The Global Urgency of Interreligious Studies

Dear Colleagues,

The burgeoning field of Interreligious Studies (IRS) pursues understanding across religious traditions and addresses critical issues that emerge when religiously different peoples interact in various contexts.

All well and good. And yet, IRS scholar Rachel S. Mikva asks a pertinent question of the academic enterprise: “Does interreligious understanding matter if the world is coming to an end?” (Mikva, 12). To put it differently, where do interreligious explorations rank on a list of global and academic priorities when compared to existential concerns about climate change and “environmental anxiety”? While Mikva answers her own question by affirming the importance of IRS in the midst of climate concerns, she follows up with a critical challenge: “The question is: How should the crisis shape our work?” (Mikva, 13).

Of course, such questions about the value and methods of IRS are also relevant when considering other global challenges and crises. For example, we can ask why and how interreligious efforts should be pursued in the midst of threats of nuclear war, cyber attacks, and bio-pandemics; or in light of the global resurgence of “illiberal” authoritarianism, unprecedented levels of human migration, and heightened social and ethnic hostilities; or considering technological developments that disrupt the social, economic, and moral structures of modern societies. Given the weight of these and other issues, some consider fields such as IRS, by comparison, to be derivative or, at best, marginal.

This issue of Religions challenges such assessments. It confronts a “secular myopia” that assumes major challenges of the twenty-first century can be effectively diagnosed and addressed without significant engagements with religion. As a growing chorus of scholars now demonstrate, not only does secular myopia fail to adequately address the challenges that religion presents in the world today, it also overlooks the powerful resources religion offers in the pursuit of sustainable solutions. This volume, however, posits both a primary value for interreligious reflection as well as its increasing urgency.

In addition, by emphasizing both the academic and pragmatic relevance of IRS, the contributions in this Special Issue represent what we can call “scholarship with legs”, that is, scholarship that emerges at the intersections of reflection and activism, and that explores the synergies between theory and social and environmental realities. This invites multidisciplinary analysis that is, in fact, characteristic of the field of IRS. It also contains an implicit promise that analysis will embolden and mobilize constructive interreligious efforts for the sake of the world we all share, and the world we want our grandchildren to inherit.

With all this in mind, this volume will help locate IRS within the broader landscape of religious studies while focusing on interreligious contributions to global challenges. We seek submissions that reflect a plurality of religious orientations and explore specific social and environmental issues.

Reference

Mikva, Rachel S. “Does Interreligious Understanding Matter if the World Is Coming to an End?” In Deep Understanding for Divisive Times: Essays Marking a Decade of the Journal of Interreligious Studies; Mosher, L.A., Oaks Takacs, A.M., Rose, O.N., Moore, M.E., Eds.; Newton Centre: Interreligious Studies Press, 2020; pp. 12–17.

Prof. Dr. John D. Barton
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• interreligious/interfaith
• secular myopia
• peacebuilding
• social change
• dispute resolution
• conflict transformation
• collaborative solutions
• restorative justice
• justpeace
• activism
• sustainability
• religious literacy