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Drawing on my leadership experiences in the academy, particularly as Dean of a theological faculty in a secular, public university (Université Laval), and my recent participation in the Synod on Synodality, I continue my reflections on the future of academic theology that I began in a Toronto Journal of Theology article on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Toronto School of Theology. I argue that drawing on the historical impetus of the creation of two Roman Catholic universities in 1852 (one in Quebec, the other in Ontario), theological institutions must think about social context and pertinence beyond the university. We cannot think abstractly about the development of our theological institutions. It would also be bad advice to consider it only by comparing them to other institutions around the world or by taking as a reference the criteria and strategies common to the development of university institutions. We should not exclude these approaches, but in this article I highlight the obligation to reflect in context; our institutions must never become detached from their social and ecclesial environment. After discussing the reasons that led to the creation of Catholic universities in Canada in the nineteenth century, the article highlights two challenges: the social progress of marginalized communities through access to university education, and the training of workers to the vineyard of the Lord, in particular the formation in synodality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper centers on the godfather of the civil rights movement, Howard Thurman, and his most influential work, "Jesus and the Disinherited", as a pre-eminent text into early 20th century intercultural philosophy. Building upon Kipton Jensen's analysis in "Howard Thurman: Philosophy, Civil Rights, and the Search for Common Ground", this presentation will reframe Howard Thurman's unique philosophy as one that integrates spirituality, interculturality, and critical social analysis. It is well known that Thurman's treatise on the oppressed was carried in the pocket of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. throughout the civil rights movement for the ways it empowered nonviolent resistance for those marginalized by the dominant culture of the United States, which was (and still is) built on racism, military violence, and class-based oppression. This paper advocates that Thurman came to his philosophical conclusions through deep engagement with various cultural and philosophical traditions, most notably the Hindu spiritual–political paradigm of Mahatma Gandhi, and sought to harmonize these insights for African Americans in the USA. By investigating the intercultural foundations of "Jesus and the Disinherited", this paper will encourage scholars to explore how interculturality enriched Thurman's philosophy and how this fostered a more expansive vision of community in pluralistic societies. This article traces the roots of the development of "Jesus and the Disinherited", looking back to presentations Thurman gave as early as 1922, concluding with the publication of his book in 1949. And via this study, we will see the progression of Thurman's ideas and the impacts interculturality had on his philosophy and vision for social justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amidst increasing globalization and religious diversity, acknowledging and embracing openness towards religious and/or cultural others has become crucial for societal cohesion and international relations. Theological scholars, holding significant potential in mitigating inter-religious and intercultural prejudices, can play a pivotal role in addressing this challenge. However, it is acknowledged that theologians themselves may harbor such biases. This study, conducted within the framework of the Religious Openness Hypothesis, employed an online questionnaire among theology students, seen as future multipliers of religiosity, in Germany and Turkey (N = 513) using convenience sampling. The results reveal the consistent relation of religiosity to all forms of prejudice among German Christians, with a linked defense against secularism potentially leading to self-isolation and the protection of their own worldview against religious or cultural outgroups. In contrast, the (generally high) prejudice among Turkish Muslims appears to be rooted not primarily in religiosity or defense against secularism but in fundamentalism and, most likely, in other socio-cultural factors such as politics and education. For both subsamples, religiosity was positively linked with xenosophia, particularly when accounting for fundamentalism. The article concludes by proposing curriculum implications for universities and schools in both cultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper centers on the godfather of the civil rights movement, Howard Thurman, and his most influential work, “Jesus and the Disinherited”, as a pre-eminent text into early 20th century intercultural philosophy. Building upon Kipton Jensen’s analysis in “Howard Thurman: Philosophy, Civil Rights, and the Search for Common Ground”, this presentation will reframe Howard Thurman’s unique philosophy as one that integrates spirituality, interculturality, and critical social analysis. It is well known that Thurman’s treatise on the oppressed was carried in the pocket of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. throughout the civil rights movement for the ways it empowered nonviolent resistance for those marginalized by the dominant culture of the United States, which was (and still is) built on racism, military violence, and class-based oppression. This paper advocates that Thurman came to his philosophical conclusions through deep engagement with various cultural and philosophical traditions, most notably the Hindu spiritual–political paradigm of Mahatma Gandhi, and sought to harmonize these insights for African Americans in the USA. By investigating the intercultural foundations of “Jesus and the Disinherited”, this paper will encourage scholars to explore how interculturality enriched Thurman’s philosophy and how this fostered a more expansive vision of community in pluralistic societies. This article traces the roots of the development of “Jesus and the Disinherited”, looking back to presentations Thurman gave as early as 1922, concluding with the publication of his book in 1949. And via this study, we will see the progression of Thurman’s ideas and the impacts interculturality had on his philosophy and vision for social justice.

