Abstract
The article sketches the overall layout of the thematic issue of the ‘Journal of Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Societies (JRAT)’ on Interreligious Dialogue (IRD) in context. It argues that an analysis of Interreligious Dialogue-activities in their socio-cultural contexts helps to counterbalance the long-standing individualistic bias of IRD-research. First, it presents a systematic description of the present state of the art that distinguishes two strands of IRD-research. Second, it argues for a European comparison, based upon the most recent findings from the ‘SMRE – Swiss Metadatabase of Religious Affiliation in Europe’. The article closes with references to the structure of the present volume of JRaT to facilitate such a comparison.
1 A Surprising Research-Bias
Throughout the last two decades, interreligious dialogue (IRD) has developed into an increasingly significant dimension of present-day societies. On the one side, there are the activities of what has frequently been described as the ‘IRD-Movement’.1 Researchers such as Anna Halafoff and John Fahy/Jan Bock have identified several individuals, networks and organizations that put the furtherance of interreligious dialogue as a means of religious cooperation into the centre of their activities.
On the other side, the notion of interreligious dialogue has entered into multi-fold socio-cultural discourses. The idea of IRD has, for example, been integrated into official policy documents of the United Nations Organization (UN) as well as the European Union (EU) and other international bodies.2 In this respect, dialogue has gained significance way beyond traditional IRD-circles.
This emerging significance of IRD has triggered diverse academic publications from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Early on, IRD has become a growing field of debate in Theology and Education, but also in Peace Studies and International Relations.3 This research has produced a highly differentiated and fascinating body of literature. In addition, the last years have also seen the emergence of related publications on concepts such as ‘interreligious competence’, ‘interreligious care’ or even ‘interreligious studies’ that expand the debates on IRD even further.4
As will be argued in more detail in the next section, most of this literature, however, uses a surprisingly biased concept of dialogue: First, it approaches IRD primarily as an individual endeavour. The majority of present-day research models the notion of dialogue along the lines of hermeneutic processes of individual learning and understanding. Second, researchers tend to use these individualized concepts of IRD as a basis for transnational or transregional generalizations. They discuss the structures as well as the impact of IRD-activities, without systematic references to differences in various socio-cultural contexts.
On the contrary, the present issue of the ‘Journal of Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Societies (JRAT)’5 wants to propose a further dimension of IRD-research. The articles brought together in this volume are embedded into a strand of analysis that argues precisely for the systematic contextualization of IRD. They invite their readers to think of dialogue as a socio-cultural phenomenon that helps to better understand the role of religion in present-day societies. To do so, the following articles take a comparative perspective on the history of IRD in selected European countries.
To better understand this particular perspective, it is at first necessary to locate the analysis of IRD ‘in context’ within the present state of the art of IRD-research (1). On this basis, the following considerations will present a systematic rationale to compare IRD-activities in Europe (2). The article closes with references to the structure of the present volume of JRAT to further facilitate such a comparison (3).
2 Two Poles of Present-Day Research on IRD
Research on IRD has reached a point that has seen the publication of a first set of textbooks and edited volumes.6 This state of the art makes it possible to identify two poles of present-day research: (a) research focusing on IRD as individual encounters, and (b) research focusing on IRD-activities in their socio-cultural contexts. An ideal-type juxtaposition of these poles will help to clarify the approach put forward by the present issue of JRAT.
2.1 Research Focusing on IRD as Individual Encounters
The first of these two poles certainly is the more established one. It already looks back on several decades of research and is dominated by theologians as well as different types of IRD-practitioners. The conceptual basis of this pole can be exemplified with references to a frequently cited article by Marianne Moyaert – published in the 2013-compendium ‘Understanding Interreligious Relations’. In this article, Moyaert argues that:
Dialogue is connected deep down with the search for truth and a striving for wisdom. It excludes fanaticism. A fanatic is a person who, convinced that he is absolutely right, locks himself up in his own position and refuses any critical testing or challenge. Dialogue presupposes precisely the engagement of people with critical minds, who question the obvious and also allow others to challenge them.7
This quote provides a good example for the individualized concept of IRD that stands at the center of the first pole of research. Moyaert presents dialogue first of all as a specific type of learning process (a ‘search for truth’). She conceptualizes IRD as the basis of a critical attitude that is open for challenges and should form the foundation of individual encounters (‘engagement of people with a critical mind’). All these categories describe IRD as an individual state of mind that is opposed to fanaticism.
And this type of methodological individualism can be found in three entwined strands of publications on IRD: First, researchers closer to the first pole have highlighted the complexity of IRD-activities. Authors such as Jean-Claude Basset and Paul Hedges underline that dialogue is such a complex process that one has to distinguish several dimensions of it so that dialogue can be applied efficiently.8 One of the most influential of these typologies was introduced by the 1991-document ‘Dialogue and Proclamation’ published by the ‘Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue’ and the ‘Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples’. This document distinguishes four classic dimensions of individual IRD-activities – a dialogue of life, a dialogue of action, a dialogue of theological exchange and a dialogue of religious experience.9
Second, dialogue-researchers influenced by the first pole have produced multiple biographies of individuals committed to dialogue10 and manuals for the practical implementation of IRD-activities.11 This strand of IRD-research focuses on the questions of why IRD has been undertaken and how dialogue can be put into practice. It has been instrumental in providing motivational literature as well as examples for promising practices to put IRD into action. Along those lines, this second strand of the present debate has exerted a particular influence outside academic contexts.
