The articles contribute to the latest methodologies for researching interreligious dialogue practice

The search for innovative approaches in the field of interreligious dialogue is at the heart of KAICIID activities. Bringing together experts to learn more about new developments and to discuss different points of view helps further development in Interreligious Dialogue on an academic as well as practical level.

At the November 2014 national conference of the American Academy of Religions (AAR), Patrice Brodeur and Karsten Lehmann from KAICIID organized a panel discussion entitled ‘Three strands of Dialogue Research - Dialogue among Dialogue Researchers’. These three strands of Dialogue research are how Researchers approach interreligious dialogue through these three strands a theological, peace studies or sociological perspective. The panel brought together eminent scholars to discuss different approaches to the academic analysis of interreligious dialogue activities (IRD) today: Leonard Swidler from Temple University, who represented the theological perspective, Mohammed Abu-Nimer from the American University who represented the peace studies perspective, and Anne Koch from Ludwig-Maximilians Universität, and Karsten Lehmann, a researcher at KAICIID, represented the sociological perspective.  Russell T. McCutcheon from the University of Alabama was respondent.

In April 2015 two out of the four papers presented at this panel were published in the online Journal of Inter-Religious Studies (JIRS). The paper of Mohammed Abu-Nimer, entitled “Religion and Peacebuilding: Reflections on Current Challenges and Future Prospects”, compares different theories and methodologies underpinning recent case studies in Conflict and Peace Studies that demonstrate how Interreligious Dialogue has been used methodologically for peacebuilding. The paper by Anne Koch and Karsten Lehmann, “Perspectives from Sociology: Modeling Religious Pluralism from Inward and Outward” provides an overview of the main topics of empirical dialogue research today and presents the results of a recent empirical study on dialogue activities in Germany and Indonesia. A third participant in this AAR panel is also part of the most recent edition of the JIRS, “Dialoguing with a Dialogue Pioneer: A Brief Interview with Leonard Swidler” in which the author Or N. Rose interviewed Leonard Swidler on the occasion of his most recent book  Dialogue for Interreligious Understanding. This book is the first of a series that will focus on Interreligious Studies in Theory and Practice (ISTP). These three papers present a detailed overview of up-to-date discussions in the field of Interreligious Dialogue, and are available for download.