Amidst increasing globalization and religious diversity, acknowledging and embracing openness towards religious and/or cultural others has become crucial for societal cohesion and international relations. Theological scholars, holding significant potential in mitigating inter-religious and intercultural prejudices, can play a pivotal role in addressing this challenge. However, it is acknowledged that theologians themselves may harbor such biases. This study, conducted within the framework of the Religious Openness Hypothesis, employed an online questionnaire among theology students, seen as future multipliers of religiosity, in Germany and Turkey (N = 513) using convenience sampling. The results reveal the consistent relation of religiosity to all forms of prejudice among German Christians, with a linked defense against secularism potentially leading to self-isolation and the protection of their own worldview against religious or cultural outgroups. In contrast, the (generally high) prejudice among Turkish Muslims appears to be rooted not primarily in religiosity or defense against secularism but in fundamentalism and, most likely, in other socio-cultural factors such as politics and education. For both subsamples, religiosity was positively linked with xenosophia, particularly when accounting for fundamentalism. The article concludes by proposing curriculum implications for universities and schools in both cultural contexts.

This review provides an overview of the anthropology of love and some of the main bodies of ethnographic work and theoretical debates around studies of love. It surveys specific studies that make the politics of intimacy and love central to their analysis and that seek to make theoretical sense of its meaning and broader significance. This discussion is followed by work that draws together an example of the politicization of love in the shape of a claim around "love jihad," which has dominated recent discussions of love in India and has begun to receive anthropological attention. In conclusion, the review argues that the politics of love will need to account for the meanings, constraints, and everyday vulnerabilities through which intimate lives become entangled with and illuminate political projects of every scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan is such a unique Islamic state which has great significance in regard of the application of Islamic Ideology and observance of human rights. The Muslims are in majority in this state of extraordinary political and geo-starategic importance whereas the Christians, the Hindus, the Sikh, the Buddhist, the Bahais and the Parsees are some of the remarkable religious minorities living here. These religious minorities are a symbol of the socio-religious diversity of Pakistan. In this prospect, the protection of the rights of the religious minorities is extremely necessary. The worship places of these minorities exist almost all over Pakistan. It is a matter of great satisfaction that Islam lays great emphasis on the sanctity of these worship places. Moreover, the Muslims have been taking extraordinary steps to protect these places. They have always been encouraging to build and promote such places. Even after having such a glorious background, the entire world generally and Pakistan especially is facing the gigantic dangers of socio-religious prejudices and intolerance. In this scenario, the worship places of the religious minorities are facing serious threats like terror attacks and disgrace. It is necessary to have an impartial analysis of the Islamic teachings, the attitude of the Muslim rulers and the contemporary challenges regarded to the security and development of these places. A comprehensive understanding and a lasting solution of these challenges should be sorted for a peaceful co-existence in Pakistan. This research article has been presented to comprehend different aspects of the protection of the worship places of the religious minorities of Pakistan.

Conversations on social media Twitter related to tolerance among religious communities in Indonesia are fascinating. However, it is a sensitive issue. In reality, there is often a war of comments about the implementation of tolerance between religious people in carrying out their own beliefs. The community is not careful in issuing opinions that can result in social insecurity, insecurity, and national instability. This condition will significantly affect the state of the country's economy. In some cases, political problems can be a trigger for intolerance between religious communities. The purpose of this study is to compare the performance of classification accuracy on positive or negative sentiments from conversations that intersect with the problem of tolerance among religious communities during the past year. In this study, we compared the performance of the accuracy of the modeling of sentiment analysis classification on public conversations on social media Twitter related to tolerance between religious communities in Indonesia. Because the text that will be carried out modeling comes from the Indonesian language, to facilitate labeling, translation is carried out into English, then a performance comparison of the sentiment analysis classification modeling with SVM algorithm, Naïve Bayes, Decision Tree, and k-NN. Based on the experiments, it was concluded that the SVM algorithm has the highest performance for the classification of sentiment analysis categories up to 65.03% compared to the Naïve Bayes algorithm, which reached 59.92%, Decision Tree, which reached 63.52% and k-NN which reached 57 66%.

