New Essays on Dialogue and Islamic Ethics
From time to time, CAWU staff publish work outside of Dialogue Across Borders. I wanted to bring to the attention of our readers two open-access essays that were published this year that I hope will be of interest. First, our founding director and senior advisor, Cornelis Hulsman, published an essay in the 2024 edition of the academic journal Religions which narrates his journey into intercultural and interreligious dialogue. “From Religious Bubble to Interreligious Dialogue: A Personal Story of Transformation” offers both personal and theoretical reflections on his journey from a conservative Protestant Christian context in the Netherlands into the world of ancient Eastern Christianity and Islam in Egypt and the Middle East. It also provides important insights into the origins and goals of the Center for Arab-West Understanding and our digital database. His essay can be found here.
More recently, my essay, “Ethical Dimensions of al-Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ’s al-Shifā,” was published in Mutaz al-Khatib, ed., Key Classical Works on Islamic Ethics (Leiden: Brill, 2024). The essay explores one of the most influential works in Islamic history devoted to explaining the character and significance of the Prophet Muḥammad. For our readers who have been involved in any significant way in interreligious and intercultural dialogue, you will realize that the figure of the Prophet Muḥammad is often a challenging topic in Christian-Muslim relations. This essay provides insights into how Muslims have historically understood the person at the heart of their faith that may be useful for dialogue. My essay, along with others from the volume, can be accessed here.
In their own ways, both essays witness to a truth that remains at the heart of our work. Authentic dialogue is demanding and requires significant effort to see the world and important questions in new and sometimes uncomfortable ways.
Matthew Anderson
Director - Center for Arab-West Understanding
Executive Editor - Dialogue Across Borders (Brill)
December 29, 2024
Emerging Perspectives on Intercultural and Interreligious Relations
Dialogue Across Borders is a database of summary translations of Arabic newspaper articles with references to their sources about intercultural and interreligious relations, focusing primarily but not exclusively on Muslim-Christian relations. The database also contains articles with editorial analysis and interviews on the subject.