Finally, the first pole of research is also documented in publications on the developments of dialogue-activities in different national contexts – from short essays on the present-day situation to detailed analyses with significant historical depth.12 Until most recently, these publications were, however, primarily limited to the description of IRD-activities in their respective countries or regions. There are only very first attempts to systematically take the interdependencies between IRD-activities and their socio-cultural contexts into account or to deal with the specific structures of IRD-activities in different socio-cultural contexts.13 This is exactly the point where the second pole comes in.
2.2 Research Focussing on IRD -Activities in their Socio-Cultural Contexts
The research of the second pole is much more recent, and has so far primarily been undertaken by Sociologists and Scholars of Religion. As distinguished from the research closer to the first pole, its protagonists tend to start from a rather descriptive, heuristic concept of IRD:14 Recently, the editors of a 2018-special issue of Social Compass have, for example, brought together a variety of articles on ‘Interreligious Relations and Governance of Religion in Europe’. They conceptualize IRD as a specific set of discourses and organized activities:
The case studies included share an understanding of the multifaceted nature of the interreligious movement and its internal diversity and complexity. This is reflected in a variety of terms used to denote the semantic field of the phenomenon, such as interreligious, interfaith, multifaith and interconvictional.15
This concept of IRD is also underlining the complexity of IRD activities (its ‘multifaceted nature’). In this respect, it is very close to the research dominated by the first pole. In addition, the concept from ‘Social Compass’ is, however, less normative than the one presented with reference to Moyaert and targets a different level of IRD-activities. Focusing upon a ‘variety of terms used to denote the semantic field of the phenomenon’, Griera/Nagel move the emphasis away from an understanding of dialogue as a practice of individual hermeneutics. They rather approach IRD as a social phenomenon within differentiated, pluralized (post- or late-) modern societies.16
This is precisely what the short-hand ‘in context’ stands for in the present volume. By analyzing IRD-activities as socio-cultural phenomena, the second strand of IRD-research proposes a shift in the analytic take on dialogue. And such a shift adds two further dimensions to present-day research:
On the one hand, the research that is closer to the second pole has been very strong in putting particular emphasis on IRD-activities in local contexts.17 On the basis of participant observations and in-depth interviews, the respective analyses inter alia invite their readers to have a closer look at processes of inclusion and exclusion within dialogue-circles, to raise the question of formal infrastructures and to analyze the multiple forms of IRD-discourses.18 In this sense, they contribute a more critical dimension to the already existing literature on the developments of dialogue in different national contexts.
On the other hand, the publications informed by the second pole tend to focus on the interrelations between IRD-activities and specific sub-systems or sub-fields of society. The work of Wendy Cadge/Mar Griera/Kirsten Lucken and Ines Michalowski, for example, stands for a variety of more recent publications on the relationship between IRD and politics.19 Along similar lines, scholars such as Melanie Priedeaux and Lise Galal ask researchers to highlight the complex networks that constitute dialogue-activities and focus upon their relationship to the socio-cultural context – including economics, arts, medicine etc.20
Along these lines, the present issue of JRAT wants to expand the work around the second pole by pursuing a systematic comparison of IRD-activities in Europe.
3 Towards Systematic European Comparison
It has frequently been argued that comparison is one of the core tools of any type of analytic endeavour. The Academic Study of Religion, for example, looks back upon a long history of comparative analyses that underline the potentials as well as the dangers of comparison.21 And the same can be said with regards to other disciplines (such as Political Sciences and History) or further interdisciplinary endeavours that have also systematically considered the pros and cons of comparative approaches to research.22
In all these cases, the literature underlines the necessity to reflect at first upon the implicit assumptions of a comparative venture. In the present volume, the comparisons are based upon the most recent findings of the ‘SMRE – Swiss Metadatabase of Religious Affiliation in Europe’. So, we have to discuss the implications of this particular tool of comparative research.
3.1 The Swiss Metadatabase of Religious Affiliation in Europe (SMRE)
The SMRE is jointly organized and managed by Antonius Liedhegener and Anastas Odermatt. According to its website, it:
was established to substantially improve the data situation of religious affiliation in Europe and to provide more reliable data for further research and debate. In the first phase (2011–2014) data from a wide range of sources have been collected by the SMRE-team. The second phase of the project (2015–2018) was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). The SMRE now provides detailed statistics and consolidated estimates on religious affiliation for European countries and regions including the EU.23
Along those lines, the SMRE starts from a concept of religion that is based upon affiliation as institutional membership. This clearly links the SMRE to a specific strand of research on religion. And its authors are actually very clear about the limitations of such an approach:
To be sure, data on religious affiliation are certainly not the only statistical indicator for religion, religiosity or religious vitality (for the recent trends in measuring religion see Brenner 2016; Finke and Bader 2017; Huber and Huber 2012; Pollack and Rosta 2015, 48–85). However, data on religious affiliation are certainly an indispensable baseline when it comes to measuring religion and religious diversity. Statistics on religious affiliation are the most basic information on religion on the individual, organisational and societal level.24
The fascinating thing about the SMRE is the fact that this database brings together reliable data on religious affiliation from nation states all over Europe. In this way, it provides a strong basis for a classification of the religious situations in Europe.