Central Kalimantan is one of the provinces in Indonesia where the population is heterogeneous in terms of religion, culture and ethnicity. In several regencies and cities, there are places of worship located side by side (eg mosques, churches, Balai Basarah, and Vihara). Religious relations in several locations indicate awareness of social relations based on kinship. This work is aimed at exploring the patterns of interaction between the life of religious communities in religious, social activities and cultural life. The study employs a naturalistic qualitative approach where the actual condition in the field is being observed or to be natural with the conditions as they are. The data is based on observation, documents and interviews with selected informants from various religious groups including those practicing Islam, Christianity, and Hindu Kaharingan. Two important findings of the work include, firstly, that the tolerance attitude among them is created because of the ideological strength of the local culture of ‘Huma Betang’ and the values of kinship. Secondly, the process of interaction occurrence is encouraged by the existed meaning of the 'front stage' (emphazising more on the interests of the group). It is an understanding of the differences among them without having to prioritize them in social life, culture and others as well as in the 'back stage' (personal self-concept) of being alert, prejudiced and more careful in daily communication.

This article will present an advanced evaluation of "Roots" a cutting edge effort at dialogue and conflict resolution in the highly fraught area of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict between Israeli settlers and West Bank Palestinians. We present quantitative and qualitative empirical data to assess the impact of its main activities with reference to several important conflict resolution strategies. We assess that while its influence on the macro level is limited, Roots appears on the local level to be an effective agent to promote more civil and constructive interactions between Israelis and Palestinians, along with generating spill over effect into larger circles of influence for peace building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article traces the circumstances of the return and beginnings of the Jesuits to Lahore, Pakistan after centuries of absence, to the establishment of the Jesuit Schools. Given the Socio-economic condition of Christians in Pakistan, and the proliferation and status of 'Private Schools' on the one hand and the low standard of the Public Schools in the country, on the other hand, the article argues that the Jesuit Schools are a service to the poor and the needy and not a 'business' as some Private Schools run by certain NGOs are. Further, it points out that given the Islamic context of the country, the Jesuit Schools contribute towards a better inter-religious relation which argues well for the future of the land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2016, a task force appointed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America began drafting a policy statement which in 2018 appeared with the title "A Declaration of Inter‐Religious Commitment." This article explains the production of that document and explores its main themes. The document appeals to vocation—that is, the calling to serve one's neighbor and community—as its framework. It encourages engagement, resisting stereotypes, cooperation for the common good, and standing up for those who are harassed or mistreated. It goes on to explore the relationship between evangelism and inter‐religious understanding, affirming both the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study validated three versions of the Centrality of Religiosity Scale (CRSi-7, -14, and -20), which propose an adequate assessment tool for the diversity of religious belief systems co-existing in Taiwan’s society. The sample (N = 331) was drawn from the selected undergraduate university students of the country. Descriptive statistics and Cronbach’s alpha values were calculated for the five subscales (ideology, intellect, experience, private and public practice) of the Centrality of Religiosity Scale. The factor structure of the interreligious Centrality of Religiosity Scale was tested using confirmatory factor analysis. The current study utilized the CRSi-14 model 3 as the basis for later analysis. All items have loaded significantly in the different subscales with internal consistency within the acceptable values. Findings show that the selected Taiwanese youth are religious.

This paper investigates the salience of religion and the centrality of religiosity among select LGBTQs. Much consideration has been given to the identity categories of sex, gender, sexual orientation, and religion. Means (M) and standard deviations (SD) were calculated for the overall CRSi-20 score and its five subscales. The results show that the overall CRSi-20 score is 3.68 (SD = 0.89), which indicates that the select LGBTQs are “religious”. As for the core dimensions of religiosity, the ideology subscale received the highest mean score (M = 4.16, SD = 0.88) while the public practice subscale received the lowest mean score (M = 3.21, SD = 1.15). The overall reliability of the survey is computed at 0.96, while the rest of the subscales have alpha values ranging from 0.81 to 0.95. Study outcomes confirm the general religiosity of participants, particularly among older respondents. Of the five subscales, ideology and private practice emerge as dominant categories. In terms of sex distribution, men tend to self-describe as “highly religious” in relation to women, who identify largely as “religious”.

