In modern multi-faith societies, religious diversity not only affects religious organisations and communities, but indeed every aspect of life. From celebrating cultural events, to considering how the police should interact with members of the public from different faith communities, this book highlights the ways in which all members of society can engage constructively with diversity. This ground-breaking book draws on the work at the St Philip's Centre in Leicester and presents a collection of case studies to show how people from a variety of religious backgrounds and ethical convictions have learnt to coexist peacefully. Without shying away from the conflicts and challenges that have occurred, the book focuses on the lessons learnt and offers real examples of how to promote positive interfaith relationships. This is an excellent resource for anyone wishing to understand the issues of religion and belief that may arise at local and national levels, and develop appropriate attitudes and actions for peaceful resolution.

A groundbreaking examination of the way Muslim thinkers have approached and responded to Jesus through the centuries Prophet or messiah, the figure of Jesus serves as both the bridge and the barrier between Christianity and Islam. In this accessible and thoughtful book, Muslim scholar and popular commentator Mona Siddiqui takes her reader on a personal, theological journey exploring the centrality of Jesus in Christian-Muslim relations. Christian and Muslim scholars have used Jesus and Christological themes for polemical and dialogical conversations from the earliest days to modern times. The author concludes with her own reflections on the cross and its possible meaning in her Muslim faith. Through a careful analysis of selected works by major Christian and Muslim theologians during the formative, medieval, and modern periods of both religions, Siddiqui focuses on themes including revelation, prophecy, salvation, redemption, sin, eschatology, law, and love. How did some doctrines become the defining characteristics of one faith and not the other? What is the nature of the theological chasm between Christianity and Islam? With a nuanced and carefully considered analysis of critical doctrines the author provides a refreshingly honest counterpoint to contemporary polemical arguments and makes a compelling contribution to reasoned interfaith conversation.

'A major publishing event, not only in Buddhist studies but also for those working in the area of interfaith encounter and theology of religions.' Japanese Journal of Religious Studies In today's globalized world, religious diversity has become one of the strongest challenges to the self-understanding of any major religious tradition, provoking two interdependent questions. How does it see itself in the light of others? And, how does it see others in the light of its own teachings? While the Abrahamic religions are often accused of a predominantly intolerant and exclusivistic attitude to the religious 'other', Eastern religions-and Buddhism in particular-enjoy the reputation of being naturally tolerant, absorbing, and even pluralistic towards competing faiths. Some thinkers (from David Hume to Jan Assmann) understood religious intolerance as an inevitable property of monotheism, supposedly absent in the case of non-theistic or polytheistic religions. More recent research, however, has suggested that this impression, part of a whole cluster of Western cliches, is false. Buddhism is-and has been-as much convinced of its own superiority as any other faith, and has also been involved in various inter-religious tensions and violent conflicts. The ways, however, in which Buddhists have thought about the religious 'other', and practically dealt with it, display peculiar features, which do indeed differ profoundly from what we find in the Abrahamic faiths. Yet today, Buddhism must address the question whether it can arrive at a genuine appreciation of religious diversity, and recognize other religions as different but nevertheless equally valid. This new four-volume collection from Routledge's acclaimed Critical Concepts in Religious Studies series enables users to make sense of this and other dizzying questions. It brings together the best thinking on Buddhism's relationship with other faiths and provides a one-stop collection of classic and contemporary contributions to facilitate ready access to the most influential and important scholarship. Fully indexed and with a general and volume introductions, newly written by the editor, which carefully locate the collected materials in their historical and intellectual context, Buddhism and Religious Diversity is an essential work of reference. It is destined to be valued by specialists and scholars working in related areas as a vital research tool.

"The reader is led through the centuries, and through the varieties of regional diversity, to a serious appreciation of the richness and importance of the subject."--Sheila McDonough, Concordia University, Montreal "This volume far surpasses others of its kind in quality and breadth. It examines the critical issues surrounding the legitimacy, efficacy and, in some scholars' views, the very possibility of dialogue."--Tamara Sonn, University of South Florida The authors of these essays examine the ways in which Muslims and Christians worldwide have encountered one another over 1,400 years and the ways in which they are engaged today, enlightening current interpolitical, intersocial, and intereconomic relationships. Covering geographical, historical, and methodological topics that range from medieval scripture to contemporary theological reflections and including contributions from both Muslims and Christians, the essays will interest scholars of Islamic history and political science, religious leaders, and the general public. Contributors: Mamud Ayoub, Willem A. Bijlefeld, Issa J. Boullata, John B. Carman, Kenneth Cragg, Hadia Dajani-Shakeel, Frederick Mathewson Denny, Johann Haafkens, Wadi Z. Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, David A. Kerr, Donald P. Little, Roland E. Miller, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Jorgen S. Nielsen, Sulayman S. Nyang, James E. Royster, Daniel J. Sahas, Annemarie Schimmel, Olaf Schumann, Jan Slomp, Jane I. Smith, R. Marston Speight, Mark N. Swanson, Christian W. Troll, Harold S. Vogelaar, Jacques Waardenburg, and Antonie Wessels Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad is professor of Islamic history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Wadi Z. Haddad is professor of Islamic studies at the Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut.