3.2 Classification of the Religious Situations in Europe
In one of the most recent SMRE-Working Papers, Liedhegener/Odermatt actually suggest a two-dimensional classification of the religious situation in European countries: First, they underline that European nation states are dominated by a rather limited set of what they call ‘largest religions’: Catholic, Muslim, Non-affiliated, Orthodox, and Protestant. Second, they distinguish three degrees of religious pluralization: dominant (the largest religion takes a share of 60% or more), fragmented (the largest religion takes a share of 35% or less), and pluralized (the largest group takes a share in between 36% and 59%).25
For the purpose of the present volume, this classification is of particular interest in so far as it provides a solid basis for European comparison. In addition, it also relates directly to two prominent debates of IRD-research:
The idea of ‘religious pluralization’ has always been central to the analyses of IRD. Authors such as Diane Eck and Catherine Cornille see IRD primarily as a consequence of processes of religious pluralization, and argue that plural societies need interreligious dialogue.26 In his last publications, Peter L. Berger added an interesting twist to these debates by proposing the idea of two-fold pluralization.27 With this concept, he argues that the confrontation with a secular mind-set has to be systematically integrated into the analysis of religiously plural contexts.28
The category ‘largest religions’ links the analyses to the wider discussions around the cultural significance of religion that has most prominently been discussed with regards to the ambivalent concept of ‘civilizations’ introduced by Samuel Huntington.29 It suggests that specific spatial entities – the SMRE focuses on ‘nation states’ and Huntington on ‘civilizations’ – are influenced by specific religious traditions. In a more cautious way, José Casanova and the late David Martin have been among those authors who further substantialize such a type of influence on social developments.30 They propose that religion has to be interpreted as one of the aspects that – among others – have shaped the developments of societies in Europe and North America. And later on, these two modern classics have expanded their argument to South America and Asia.31
With regards to the following reflections, these references to the SMRE ask us to direct our attention in two seemingly opposing directions: On the one hand, they suggest that a comparison of IRD-activities within Europe has to check to what extent ‘religious traditions’ and ‘religious pluralization’ help to better understand these activities. On the other hand, the references to the SMRE also underline that the upcoming analyses have to be open for the possibility that European comparisons might also have to take further analytical perspectives into consideration.32 We have to be prepared to look out for variables other than ‘religious traditions’ and ‘religious pluralization’ to understand IRD-activities.
Accordingly, the present volume is structured in a way that is open towards both of these two directions in order to analyze the processes that constitute IRD-activities within their socio-cultural contexts.
4 European Comparison of IRD-Activities
To put this research-agenda into practice, the present issue of JRAT is divided into three major sections. The first two articles (i.e. articles 2 and 3) highlight specific disciplinary perspectives on IRD. They invite their readers to further reflect upon the different poles of present-day IRD-research and the influence of these poles on specific case analyses:
-
IRD from the point of view of Pedagogy (Ruth Vilà/Assumpta Aneas/Montse Freixa)33
-
IRD from the point of view of Theology (Regina Polak)34
Section two (i.e. articles 4 to 13) provides historic case analyses on IRD-activities in different European national contexts. Following the SMRE-classification, these articles bring together contributions dealing with the more recent history of IRD-activities in ten countries:
-
Catholic-Pluralized: Switzerland (Hansjörg Schmid)35
-
Catholic-Dominant: Spain (Maria del Mar Griera)36
-
Muslim-Pluralized: Bosnia and Herzegovina (Ahmet Alibašić)37
-
Muslim-Dominant: Turkey (Zişan Furat/Hamit Er)38
-
Orthodox-Pluralized: North Macedonia (Gjoko Gjorgievski)39
-
Orthodox-Dominant: Serbia (Angela Ilić)40
-
Protestant-Pluralized: Sweden (Magdalena Nordin)41
-
Protestant-Dominant: Denmark (Lise Galal)42
-
No Religious Affiliation-Pluralized: United Kingdom (Melanie Prideaux)43
-
No Religious Affiliation-Dominant: Germany/East (Anna Körs/Karsten Lehmann)44
Within this analytic framework, the analyses have been selected to bring together cases of particular proximity as well as distance.45 The following articles cover three cases from the Balkans (Bosnia-Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Serbia) as well as two cases from Scandinavia (Sweden and Denmark). They also include three cases that are – geographically speaking – at the edges of Europe (Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom) as well as two cases situated in the centre of Europe (Switzerland and Germany/East).
This specific sample helps to move the analyses away from the initial SMRE-classification and to open up a space for further comparative considerations. Its analytic potential has been further substantiated by the fact that all analyses follow a qualitative approach to research – covering diverse methods of data-gathering (such as participant observation, in-depth interviews, document analyses etc.) as well as data-analysis (such as grounded theory, historic analysis etc.). This helps to put particular emphasis on the embeddedness of IRD-activities within their multi-fold socio-cultural contexts. And this, in turn, increases the heuristic potential of the case analyses.
