Interreligious Engagement Research Articles

Investigating Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī’s Approach Towards Inter-Religious Encounters in the Light of His Teachings and Writings

This research seeks to investigate the approach of Yusuf al-Qaradawi toward inter-religious encounters in the light of his teachings and writings. As a prominent Islamic scholar and intellectual, Qaradawi’s teachings and writings have had a significant impact on the relationship between the Muslim community and others. The goal of this research is to provide an analysis of Qaradawi’s writings and teachings to extract his approach toward inter-religious encounters and relations, drawing on a range of primary and secondary sources. Through a critical examination of his views on this subject, the approach of Qaradawi toward inter-religious understanding and cooperation is emphasized. The descriptive, analytical, and critical methods are used in the entire work. A brief description of Yusuf al-Qaradawi’s life, intellectual development, and works on inter-religious encounters and understanding is provided. Analysis of how he approached inter-religious encounters and relations, and how his views and thoughts on this subject have been received by both Muslim and non-Muslim communities. The study expects to provide new insights into Yusuf al-Qaradawi’s approach to inter-religious engagements, which are relevant to the contemporary context of inter-religious relationships between Muslims and adherents of other religions.

I Am in Prison, Making Batik, and You Are Visiting Me

AbstractThis article contributes to the literature on interreligious engagement in prison from the perspective of Christian religious educational and missional ministry. It uses a case study conducted in the Class IIA Women's Correctional Institution in Semarang, Indonesia. In Indonesia, educational and missional ministry in prisons plays a vital role in supporting prison services. This ministry is understood as part of the Christian mandate to serve those in prison, regardless of their religion. Though spiritual development for Christian inmates is also essential, it is important to consider a comprehensive interreligious engagement programme that includes art, creativity, and imagination, including batik‐making. Using a postcolonial feminist perspective, this article proposes practices relevant to prison ministry, especially for female inmates. The practices are both educational and missional. We call the interconnection between the educational and missional a liberating third space – a space of interreligious engagement that is relevant for female inmates in Indonesia.

Interreligious Formation, Community-Based Learning, and Justice: The Case of Formerly Incarcerated Citizens

Graduate schools of theology frequently offer interreligious studies classes and programs. But simply teaching about a religious tradition is not enough. For interreligious studies and dialogue to be effective, there needs to be a deeper understanding and appreciation that can be transformative. Interreligious community-based learning can serve as a critical educational bridge between the classroom and the real world and also help students live into the shared religious value of social justice. In this article, I utilize Catholic and Islamic theologies related to human dignity and interreligious engagement to demonstrate how a theological graduate school’s interreligious educational curriculum can be improved through a community-based learning program.

The Meeting: Ideas for an Architecture of Interreligious Civic Collaboration

Interreligious engagement (IE) has been experienced and theorized mainly as the pursuit of a shared respectful awareness of the beliefs, practices, and social experiences of multiple religious communities. In rare instances, it has been possible to create architecture specifically to foster IE, as in the “tri-faith” Abrahamic campus in Omaha and the Berlin House of One. The theme is: Here we are, accepting that we share the world. Another form of IE that deserves to attract more interest is multireligious collaboration in civic work (addressing homelessness, urban blight, illiteracy, etc.). Some adherents of the intrinsically cosmopolitan “world” religions are actively cosmopolitan to the extent of seeking this engagement. The theme is: Let us share the work of the world, including sharing our religiously inflected processing of what the practical issues facing us are. There is a new initiative of this sort in my city, Jackson, Mississippi, named (from M. L. King) the “Beloved Community”. An architectural thought experiment may prove helpful in articulating the ideals for such an endeavor. What would be the physical desiderata for its headquarters? Let us imagine a new downtown building, The Meeting, dedicated to housing meetings where mixed religious groups learn about civic issues and coordinate efforts to address them. Full interreligious sharing of a space seems to require a neutral design lacking any definite religious inspiration. But there are nonsectarian ways to create an appreciably special, non-ordinary space, as in courtrooms and classrooms. Could a civic IE headquarters be special, expressive of practical optimism, and contain a sufficient religious allusion to qualify as a “next-to-sacred space” in which religious actors felt supported in the civic extension of their religious lives? I offer suggestions for discussion, including (1) a pavilion-style building suggestive of being set up for a special purpose—not soaringly grandiose but with a vertical feature such as a central roof lantern; (2) at least one major porch, with benches and tables; (3) an outside water fountain with public water supply (a historical allusion to the Islamic sabil); (4) inside, right-sized meeting rooms around the glass-walled periphery; (5) a big “living room” lounge in the center, usable for larger meetings, with access to a kitchen, and with a big project board for tracking work completed and work in hand next to a large map of the city; (6) a moderate descent of several steps into each meeting room so that there is a feeling of commitment in attending a meeting and a sense of challenge in going forth from one; (7) otherwise a main floor levelness and openness facilitating movement in and out, as in a train station; and (8) upstairs small offices for religious and other qualifying organizations. Answering the aesthetic and practical questions these suggestions raise takes us into imagining civic IE more concretely.

