Tag: Interfaith
Romantic Distance vs. Vexing Proximity: the difficulty of real up-close interfaith encounters
My research on interreligious dialogue and engagement has reinforced an old cliché: absence makes the heart grow fonder. When two people are distant from each other, it is easy to idealize each other... Read More
On Irreconcilable Differences: My Interreligious Dialogue with Mormon Missionaries
Since I’m conducting field research on interfaith dialogue in Rome, I thought it would be an important part of my participant-observation to embark upon a dialogue. I met some Mormon sisters conduct... Read More
Pluralismo Vivo: The Interfaith Roads of Rome
It’s not easy to find clear examples of “interreligious violence” in Rome. The closest thing Rome suffers to religious violence are distant shrieks from ISIS across the Mediterranean Sea... Read More
What Can Interfaith Dialogue Really Do? Part 3 of 3
Read Part I here, and Part II here. When I ate lunch with the rabbi he inveighed against interfaith dialogue and its inability to reach or transform the minds of those who are closed to dialogue. He s... Read More
What Can Interfaith Dialogue Really Do? Part 2 of 3
Read Part I here. At lunch after Purim, I heard the rabbi criticize interfaith projects for being “just another religious group.” I reflected on the irony of a religious clergy person dismissing t... Read More
Interfaith Dialogue and Identity Formation
Interfaith dialogue is of increasing importance on a daily basis in our current international social, political and economic order. This can be seen in the current interfaith groups that are gathering... Read More
What Can Interfaith Dialogue Really Do? Part 1 of 3
After the most recent Purim morning service at my synagogue, I ate lunch with the rabbi. He told me he thinks interreligious dialogue is an in-group hobby, that interfaith groups become cliques. He fe... Read More
Identifying the Spirit of the Poetic
As a student of religion, above all else, I am committed to identifying the spirit of the poetic in my work. I turn to writing as a form of prayer, a languaged response to the unlanguaged Other of the... Read More