This collection of essays by array of international scholars addresses some aspects of the issues of religious stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination and offers solutions through discussions of method, terminology and definitions regarding interreligious relations, the political implications in the Middle East, and various case-studies.
Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Interreligious Hermeneutics: Ways of Seeing the Religious Other examines the hermeneutics of interreligious encounter, investigating the implicit judgments of Judaism and Islam that often arise in contexts of conflict.
"Welcome to the Faith Club. We're three mothers from three faiths—Islam, Christianity, and Judaism—who got together to write a picture book for our children that would highlight the connections between our religions. But no sooner had we started talking about our beliefs and how to explain them to our children than our differences led to misunderstandings. Our project nearly fell apart." After September 11th, Ranya Idliby, an American Muslim of Palestinian descent, faced constant questions about Islam, God, and death from her children, the only Muslims in their classrooms. Inspired by a story about Muhammad, Ranya reached out to two other mothers—a Christian and a Jew—to try to understand and answer these questions for her children. After just a few meetings, however, it became clear that the women themselves needed an honest and open environment where they could admit—and discuss—their concerns, stereotypes, and misunderstandings about one another. After hours of soul-searching about the issues that divided them, Ranya, Suzanne, and Priscilla grew close enough to discover and explore what united them. The Faith Club is a memoir of spiritual reflections in three voices that will make readers feel as if they are eavesdropping on the authors' private conversations, provocative discussions, and often controversial opinions and conclusions. The authors wrestle with the issues of anti-Semitism, prejudice against Muslims, and preconceptions of Christians at a time when fundamentalists dominate the public face of Christianity. They write beautifully and affectingly of their families, their losses and grief, their fears and hopes for themselves and their loved ones. And as the authors reveal their deepest beliefs, readers watch the blossoming of a profound interfaith friendship and the birth of a new way of relating to others. In a final chapter, they provide detailed advice on how to start a faith club: the questions to ask, the books to read, and most important, the open-minded attitude to maintain in order to come through the experience with an enriched personal faith and understanding of others. Pioneering, timely, and deeply thoughtful, The Faith Club's caring message will resonate with people of all faiths.
Freed in Christ to engage our neighbors in a multi-religious world, Christians live and work in an increasingly multi-ethnic and multi-religious context. How does this affect their calling to serve their neighbors and their community? What resources does the Lutheran Christian tradition offer? Woven into this book are more than fifty stories of ELCA inter-religious engagement. These examples from local ministry settings are supplemented by practical tips, theological reflection, and historical analysis. The result is a guide for study, discussion, and action as a contribution toward the 500th observance of the Reformation in 2017 and beyond.
This outstanding reference source to epistemic injustice is the first collection of its kind. Over thirty chapters address topics such as testimonial and hermeneutic injustice and virtue epistemology, objectivity and objectification, implicit bias, gender and race.
Between Harmony and Discrimination explores the varying expressions of religious practices and the intertwined, shifting interreligious relationships of the peoples of Bali and Lombok. As religion has become a progressively more important identity marker in the 21st century, the shared histories and practices of peoples of both similar and differing faiths are renegotiated, reconfirmed or reconfigured. This renegotiation, inspired by Hindu or Islamic reform movements that encourage greater global identifications, has created situations that are perceived locally to oscillate between harmony and discrimination depending on the relationships and the contexts in which they are acting. Religious belonging is increasingly important among the Hindus and Muslims of Bali and Lombok; minorities (Christians, Chinese) on both islands have also sought global partners. Contributors include Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin, David D. Harnish,I Wayan Ardika, Ni Luh Sitjiati Beratha, Erni Budiwanti, I Nyoman Darma Putra, I Nyoman Dhana, Leo Howe, Mary Ida Bagus, Lene Pedersen, Martin Slama, Meike Rieger, Sophie Strauss, Kari Telle and Dustin Wiebe.
Market globalization, technology, climate change, and postcolonial political forces are together forging a new, more modern world. However, caught up in the mix are some powerful religious narratives that are galvanizing peoples and reimagining – and sometimes stifling – the political and social order. Some are repressive, fundamentalist imaginations, such as the so-called Islamic Caliphate. Others could be described as post-religious, such as the evolution of universal human rights out of the European Christian tradition. But the question of the compatibility of these religious worldviews, particularly those that have emerged out of the Abrahamic faith traditions, is perhaps the most pressing issue in global stability today. What scope for dialogue is there between the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian ways of imagining the future? How can we engage with these multiple imaginations to create a shared and peaceful global society? Religious Imaginations is an interdisciplinary volume of both new and well-known scholars exploring how religious narratives interact with the contemporary geopolitical climate.
Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) is widely considered to be the most influential statement on religious freedom in human history. Religious Freedom and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides a groundbreaking account of its origins and developments, examining the background, key players, and outcomes of Article 18, and setting it within the broader discourse around international religious freedom in the 1940s. Taking issue with standard accounts that see the text of the Universal Declaration as humanity's joint response to the atrocities of World War II, it shows instead how central features of Article 18 were intimately connected to the political projects and visions of particular actors involved in the start-up of the UN Human Rights program. This will be essential reading for anyone grappling with the historical and contemporary meaning of human rights and religious freedom.
Jewish radical thoughts and actions can be described in a variety of terms and dimensions. This volume wants to survey Jewish radicalism and present different approaches on this global historical phenomenon. It is focused on the 19th and 20th century and tries to grasped the manyfold Ideas of Jewish radicalism and, thereby, it approaches the term Jewish radicalism from different perspectives and wants to extend the understanding of this phenomenon.
The sixteenth-century Reformation transformed the church and society at large and its key theological insights had a concrete impact on the socio-political and economic spheres. Luther and his fellow reformers reconfigured Christian theology as they explored the liberating concept of justification by grace through faith as a core axiom of theological reflection. Lutheran and other churches of the Reformation continue to be empowered, informed and inspired by these insights, also with regard to their public role in today's societies. In light of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, eminent theologians and scholars from all parts of the world offer their insights into the interaction between theological thinking, economics and politics in the twenty-first century. [Globale Sichtweisen auf die Reformation. Wechselwirkungen zwischen Theologie, Politik und Wirtschaft] Im 16. Jahrhundert fand eine grundlegende Transformation von Kirche und Gesellschaft durch das Ereignis der Reformation statt. Die entscheidenden theologischen Erkenntnisse hatten konkrete Auswirkungen auf sozio-politische und wirtschaftliche Bereiche. Luther und seine Mitstreiter schrieben die christliche Theologie neu, als sie das Konzept der Rechtfertigung durch die Gnade Gottes allein durch den Akt des Glaubens zur Kernaussage ihrer theologischen Überlegungen machten. Lutherische und andere reformatorische Kirchen werden nach wie vor durch diese Erkenntnisse bestärkt, geleitet und inspiriert, vor allem in Anbetracht ihrer öffentlichen Rolle in der heutigen Gesellschaft. Im Hinblick auf das Reformationsjubiläum teilen bedeutende Theologen und Gelehrte aus aller Welt ihre Erkenntnisse zu den Wechselwirkungen zwischen theologischem Denken, Wirtschaft und Politik im 21. Jahrhundert.