Embodied interreligious engagement: Female gendered bodies, reconciliation, and sport in Djibouti

Foreign Christian women in Muslim-majority countries may experience gendered culture shock and various forms of insidious trauma. This is rarely addressed by organizations or individuals yet has a significant impact on women, their communities, and their work by causing a rupture in their concept of self, community, and God. This article argues that participation in sports as intentional embodied interreligious engagement offers potential for Christian and Muslim women to mutually discover valuable resources for reconciling what trauma ruptures, namely their relationship with their own bodies and their communities. The article first establishes the experience of gendered culture shock, sexual harassment, and insidious trauma, and reasons Christians may downplay their impact. It then develops the concept of an incarnational ministry of reconciliation. This is followed by looking at how intentional interreligious engagement must begin on neutral ground and identifies sports as one possibility for embodiment in interreligious engagement. The article concludes with suggestions for further research and ideas for further embodied interaction, moving toward deeper and more intentional interreligious engagement.

Interreligious Engagement as an Enabler of Gender Justice through the Common Good

AbstractThe article begins by explaining some of the terminology used and proceeds to share highlights of work undertaken under the auspices of the United Nations and at an international multireligious organization over the last 25 years. The key argument is that working to bring together different religious organizations in service to the common good, which also includes gender equality and women's empowerment, creates the space for genuine collaboration among and between people and organizations/institutions. It concludes with a few reflections on the love of the Divine and the imperative of the multireligious encounter as an enabler of this love, which itself is a prerequisite for gender justice.

Obstacles to moral articulation in interreligious engagement

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to confront a well-known problem in interreligious engagement in European institutions, namely the tendency to exclude contributions that do not conform to certain European expectations. It diagnoses problems produced not only by the problem but by certain solutions to it, and to propose in outline an alternative approach. Chief among these problems is the imperative that members of traditions articulate their deepest moral commitments, in order to secure a common moral ground. This imperative has the unintended but drastic effect of excluding important voices in dialogue. Drawing on the figures of Cordelia (in Shakespeare’s King Lear) and Antigone (in Sophocles’ Antigone) it is argued that forced articulation distorts its objects. The theoretical framework of discussion is drawn from Hegel, Schelling, and Adorno as in interpreted by Alasdair MacIntyre, Charles Taylor, and Andrew Bowie. The originality of the argument is the use of aesthetic theory in German philosophy to inform a critique of attempts to make morality central to interreligious engagement.

Reply to my respondents

ABSTRACT Five authors have written a response to my article ‘Obstacles to Moral Articulation in Interreligious Engagement’. I here summarise their responses and offer a thematically arranged response.

