Rituals are back on stage today. Until recently, they were regarded as an obsolete and even incomprehensible part of religions, relegated to the background while ethics and spirituality attracted more focus. However, the realisation is growing that rituals represent the treasure of religious memory. They connect the human being to the past and to the community that surrounds her or him. However, what happens to rituals when different religions meet? This book shows that a great deal can be learned by taking rituals seriously. This holds good for the rich treasure of rituals within religions such as Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Christianity. Only by recognizing these treasures can new possibilities for rituals in interreligious encounters be explored.

Shared ritual practices, multi-faith celebrations, and interreligious prayers are becoming increasingly common in the USA and Europe as more people experience religious diversity first hand. While ritual participation can be seen as a powerful expression of interreligious solidarity, it also carries with it challenges of a particularly sensitive nature. Though celebrating and worshiping together can enhance interreligious relations, cross-riting may also lead some believers to question whether it is appropriate to engage in the rituals of another faith community. Some believers may consider cross-ritual participation as inappropriate transgressive behaviour. Bringing together leading international contributors and voices from a number of religious traditions, Ritual Participation and Interreligious Dialogue delves into the complexities and intricacies of the phenomenon. They ask: what are the promises and perils of celebrating and praying together? What are the limits of ritual participation? How can we make sense of feelings of discomfort when entering the sacred space of another faith community? The first book to focus on the lived dimensions of interreligious dialogue through ritual participation rather than textual or doctrinal issues, this innovative volume opens an entirely new perspective.

The Past, Present and Future of Theology of Interreligious Dialogue brings together several of the most widely regarded specialists who have contributed to theological reflection on religious diversity and interreligious encounter. The chapters are united by the consistent theme of the obligation to engage with the challenges that emerge from the tension between the doctrinal tradition(s) of Christianity and the need to reconsider them in light of and in response to the fact of religious otherness. As a whole, these reflections are motivated by the desire to bring together a significant selection of different theological approaches that have been developed and appropriated in order to engage with religious difference in the past and present, as well as to suggest possibilities for the future. This confluence of perspectives reveals the complexity of theological reflection on religious diversity, and gives some indication of future challenges that must be acknowledged, and perhaps successfully met, in the ongoing attempt to address a universal reality in light of traditional doctrinal particularities and cultural concerns.

This volume explores the ways in which interreligious encounters happen ritually. Drawing upon theology, philosophy, political sciences, anthropology, sociology, and liturgical studies, the contributors examine different concrete cases of interrituality. After an introductory chapter explaining the phenomenon of interrituality, readers learn about government-sponsored public events in Spain, the ritual life of mixed families in China and the UK. We meet Buddhist and Christian monks in Kentucky and are introduced to rituals of protest in Jerusalem. Other chapters take us to shared pilgrimage sites in the Mediterranean and explore the ritual challenges of Israeli tour guides of Christian pilgrims. The authors challenges readers to consider scriptural reasoning as a liturgical practice and to inquire into the (in)felicitous nature of rituals of reconciliation. This volume demonstrates the importance of understanding the many contexts in which interrituality happens and shows how ritual boundaries are perpetually under negotiation.

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.

Communication is vital to the prosperity and survival of the community, with the quality of communication amongst its members directly improving or worsening the value of the community. However, with the increase in immigration and relocation of refugees, the need to accommodate diverse cultural groups becomes imperative for the viability and survivability of a community while posing challenges to communication. Intercultural and interfaith dialogue can be used constructively to cultivate, manage, and sustain diversity and wellbeing in particularly deeply divided communities. Intercultural and Interfaith Dialogues for Global Peacebuilding and Stability is a critical research publication that explores the importance of conflict resolution strategies among populations that include a varied amalgamation of cultural and religious backgrounds. With the increasing emphasis on intercultural understanding promoted by governments, civil societies, and international mediators, this book offers relevant remedies for major afflictions in the world today, such as exclusion, marginalization, xenophobia, and racism. It is ideal for government officials, policymakers, activists, diplomats, lawyers, international trade and commerce agencies, religious institutions, academicians, researchers, and students working in a variety of disciplines including political science, international relations, law, communication, sociology, and cultural studies.

This insightful three-volume set examines faith through the social and cultural perspective of anthropology, sociology, and religious studies, shedding light on the role of religion in the human experience. Why is human suffering and the existence of evil part of the human experience? How does religious doctrine establish one's identity? In what ways does religion interact with and shape the social order? This thought-provoking work ponders these questions and explores the concept of religion from various perspectives: as a tool for self and community-based spiritual awareness, as a set of practices that translates faith into interaction with others, and as a cornerstone of society for those who seek to harness—or hinder—its influence. Written in accessible and inviting language, each volume focuses on a particular dimension of religion. The first book examines religious experience in the modern world and explores suffering in religious faiths, the second volume centers around ritual and pilgrimage, and the last book analyzes the controversial relationship between religion and societies. The content features such thought-provoking topics as death and green burials, sexuality and sex trade, and how and why evil manifests in the human experience.

Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2003 Film as Religion argues that popular films perform a religious function in our culture. Like more formal religious institutions, films can provide us with ways to view the world and values to confront it. Lyden contends that approaches which interpret films only ideologically or theologically miss the mark in understanding their appeal to viewers. He develops an alternative method which shows how films can be understood as representing a “religious” worldview in their own right. Lyden surveys the state of the study of religion and film, offering an overview of previous methods before presenting his own. Rather than seeking to uncover hidden meanings in film detectable only to scholars, Lyden emphasizes how film functions for its audiences?the beliefs and values it conveys, and its ritual power to provide emotional catharsis. He includes a number of brief cases studies in which he applies this method to the study of film genres—including westerns and action movies, children's films, and romantic comedies—and individual films from The Godfather to E.T., showing how films can function religiously.

In the face of competing religious claims in our shrinking world, many turn to dialogue as a hopeful way of fostering understanding and reducing violence. But why does actual dialogue so often fail? This provocative essay investigates the possibilities and limits of interreligious dialogue. By showing the significant obstacles for dialogue within Christianity, the book also proposes ways in which these obstacles may be overcome from within. Major themes include Humility, Conviction, Interconnection, Empathy, and Generosity.

This book focuses on the development of bilateral Jewish-Muslim relations in London and Amsterdam since the late-1980s. It offers a comparative analysis that considers both similarities and differences, drawing on historical, social scientific, and religious studies perspectives. The authors address how Jewish-Muslim relations are related to the historical and contemporary context in which they are embedded, the social identity strategies Jews and Muslims and their institutions employ, and their perceived mutual positions in terms of identity and power. The first section reflects on the history and current profile of Jewish and Muslim communities in London and Amsterdam and the development of relations between Jews andMuslims in both cities. The second section engages with sources of conflict and cooperation. Four specific areas that cause tension are explored: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; antisemitism and Islamophobia; attacks by extremists; and the commemoration of wars and genocides. In addition to ‘trigger events’, what stands out is the influence of historical factors, public opinion, the ‘mainstream’ Christian churches and the media, along with the role of government. The volume will be of interest to scholars from fields including religious studies, interfaith studies, Jewish studies, Islamic studies, urban studies, European studies, and social sciences as well as members of the communities concerned, other religious communities, journalists, politicians, and teachers who are interested in Jewish-Muslim relations. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)4.0 license. Funded by University of Amsterdam