The Global Politics Of Interreligious Dialogue

Over the last thirty years, governments across the globe have formalized new relationships with religious communities through their domestic and foreign policies and have variously sought to manage, support, marginalize, and coopt religious forces through them. Many scholars view these policies as evidence of the "return of religion" to global politics although there is little consensus about the exact meaning, shape, or future of this political turn. In The Global Politics of Interreligious Dialogue, Michael D. Driessen examines the growth of state-sponsored interreligious dialogue initiatives in the Middle East and their use as a policy instrument for engaging with religious communities and ideas. Using a novel theoretical framework and drawing on five years of ethnographic fieldwork, Driessen explores both the history of interreligious dialogue and the evolution of theological approaches to religious pluralism in the traditions of Roman Catholicism and Sunni Islam. He analyzes state-centric accounts of interreligious dialogue and conceptualizes new ideas and practices of citizenship, religious pluralism, and social solidarity that characterize dialogue initiatives in the region. To make his case, Driessen presents four studies of dialogue in the Middle East--the Focolare Community in Algeria, the Adyan Foundation in Lebanon, KAICIID of Saudi Arabia, and DICID of Qatar--and highlights key interreligious dialogue declarations produced in the broader Middle East over the last two decades. Compelling and nuanced, The Global Politics of Interreligious Dialogue illustrates how religion operates in contemporary global politics, offering important lessons about the development of alternative models of democracy, citizenship, and modernity.

In The Global Politics of Interreligious Dialogue, Michael D. Driessen examines the growth of state-sponsored interreligious dialogue initiatives in the Middle East and their use as a policy instrument for engaging with religious communities and ideas. Using a novel theoretical framework and drawing on five years of ethnographic fieldwork, Driessen explores both the history of interreligious dialogue and the evolution of theological approaches to religious pluralism in the traditions of Catholicism and Sunni Islam. Compelling and nuanced, this book illustrates how religion operates in contempo.

In recent years, North American and European nations have sought to legally remake religion in other countries through an unprecedented array of international initiatives. Policymakers have rallied around the notion that the fostering of religious freedom, interfaith dialogue, religious tolerance, and protections for religious minorities are the keys to combating persecution and discrimination. Beyond Religious Freedom persuasively argues that these initiatives create the very social tensions and divisions they are meant to overcome. Elizabeth Shakman Hurd looks at three critical channels of state-sponsored intervention: international religious freedom advocacy, development assistance and nation building, and international law. She shows how these initiatives make religious difference a matter of law, resulting in a divide that favors forms of religion authorized by those in power and excludes other ways of being and belonging. In exploring the dizzying power dynamics and blurred boundaries that characterize relations between "expert religion," "governed religion," and "lived religion," Hurd charts new territory in the study of religion in global politics. A forceful and timely critique of the politics of promoting religious freedom, Beyond Religious Freedom provides new insights into today's most pressing dilemmas of power, difference, and governance.

With a religious re-emergence in international relations, this book provides an introduction to the role religions play within the global political arena. Culled from theoretical, practical, and real-world experiences, Ferrara explains the role religion now plays in global affairs on diplomatic and political levels.

One of the most resilient ideas about societal development after World War II was that nations would inevitably secularise as they modernised. However, as we come to the end of the 'secular' twentieth century, it is obvious that religion continues to be an important factor in politics around the world. The author examines the continuing importance of religion, focusing upon the regions of Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia.

Globalization has spawned more active transnational religious communities, creating a powerful force in world affairs. Religious Pluralism, Globalization and World Politics, an incisive new collection of essays, explores the patterns of cooperation and conflict that mark this new religious pluralism. Shifting religious identities have encouraged interreligious dialogue and greater political engagement around global challenges including international development, conflict resolution, transitional justice, and bioethics. At the same time, interreligious competition has contributed to political conflict and running controversy over the meaning and scope of religious freedom. In this volume, leading scholars from a variety of disciplines examine how the forces of religious pluralism and globalization are playing out on the world stage.

This book addresses issues central to today’s Catholic Church, focusing on the relationship between various religions in different contexts and regions across the world. The diverse array of contributors present an inclusively interfaith enterprise, investigating a wide range of encounters and perspectives. The essays include approaches from the Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Bahá’í traditions, in a variety of geographic contexts. Contributors reflect on Muslims in the West, Christian-Buddhist social activism, and on Chinese, Indian, and Japanese religions. The volume also explores the experiences of communities that are often marginalized and overlooked such as the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders of Australia and the Karen tribal peoples of Thailand. Contributors examine the works of the Focolare, Gülen, and Risshō Kōsei-kai movements, and integrate the vision of Raimon Panikkar and Ken Wilber. Chapters incorporate discussions of dialogue documents such as Nostra Aetate and Dabru Emet, and methodologies such as Receptive Ecumenism, Comparative Theology, and Scriptural Reasoning. Among other goals, the book seeks to offer glimpses into interfaith dialogues across the world and examine what Christians can learn from other religions and global contexts.

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.

The notion of Interreligious Studies signals a new academic perspective on the study of religion, characterized by a relational approach. Interreligious Studies defines the essential features of interreligious studies compared with alternative conceptions of religious studies and theology. The book discusses pressing and salient challenges in interreligious relations, including interreligious dialogue in practice and theory, interfaith dialogue and secularity, confrontational identity politics, faith-based diplomacy, the question of interfaith learning in school, and interreligious responses to extremism. Interreligious Studies is a cutting-edge study from one of the most important voices in Europe in the field, Oddbjørn Leirvik, and includes case study material from his native Norway including interreligious responses to the bomb attack in Norway on 22nd July 2011, as well as examples from a number of other national and global contexts Expanding discussions on interreligious dialogue and the relationship between religions in new and interesting ways, this book is a much-needed addition to the growing literature on interreligious studies.

Many people are of the opinion that our world faces a crisis, a “clash of civilizations,” from which we are unlikely to recover. However, Turkish born educator, scholar and advocate for peace Fethullah Gülen believes that through education, tolerance, and dialogue, peace can be achieved. Gülen has spoken of what he calls “peace islands” in an analogy describing his non-violent, cooperative ideas about conflict resolution. The perceived “clash of civilizations” may come in waves of violence and anger throughout the world, but once these waves reach these peace islands, they will retreat with the tide leaving the islands unscathed. Gülen ideals provide the blueprint for these islands. This collection as a whole attempts what each individual paper proposes: a dialogue rooted in tolerance that accounts for the unique histories and assumptions of each member involved. Proper interfaith dialogue requires first an encounter between two or more individuals, then a willingness (rooted in tolerance) of each individual to engage with the other. This definition of interfaith dialogue is central to Gülen’s writings, and indeed to the focus of this collection of papers. Each author relates to Gülen’s ideas in a unique way, offering a diversity of perspectives that gives true dialogue its vibrant energy.