralism--challenges citizens of the world to learn from the differences between religions rather than glibly assuming their commonality. Acknowledging these differences, In Praise of Religious Diversity promotes active conversation--rather than conventional dialogue--as the mode of meeting between the religions. Only through a contemporaneous exchange of ideas can the benefits of diversity be realized. This new level of communication poses an exciting prospect from which previously unrecognized alternatives for religion and relationships between religions might contribute to even greater human possibilities.

Urban spaces throughout Europe are increasingly characterised by a mixture of different religions and worldviews. Being home to a wide range of religious and non-religious groups and individuals does not mean that cities are automatically also spaces of interreligious and interfaith encounters. Whether a city is a venue for interreligious encounter and dialogue, or merely a place where various religions and worldviews exist side by side, is a central question for the continuing social cohesion of modern societies. This volume presents selected findings of the international research project 'Religion and Dialogue in Modern Societies' (ReDi) which investigated dialogical practice in the five metropolitan cities Oslo, Stockholm, London, Hamburg and Duisburg. It offers a range of case studies addressing two fields of activity: dialogue and interreligious encounters in the urban space and dialogue in education.

Although its beginnings can be traced back to the late 19th century, the interfaith movement has only recently begun to attract mainstream attention, with governments, religious leaders and grassroots activists around the world increasingly turning to interfaith dialogue and collective action to address the challenges posed and explore the opportunities presented by religious diversity in a globalising world. This volume explores the history and development of the interfaith movement by engaging with new theoretical perspectives and a diverse range of case studies from around the world. The first book to bring together experts in the fields of religion, politics and social movement theory to offer an in-depth social analysis of the interfaith movement, it not only sheds new light on the movement itself, but challenges the longstanding academic division of labour that confines ‘religious’ and ‘social’ movements to separate spheres of inquiry.

This book describes the relationship of Christian Public Theology to other religions and their ways of contributing to the common good. It also promotes mutual learning processes in public education to strengthen the public role and responsibility of religions in pluralistic societies. This volume brings together not only public education and public theology, but also scholars from a variety of disciplines such as philosophy, cultural studies, and sociology, and from different parts of the world. By doing so, the book intends to widen the horizon and provide fresh impulses for public theology as well as the discourse on public religious education.

What is the relationship between salvation, human liberation, and care for creation? To answer this question Daniel Castillo expands on the ideas presented in Gustavo Gutiérrez's classic work A Theology of Liberation and proposes a novel concept: green liberation theology. In this compelling and original work Castillo places Gutiérrez in dialogue with a diverse array of theological, ecological, and socio-scientific discourses, drawing upon the work of Jon Sobrino, Willie James Jennings, Walter Brueggemann, Ellen Davis, and others, paying special attention to Pope Francis'encyclical Laudato Si'.