Die Idee der europaischen Einheit hat im protestantischen Denken keine lange Tradition. UEber Jahrhunderte war der Protestantismus aufs engste mit der Staats- und Nationenwerdung in Europa verbunden gewesen, weshalb er lange Zeit fur europaische Vielfalt und Disparatheit, nicht aber fur eine wie auch immer geartete Einheit stand. Erst ab Ende der 1930er Jahre ist das Entstehen eines protestantischen Europadiskurses zu beobachten und zwar innerhalb der internationalen oekumenischen Bewegung. Dort, wo die Einheit der Kirchen uber die nationalen Grenzen hinweg angestrebt wurde, liess der drohende Krieg zwischen eben jenen Nationen ein europaisches Bewusstsein entstehen, und fuhrende Vertreter der OEkumene begannen, sich in die allgemeine Diskussion uber die Zukunft Europas einzuschalten. Von zentraler Bedeutung war dabei der niederlandische Theologe Willem Adolph Visser t Hooft, der den oekumenischen Protestantismus im 20. Jahrhundert wie kein Zweiter pragte. In der vorliegenden Studie untersucht Jan Schubert, wie sich seine Wahrnehmung Europas als einer politischen, kulturellen und gesellschaftlichen Einheit von den 1920er bis zu den 1960er Jahren entwickelte. Dabei vollzieht die Studie nach, welche Personen, Gruppierungen sowie welche geistigen, ideellen und theologischen Stroemungen ihn bei seiner Meinungsbildung bezuglich Europa beeinflusst haben. Auf diese Weise eroeffnet sie einen exemplarischen Einblick in die Entstehungsphase des protestantischen Europadiskurses, der in der historischen Forschung bislang weitgehend vernachlassigt wurde.

On January 17-20, 2005 the third round of the Princeton-Kampen Consultation took place in Princeton. The theme was � The Reality of God and the Reality of Faith, with basic points of reference in the Church Dogmatics being II/1, 28-31 and IV/1, 63. Presenters were encouraged, however, to approach the topic dialogically and according to their own special research interests rather than simply offering expositions of sections of the Church Dogmatics, the appeal of which would be limited to specialists in Barth's theology. As the papers included in this volume attest, the result was a remarkable variety of studies of Barth in dialogue with other theologians and philosophers on the chosen theme.

Set in British India soon after the Uprising of 1857, God's Word, Spoken and Otherwise explores the controversial and ingenious ideas of one of South Asia's most influential public thinkers, Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817-1898). Bringing to light previously unpublished material from his exegetical commentaries on the Bible and Qur'an, this study explores the interplay of natural and prophetic revelation from an intertextual perspective. The book provides fresh insight into Sir Sayyid's life and work, and underscores both the originality of his ideas, and also their continuity within a dynamic Muslim intellectual tradition.

Frankfurt/M., Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien. Studies in the Intercultural History of Christianity. Vol. 125. Edited by Richard Friedli, Jan A. B. Jongeneel, Klaus Koschorke, Theo Sundermeier and Werner Ustorf When German missiologists started to re-import their dream of a dominant Christianity to central Europe, there were more similarities between the missionary and the national socialist utopias than the post-war consensus would like to admit. Fascism to many missiologists became the desired breaking point of modernity, a revival of the Volk's deep emotions and a breakthrough of the archaic spirituality they had long been waiting for. Upon this tide they wanted to sail and conquer new territories for Christ. This study, therefore, will address the issue of mission and Nazism primarily in the light of the struggle of Christianity for a place or a home within and vis-a-vis the culture of the West as it was approaching the end of modernity. Contents: Christian missionary thinking in its broad historical context - Explicitly missionary but non-Christian movements in Germany at the time (Hitler's missiology and Hauer's neopaganism) - Attempts in the US, in Britain and the wider ecumenical movement (William Hocking, Joe Oldham, the Oxford conference of 1937) at rethinking Christianity.