Taken together, the national case analyses form the basis for the contributions published in the third section of the present volume (i.e. articles 14 to 16). These final articles highlight two systematic perspectives on the analysis of IRD in Europe that can be drawn from the previous reflections as well as tentative suggestions on the potential of IRD-research for the analysis of religions in Europe:
-
IRD as a phenomenon of secularization (Karsten Lehmann)46
-
IRD as a phenomenon of cosmopolitan governance (Anne Koch)47
-
Preliminary comments on the potentials of IRD-research (Karsten Lehmann)48
In this sense, all the authors of the present JRAT volume hope to add new empirical and systematic stimuli to the study of interreligious dialogue within the context of present-day European societies.
Acknowledgement
The present issue of the ‘Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Societies (JRAT)’ is based upon contributions to the conference ‘Interreligious Dialogue in Context: A European Comparison (IRD-Con)’ that took place between October 17th and 19th 2019 in Vienna, Austria. The IRD-Con Conference was a cooperation between the ‘Research Center Religion and Transformation (RaT)’ of the University of Vienna and the ‘Special Research Focus ‘Interreligiousity’ (SIR)’ of the University College of Teacher Education, Vienna/Krems. In addition, the IRD-Con Conference was sponsored by the Association of Roman Catholic Orders and the Protestant Church in Austria, as well as the Erste Bank. Throughout this text, references are made to country-specific examples discussed in other articles from this issue of JRaT. The editor of the present issue wants to thank all of you who have made this possible.
Biography
Karsten Lehmann is a Sociologist (Tübingen) as well as a Scholar of Religions (Lancaster / Bayreuth) by training. Since 2016 he works as Research Professor at the KPH – Kirchliche Pädagogische Hochschule, Wien/Krems as well as Director of the SIR – Special Research Area ‘Interreligiosity’. His fields of interest include: Methods and Theories in the Study of Religion, Religions and International Politics, Religious Plurality in Europe, Interreligious Dialogue.
Bibliography
Aguilar, Mario I.: Interreligious Dialogue and the Partition of India. Hindus and Muslims in Dialogue about Violence and forced Migration. London/Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publisher, 2018 (Studies in Religion and Theology).
Alibašić, Ahmet: History of Inter-Religious Dialogue in Bosnia and Herzegovina: From Force-Feeding to Sustainability?, in: JRAT 6 (2/2020), pp.
Banchoff, Thomas: Interreligious Dialogue and International Relations, in: Thimothy Samuel Shah/Alfred Stepan/Monica Duffy Toft (eds.): Rethinking Religion and World Affairs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 204–214.
Basset, Jean-Claude: Le Dialogue Interreligieux. Histoire et Avenir. Paris: Les Editions du CERF, 1996.
Berger, Peter L.: The Many Altars of Modernity. Toward a Paradigm for Religion in a Pluralist Age. Boston, MA/Berlin: De Gruyter, 2014.
Boehle, Josef: Inter-Religious Co-operation in a Global Age. Birmingham: I. B. Tauris, 2010.
Braybrooke, Marcus: Pilgrimage of Hope. One hundred years of Global Interfaith Dialogue. New York, NY: Crossroad Publishers, 1992.
Cadge, Wendy/Griera, Mar/Lucken, Kirsten/Michalowski, Ines: Religion in Public Institutions. Comparative Perspectives from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe, in: Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 56 (2/2017), pp. 226–233.
Casanova, José: Asian Catholicism, Interreligious Colonial Encounters and Dynamics of Secularism in Asia, in: Kenneth Dean/Peter van der Veer (eds.): The Secular in South, East, and Southeast Asia. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, pp. 13–36 (Global Diversities).
Casanova, José: Europas Angst vor der Religion. Berlin: Berlin University Press, 2013.
Casanova, José: From Modernization to Secularization to Globalization. An Autobiographical Self-Reflection, in: Simon Coleman/Ramon Sarré (eds.): Religion and Society, Vol. 2: Advances in Research. New York, NY: Berghahn Books, 2011, pp. 25–36.
Casanova, José: Parallel Reformations in Latin America. A Critical Review of David Martin’s Interpretation of the Pentecostal Revolution, in: Hans Joas (ed.): David Martin and the Sociology of Religion. London/New York, NY: Taylor & Francis, 2018, pp. 85–101.
Casanova, José: Westliche christliche Säkularisierung und Globalisierung, in: José Casanova (ed.): Europas Angst vor der Religion. Berlin: Berlin University Press, 2009, pp. 83–119.
Christensen, Henrik Reintoft/Høeg, Ida Marie/Kühle, Lene/Nordin, Magdalena: Rooms of Silence at Three Universities in Scandinavia, in: Sociology of Religion 80 (3/2019), pp. 299–322.
Conference ‘Interreligious Dialogue in the Post-Secular Age’, https://sites.duke.edu/inire/files/2017/12/Interreligious-Dialogue-in-the-Post-Secular-Age_KIE_Schedule_04_24-25_17.pdf (date of last access: 02.09.2020).
