Frank Kaufmann is the director of the Inter Religious Federation for World Peace (IRFWP) (originally a Unification Church ecumenical organization). [1] He served as editor in chief of the IRFWP's academic journal Dialogue and Alliance from 1998 until 2009, during which time, in 2004 was named as one of the top ten religion journals (out of 650) by an independent panel commissioned by the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) [2]
In 2007, Kaufmann was nominated for Hofstra University's first Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize. [3]
In 2011, Kaufmann established Filial Projects [4] as the umbrella corporation for his humanitarian and scholarly efforts.
Religious pluralism is an attitude or policy regarding the diversity of religious belief systems co-existing in society. It can indicate one or more of the following:
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Union of Utrecht, the Lutheran World Federation, the Anglican Communion, the Mennonite churches, the World Methodist Council, the Baptist World Alliance, the World Communion of Reformed Churches, the Pentecostal churches, the Moravian Church and the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. Notably, the Catholic Church is not a full member, although it sends delegates who have observer status to meetings.
HJ International Graduate School for Peace and Public Leadership is a private Unification Church-affiliated graduate seminary headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York. It was known as Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) from its founding in 1975 until July 2023.
Ecumenism – also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalism – is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjective ecumenical is thus applied to any non-denominational or inter-denominational initiative which encourages greater cooperation and union among Christian denominations and churches. Ecumenical dialogue is a central feature of contemporary ecumenism.
The Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA) is an interdenominational fellowship of Pentecostal and charismatic churches and denominations in North America, existing for the purpose of promoting cooperation and understanding. It is a successor to the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America (PFNA). PCCNA headquarters are in Los Angeles, California.
Interfaith dialogue, also known as interreligious dialogue, refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels.
The American Theological Library Association (Atla) is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3), professional association, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Atla's member libraries and librarians provide resources for scholarly research to tens of thousands of students, faculty, staff, and administrators. The association supports the membership with services and products, including an annual conference, members-only publications and discounts, and professional development opportunities.
The World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) is a federation of autonomous national Student Christian Movements (SCM) forming the youth and student arm of the global ecumenical movement. The Federation includes Orthodox, Protestant and Catholic students.
Catholic Theological Union (CTU) is a Catholic graduate school of theology in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the largest Catholic graduate schools of theology in the English-speaking world and trains men and women for lay and ordained ministry within the Catholic Church. CTU is run and staffed by religious and lay men and women. International students constitute nearly one third of the student body.
Selly Oak Colleges was a federation of educational facilities which in the 1970s and 1980s was at the forefront of debates about ecumenism - the coming together of Christian churches and the creation of new united churches such as the Church of South India; the relationships between Christianity and other religions, especially Islam and Judaism; child-centred teacher training; and the theology of Christian mission. It was located on a substantial campus in Selly Oak, a suburb in the south-west of Birmingham, England, about a mile from the University of Birmingham. In 2001 the largest college, Westhill College, whose main work was the training of teachers, passed into the hands of the University of Birmingham, and most of the remaining colleges closed, leaving Woodbrooke College, a study and conference centre for the Society of Friends, and Fircroft College, a small adult education college with residential provision, which continue today.
The Atla Religion Database is an index of academic journal articles in the area of religion. It is updated monthly and published by the American Theological Library Association. The database indexes articles, essays, and book reviews related to a wide range of scholarly fields related to religion. The database is available on a subscription basis through a database aggregator.
Paul Stuart Fiddes is an English Baptist theologian and novelist.
The Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, previously named the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), is a dicastery within the Holy See whose origins are associated with the Second Vatican Council which met intermittently from 1962 to 1965.
Jesse Ndwiga Kanyua Mugambi is a professor of philosophy and religious studies at the University of Nairobi with professional training in education and philosophy of religion.
John A. Saliba is a Maltese-born Jesuit priest, a professor of religious studies at the University of Detroit Mercy and a noted writer and researcher in the field of new religious movements.
The Canadian Centre For Ecumenism (CCE) is a non-profit organization whose main focus is interfaith dialogues and is established in Montreal, Québec, Canada. The centre is supported by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. It promotes conversations, interfaith dialogues and ecumenical dialogues.
Bibliothèques européennes de théologie is an ecumenical federation of European national theological library associations as well as single libraries. The association was founded in 1961 and has a legal registration in Kampen, Netherlands. BETH aims to contribute to the development of theological libraries in Europe by building networks, establishing contacts, supporting and promoting cooperation between European theological libraries, and working for the preservation of the rich cultural patrimony founded in them. BETH has member associations and libraries in 15 European countries. Each year BETH organizes an annual meeting in different European cities. The topics of the annual meetings reflect the challenges of modern theological librarianship like the future of the theological libraries, digitization, open access, information literacy, etc.
Donald Joseph Bolen, also known as Don Bolen, is a Canadian Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of Regina since 2016. He was previously Bishop of Saskatoon from 2009 to 2016.
Patricia (Trish) Madigan is an Australian religious sister, a member and leader of the Dominican Sisters of Eastern Australia and the Solomon Islands and Executive Director of the Dominican Centre for Interfaith Ministry Education and Research (CIMER). Madigan is known nationally and internationally as "a leader in ecumenical and interfaith relations in the Catholic Church in Australia".