UNESCO CHAIR IN COMPARATIVE STUDIES
OF SPIRITUAL TRADITIONS, THEIR SPECIFIC CULTURES
AND INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE

The Saint-Petersburg Branch of the Russian Institute of Cultural Research
UNESCO Moscow Office for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Republic of Moldova and Russian Federation

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Русская версия



UNESCO launched the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme in 1991 as an international action plan for academic solidarity to strengthen inter-university co-operation with particular emphasis on support to higher education in the developing countries.
The programme works towards establishing and reinforcing strong and durable linkages amongst higher education and scientific institutions worldwide and at facilitating the transfer of knowledge while combating the brain drain. Special attention is paid to providing assistance through inter-regional and (sub)regional linkages.
The UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme encompasses a broad spectrum of activities requiring very flexible modes of action. It is based on genuine, equal partnership among the higher education institutions which initiate various projects within its framework.
Two types of closely interrelated and interdependent activities have emerged as the base for the major strategies for implementing the Programme: inter-university networks and international UNESCO Chairs. While individual chairs responding to specific needs are possible, the programme endeavours to create the proper conditions to allow each chair to be a focal point of a network or to be a part of a network.


The UNITWIN network on Interreligious studies

NEWS

Conducting comparative studies, preparation of russian /english layout of the e-book "Christianity and Islam in the context of the contemporary culture"

16.02.09
In 2009 the UNESCO Chair on Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures and Interreligious Dialogue, based upon the facilities of the St. Petersburg Branch Russian Institute for Cultural Research, in close contact with the UNESCO Chair at St. Joseph University in Beirut (Lebanon), under the auspices of the UNESCO Moscow Office and the UNESCO Office in Beirut, and within the UNITWIN Network on Interreligious Dialogue for Intercultural Understanding, initiated a program of international interdisciplinary research entitled ‘Christianity and Islam in the Context of the Contemporary Culture’.

In 1-4 of June 2009 in St.Petersburg (Russia) there will be organized a two-day seminar "Christianity and Islam in the Context of the Contemporary Culture". The results of the project will be presented in Russian and English as an e-book. The comparative research will include articles by Russian and Lebanese experts in both particular aspects of the culture of Islam and basic issues of inter-religious dialogue. The publication is due in August 2009.

General concept of the publication ‘Christianity and Islam in the Context of the Contemporary Culture’ consists in:
• outlining, analyzing and presenting most fundamental trends in the contemporary theory and practice of interfaith dialogue, forming an integral part of the intercultural one, linking it whenever possible, although not necessarily, to present-day challenges and perspectives in the Christian-Islamic dialogue in particular;
• tracing back, summarizing and complementing whenever necessary common and particular traits in basic strategies and ‘good practices’ of leading interfaith dialogue in the framework of present-day Russia and Lebanon;
• detecting and defining most constructive tactics of general enhancement of the social cohesion and spiritual peace, basing on the material of our two respective countries.

Project Background:
• the Main Line of Action 5 of the UNESCO Culture Major Programme "Promoting the understanding and development of intercultural dialogue and peace", with purpose to foster intercultural dialogue in all its dimensions, including the interfaith dimension,
• the recommendations of the World Report on Cultural Diversity (2008) and the report of the Alliance of Civilizations (2006),
the recommendations of the "International Conference on Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue for Peace and Sustainable Development", held in Moscow in September 2007

 

 
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PARTNERS



UNESCO Chair in Comparative Religious Studies (592), established in 2002 at Saint-Joseph University, (Lebanon)



PARTNERSHIPS

College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oregon. Oregon Humanities Center



Center Leo Apostel (CLEA), Brussels Free University
(Brussels, Belgium)



Center for XX Century Studies, Milwaukee University, Milwaukee
(Wisconsin, USA)


European Society for Study of Science and Theology (ESSSAT) - Lund university, Department of Theology and Religious Studies
(Lund, Sweden)



The Elijah School for the Study of the Wisdom of the World Religions
(Jerusalem, Izrael)