Cornille, Catherine (ed.): The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Inter-Religious Dialogue. Malden, MA/Oxford: Wiley, 2013.
Cornille, Catherine/Conway, Christopher (eds.): Interreligious Hermeneutics. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2010 (Interreligious Dialogue Series).
Druel, Jean: Je crois en Dieu! – Mois non plus. Introduction aux principes du dialogue interreligieux. Paris: Les Editions du CERF, 2017.
Dussert-Galiant, Delphine: Le Dialogue Interreligieux. Entre discours officiels et initiatives locales. Rennes: Presses universitaires du Rennes, 2013.
Eck, Diana L.: A New Religious America. How a “Christian Country” Has Become the World’s Most Religiously Diverse Nation. New York, NY: HarperOne, 2001.
Fahy, John/Bock, Jan-Jonathan (eds.): The Interfaith Movement. Mobilising religious Diversity in the 21st Century. Abingdon/New York, NY: Taylor & Francis, 2020 (Social Movements in the 21st Century: New Paradigms).
Felski, Rita/Friedman, Susan S. (eds.): Comparison. Theories, Approaches, Uses. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 2013.
Forward, Martin: A Short Introduction to Inter-Religious Dialogue. Oxford: Oneworld, 2001.
Freiberger, Oliver: Considering Comparison. A Method for Religious Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.
Freitag, Christine (ed.): Methoden des Vergleichs. Komparatistische Methodologie und Forschungsmethodik in interdisziplinärer Perspektive. Berlin/Toronto: Budrich UniPress, 2014.
Fu, Charles Wei-hsun/Spiegler, Gerhard E. (eds.): Religious Issues and Interreligious Relations. An Analysis and Sourcebook of Developments since 1945. New York, NY/Westport, CT/London: Greenwood Press, 1989.
Furat, Zişan/Er, Hamit: From Dialogue to Living Together: The Discussions on Inter-Religious Dialogue in Turkey since the Late 1990s, in: JRAT 6 (2/2020), pp.
Galal, Lise Paulsen: Between Representation and Subjectivity: Interreligious Dialogue in Denmark, in: JRAT 6 (2/2020), pp.
Galal, Lise: Making Space for Faith. Interfaith Initiatives in Denmark, in: John Fahy/Jan-Jonathan Bock (eds.): The Interfaith Movement. Mobilising religious Diversity in the 21st Century. Abingdon/New York, NY: Francis & Taylor, 2020, pp. 87–103 (Social Movements in the 21st Century: New Paradigms).
Garred, Michelle/Abu-Nimer, Mohammed (eds.): Making Peace with Faith. The Challenges of Religion and Peacebuilding. Lanham, MD/Boulder, CO/New York, NY/London: Rowman and Littlefied Publishers, 2018.
Giordan, Giuseppe/Lynch, Andrew P. (eds.): Interreligious Dialogue. From Religion to Geopolitics. Leiden: Brill, 2019 (Special Issue of the Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion).
Gjorgievski, Gjoko: Nurturing the Culture of Dialogue – Macedonian Experience, in: JRAT 6 (2/2020), pp.
Gladigow, Burkhard: Europäische Religionsgeschichte, in: Hans G. Kippenberg/Brigitte Luchesi (eds.): Lokale Religionsgeschichte. Marburg: Diagonal Verlag, 1995, pp. 21–42.
Glaser, Barney G./Strauss, Anselm L.: The Discovery of Grounded Theory. Strategies for qualitative Research. New Brunswick/London: Routledge, 1967.
Griera, Mar/Nagel, Alexander-Kenneth: Interreligious Relations and Governance of Religion in Europe. Introduction, in: Social Compass 65 (3/2018), pp. 301–311.
Griera, Mar: Public Policies, Interfaith Associations and Religious Minorities: A new Policy Paradigm? Evidence from the Case of Barcelona, in: Social Compass 59 (4/2012), pp. 570–587.
Griera, Mar: The many Shapes of Interreligious Relations in Contemporary Spain: Activism, Governance and Diplomacy, in: JRAT 6 (2/2020), pp.
Halafoff, Anna: The Multifaith Movement. Global Risks and Cosmopolitan Solutions. Heidelberg/New York, NY/London: Springer, 2013.
Hedges, Paul: Controversies in Interreligious Dialogue and the Theology of Religions. London: SCM Press, 2010 (Controversies in contextual theology).
Hedges, Paul: Towards better Disagreement. Religion and Atheism in Dialogue. London/Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2016.
Huntington, Samuel P.: The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New York, NY/London/Toronto: Simon & Schuster, 1996.
Ilić, Angela: Looking Through a Veil: Challenges and Perspectives of Interreligious Dialogue in Serbia, in: JRAT 6 (2/2020), pp.
Ipgrave, Julia/Knauth, Thorsten/Körs, Anne/Vieregge, Dörthe/Lippe, Maria von der (eds.): Religion and Dialogue in the City. Case Studies on Interreligious Encounters in Urban Community and Education. Münster: Waxmann Verlag, 2018 (Religious Diversity and Education in Europe).
