Religious Leaders Join UN in Praying for Peace – “Our Most Precious Goal”
At a time of terrible divisions in the world, leaders from multiple faiths joined together at UN headquarters in New York on April 14 to observe a moment of prayer for peace. 

(UN News)

Dialogue Requires Sincerity, Respect, Pope Tells Christian, Muslim Leaders
On May 4, Pope Francis met with Catholic and Muslim leaders gathered in Rome for the sixth colloquium between the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue and the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies, which is based in Amman, Jordan.

(National Catholic Reporter)

Parliamentary Conference on Interfaith Dialogue
This conference will bring together members of parliament, religious leaders, civil society, and other experts to engage in dialogue and to jointly explore action points for building more peaceful and inclusive societies.

Inter-Parliamentary Union; Parliament of the Kingdom of Morocco
June 13-15 | Marrakesh, Morocco

Spirited Seas: Science and Spirituality, an Interfaith Exploration of the Impacts of Deep Seabed Mining
In this webinar, the IF20 Working Group will deliver an online presentation examining deep seabed mining in the Pacific Ocean from the perspective of religion and spirituality.

G20 Interfaith Forum
May 31 | Online

This event features a screening and discussion of The Binding of Isaac according to the Elohist, a solo cantata by award-winning American composer Delvyn Case. The cantata explores this complex and difficult story by highlighting the human drama between Abraham and Isaac.

University of Cambridge Interfaith Programme
May 16 | Cambridge, UK

Partnerships in Action: Towards “One Earth, One Family, One Future"
The 2023 G20 Interfaith Forum focused on recommendations and calls for action relevant to G20 policy objectives and aimed at serving the world’s most vulnerable communities.

G20 Interfaith Forum
May 7-9 | New Delhi, India

PeaceCon 2023: Beyond Fragile Ground: New Peacebuilding Architectures for Today and the Future
PeaceCon 2023 brought together senior officials, thought leaders, policymakers, and practitioners to explore how peacebuilding must evolve to create new strategic approaches and architectures to manage conflict and prevent violence during these times of tectonic geopolitical shifts.

Alliance for Peacebuilding
May 3-5 | Washington, DC; Online

The Art of Dying Well: “Eternity” What’s Next?
This interfaith conversation gathered Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Sikh religious leaders to discuss the concept of eternity.

St. Mary's University Twickenham London
April 27 | Birmingham, UK; Online

Annual Meeting of the World Council of Churches and the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue
The annual meeting of the staff members of the World Council of Churches and the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue underlined the vital role of interreligious dialogue to transform situations of conflict and foster peace, to address violations of human rights together, and to highlight the importance of solidarity.

World Council of Churches; Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue
April 26-27 | Bogis-Bossey, Switzerland

The Global Politics of Interreligious Dialogue: Religious Change, Citizenship, and Solidarity in the Middle East

Draws on five years of ethnographic fieldwork in Algeria, Lebanon, Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt, this volume illustrates how religion operates in contemporary global politics, offering important lessons about the development of alternative models of democracy, citizenship, and modernity.

(Oxford University Press, 2023)

Buddhism and Daoism: A Millennia-Long Dialogue

This thought essay explores the historical context of the interaction between Buddhism and Daoism in China, and exactly what major philosophical and ideological concepts have been exchanged and synchronized. Each tradition has had a substantial impact on the other, resulting in a partial synthesis, dialogue, and absorption of concepts and practices. 

(Buddhistdoor Global)

Agree to Disagree? Allowing for Ideological Difference during Interfaith Dialogue Following Scriptural Reasoning

Interfaith dialogue is a promising conflict resolution method and encourages participants to learn about and appreciate religious diversity. Yet, participants often need a facilitator’s help to learn how to converse successfully across areas of ideological differences, such as religion. This study offers insight into how specific conversational tactics might lead to successful interfaith dialogue during critical moments of disagreement.

(Journal of Ecumenical Studies)

Young People, Globalization and Interfaith Advocacy: A Case Study of the InterFaith Tour (2012–2020)

This article aims at understanding how, in a global era, young people have appropriated interreligious advocacy through the study of the Interfaith Tour (IFT). Every two years the program, created in 2012 in France, aims to provide four or five young people of different beliefs (atheist, Christian, Muslim, Jewish) with the opportunity to go a world tour, followed by a tour around France to share the discoveries made during the trip with the French public.

(Social Sciences and Missions)

Rosemary Radford Ruether’s Global Scope in Interfaith Reconciliation

Rosemary Radford Ruether’s life work demonstrates in books, conferences, and courses her commitment to facilitating dialogue to advance the well-being of women, not as a secular feminist, but as a feminist theologian providing self-critical attention within the Christian community. Drawing primarily from her Buddhist-Christian dialogues with Rita Gross, this essay provides a series of vignettes to demonstrate Ruetherian methods for self-critical Christian participation in pluralistic encounter.

(Feminist Theology)

Spring 2023 Student Research Symposium

On April 22, the Berkley Center hosted its annual student research symposium featuring the capstone projects from graduating Religion, Ethics, and World Affairs (REWA) minors, as well as student research projects from other Berkley Center programs and courses. Research projects covered a diverse range of topics such as the church and gender equality in Latin America, caste-based disparities in Nepal, social media and religious literacy, and more.

Medieval Academy of America’s 98th Annual Gathering Rethinks What It Means to Be Medieval

While medieval studies is usually focused on the interdisciplinary study of the past, Berkley Center Faculty Fellow Jonathan Ray emphasizes what that scholarship can teach us about the present. The Medieval Academy of America (MAA) explored these topics and more at their ninety-eighth annual gathering in Washington, DC, from February 23 to 26, 2023.