Should moral commitments be articulated? An introduction

ABSTRACT This Special Issue questions a basic assumption in thinking about morality: the idea that the explicit articulation of moral commitments that usually remain implicit is the basis par excellence for dialogue and rapprochement between people of opposing views. Nicholas Adams shows in the main article of this Special Issue that there is a paradox behind this assumption concerning ethics itself: articulating moral commitments may end up undermining them. It inherently stands in tension with forms of life as people actually inhabit them. Adams associates this basic paradox of ethics with the problem of forced articulation in particular discursive regimes, such as interreligious dialogue. The practice of Scriptural Reasoning is introduced as an alternative mode of dialogue that is less vulnerable to the distortions of articulation. The five response articles (by Petruschka Schaafsma, Ariën Voogt, Rob Compaijen, Dominique Gosewisch, and Sophia Höff) address aspects of Adams’ challenge to articulation in relation to morality, rather than the setting of interreligious engagement. They point out the value of articulation in spite of its inherent imperfection, or constructively elaborate on how to deal with the paradox of ethics as analyzed by Adams. Finally, Adams responds by addressing the concerns of these replies.

PONDOK DAMAI: A STUDY OF PELITA INTERFAITH ASSOCIATION MOVEMENT FOR INTERRELIGIOUS ENGAGEMENT IN INDONESIA

Indonesia possesses various religions and faith affiliations, so there is no doubt that there are multiple causes that have conflict due to several factors such as economic, social, and political. To minimize the possibility of the emergence of intolerance and discrimination, 'Pelita,' an interfaith association, seeks to realize the values of interreligious harmony among religious people, one of which is located in Semarang. Pelita aimed for the nation's adolescents to return to knitting peace in its annual plan, 'Pondok Damai’. This paper analyzed how the adolescents' activities in Pondok Damai are strongly oriented toward maintaining interreligious engagement. Using qualitative methods through a sociological approach, this paper interviewed participants involved in Pondok Damai and relevant literature research. Moreover, this paper used an analysis belonging to J.B Banawiratma, ‘Seven Moments of Dialogue’. Using the theory of Seven Moments of Dialogue, the author will interpret several Pondok Damai activities and how it contributes to interreligious dialogue in Indonesia. These moments contain dialogue of life, social analysis and contextual ethical reflection, study of religious traditions, interfaith dialogue in sharing faith and interfaith theology, dialogue of action and intra-religious dialogue. This research concluded that Pondok Damai became a forum for interfaith encounters with youngsters from different affiliations. Through their participation in a series of Pondok Damai activities, youngsters have established a true peace by interreligious engagement among them.

The European Katechon: A Note on the Political Theology of Present-day Christian–Muslim Engagement

ABSTRACT The Iranian Revolution, the 9/11 attacks, the Arab Spring, the appearance of the Islamic State movement and other similar events have caused a shift in inter-faith engagements such that inter-religious dialogue, maintaining a balanced politico-religious discourse, has become imperative in international relations. This imperative is reshaping world politics. We observe that inter-religious engagements in response to such political events have had a steady katechontic character. The katechon, originally a biblical concept, refers to political institutions and cultural mechanisms used by sovereign actors, be they religious bodies, churches or states, to restrain [apocalyptic] chaos. Katechontic mechanisms essentially diffuse messianic zeal within a given community while redrawing how its members imagine the shape of things to come. Given the current trends in global culture, the katechontic character of inter-faith dialogue makes it most likely that, in the future, the world will be mainly animated by numerous simultaneous inter-cultural and inter-faith relations and modes of engagement, while the major political players seek to formulate a new vision for the future of the world.

