Without question, inter-religious relations are crucial in the contemporary age. While most dialogue works on past and contemporary matters, this volume takes on the relations among the Abrahamic religions and looks forward, toward the possibility of real and lasting dialogue. The book centers upon inter-faith issues. It identifies problems that stand in the way of fostering healthy dialogues both within particular religious traditions and between faiths. The volume's contributors strive for a realization of already existing common ground between religions. They engagingly explore how inter-religious dialogue can be re-energized for a new century.

Learning Interreligiously offers a series of about one hundred short pieces, written online between 2008 and 2016. They are meant for a wide range of readers interested in interreligious dialogue, interreligious learning, and the realities of Hindu-Christian encounter today, and are rich in insights drawn from teaching, travels in America and India, and the author’s research on sacred texts. The author, a Catholic priest who has spent more than forty years learning from Hinduism and observing religion as a plus and minus in today’s world, has much to share with readers. Some pieces were prompted by items in the news, some go deeper into traditions and probe the rich Scriptures and practices going back millennia, some seek simply to provoke fresh thinking, and others invite spiritual reflection. The book is divided into several parts so that readers can focus on individual events that made the news or on longer term and more concerted study. Familiar texts such as the Yoga Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, the Qur’an, and key passages from the New Testament will be considered for their spiritual possibilities. Readers will find much here to learn from and respond to as they too consider religion in today’s world.

A Practical Guide for Embracing the Growing Religious Pluralism in America "In the process of [interfaith] engagement, we discover ... a world in which our faith is richer, deeper, and more contextualized, and God's very Self is seen in more of its fullness." --from the Introduction This practical guide to the key methods and resources of the interfaith movement will help you effectively engage people of other faith traditions in order to increase understanding and acceptance in your community and beyond. Drawing on the knowledge and experience of interfaith leaders from the world's many faith traditions--Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Bahá'í Faith, Jainism, Shinto, Sikh Faith, Taoism, Zoroastrianism--this comprehensive resource provides practical ideas for connecting with people of all faiths and backgrounds through common concerns and activities that promote respect and support. It enables communities rich with diversity to work together to create paths toward peace and justice. Contributors: Rev. Dirk Ficca * Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy * Rabbi Carol Harris-Shapiro * Bud Heckman * Abby Stamelman Hocky, MSW * April Kunze * Rev. Dr. Clark Lobenstine * Rori Picker Neiss * Dr. Eboo Patel * Noah Silverman * Rev. Susan Teegen-Case * Rev. Dr. Francis Tiso

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.

A challenging controversial discussion of the current state of the debate about Christianity and other world faiths.

The first intellectual history of interreligious dialogue, a relatively new and significant dimension of human religiosity In recent decades, organizations committed to interreligious or interfaith dialogue have proliferated, both in the Western and non-Western worlds. Why? How so? And what exactly is interreligious dialogue? These are the touchstone questions of this book, the first major history of interreligious dialogue in the modern age. Thomas Albert Howard narrates and analyzes several key turning points in the history of interfaith dialogue before examining, in the conclusion, the contemporary landscape. While many have theorized about and practiced interreligious dialogue, few have attended carefully to its past, connecting its emergence and spread with broader developments in modern history. Interreligious dialogue—grasped in light of careful, critical attention to its past—holds promise for helping people of diverse faith backgrounds to foster cooperation and knowledge of one another while contributing insight into contemporary, global religious pluralism.

Demonstrates how learning to engage with different religious traditions can deepen and reinvigorate one's own faith.

Everyday Wisdom is an introduction for lived religion, interreligious studies, and interfaith engagement and leadership. Tying together the aims and learning objectives of interreligious-studies courses, the book proposes a framework for interreligious studies and interfaith leadership, aiming to be a core text in undergraduate and graduate study.