UNESCO Chair in Interfaith Studies
Aim
Educate young people in a spirit of peace and tolerance, solidarity and intercultural and interfaith dialogue; establish an M.A. Programme in Interfaith Studies organized jointly by Mc Gill Faculty of Religious Studies and partners of the School; transform attitudes to religious studies through the creation of specific educational programmes with the participation of students and institutions in Israel in order, through interfaith understanding, to contribute to the peace process.
History
The UNESCO Chair in Interfaith Studies was established in 1999 at the Elijah Interfaith Institute (former Elijah School for the Study of the Wisdom of the World Religions), Israel.
IRD Activities
- Research - Towards a Jewish Theology
The objective of this project is to help religions create contemporary theologies regarding other world religions. It will be realized through the creation of multiple teams of scholars, each representing a different religious tradition. Scholarly work will be carried out to help religions recognize and bring to light their theological potential for developing interreligious dialogue. This will encourage the advancement of such work within each of the religions. Several consultations and a conference have been held on the theme "Towards a Contemporary Jewish Theology of World Religions", in 2005 at Scranton University
- Programme Outcome Interreligious Dialogue
The UNESCO Chair has been successful in developing long term structures that build friendship, understanding, and dialogue and share wisdom between world religious traditions. Academic reflective work took place through several projects: Continuing work on Jewish theology of world religions, leading to publications in preparation following the 2005 conference on Jewish theology of world religions held at the University of Scranton. In addition, curricula have been prepared following this conference that have already been put into action in the present work of the year 2007. Additional work has been carried out on a Muslim theology of world religions. An initial planning conference took place in 2006, leading to the inaugural major conference that took place in 2007. The chair has been carrying the academic work into the community in the form of an educational network. This network seeks to bring together religious and lay community leaders in academically prepared materials that create a culture of peace between members of different faith communities. Several pilot community projects were carried out. Finally, plans and conferences were held towards the creation of an international interreligious educational centre.
Main Focus Countries of Activities
Israel - Scranton, PA, USA - Northern Africa - South-Western Asia - Eastern Europe - Western Europe - Northern Europe - Southern Europe - USA