Iwuchukwu, Marinus C.: Muslim-Christian Dialogue in Postcolonial Northern Nigeria. The Challenges of Inclusive Cultural and Religious Pluralism. Basingstoke/New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013 (Christianities of the World).
Klinkhammer, Gritt/Frese, Hans-Ludwig/Satilmis, Ayla/Seibert, Tina: Interreligiöser und interkultureller Dialog mit MuslimInnen in Deutschland. Eine quantitative und qualitative Studie. Bremen: Universität Bremen, 2011 (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Religionswissenschaft und Religionspädagogik).
Koch, Anne/Tillessen, Petra/Wilkens, Katharina: Religionskompetenz. Praxisbuch im multireligösen Feld der Gegenwart. Münster: LIT Verlag, 2013 (Lehr- und Studienbücher zur Religionswissenschaft).
Koch, Anne: Cosmopolitan Modes of Governance of Religious Diversity across Europe, in: JRAT 6 (2/2020), pp.
Könemann, Judith/Vischer, Georg (eds.): Interreligiöser Dialog in der Schweiz. Grundlagen, Brennpunkte, Praxis. Zürich: Edition NZN, 2008 (Beiträge zur Pastoralsoziologie).
Körs/Lehmann, Interreligious Dialogue (IRD) Activities in East Germany. Low Levels of Activities within Official Organizational Structures, in: JRAT 6 (2/2020), pp.
Krobath, Thomas/Lindner, Doris/Oetschnigg, Edith (eds.): Nun sag, wie hast du’s mit der religiösen Vielfalt? Zwischen Konflikt und Kompetenz in Kindergärten, Schulen und Jugendarbeit. Wien: LIT Verlag, 2019 (Schriften der KPH).
Kuschel, Hans-Josef: Leben ist Brückenschlagen. Vordenker des interreligiösen Dialogs. Ostfildern: Patmos Verlag, 2011.
Lamine, Anne-Sophie: La Cohabitation des Dieux. Pluralité religieux et Laïcité. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 2004.
Latinovic, Vladimir/Mannion, Gerard/Phan, Peter C. (eds.): Pathways for Interreligious Dialogue in the Twenty-First Century. Basingstoke/New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016 (Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue).
Lehmann, Karsten/Koch, Anne: Perspectives from Sociology. Modelling Religious Pluralism from Inward and Outward, in: Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue 16 (1/2015), https://irstudies.org/index.php/jirs/article/view/505/485.
Lehmann, Karsten: Dynamic IRD-Activities in Europe. Suggestions for further Analyses ‘in Context’, in: JRAT 6 (2/2020), pp.
Lehmann, Karsten: Interreligious Dialogue – a Response to Processes of Secularization, in: JRAT 6 (2/2020), pp.
Lehmann, Karsten (ed.). Interreligious Dialogue in Context. Towards a European Comparison, JRAT 6 (2/2020).
Lehmann, Karsten: Interreligious Dialogue (IRD) in International Politics. From the Margins of the religious Field to the Centre of Civil Society, in: Cornelio, Jayeel S./Gauthier, François/ Martikainen, Tuomas/Woodhead, Linda (eds.): Routledge International Handbook of Religion in Global Society. London/New York, NY: Routledge in print.
Lehmann, Karsten: Religiously affiliated NGOs, in: Thomas Davies (ed.): Routledge Handbook of NGOs and International Relations. London/New York, NY: Routledge, 2019, pp. 397–412.
Leirvic, Oddbjørn: Interreligious Studies. A Relational Approach to religious Activism and the Study of Religion. London/New Delhi/New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014.
Liedhegener, Antonius/Odermatt, Anastas: Religious Affiliation in Europe. An Empirical Approach: The “Swiss Metadatabase of Religious Affiliation in Europe (SMRE)”. Lucerne, 2013 (SMRE Working Paper).
Liedhegener, Antonius/Odermatt, Anastas: Religious Affiliation as a Baseline for Religious Diversity in Contemporary Europe. Making Sense of Numbers, Wordings, and Cultural Meanings. Lucerne, 2018 (SMRE Working Paper).
Lincoln, Bruce: Apples and Oranges. Explorations In, On and With Comparison. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2018.
Martin, David/Catto, Rebecca: The Religious and the Secular, in: Linda Woodhead/Rebecca Catto (eds.): Religion and Change in Modern Britain. London/New York, NY: Routledge, 2012, pp. 373–390.
Martin, David: On Secularization. Towards a Revised General Theory. Aldershot/Burlington, VT: Routledge, 2005.
Martin, David: Tongues of Fire. The Explosion of Protestantism in Latin America. Oxford/Cambridge: John Wiley and Sons, 1990.
Meißner, Volker/Affolderbach, Martin/Mohagegi, Hamideh/Renz, Andreas (eds.): Handbuch christlich-islamischer Dialog. Grundlagen – Themen – Praxis – Akteure. Freiburg/Basel/Wien: Herder Verlag, 2014 (Schriftenreihe der Georges Anawati Stiftung).
Merdjanova, Ina/Brodeur, Patrice: Religion as a Conversation Starter. Interreligious Dialogue for Peacebuilding in the Balkans. London/New York, NY: Continuum, 2009 (Continuum Advances in Religious Studies).