Diplomacy and Interreligious Dialogue: A Generative Model

Diplomacy and Interreligious DialogueA Generative Model Pasquale Ferrara (bio) introduction In the public perception, diplomacy is a traditional Westphalian profession, associated with anything from glamour to vanity to plotting, duplicity, secrecy, and obscure bureaucracy. As a result, diplomacy is usually understood through one of two prevailing paradigms: empty formality (parties and receptions) on the one hand, and on the other hand, instrumentalism and cynicism. Immanuel Kant was among the most authoritative critics of diplomacy. In his Project for A Perpetual Peace, he wrote that ambassadors are always ready to find ad hoc justifications for the futile wars of their sovereigns.1 In more recent times, the so-called “realist” conception of diplomacy, based on power, interests, strategy has become a dominant narrative. As a case in point, the present tragedy of the Russian aggression against Ukraine seems to confirm this interpretation of diplomacy as either ineffective or as a utilitarian public function. However, it is equally possible to argue, symmetrically, that war begins exactly when diplomacy fails or plays no incisive role in international disputes. In this article, my aim is not to offer a generic defense or “rehabilitation” of diplomacy, but rather to highlight one aspect of the connective power of diplomacy. In particular, my purpose is to argue that contemporary, reflexive diplomacy has the ability to engage with both religious and interreligious realities and entities in reciprocal discursive interactions. In doing so, I will move away from the ontological/empirical dispute about the nature and evolution of diplomacy, building instead on the phenomenological manifestation of new practices of diplomacy as they relate to religions as social, international, and transnational phenomena. As an introduction, I will elaborate on the tragic death in early 2021 of Luca Attanasio, the young Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose activism with religious organizations raises broader fundamental questions about ethics and diplomacy, as well as diplomacy [End Page 177] “extra muros.”2 Elaborating on this specific case, I will then discuss two types of interrelations between religious diversity and diplomacy: religions functional to diplomacy (cases of diplomacy using or relying upon religious initiatives and religious networks) and diplomacy functional to religions (cases of religions using or relying upon diplomatic initiatives and diplomatic networks). I will conclude by introducing the concept of “generative diplomacy” as an interpretation of the underlying social texture that binds together the different manifestations of the connection between interreligious engagement and diplomacy. faith, diplomacy, engagement: the tragic case of luca attanasio The public and media rarely think about diplomacy in terms of ethics, engagement, and outreach to religious organizations (beyond charitable events) until something unexpected compels them to look at diplomacy from a completely different angle. This was the case with the brutal assassination, on February 22, 2021, of Luca Attanasio, the young Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The diplomat was killed, along with two other people, during a field visit with a World Food Programme (WFP) delegation.3 The shock the Italian public experienced was profound and reflected by events in the aftermath of this tragic death. The Italian thinktank Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) dedicated its annual prize to Attanasio’s memory;4 the president posthumously awarded him the Order of the Star of Italy, while the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs named a conference room after him.5 Just a few days after his tragic death, a rather surprising profile of Attanasio emerged. He was not a “classic” ambassador, though his political and professional record was impeccable. In his spare time, he used to act as an institutional community organizer, engaging in impressive outreach to volunteers and non-governmental organizations active in the social field in Africa. To be sure, this kind of outward-facing activity is not new among diplomats, but Attanasio’s case was unique because the discussion included a religious dimension. The Community of Sant’Egidio, a well-known Catholic lay movement engaged in processes of mediation and reconciliation, recognized Attanasio. In an official statement, the Community expressed “its great sorrow for the killing of Ambassador Luca Attanasio . . . We remember him with affection, having met him several times in Rome and in [End Page 178] Kinshasa and...

Interreligious Engagement and Political Theory: Between Virtue Ethics and Religious Humanism

Interreligious Engagement and Political Theory: Between Virtue Ethics and Religious Humanism

Towards an Interreligious Engagement: A Case Study of Paguyuban Eklasing Budi Murko (PEBM) in Kulon Progo, Yogyakarta

The feeling of being the majority often drives people to hegemony other minorities. The presence of religious minorities seems marginalized because they do not have much power to assert their existence. This study examines the dynamic relationship between Paguyuban Eklasing Budi Murko (PEBM) followers and the religious majority in the Salamrejo. Thus, this research uses two theories: the indigenous religion paradigm and the non-formal interfaith dialogue. The research data is collected from an in-depth interview, literature studies, and mainstream online data. The hegemony assumption reveals that the feeling of the majority continues dominating society. In contrast, the hypothesis is too general. The relationship of PEBM as the indigenous religion and world religions community, particularly Islam, does not reflect this hypothesis. The dynamic relationships between PEBM and the majority groups in the village of Salamrejo are engaging with one another, which is influenced by two factors: First, Mbah Mangun is the elder and the most respected person in PEBM. Second, by the teachings of PEBM per se, which is very fluid to all religions in the paradigm of inter-subjectivity and interreligious engagement as a new strategy for PEBM to encourage social acceptance.

