Interreligious studies

1893 'The World's Congress of Religions', that can be considered the first book in the field of interreligious studies.

Not to be confused with Religious studies or Interfaith dialogue.

Interreligious studies, also called interfaith studies, is the interdisciplinary academic field that researches and teaches about interfaith dialogue diplomacy international relations, and development cooperation without resorting to proselytitsm. It was developed as the sociological continuation of the efforts on the fields of theology, theopoetics, religious studies, atheology, civil religion, peace studies, and freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) law studies.

This academic discipline is relevant for its evidence-based scientific method for the rule of law social development of interfaith nonviolence peace culture, humanitarian aid ^[1] , social services international non-governmental organizations ^[2] , cultural diplomacy, and civil rights policymaking, multi-religious literacy, and interfaith education.

UNESCO UNITWIN Network for Inter-Religious Dialogue and Intercultural Understanding (IDIU) logo.

It was even recognized by the United Nations Education Science Culture Organization (UNESCO) through its foundation of the UNITWIN Network for Inter-Religious Dialogue and Intercultural Understanding (IDIU) ^[3] . The Institute for Global Engagement (IGE) has reiterated the value of the cathedra for international relations with the publishing of the Interfaith on the World Stage special edition of The Review of Faith & International Affairs ^[4] .

History

The Parliament of the World's Religions 'World's Congress of Religions' which is considered the first interreligious / interfaith conference.

In 1893 the Parliament of the World's Religions (PoWR) held the first World's Congress of Religion in the World's Columbian Exposition. ^[5]

In 1900 the first International Congress for the History of Religions was held in Paris. ^[6]

In 1903 the Religious Education Association (REA) was founded.

In 1964 the Holy See founded its Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue with its Pontifical universities in Rome. ^[7]

The Scarboro Missions seminal golden rule interfaith poster, one of the first interreligious studies educational resources.

In 1973 the Scarboro Missions was founded by the Catholic Church in Canada and developed the first series of interfaith policies and open educational resources (OER) which are still a standard in the area. ^[8]

In 1990 the Arigatou international Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC) was founded to research interreligious studies education possibilities for kids. ^[9]

In 1996 Diana L. Eck co-founded the Pluralism Project at the Harvard University with Robert Wuthnow and Robert D. Putnam ^[10] and the OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation started offering ordination-based training in interfaith ministry in the United Kingdom. ^{[11] [12]}

In 1997 the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) was founded. ^[13]

Eboo Patel, considered one of the founders of the field.

In 2002 Eboo Patel founded the Interfaith Youth Core (IYC) that developed multifaith space and chaplaincy groups in universities. He coined the nameInterreligious / Interfaith Studies name for the area in the seminal book of the same name that founded the area officially. ^[14]

In 2005 the European Society for Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies (ESITIS) was founded.

Logo of the Journal for Inter-Religious Studies (IJRS).

In 2009 the Journal for Inter-Religious Studies (IJRS) was founded. ^[15]

In 2011 the Search for Common Ground developed the Universal Code of Conduct on Holy Sites ^[16] and the Future for Religious Heritage (FRH) was also founded ^[17] .

In 2012 the KAICIID Dialogue Centre founded the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith & Local Communities (JLIF&LC). ^[2]

In 2013 the Interfaith and Interreligious Studies Group was founded at the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and the Office of Religion and Global Affairs at the United States Department of State.

The logo of the Association of Interreligious / Interfaith Studies (AIIS).

In 2017 due to the international growth of interfaith academic programs ^[18] Jennifer Howe Peace founded the Association for Interreligious / Interfaith Studies (AIIS) which convenes annual meetings. ^[19] It was pivotal to allow the University of Wales first doctoral programme in the area. ^[20]

In 2021 the Hartford Theological Seminary founded in 1883 became the Hartford International University for Religion and Peace. ^[21]

In 2022 the Frankfurt–Tel Aviv Center for the Study of Religious and Interreligious Dynamics was launched by the Israeli Tel Aviv University and the German Goethe University Frankfurt. ^{[22] [23] [24]}

In 2022 the Teachers College of the Columbia University founded the International Interfaith Laboratory (Interfaith Lab). ^[25]

In 2023 Hannah J. Visser organized a seminal research on the field's bibliography. ^[26]

University of Wales Interfaith Research College Harmony Scholarship awardees.

Definitions

"Interreligious Studies addresses the increasing societal and economic need for interreligious competence. Courses provide students with a comprehensive appreciation of issues which impact or inhibit the peaceful co-existence of varied religions, and equip students with an understanding of how interreligious understanding might be achieved." - Heidelberg University ^[27] .

"Interfaith initiatives are seen as promising sites for societal change and personal transformation; however, many questions about the actual outcomes of such initiatives have remained unanswered." - University of Amsterdam School of Religion and Theology ^[28] .

