Philosophy of Interreligious Dialogue: Learned Ignorance and Wisdom

elective seminars

(in Polish) Zainteresowanie fenomenem religijności, orientację w nauczaniu chociaż jednej religii i znajomość podstawowych pojęć filozoficznych oraz umiejętność sprawnego czytania po angielsku.

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.

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

Podstawowa:

-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.

Dodatkowo:

www.ccjr.us/dialogika-resources/documents-and-statements

https://www.prchiz.pl/beit

-Jorge Bergoglio, Abraham Skórka, „W niebie i na ziemi”, Znak, Kraków 2013.

-Martin Buber, „Ja i Ty. Wybór pism filozoficznych”, PAX Warszawa 1992.

-Catherine Cornille (ed.) „The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Inter-Religious Dialogue”, 2013

-Grzegorz Ignatowski „Kościoły wobec przejawów antysemityzmu”, Łódź 1999.

-Raimundo Panikkar, „Religie świata w dialogu”, PAX 1986 (oryg. 1978).

-Perry Schmidt-Leukel, “Religious Pluralism and Interreligious Theology,” Orbis Books 2017.

-„Żadna religia nie jest samotną wyspą. Abraham Joshua Heschel i dialog międzyreligijny”, WAM, Kraków 2005.

Achieving broad knowledge of the main problems in the philosophy of interreligious dialogue, in Christian-Jewish dialogue, and in the meeting of the Abrahamic religions with Hinduism and Buddhism.

The ability to independently interpret the text, commenting and confronting theses from various traditions.

Knowledge of the scope of knowledge and skills possessed, understanding of the need for continuous training and professional development.

In order to pass the seminar, participants will be required to read the texts, participate in the discussion, present one of the texts, and write short term papers – the topic of which must be approved by both instructors. (Proposing the topic till Nov 30, 2023; delivering the paper till Jan 28, 2024. Proposing the topic of the second paper till Apr 30, 2024; delivering the paper till June 16, 2024.)

Grading on the basis of activity, the quality of the presentations and term papers.

Number of absences: 2