Neighbors: Christians and Muslims Building Community, by Deanna Ferree Womack.

Neighbors: Christians and Muslims Building Community comes at a pivotal moment as the year 2021 marks the twentieth anniversary of the tragedy that took place on September 11, 2001. Since those devastating attacks, anti-Muslim hate crime has continued to burgeon, and tensions between Christians and Muslims have escalated to new heights. This has led Islamophobia to dictate and distort American Christians’ views in misunderstanding and mistreating their Muslim neighbors. As author Deanna Ferree Womack puts it, “lives are at stake” (2). She calls to Christians in the United States that now is the time “to be the neighbors Christ called us to be, to start building Christian–Muslim community” (xi).As such, Womack presents a guidebook for American Christians of diverse backgrounds who desire to learn more about their Muslim neighbors in the local, national, and global community. Neighbors is an intricate combination of historical, theological, and practical approaches that reflect on the story of how Christians and Muslims have related to one another in the past, confront the ongoing struggles in the present, and envision a better future for Christian–Muslim relations. Not only does her work aim to provide book knowledge on Islam, but also her pedagogy encourages readers to be proactive by approaching religions as living faiths, to be self-reflective, and to take steps in supporting Muslim neighbors. Womack undertakes this task in three sections: “When Our Neighbors Have a Different Religion,” “Christian–Muslim Encounters,” and “From Neighborly Commitment to Working Together.”The first section begins by providing a reality check about the growing multifaith society of the United States, which is projected to grow dramatically by 2050. “American Christians,” Womack writes, “should expect more opportunities to meet people of other faiths” (13). In addressing this pluralistic reality, Womack proposes that Christians should reflect on the notion of being Christ’s “witness” in pursuing meaningful interfaith engagements, as doing so indicates someone who “points to what they understand to be the truth” (24). Womack also highlights three models of interreligious engagements and argues that in today’s context interreligious dialogue prioritizes differences and pursues deeper intellectual engagement than just simply emphasizing commonalities.The second section explores the history of Christian–Muslim relations in the Middle East and takes a deep dive into understanding Islam in America. Womack problematizes the common stereotype that Christians and Muslims have always been in conflict by highlighting Christian–Muslim collaborations throughout history, for example, how Christian, Muslim, and Jewish intellectuals “worked interreligiously to spur social development within the wider Syrian community” (62) during the Arab Renaissance. In retracing the history of Islam in America, Womack argues that Islam is not a recent phenomenon, but rather it is an American religion that has been present since before the Civil War and has also evolved as a platform in voicing the racist injustices of African Americans. Consequently, the growing diversity among Muslims has also led to different ways of being Muslim in the United States, from the “social activists” who envision Islam as a source of addressing social inequalities to the “homeland homesick” who form small ethnic Muslim communities.Section 3 emphasizes the participatory praxis of interreligious dialogue through cultivating interfaith awareness. Womack utilizes an ethnographic approach in examining the lived experiences of Muslims today and the challenges that negative media representations of Islam and misconceptions about Muslim women have had on Christian–Muslim relations. In this section, Womack’s model of interreligious awareness is noteworthy, as it can be used as a framework for reflexivity to identify how one responds to religious differences and to “move toward higher stages of interreligious awareness and away from confrontational responses” (120). The closing chapter offers resources, such as the “Dos and Don’ts” in Christian–Muslim dialogue, and steps for fostering positive interfaith relations.Neighbors offers a compelling vision for dialogue and promising partnership between Christian and Muslim communities. The afterword by Roshan Iqbal, a female Muslim scholar, speaks volumes as she writes that this book is not only relevant for Christians, but “important to me personally and to my whole community as well” (146). Womack, with her extensive knowledge and expertise in Christian–Muslim initiatives, has created a guide jampacked with a wealth of information and the right tools for interfaith communication. Along with the reflection questions at the beginning of each chapter, readers should utilize the resourceful group discussion guide at the end. With this book as their guide, readers—whether they are a church layperson, pastor, and other Christian—will be better equipped to engage in deeper interfaith reflections and meaningful interreligious dialogue with their Muslim neighbors.

