Ryan Cabalhug Urbano
- Christianity
- Philippines
- Male
- Philippines
- South East Asia
- KAICIID Fellows
Biography Narrative
Associate Professor, University of San Carlos, Cebu City, Philippines
Ryan C. Urbano teaches general education courses at Cebu Technological University, Cebu City, Philippines. He earned both his PhD and MA in philosophy at the University of San Carlos, Cebu City, in 2010 and 1998, respectively. In 2008, he completed a joint master’s degree in applied ethics at Linkoping University, Sweden and Utrecht University, the Netherlands. His research interests include ethics in theory and practice, political philosophy, and philosophy of religion.
His first foray into interfaith dialogue was when he wrote his doctoral dissertation wherein he devotes a chapter showing the relevance of the ethical thought of the Jewish philosopher, Emmanuel Levinas, to interfaith dialogue. Since then, he has spent considerable time studying world religions and how their peaceful co-existence could be worked out. His work in interreligious engagement draws mainly upon the thought of the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas.
Interreligious Activities and Initiatives
Interreligious (IRD) Training for Senior High School Religious and Values Education Teachers in Cebu City
The initiative trained 42 senior high school teachers who handle religious or values education classes in IRD. The training lasted for two days. The first day of the training was basically patterned after KAICIID’s Interreligious Dialogue Resource Guide. The second day featured an invited resource person who spoke about peace education and how to integrate peace into the curriculum. In the afternoon, the participants visited a Buddhist Temple and a lay Buddhist gave a mini-lecture on Buddhism as a way of life. There was also a presentation on the Buddhist perspective on interreligious dialogue. The project initiative aimed to promote the value of IRD to senior high school teachers in order to foster mutual understanding, respect and cooperation among people, including students of different faith and cultural orientations and convictions. As teachers, they are expected to become models and ambassadors of peace in a community or city where people hold different religious and cultural views.