"Interreligious studies is a subdiscipline of religious studies that engages in the scholarly and religiously neutral description, multidisciplinary analysis, and theoretical framing of the interactions of religiously different people and groups, including the intersection of religion and secularity. It examines these interactions in historical and contemporary contexts, and in relation to other social systems and forces. Like other disciplines with applied dimensions, it serves the public good by bringing its analysis to bear on practical approaches to issues in religiously diverse societies." - Katie McCarthy.

"Interreligious studies is everything that religious studies cannot be, the analysis of relations the common values to religious traditions. What they have in common, not their identity traces." - United Religions Initiative (URI) director William E. Swing. ^[29]

Areas of Study

• International relations diplomacy and cultural diplomacy.
• Interfaith marriage.
• Interfaith workers justice.
• Interreligious organisations.
• Religious diplomacy.
• Religious law.
• Religious persecution and religious war peacemaking.
• Religious studies.
• Religious psychology.
• Religious humanism.
• Religious philosophies.
• Religious heritage ^[30] , including sacred natural sites and religious art.
• Religious experience.
• Civil religion.
• Ireligion Studies.
• Anthropology of religion.
• Religious advocacy groups.
• Multifaith spaces.
• Religious education and religious literacy.
• Coloniality and Decoloniality studies.
• Chaplaincy.

Controversies

United Nations first interfaith studies conference.

It is said to be a one world religion plan of the new world order (NWO) world government deep state in some conspiracy theories. ^{[31] [32]}

It has been criticized for having insufficient neutrality skeptical detachment from religiosity. ^[33]

It has been accused of being but a masked form of comparative theology and theology of religions by Alon Goshen-Gottstein. ^[34]

It wrongfully appears in the Wikipedia list of unaccredited institutions of higher education that the Hartford International University for Religion and Peace is not accredited, but it is dually accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) and the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE). ^[35]

It has dubiously accredited educational institutions like the Global Interfaith University (GIU) and Interfaith University (IU) that still need assistance in their regulamentation.

References

1. Cismas, Ioana; Furlan, Marta; Parisi, Piergiuseppe; Rush, Christopher; Heffes, Ezequiel; El Jamali, Hasnaa (2023). Considerations and Guidance on the Humanitarian Engagement with Religious Leaders (Report). University of York. doi:10.15124/yao-j9g2-j311.
2. "About the JLF&LC". JLIF&LC. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
3. UNESCO-UNITWIN IDIU https://unitwinidiu.org/ . Retrieved 2025-09-21.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
4. Fahy, John; Haynes, Jeffrey (2018-07-03). "Introduction: Interfaith on the World Stage". The Review of Faith & International Affairs. 16 (3): 1–8. doi:10.1080/15570274.2018.1509278. ISSN   1557-0274.
5. John Henry Barrows (1893). The World's Parliament of Religions. Internet Archive. The Parliament Publishing Company.
6. Mitra, Arpita (2024-02-14), "The Burden of 'History': The Paris Congress of the History of Religions of 1900 and Its Legacy", Empire, Religion, and Identity, Brill, pp. 86–108, doi:10.1163/9789004694330_005, ISBN   978-90-04-69433-0 , retrieved 2025-09-21
7. "The Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue". www.vaticannews.va. 2025-07-30. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
8. "Principles and Guidelines for Interfaith Dialogue". Canada Catholic Church Scarboro Missions. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
9. "Arigatou International" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-09-22.
10. Patel, Eboo; Peace, Jennifer Howe; Silverman, Noah J. (2018). Interreligious/Interfaith Studies: Defining a Field. Boston: Beacon Press. ISBN   9780807019979.
11. "Our Past". OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
12. "Homepage - OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation Ministry Training & Spiritual Growth | OneSpirit Interfaith". OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
13. "The Association of Religion Data Archives". The Association of Religion Data Archives (the ARDA). Retrieved 2025-09-22.
14. Patel, Eboo (2018). Interreligious/Interfaith Studies: Defining a New Field. Jennifer Howe Peace, Noah Silverman. Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar: Beacon Press. ISBN   978-0-8070-1997-9.
15. "About the Journal | Journal of Interreligious Studies". irstudies.org. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
16. "About the Universal Code on Holy Sites". Search for Common Ground. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
17. "Future for Religious Heritage". Future for Religious Heritage. Retrieved 2025-09-22.
18. OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation, Spiritual Development & Interfaith Ministry Training Programme.
19. "About: Association for Interreligious/Interfaith Studies (AIIS)". Association for Interreligious/Interfaith Studies (AIIS). Retrieved March 29, 2024.
20. "Professional Doctorate in Interfaith Studies Programme". International Federation of Interfaith, Intercultural Dialogue. Retrieved 2025-09-22.
21. "History". Hartford International University for Religion and Peace. Retrieved 2025-09-22.
22. "Marking the establishment of the Frankfurt-Tel Aviv Center for the Study of Religious and Interreligious Dynamics", Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main: Evangelische Theologie, Fachbereich 06
23. "TAU, German university to open joint interfaith studies center". The Jerusalem Post .
24. The Center offered a summer program in 2023. https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/138736504/buber_CfA_SummerSchool_2023.pdf?
25. "Interfaith Lab | Teachers College, Columbia University". Teachers College - Columbia University. Archived from the original on 2025-05-20. Retrieved 2025-09-22.
26. Visser, Hannah J., Anke I. Liefbroer, and Linda J. Schoonmade. "Evaluating the learning outcomes of interfaith initiatives: a systematic literature review." Journal of Beliefs & Values (2023): 1-24, abstract quoted.
27. "Interreligious Studies". uni-heidelberg.de. Heidelberg University . Retrieved 28 March 2024.
28. "School of Religion and Theology". Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
29. "United Religions Initiative". www.uri.org. Retrieved 2025-09-22.
30. "Future for Religious Heritage". Future for Religious Heritage. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
31. Israel, Behold (2024-07-19). "The Rise of the One World Religion". Behold Israel. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
32. "One World Religion: Insights from the Pope". Biblical Christian Worldview (BCW). 2024-09-23. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
33. Freedman, Samuel G. (2016-04-29). "A Laboratory for Interfaith Studies in Pennsylvania Dutch Country". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-03-02.
34. Goshen-Gottstein, Alon (8 May 2017). "Interreligious Reflections: The Process and Method of Collaborative Interfaith Research". Interculturalism at the Crossroads: Comparative Perspectives on Concepts, Policies and Practices: 277–298. ISBN   978-92-3-100218-2 – via UNESCO Publishing.
35. "Accreditation". Hartford University for Religion and Peace. Retrieved 2025-09-22.