Oral-Based Christian-Marapu Interreligious Engagement: Manawara as a Shared Virtue for Common Liberation

This has been prevalent that the discourse of interreligious dialogue has been overwhelmingly dominated by the elites in the formal spheres. It even seems to be the only standard to examine the issues of interreligious relations, without taking into account the diverse modes of everyday engagements among the people. This then raises the recognition that there is actually no single pattern for interreligious engagement since it would be always contextual according to its distinctive context. It therefore implies the need to learn more from the localities to develop more contextual interreligious engagement. In this regard, this work will examine the interreligious engagement of Christianity and Marapu indigenous religion in Sumba. The data used in this work are based on the field research conducted in 2019 in Southwest Sumba. Observation and in depth interview with a number of Sumbanese Christians and Marapu are also conducted. The research finds that manawara (the teaching of love; compassion) as the potential basis for developing social engagement. The term manawara is used by Marapu people in their teaching, but since the term is a Sumbanese language, the Sumbanese Christians also translate their prominent teaching of love with that term. Manawara is then both scriptural-based for Christians, and oral-based for Marapu people. Using Lattu’s oral-based interreligious engagement and Knitter’s socially engaged dialogue as the theoretical frameworks, this work argues that manawara as a shared virtue is very potential to be developed, in realizing common liberation of the Sumbanese through mutual action.
 Keywords: interreligious engagement, manawara, orality, sumbanese christian, marapu indigenous rel
 
 Wacana dialog antaragama selama ini telah didominasi sedemikian rupa oleh para elit dalam ruang-ruang formal. Hal itu bahkan menjadi seolah satu-satunya ukuran untuk membahas isu-isu hubungan antaragama, tanpa memperhitungkan keberagaman bentuk keterlibatan sehari-hari yang dihidupi secara nyata oleh orang-orang beragama yang merupakan subjek utama dalam topik tersebut. Dari sinilah kemudian muncul kesadaran bahwa sebenarnya tidak ada satu pola tertentu untuk keterlibatan antaragama karena ia akan selalu tergantung pada konteksnya yang unik. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa penting untuk lebih banyak belajar dari lokalitas-lokalitas yang ada demi mengembangkan keterlibatan antaragama yang lebih kontekstual. Untuk itu, tulisan ini akan membahas keterlibatan antaragama Kristen dan Marapu di Sumba. Data yang digunakan dalam studi ini diperoleh dari sebuah penelitian lapangan pada tahun 2019 di Sumba Barat Daya yang dilakukan melalui observasi dan wawancara mendalam dengan sejumlah orang Sumba Kristen dan Marapu. Penelitian tersebut menemukan manawara (ajaran tentang kasih) sebagai basis potensial untuk mengembangkan keterlibatan yang ada. Istilah manawara digunakan oleh orang Marapu dalam ajaran mereka, namun karena istilah tersebut adalah sebuah kata dalam Bahasa Sumba, orang Sumba Kristen juga menerjemahkan ajaran kasih mereka dengan istilah manawara tersebut. Dengan demikian, manawara menjadi suatu ajaran yang basisnya skriptural, bagi orang Kristen, dan oral, bagi orang Marapu. Dengan menggunakan keterlibatan antaragama berbasis oral dari Lattu dan socially engaged dialogue dari Knitter sebagai kerangka teori, studi ini berargumen bahwa manawara sebagai sebuah kebajikan bersama sangatlah potensial untuk dikembangkan, dalam merealisasikan pembebasan bersama orang Sumba melalui aksi bersama.
 Kata Kunci: keterlibatan antaragama, manawara, kelisanan, orang Kristen Sumba, agama Marapu