The presence of different religions and the freedom of people to navigate the religious space shows that religion in the Philippines is not a monolithic entity. This study validated three versions of the Centrality of Religiosity Scale (CRSi-7, -14, and -20) which propose an adequate assessment tool for the diversity of religious belief systems co-existing in Philippine society. The sample (N = 514) was drawn from the young population of the country in an online survey. Descriptive statistics and Cronbach’s alpha values were calculated for the five subscales (ideology, intellect, experience, private and public practice) of the Centrality of Religiosity Scale. The factor structure of the interreligious Centrality of Religiosity Scale was tested using confirmatory factor analysis. The results show that CRSi-7 denotes internal consistency while CRSi-14 and CRSi-20 indicate good internal consistency. Models of CRSi-7, -14, and -20 show a good global fit. Despite two models of the CRSi-20 being identical in fit, the researchers defer to the CRSi-20 model with correlated factors since it is a simpler model. All versions of the CRSi demonstrate a valid and reliable measure for the centrality of religiosity in the Philippines and support the usefulness of the CRS for the study of religiosity.

This paper discusses the positions held by two opposing camps—the traditionalists and the positivists (to use Pradeep Gokhale’s typology) regarding the presence or absence of ethics in Indian philosophy. It subsequently offers a way ahead of the impasse where I consider some inputs inherent in the method of dialogue in pre-modern Indian philosophy for imagining an ethics of and ethics for plurality. Such an ethics, I argue, cannot be imagined without involving the category of ‘Other,’ which has otherwise remained elusive in the Indian philosophical debates. The diverse nature of Indian societies demands Other-centric ethics to assess and evaluate the enduring moral crisis pervading contemporary times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contemporary world is dominated by communication and dialogue despite conflicts and wars of all kinds. Dialogue is an actual existential need and a responsibility that the current generation has for the future. From this perspective, inter-Christian and inter-religious dialogue is a life necessity and a pledge of genuine faith in God, because, beyond everything that separates us, He is the Creator of all of us, the source of life, and we are all part of the same human family. If inter-Christian dialogue seeks to achieve the unity of the Church of Christ by concrete actions, theological dialogue and philanthropic gestures, inter-religious dialogue aims at establishing communication bridges in order to give common testimony as regards matters of wide interest, such as the ecological issue, defence of unborn life, peace, justice or social equity. Modern inter-Christian or ecumenical movement arose about a century ago and although the road to full unity seems long, many steps have been made in this direction. The inter-religious movement especially focuses on the dialogue among the major monotheistic religions of the world and today it gives us many hopes. Our study aims to show that ecumenical and inter-religious education is a necessity of our times that may lead to defusing many conflicts and preventing future tensions based on religion. Here, we have in mind the education within the Romanian Orthodoxy received during the religion classes in school and also with the help of the media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses corpus methods to support the analysis of data collected as part of a large-scale ethnographic project that focusses on inter-religious relations in south-west Nigeria. Our corpus consists of answers to the open questions asked in a survey. The paper explores how people in the Yorubaspeaking south-west region of Nigeria, particularly Muslims and Christians, manage their religious differences. Through this analysis of inter-religious relations, we demonstrate how corpus linguistics can assist analyses of textbased data gathered in anthropological research. Meanwhile, our study also highlights the necessity of using anthropological methods and knowledge to interpret corpus outputs adequately. We carry out three types of analyses: keyness analysis, collocation analysis and concordance analysis. These analyses allow us to determine the 'aboutness' of our corpus. Four themes emerge from our analyses: (1) religion; (2) co-operation, tolerance and shared communal values such as 'Yoruba-ness'; (3) social identities and hierarchies; and (4) the expression of boundaries and personal dislike of other religious practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

World religions play an important key role in sustaining interreligious harmony between the different creeds and cultures of humanity. Therefore, it is very imperative for every adherents of major religions to uphold and practice the essential values of their religious teachings consistently. As for Islam, it has rich tradition of guiding principles, called wasatiyyah that ensures the social justice and prosperity in a plural society. This article aims at reviving the pertinent values of wasatiyyah concept that has been practiced by the early generations of Muslim society. For this purpose, we have reviewed major works of Islamic literature and applied content analysis of these resources. Current example of Malay world is taken into portion as a model of wasatiyyah society. It is found that wasatiyyah values provide vital elements of