Philosophy of Interreligious Dialogue: Learned Ignorance and Wisdom 3800-FDM23-S

The seminar aim is to analyze interreligious dialogue and its philosophical foundations. The essays or chapters of the following books will be discussed:
James L. Heft, Reuven Firestone, Omid Safi (Eds.), “Learned Ignorance. Intellectual humility among Jews, Christians, and Muslims,” New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Michael H. Mitias, “Possibility of Interreligious Dialogue,” Palgrave Macmillan 2021.
Alon Goshen-Gottstein (Ed.), “Sharing Wisdom: Benefits and Boundaries of Interreligious Learning,” Lexington Books 2017.
In the first book, authors from the three Abrahamic traditions discuss various topics, guided by the idea of learned ignorance introduced by Nicholas of Cusa.
The second book examines the conditions for serious interreligious dialogue.
In the third book, authors from both the traditions of the Abrahamic religions and the religions of the Indian subcontinent consider the possibility of sharing the wisdom of religions with people of other faiths.

Program
Semester I
1. Introduction
2. David Burrell, Some Requisites for Interfaith Dialogue, Heft et al. 23-33
3. Pim Valkenberg, Learned Ignorance and Faithful Interpretation of the Qur’an in Nichols of Cusa, Heft et al. 34-52
4. Michael Signer, “Seeing Sounds”: Intellectual Humility and the Process of Dialogue, Heft et al. 53-66
5. Asma Afsaruddin, Finding Common Ground: “Mutual Knowing,” Moderation, and the Fostering of Religious Pluralism, Heft et al. 67-86
6. James Heft, Humble Infallibility, Heft et al. 89-106
7. Reuven Firestone, Chosenness and the Exclusivity of Truth, Heft et al. 107-128
8. Oliver-Thomas Venard, The Belief in the Incarnation of God: Source of Religious Humility or Cause of Theological Pride?, Heft et al. 129-148
9. Shira Lander, Supernatural Israel: Obstacles to Theological Humility in Jewish Tradition, Heft et al. 149-169
10 Afra Jalabi, Walking on Divine Edge: Reading Notions of Arrogance and Humility in the Qu’ran, Heft et al. 170-187
11 Elizabeth Groppe, After Augustine: Humility and the Search for God in Historical Memory, Heft et al. 191-209
12 Michael McGarry, Apology, Regret, and Intellectual Humility: An Interreligious Consideration, Heft et al. 210-24
13 Mustafa Abu Sway, Islamic Theological Perspectives on the Intellectual Humility and the Conditioning of Interfaith Dialogue, Heft et al. 225-237
14 Stanisław Krajewski, A Mediation on Intellectual Humility, or on a Fusion of Epistemic Ignorance and Covenantal Certainty, Heft et al. 241-256
15 Daniel Madigan, Saving Dominus Iesus, Heft et al. 257-277

Semester II
16 Omid Safi, Between Tradition and Reform: Between Premodern Sufism and the Iranian Reform Movement, Heft et al. 278-299
17 J. Heft, R. Firestone, O. Safi, The Purpose of Interreligious Dialogue, Heft et al. 300-311
18 Introduction; General Framework of Analysis, Mitias 7-36
19 Mutual Respect as a Condition of Interreligious Dialogue, Mitias 37-64
20 Mutual Understanding as Condition and Aim of Interreligious Dialogue, Mitias 65-94
21 Mysticism as a Basis of Interreligious Dialogue: God-Centeredness, Mitias 95-116
22 Does Religious Self-Understanding Impede Interreligious Dialogue? Mitias 117-137
23 Miroslav Volf, A Christian Perspective, Goshen 1-18
24 Anantanand Rambachan, A Hindu Perspective, Goshen 19-32
25 Pal Ahluwalia, A Sikh Perspective, Goshen 33-44
26 Sallie B. King, A Buddhist Perspective, Goshen 45-60
27 Timothy J. Gianotti, A Muslim Perspective, Goshen 61-78
28 Meir Sendor, A Jewish Perspective, Goshen 79-94
29 Alon Goshen-Gottstein, Sharing Wisdom: A Composite Picture, Goshen 95-112
30 Summing up