Barth on Divine Simplicity and the Attributes of God: A Theological Agenda for Christian/Muslim Dialogue

Abstract This article examines the theological concepts of divine simplicity and the attributes of God. The purpose of this inquiry is to explore the significance of these themes for Christian/Muslim dialogue. In this sense the article is an overture to a public theology undertaken through aspects of the doctrine of God foundational for Christians and Muslims. An introduction identifies the somewhat marginal significance of theological dialogue in Christian-Muslim encounter. In doing so it considers what contribution Karl Barth might have to make to Christian-Muslim reflections on the doctrine of God. The main focus of the article examines Barth’s treatment of divine simplicity and the attributes of God. In this respect the article highlights the importance of Barth’s ethical transposition of the doctrine of divine simplicity and its implications for inter-religious engagements in the world. The article argues for a public theology which takes more seriously the relationship between theory and practice in inter-religious dialogue.

The Future of Interreligious Dialogue

AbstractThe ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic has affected all aspects of life, including interreligious engagement. This article offers one interpretation of the key markers that should underpin a distinctively Christian engagement with other religious traditions in the current climate. It develops suggestions around the three “theological virtues” – namely, faith, hope, and love – as it is argued that these make the Christian way of being in the world distinctive and attractive. Each virtue is defined first in a broad way, and then in specifically Christian terms, before it is explored in its various applications to interreligious engagement. The article focuses on the opportunities and challenges of engagement in pandemic times throughout, indicating areas for future development in the process. Its conclusion highlights the challenges associated with interreligious engagement in the digital context.

Toward a Dialogue of the Heels?

AbstractFollowing its assembly in Busan in 2013, the World Council of Churches (WCC) adopted the framework of a Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace (PJP) for its programmatic engagement. This article explores how themes and concerns relating to justice shaped the programmatic engagement of the WCC’s Office of Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation. To this end, it analyzes the three dimensions of the WCC’s interreligious work: bilateral dialogues, resourcing churches, and interreligious collaboration. Showing how the PJP’s orientation toward learning from the margins also significantly influenced the justice‐orientation of the WCC’s interreligious engagement, the article proposes a new model of interreligious dialogue called the “dialogue of the heels” to complement the existing models of interreligious engagement of dialogue of the head, the heart, the hands and the holy. This dialogue of the heels has a dual attention: to the experiences of injustice and to the agency for justice of marginalized communities. It thus can offer a necessary corrective to interreligious dialogue, which has long been accused of being elitist and estranged from liberative engagement.

Learning from Muslims and Jews: In Search of the Identity of Christ from Eighth-century Baghdad to Seventeenth-century Hague

AbstractIn past iterations of ecclesiastical historical writings and teachings, there has not always been sufficient acknowledgment of the encounters between Christians and their religious Others. This article is an exercise in diachronic comparative interreligious encounter: a Muslim-Christian engagement in the eighth century CE and a Jewish-Christian epistolary exchange in the seventeenth century CE. The former took place in Baghdad in the court of a caliph, whereas the latter took place between individuals in London and the Hague, between Baruch Spinoza and Henry Oldenburg. While it might be tempting to highlight the narratives of conversion away from one religion into another—whether from Christianity to Islam, Christianity to Judaism, or vice versa—in current historiography, it also seems that quotidian realities of interreligious exchange often do not lead to such conversions, and yet leave the participants better informed and further enlightened about the practice and pursuit of their own religion. The following two accounts are neither triumphalist nor tragic. Patriarch Timothy and Caliph al-Mahdī's exchange in eighth-century Baghdad shows the degree to which divine identity and Christian apophasis mattered. The letter exchanges between Spinoza and his interlocutors also show the degree to which divine mystery as ontological demarcator for both the doctrine of the Trinity and corresponding Christology, as well as Spinoza's repudiation of both, mattered. Lastly, these two examples of interreligious engagements show a pathway of encounter which does not dismiss or cancel the religious Other.