Merkt, Heinrich/Schlipf, Margrit/Schweitzer, Friedrich/Biesinger, Albert (eds.): Ethische und interreligiöse Kompetenzen in der Pflege. Unterrichtsmaterialien für die Pflegeausbildung. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2014.
Moyaert, Marianne: Interreligious Dialogue, in: David Cheetham/Douglas Pratt/David Thomas (eds.): Understanding interreligious Relations, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 193–217.
Müller, Tobias/Schmidt, Karsten/Schüler, Sebastian (eds.): Religion im Dialog. Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven – Probleme – Ansätze. Göttingen, 2009.
Nagel, Alexander-Kenneth: Religious Pluralization and Interfaith Activism in Germany. Studies in: Interreligious Dialogue 25 (2016), pp. 199–220.
Nordin, Magdalena: How to Understand Interreligious Dialogue in Sweden in Relation to the Socio-Cultural Context, in: JRAT 6 (2/2020), pp.
Nordin, Magdalena: Secularization, Religious Plurality and Position. Local inter- religious cooperation in contemporary Sweden, in: Social Compass 64 (3/2017), pp. 388–403.
Patton, Kimberley C./Ray, Benjamin C. (eds.): A Magic still Dwells. Comparative Religion in the postmodern Age. Berkley, CA/Los Angeles, CA/London: University of California Press, 2000.
Michaela Pfadenhauer (ed.): The New Sociology of Knowledge. The Life and Work of Peter L. Berger. London/New York, NY: Taylor & Francis, 2017.
Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue/Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (eds.): Dialogue and Proclamation. Reflection and Orientations on Interreligious Dialogue and the Proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Rome 1991, http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_19051991_dialogue-and-proclamatio_en.html (date of last access: 03.05.2019).
Prideaux, Melanie: Legitimising Religion in Public: Interreligious Dialogue and the Established Church in England, in: JRAT 6 (2/2020), pp.
Prideaux, Melanie: Understanding Neighbourhoods as Multifaith Spaces, in: Religions 10 (2019), https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/10/9/500 (date of last access: 02.09.2020).
Ragin, Charles C./Becker, Howard S. (eds.): What is a Case? Exploring the Foundations of Social Inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Rémon, René: Religion und Gesellschaft in Europa. Von 1789 bis zur Gegenwart, München: Beck, 2000.
Rötting, Martin/Sinn, Simone/Inan, Aykan (eds.): Praxisbuch interreligiöser Dialog. Begegnungen initiieren und begleiten. Sankt Ottilien: EOS Verlag, 2016.
Schmid, Hansjörg/Almıla Akca, Ayse/Barwig, Klaus: Gesellschaft gemeinsam gestalten. Islamische Vereinigungen als Partner in Baden-Württemberg. Baden- Baden: NOMOS Verlag, 2008.
Schmid, Hansjörg/Hamdan, Hussein: Junge Muslime als Partner. Ein empiriebasierter Kompass für die praktische Arbeit. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, 2014.
Schmid, Hansjörg: Interreligious Dialogues in Switzerland: A Multiple-Case Study Focusing on Socio-Political Contexts, in: JRAT 6 (2/2020), pp.
Sinn, Simone: Religiöser Pluralismus im Werden. Religionspolitische Kontroversen und theologische Perspektiven von Christen und Muslimen in Indonesien. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014.
Snodgrass, Jill L. (ed.): Navigating Religious Difference in Spiritual Care and Competence. Essays in Honor of Katheleen J. Greider. Claremont, CA: Claremont Press, 2019.
Swidler, Leonard: Dialogue for Interreligious Understanding. Strategies for the Transformation of Culture-Shaping Institutions. New York, NY/Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014 (Interreligious Studies in Theory and Practice).
Taylor, Charles: A Secular Age. Cambridge/London: Harvard University Press, 2007.
Vilà, Ruth/Freixa, Montse/Aneas, Assumpta: Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue in Education, in: JRAT 6 (2/2020), pp.
Weisse, Wolfram/Amirpur, Katajun/Körs, Anne/Vieregge, Dörthe (eds.): Religions and Dialogue. International Approaches. Münster/New York, NY: Waxmann, 2014 (Religions in Dialogue).
Zander, Helmut: ‘Europäische’ Religionsgeschichte. Religiöse Zugehörigkeit durch Entscheidung – Konsequenzen im interkulturellen Vergleich. Berlin/Boston, MA: De Gruyter, 2016.
Fahy/Bock, The Interfaith Movement; Halafoff, The Multifaith Movement; Rötting/Sinn/Inan, Praxisbuch interreligiöser Dialog; Boehle, Inter-Religious Co-operation.
Lehmann, Religiously Affiliated NGOs; Lehmann, Interreligious Dialogue (IRD) in International Politics; Banchoff: Interreligious Dialogue and International Relations.
Krobath/Lindner/Oetschnigg, Nun sag, wie hast du’s mit der religiösen Vielfalt?; Müller/Schmidt/Schüler, Religion im Dialog.