balance, justice, excellent, strength, honour, and peace that would give significant impact in building inter-religious harmony among world community. Indeed, an empirical work of wasatiyyah application should be further pursued in order to fully justify its workable methods of instrumenting the positive values of wasatiyyah in the current context of plural societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of inter-religious relationship among different religious adherents is crucial in determining social peace and harmony in a multi religious country like Malaysia. The aim of this research is to develop a sustainable socio-religious harmony development model of the Malaysian multi-religious society based on its critical and significant factors. The study capitalized on experts' views and adopted the Design and Development approach as methodology which was conducted in three phases. The first phase utilized the Fuzzy Delphi technique to develop the main socio-religious harmony factors. The outcome of this phase provided the pertinent socio-religious harmony factors to be used for the model development. The second phase adopted the Interpretive Structural Modelling technique to develop the socio-religious harmony model based on the factors determined by the experts. The third phase was the evaluation and the interpretation of the model through the development of the Conica matrix to further analyze the strength and classification of each factor in the model. The findings of Phase one finalized 23 socio-religious harmony factors. Phase two resulted in the model showing the network of factor relationships which proposed factors and clusters of factors which need to be addressed in sequence to develop socio-harmony among religious adherents. The output of phase three indicated that the model showed the factors 'Mutual respect', "Rights and freedom of practicing religious teachings", "Inter-religious social justice towards other religion", "Awareness on others' beliefs", and "Peaceful feeling" were proposed to be leading factors to be addressed first. The experts agreed that the network of factors could be divided into three phases: Initiation Phase (n= 10), Intervening phase (n= 3), and Sustaining Phase (n=10). These findings could implicate in the key elements to develop socio-harmony among religious adherents as reference for the relevant authorities to improve the situation appropriately to the critical element of relation shown from the result of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on my PhD research with an inter-religious choir in Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina, this paper discusses my interdisciplinary methodologies and suggests how this approach might be applied to future peacebuilding efforts. The use of ethnographic methods in research is an attempt to comprehend a social scene in a way that is as close as possible to the understanding of those within the scene. Normally, the data collected is linguistic in nature, although the visual and gestural, embodied data are increasingly included. There is very little consideration of the aural in this form of research. Even when the audio is considered, it is often described in written language rather than considered it to be data in and of itself, thereby creating a translation issue. In my own research in Sarajevo, I have made the case for sound and music as ethnographic data, since it is a means of experiencing and expressing tacit cultural understanding within and without a particular social group. This paper examines the commonalities between this approach and the peacebuilding strategies of Lederach et al. (http://www.beyondintractability.org/) and proposes how musicological ethnography might be useful as a tool for increased intercultural understanding in peacebuilding activities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Inter-Religious dialogue usually involves the exploration of various issues by people of similar hierarchical standing within different religious structures and is based upon spirituality and religious texts and scriptures to inform discussion. This paper explores the concept of 'lived faith' as a means to engage people of different faith backgrounds in conversations around contemporary contentious issues within the city of Birmingham, UK, which were termed the 'Birmingham Conversations'. The paper outlines the evaluative research methodology of 'conversation' development and the use of 'lived faith' as a concept around which to base the various discussions and conversations. The paper suggests that this method of engaging participants in discussions around conflict issues enabled participants of asymmetrical hierarchical positions within faith organisations to be present and contribute meaningfully and significantly. It also outlines the potential for 'lived faith' as an important tool for providing 'safe space' for contentious issues to be aired and greater understanding to be developed between people of different faith backgrounds in a globalised UK city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In its account of the expansion of the early Christian movement from Jerusalem to Rome, the book of Acts includes several instances of conflict. At first sight these conflicts are of a religious nature, as the Christian message encounters the religions and cultures of the Jewish and Hellenistic-Roman world. However, these conflict narratives suggest that other factors were also involved. Recorded in Acts are issues of power and influence and control over identity. This interpretation follows the trend in recent research to appreciate that conflict that