Der Theologe Adolf Keller war einer der Pioniere der okumenischen Bewegung fur Praktisches Christentum und wahrend 20 Jahren pragend fur den Evangelischen Kirchenbund der Schweiz. Nach dem 1. Weltkrieg vermittelte er die Kontakte zwischen den Kirchen Nordamerikas und Europas. 1925 wurde er Zweiter Generalsekretar der Bewegung fur Praktisches Christentum und damit Leiter des Internationalen Sozialwissenschaftlichen Instituts. 1934 grundete er das Okumenische Seminar, Vorlaufer des Institut oecumenique de Bossey, das er auch leitete. Auf seinen Anstoss war 1922 die Europaische Zentralstelle fur kirchliche Hilfsaktionen (Inter-Church Aid) entstanden, die Kirchen in Europa, in der Sowjetunion und im Orient unterstutzte. Er trat gegen den Nationalsozialismus ein und engagierte sich fur judische Fluchtlinge. Marianne Jehle-Wildberger legt nicht nur eine gut recherchierte Biographie des bedeutenden Okumenikers Keller vor, sondern eroffnet zugleich neue Perspektiven zur Geschichte der okumenischen Bewegung. Marianne Jehle-Wildberger, Jahrgang 1937, Historikerin und Lehrerin, Mitautorin der St. Galler Kantonsgeschichte (Kirchengeschichte im 20. Jahrhundert), ist Autorin des im TVZ erschienenen Bandes Das Gewissen sprechen lassen. Die Haltung der Evangelisch-reformierten Kirche des Kantons St. Gallen zum Kirchenkampf, zur Fluchtlingsnot und zur Fluchtlingspolitik 1933-1948.

This book gathers the cumulative insights of over sixty years of Leonard Swidler's work in interreligious, intercultural dialogue. Offering a "Dialogue on Dialogue," he shows why diatribe, debate, and the like are ultimately unproductive and destructive. Swidler lays out his methods for engaging in Deep-Dialogue, Critical-Thinking, Emotional-Intelligence, Competitive-Cooperation, as well "common sense" guidelines for the novice and expert alike on how to move beyond one's own perspective to experience real encounter and dialogue - and live accordingly!

This insightful volume represents the "hands-on" experience in the world of academia of two Jewish scholars, one of Orthodox background and the other a convert to the Jewish faith. As a series of separate but interrelated essays, it approaches multiple issues touching both the historical Jesus (himself a pious Jew) and the modern phenomenon of Messianic Judaism. It bridges the gap between the typically isolated disciplines of Jewish and Christian scholarship and forges a fresh level of understanding across religious boundaries. It delves into such issues as the nature and essence of Jesus' message (pietistic, militant or something of a hybrid), and whether Messianic Jews should be welcome in the larger Jewish community. Its ultimate challenge is to view sound scholarship as a means of bringing together disparate faith traditions around a common academic table. Serious research of the "great Nazarene" becomes interfaith discourse.

Selections from the Fathers of the Church Outside the New Testament, our earliest complete witness to Christian apologetic against the Jews remains the Dialogue with Trypho, written by Justin Martyr (d. ca. 165), a convert to Christianity from traditional Greek religion. The Dialogue purports to be a two-day dialogue that took place in Asia Minor between Justin and Trypho, a Hellenized Jew. Justin argues extensively on the basis of lengthy Old Testament quotations that Christ is the Messiah and God incarnate, and that the Christian community is the new Israel. In the beginning of the work Justin recounts how he converted to Christianity. The Dialogue remains of great, and varying, interest. It has important information on the development of Jewish-Christian relations, on the development of the text of the Old Testament, and on the existence and character of the early Jewish Christian community: Justin's story of how he became a Christian is one of our earliest conversion accounts. The Dialogue is an ideal textbook for classes investigating the development of religion in Late Antiquity since it touches on many aspects of religion in the Roman Empire. This edition of the Dialogue with Trypho is a revision of Thomas B. Falls's translation, which appeared in Fathers of the Church, vol. 6. Thomas P. Halton has emended the translation in light of the 1997 critical edition by Miroslav Marcovich, and he has provided extensive annotation to recent scholarship on the Dialogue. Michael Slusser has edited the volume to bring it into conformity with the new Selections from the Fathers of the Church series.