This book features reflections by scholars and practitioners from diverse religious traditions. It posits that the global challenges facing humanity today can only be mastered if humans from diverse faith traditions can meaningfully collaborate in support of human rights, reconciliation, sustainability, justice, and peace. Seeking to redress common distortions of religious mis- and dis-information, the book aims to construct interreligious common ground 'beyond the divide'.
Organised into three main sections, the book features sixteen conceptual, empirical, and practice-informed chapters that explore spirituality across faiths and cultures. Chapter 1 delineates the state of the art in relation to interfaith engagement, Chapters 2-8 advance theoretical research, Chapters 9-12 discuss empirical perspectives, and Chapters 13-16 showcase field projects and recount stories and lived experiences.
Comprising works by scholars, professionals, and practitioners from around the globe, Interfaith Engagement Beyond the Divide: Approaches, Experiences, and Practices is an interdisciplinary publication on interreligious thought and engagement:
- Assembles a curated collection of chapters from numerous countries and diverse religious traditions;
- Addresses interfaith scholarship and praxis from a range of interdisciplinary perspectives;
- Comprises interfaith dialogue and collaborative research involving authors of different faiths;
- Envisions prospects for peace, interreligious harmony in diversity, and a world that may be equitably and enduringly shared.
The appraisal of present and future challenges and opportunities, framed within a context of public policy and praxis, makes this interdisciplinary publication a useful tool for teaching, research, and policy development.
About the Author: Associate Professor Johannes M. Luetz (BA/USA, MBA/Germany, Ph.D./Australia) is a senior social scientist based in Brisbane, Australia. He is the Director of Research Development and research ethics chair at Alphacrucis University College and holds adjunct appointments at the University of New South Wales and the University of the Sunshine Coast. He has lived and worked across countries and continents and conducts interdisciplinary humanitarian research at the science-faith, interfaith, and science-policy interface. As a global citizen raised between Africa, Europe, and Australia, he has published and edited widely in the areas of spirituality, sustainable development, and forced human migration, among others. He serves as editor on major international handbooks and interdisciplinary academic journals.
Professor Denise A. Austin (PhD/MA/BA Hons I) is Vice President (Academic) at Leaders Institute. She was formerly Deputy Vice President Research and Standards at Alphacrucis University College, Director of the Australasian Pentecostal Studies Centre, and Chair of the Theological Commission of Asia Pacific Theological Association. Denise received her Ph.D. in history from the University of Queensland, Australia, and has published widely in Pentecostal, Asian, and oral history, as well as higher education quality assurance. In 2021, she was awarded the Alphacrucis College Doctoral Supervision Excellence Award. Denise and her family have also served as missionaries in Hong Kong. Denise is listed on the Register of Experts for the Australian government's Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency.
Dr. Adis Duderija is Senior Lecturer in the Study of Islam and Society, and former Senior Fellow of Centre for Interfaith and Intercultural Dialogue, Griffith University, at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the field of contemporary Islamic Studies, especially in relation to his work on gender and Islam, interfaith theory, the theory of progressive Islam and the Islamic interpretive tradition generally. In addition to over fifty journal articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries, Adis is also the author and editor of over half a dozen books at this time. He serves on the editorial board of several academic journals, and his scholarly works have been translated into Arabic, Indonesian, Urdu/Hindi and Bosnian.