Snodgrass, Navigating religious difference in spiritual care and competence; Merkt/Schlipf/Schweitzer/Biesinger, Ethische und interreligiöse Kompetenzen in der Pflege; Cornille/Conway, Interreligious Hermeneutics; Leirvic, Interreligious Studies.
Lehmann, Interreligious Dialogue in Context.
Weisse/Amirpur/Körs/Vieregge, Religions and Dialogue; Cornille, Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Inter-Religious Dialogue; Fu/Spiegler, Religious Issues and Interreligious Relations; Forward, A Short Introduction to Inter-Religious Dialogue; Meißner/Affolderbach/Mohagegi/Renz, Handbuch christlich-islamischer Dialog.
Moyaert, Interreligious Dialogue, p. 206.
Basset, Le Dialogue Interreligieux, pp. 239–406; Hedges, Controversies in Interreligious Dialogue. Hedges, Towards Better Disagreement; Swidler, Dialogue for Interreligious Understanding.
Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue/Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples: Dialogue and Proclamation.
Kuschel, Leben ist Brückenschlagen; Latinovic/Mannion/Phan, Pathways for Interreligious Dialogue; Braybrooke, Pilgrimage of Hope.
Druel, Je crois en Dieu! – Mois non Plus; Garred/Abu-Nimer, Making Peace with Faith; Koch/Tillessen/Wilkens, Religionskompetenz; Schmid/Hamdan, Junge Muslime als Partner.
Iwuchukwu, Muslim-Christian Dialogue; Aguilar, Interreligious Dialogue and the Partition of India; Sinn, Religiöser Pluralismus im Werden; Könemann/Vischer, Interreligiöser Dialog in der Schweiz.
Merdjanova/Brodeur, Religion as a Conversation Starter.
These are documented in an increasing amount of ‘grey literature’ as well as conferences. To give a most recent example: Conference ‘Interreligious Dialogue in the Post- Secular Age’.
Griera/Nagel, Interreligious Relations, p. 304.
Giordan/Lynch, Interreligious Dialogue; Lehmann/Koch, Perspectives from Sociology; Schmid/Almıla Akca/Barwig, Gesellschaft gemeinsam gestalten.
Ipgrave/Knauth/Körs/Vieregge/Lippe, Religion and Dialogue in the City; Nordin, Secularization, Religious Plurality and Position; Dussert-Galiant, Le Dialogue Interreligieux.
Klinkhammer/Frese/Satilmis/Seibert, Interreligiöser und interkultureller Dialog; Lamine, La Cohabitation des Dieux.
Cadge/Griera/Lucken/Michalowski, Religion in Public Institutions; Nagel, Religious Pluralization and Interfaith Activism; Griera, Public Policies.
Prideaux, Understanding Neighbourhoods as Multifaith Spaces; Galal, Making Space for Faith. Christensen/Høeg/Kühle/Nordin, Rooms of Silence.
Freiberger, Considering Comparison; Lincoln, Apples and Oranges; Patton/Ray, A Magic still Dwells.
Freitag, Methoden des Vergleichs; Felski/Friedman, Comparison.
https://www.smre-data.ch, for the first phase: Liedhegener/Odermatt, Religious Affiliation in Europe.
Liedhegener/Odermatt, Religious Affiliation as a Baseline for Religious Diversity in Contemporary Europe, p. 6.
Liedhegener/Odermatt, Religious Affiliation as a Baseline for Religious Diversity in Contemporary Europe, pp. 31–37.
Eck, A New Religious America; Cornille/Corigliano, Interreligious Dialogue and Cultural Change.
Berger, The Many Altars of Modernity; Pfadenhauer, The New Sociology of Knowledge.
Taylor, A Secular Age.
Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations.
Martin, On Secularization – Towards a Revised General Theory; Martin/Catto, The Religious and the Secular; Casanova, Westliche christliche Säkularisierung und Globalisierung; Casanova, From Modernization to Secularization to Globalization.
Martin, Tongues of Fire; Casanova, Asian Catholicism; Casanova, Parallel Reformations in Latin America.
Zander, ‘Europäische’ Religionsgeschichte; Gladigow, Europäische Religionsgeschichte; Casanova, Europas Angst vor der Religion; Rémon, Religion und Gesellschaft in Europa.
Vilà/Freixa/Aneas, Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue in Education.
Polak, Between Theological Ideals and Empirical Realities.
Schmid, Interreligious Dialogues in Switzerland.
Griera, The Many Shapes of Interreligious Relations.
Alibašić, History of Inter-Religious Dialogue in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Furat/Er, From Dialogue to Living Together.
Gjorgievski, Nurturing the Culture of Dialogue – Macedonian Experience.
Ilić, Looking Through a Veil.
Nordin, How to Understand Interreligious Dialogue in Sweden.
Galal, Between Representation and Subjectivity.
Prideaux, Legitimising Religion in Public.
Körs/Lehmann, Interreligious Dialogue (IRD) Activities in East Germany.
Ragin/Becker, What is a Case?; Glaser/Strauss, The Discovery of Grounded Theory.
Lehmann, Interreligious Dialogue – a Response to Processes of Secularization.
Koch, Cosmopolitan Modes of Governance of Religious Diversity Across Europe.
Lehmann, Dynamic IRD-Activities in Europe.