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This important book demonstrates the desire for interfaith dialogue in the Middle East, and the extent to which, against strong odds, religious communities are connecting with each other.
£17.95
ISBN: 9781601270139
Author Mohammed Abu-Nimer
Pub Date 30/04/2007
Out of Stock
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Nowhere are the stakes of sectarian conflict as high as in the Middle East, and nowhere is the practice of interfaith dialogue (IFD) more fraught with difficulty. The questions, then, naturally arise: What sort of person tries something as audacious as interfaith dialogue in such a polrised climate? And what do they hope to gain? In answering these questions, the authors discuss the intricate relationships between interfaith activities and religious identity, nationalism, violence and peacemaking in four very different settings: Israel/Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan. They interview the whole cross-section of local IFD workers: not only clerics and 'dialoguing' professionals but also laypersons, who are often more eloquent than any scholar at expressing the realities, hopes and frustrations of IFD within their home communities. The authors also take on the perennial dilemma faced by IFD proponents: avoid politics and risk irrelevance, or take up the political questions and risk 'politicising' the dialogue, with all the disruptive effects this implies. Above all, this important book demonstrates the desire for interfaith dialogue in these polarised societies, and the extent to which, against strong odds, religious communities are connecting with each other.