expresses as inter-religious is often at heart intrareligious, and that the violence that occurs is often due to nonreligious factors. After a brief survey of recent theory and an analysis of the conflicts in Acts 1-5, the article draws some implications for understanding religious conflict in our present day and age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Popular culture in the context of the United States provides an important social 'space' for exploring interfaith encounters that shape attitudes and behaviours with respect to how people understand religious difference and diversity. The article examines ways that popular culture functions as this formative space through its on-screen exploration of interfaith encounters and its mediation of interfaith encounters through a celebrity-endorsed and market-driven spirituality that coordinates America's particular brand of religious pluralism by commodifying and thereby including diverse religious values, practices, and beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While recent developments in evolutionary theory, particularly game-theoretical models of group selection, can appear to provide a potential evolutionary grounding for human altruism, significant ethical problems remain embedded in such portrayals of human interaction. Specifically, such models end up treating the value of the individual as subservient to group survival, rather than viewing each unique individual as an ‘end in herself’. As such, a contradiction remains between the picture of human relationships that arises from evolutionary game-theoretical accounts and the picture that arises from many ethical and religious accounts, particularly those linked to the biblical conception of the image of God. However, I argue that such contradictions between scientific and ethical-religious pictures need not lead to despair; rather, by drawing a parallel to dialogues between individuals holding ‘contradictory’ theological claims, we can discern ways in which such contradiction can generate a fruitful tension that can lead to deeper understanding both of one’s own tradition and that of the other person. Accordingly, as with inter-faith dialogue, interactions between evolutionary theorists and religious ethicists can also give rise to greater self-understanding and expanded intellectual horizons, not in spite of but precisely by virtue of their ‘incompatible’ pictures of the human being. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article reflects on religious non-governmental organisations (RNGOs) at the United Nations and their engagement with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) within the UN system. It also situates this engagement within the wider context of contemporary global civil society. It aims to give an introduction to the contemporary situation of religious NGOs at the UN and some of the related and critically debated issues, making use of in-depth interviews with key actors, relevant literature and other documentary materials, as well as selected examples of three major RNGOs engaging with the MDGs. An improved understanding of the work of religious NGOs at the UN and the historical context in which their work takes place can make valuable contributions: it can inform UN agencies and government agencies' policy recommendations and planning decisions, it can enhance self-reflection by civil society organisations, and it can help to identify common ground for all these actors as they seek to develop multi-stakeholder partnerships aiming to meet the MDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This exploratory paper sets out to engage in some preliminary considerations concerning aesthetics and the meeting of religions. Underlying some of the thinking in this paper is the debatable assumption that there can be a recognizable difference between religious and aesthetic kinds of experience. Thus, the arts might be able to create 'worlds' which are easier for those with religious commitments to enter than explicitly religious territories. Moreover, we can perhaps use aesthetics as a loose category (without theoretical elaboration) in order to find areas of enjoyable inter-religious aesthetic conversation. That is, there is just a 'given-ness' or 'abundance' about art and beauty that allows us to simply enjoy our experience of it and share it with others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization has many dimensions and there are diverse perspectives on it. The contributors to the first three volumes of God and Globalization are a testament to the range of scholarly engagement with key dimensions of globalization. The aim of these essays and the structure of their presentation is to lay the foundations for comprehensive theological interaction with globalization. While the review of volume 1 highlights the issue of glocal and local interaction with the global; volume two's reviewer draws attention to the often neglected religious (Christian) influences at work in a variety of professional and scholarly spheres of action shaping global developments. Volume 3 raises questions of the universal and the particular in religious studies and the ways that the world religions are shaping or responding to globalization, opening the way for inter-religious dialogue. This leads to the forth volume which asks what Christian theology and ethics specifically have to offer to the interpretation and guidance of these global developments. All four reviews are responded to here and the challenge to tease out a public theology and its mission appropriate for our globalizing era is