Further reading

• Anderson, Mary (2013). Art and Inter-religious Dialogue: The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Inter-Religious Dialogue. pp. 99–116.
• Bird, Michael S. (1995). Art and interreligious dialogue: six perspectives. University Press of America.
• Clooney, Francis X. (2013). "Comparative Theology and Inter-Religious Dialogue". In Catherine Cornille (ed.). The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Inter-religious Dialogue. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 51–63.
• Cornille, Catherine (2013). "Conditions for Inter-Religious Dialogue". The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Inter-religious Dialogue. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 20–33.
• Dzyubanskyy, Taras (2020). "Interfaith Leadership and Typologies of Religious Plurality". The Journal of Interreligious Studies']. 30: 1–10.
• Fletcher, Jeannine Hill. The Promising Practices of Anti Racist Approaches to Interfaith Studies. pp. 137–146.
• Fletcher, Jeannine Hill (2013). "Women in Inter-Religious Dialogue". In Catherine Cornille (ed.). The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Inter-religious Dialogue. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 168–183.
• Mendes-Flohr, Paul (2013). "Reflections on the Promise and Limitations of Interfaith Dialogue". European Judaism. 46 (1). Spring: 4–14. doi:10.3167/ej.2013.46.01.02 (inactive 21 September 2025).
• Nagel, Alexander-Kenneth (2019). "Enacting Diversity: Boundary Work and Performative Dynamics in Interreligious Activities". Interreligious Dialogue. Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion. Vol. 10. Brill Publishers. pp. 111–127. doi:10.1163/9789004401266_008. ISBN   978-90-04-40126-6.
• Lucinda Mosher, ed. (2022). The Georgetown companion to interreligious studies. Georgetown University Press. ISBN   9781647121648.
• Phan, Peter C. (2012). "The Mutual Shaping of Cultures and Religions through Interreligious Dialogue". In Catherine Cornille; Stephanie Corigliano (eds.). Interreligious Dialogue and Cultural Change. Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books. pp. 13–39.
• Ochs, Peter; Essam, Fahim; Paola, Pinzon (2022). "Read the Signs: Detecting Early Warning Signals of Interreligious Conflict". Religions. 13 (4): 2–20. doi: 10.3390/rel13040329 .
• Radford, Ruether Rosemary (2013). "Women and Interfaith Relations: Toward a Transnational Feminism". In Catherine Cornille; Jillian Maxey (eds.). Women and Interreligious Dialogue. Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books. pp. 11–26.
• Rubens, Heather Miller; Homayra, Ziad; Benjamin, Sax. Toward an Interreligious City: A Case Study of Interreligious/Interfaith Studies. pp. 209–219.
• Swidler, Leonard (2013). "The History of Inter-Religious Dialogue". In Catherine Cornille (ed.). The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Inter-religious Dialogue. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 3–19. ISBN   9780470655207.
• Theobald, Simon (2009). "Faith, interfaith, and YouTube: dialogue, or derision?". Literature & Aesthetics. 19 (2).