re-asserted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Public Theology for the 21st Century was first published, the world has witnessed the terrorist events of 9/11 and is now experiencing a growing economic crisis. While the contributors to the volume could not have addressed these events specifically, the discussions within the book contain valuable analyses of democracy, active citizenship and the notion of social capital that are highly pertinent in the current climate. Public theology must grapple with and adapt to these changed and changing social and political circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article discusses the seminal role played by a prominent Nigerian in Christian-Islamic dialogue: Francis Cardinal Arinze. Christianity (2.1 billion adherents, 33% of the world's population) and Islam (1.3 billion adherents, 20.1% of the world's population) represent the two largest (Infoplease, 2008) world religions (as of mid-2004). Christianity and Islam have intersected at various times and places in world history, and sometimes in a conflicted way (Armstrong, 2002). Francis Cardinal Arinze has done his share in promoting dialogue and understanding, toward a goal of peace and cooperation, something badly needed in today's world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wager of this Introduction is that imagination serves as a special agent of inter-religious hospitality. It suggests that a spiritual imaginary operating at the level of metaphor, narrative, symbol and epiphany can traverse the closed borders of dogma and ideology and open genuine conversations between wisdom traditions. The editor charts a 'pilgrimage of the heart' from an international meeting in Bangalore in June 2008 through a series of visits to inter-religious ashrams in western India to a final encounter in the Buddhist-Hindu caves of Ajanta and Ellora. Following in the footsteps of such pioneers of Christian-Hindu dialogue as Abhishiktananda, Francis Acharya and Sara Grant, the itinerary mapped in this Introduction seeks to illustrate key features of the five wisdom traditions discussed in this volume. The paradox of immanent transcendence lies at the heart of this journey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the salience of religion and the centrality of religiosity among select LGBTQs. Much consideration has been given to the identity categories of sex, gender, sexual orientation, and religion. Means (M) and standard deviations (SD) were calculated for the overall CRSi-20 score and its five subscales. The results show that the overall CRSi-20 score is 3.68 (SD = 0.89), which indicates that the select LGBTQs are "religious". As for the core dimensions of religiosity, the ideology subscale received the highest mean score (M = 4.16, SD = 0.88) while the public practice subscale received the lowest mean score (M = 3.21, SD = 1.15). The overall reliability of the survey is computed at 0.96, while the rest of the subscales have alpha values ranging from 0.81 to 0.95. Study outcomes confirm the general religiosity of participants, particularly among older respondents. Of the five subscales, ideology and private practice emerge as dominant categories. In terms of sex distribution, men tend to self-describe as "highly religious" in relation to women, who identify largely as "religious". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study validated three versions of the Centrality of Religiosity Scale (CRSi-7, -14, and -20), which propose an adequate assessment tool for the diversity of religious belief systems co-existing in Taiwan's society. The sample (N = 331) was drawn from the selected undergraduate university students of the country. Descriptive statistics and Cronbach's alpha values were calculated for the five subscales (ideology, intellect, experience, private and public practice) of the Centrality of Religiosity Scale. The factor structure of the interreligious Centrality of Religiosity Scale was tested using confirmatory factor analysis. The current study utilized the CRSi-14 model 3 as the basis for later analysis. All items have loaded significantly in the different subscales with internal consistency within the acceptable values. Findings show that the selected Taiwanese youth are religious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of different religions and the freedom of people to navigate the religious space shows that religion in the Philippines is not a monolithic entity. This study validated three versions of the Centrality of Religiosity Scale (CRSi-7, -14, and -20) which propose an adequate assessment tool for the diversity of religious belief systems co-existing in Philippine society. The sample (N = 514) was drawn from the young population of the country in an online survey. Descriptive statistics and Cronbach's alpha values were calculated for the five subscales (ideology, intellect, experience, private and public practice) of the Centrality of Religiosity Scale. The factor structure of the interreligious Centrality of Religiosity Scale was tested using confirmatory factor analysis. The results show that CRSi-7 denotes internal consistency while CRSi-14 and CRSi-20 indicate good internal consistency. Models of CRSi-7, -14, and -20 show a good global fit. Despite two models of the CRSi-20 being identical in fit, the researchers defer to the CRSi-20 model with correlated factors since it is a simpler model. All versions of the CRSi demonstrate a valid and reliable measure for the centrality of religiosity in the Philippines and support the usefulness of the CRS for the study of religiosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]