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Welcome to our research unit “Key Concepts in Interreligious Discourses – KCID”
Man is the enemy of that what he does not know
says an old Arabic wisdom.
This is precisely what the interdisciplinary research unit Key Concepts in Interreligious Discourses (KCID) [before: Kec Concepts in Interreligious Dialogue] seeks to counteract. The project offers an innovative approach for studying the development of the three interconnected monotheist religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam. With this aim in mind, KCID analyzes the history of ideas in each of these three religions, always taking into account the relationship of those ideas to one-another. KCID is thus intended to contribute to an intensive academic engagement with interreligious discourse in order to uncover mutually intelligible theoretical foundations and to increase understanding between the different religious communities in the here and now. [more …]
70 years of World Coucil of Churches
On 21 June 2018 our director Prof. Dr. Georges Tamer attended the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches and the meeting of the Central Committee in Geneva (Switzerland), which Prof. Tamer belongs to. The WCC received a visit from Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church. Held under the theme of “Ecumenical Pilgrimage – Walking, Praying and Working Together”, the landmark visit was a centrepiece of the ecumenical commemoration of the WCC’s 70th anniversary. The visit is only the third by a pope, and the first time that such an occasion was dedicated to visiting the WCC.
Research Unit and rebranding of our KCID-project
Last week Prof. Dr. Georges Tamer, chairholder of the Institute for Oriental Philology and Islamic Studies at the University in Erlangen, signed an cooperation aggreement with Prof. Dr. Christoph Böttigheimer, Ordinarius for the Chair of Fundamental Theology of the Catholic University Eichstaett-Ingolstadt. Together the scientists wish to create an archeology of knowledge and a deeper understanding of Judaism, Christianity an Islam, always explored in relation to each other.
To underline new approaches KCID has now been rebranded as the research unit Key Concepts in Interreligious Discourses.
The next three years Prof. Dr. Tamer and Prof. Dr. Boettigheimer are going to organize several workshops and conferences about key concepts of the monotheistic religions.
NEW Report – KCID Conference: The Concept of Scripture and The Concept of Doctrine in Judaism, Christianity and Islam
April 18 – 20, 2018
I. The Concept of Scripture
1. The Concept of Scripture in Judaism (Prof. Dr. Isaac Kalimi, University of Mainz)
Unlike Christianity, the Jewish tradition considers the Hebrew Bible to be complete in and of itself. It is even regarded as the source of everything, „origin of all“ (Arnold Ehrlich), and „crossroads of all national thought and feeling“ (Chaim Nachman Bialik). It forms the undisputed common ground between all Jews and the bedrock for all Jewish thought. Its correct text has been carefully preserved down to individual letters and vowel signs, enabling Jewish scholars to find and attach significance to the exact middle of certain passages or of the entire Torah in terms of verses, words, and single letters.
The totality of interpretations of the Hebrew Bible or „written Torah“ produced after 70 CE are known as the „oral Torah“ and are also considered part of Jewish scripture. While the Babylonian Talmud stresses that „scripture never departs from its plain meaning“, verses from the Torah are still given non-literal interpretations which are constantly being revised and developed. This is not seen to be a contradiction, since a Biblical verse can hold its plain meaning and several more hidden meanings at once – Numbers Rabbah speaks of the „seventy faces of the Torah“.
Both the written and the oral Torah are held to be inextricably linked. Both of them are thought to have a divine origin, though only one was written down, and one cannot exist without the other. All its parts were revealed to Moses on Sinai, even though many of the more complex interpretations would not have been understandable to Moses himself, as the circumstances of life of the rabbis who made the interpretations are both legitimate factors in forming the interpretations and necessary for understanding them. Some rabbis even put the main emphasis on the study of the oral Torah, which was considered more authoritative in some cases, particularly on certain legal matters: Complex and far-reaching laws elaborated in the oral Torah are often based on very slim Biblical textual evidence. For this reason, the study of the written Torah without the oral Torah is sometimes regarded as undesirable. [Read more …]
NEW!: KCID on Youtube
Interreligious dialogue and academic discourses should reach out for social media. Therefor KCID established its own channel on Youtube. For visiting this channel please click the Picture below.
New dates for our workshops and their topics 2018- 2019
2018
We, July 18th – Fr., 20th 2018: “The Concept of Environment and the Concept of Economy in Judaism, Christianity and Islam”
We, December 12th – Fr., 14th 2018: “The Concept of History and the Concept of Time in Judaism, Christianity and Islam”
2019
We, February 13th – Fr., 15th 2019: “The Concept of Person and the Concept of Sexuality in Judaism, Christianity and Islam”
We, June 26th – Fr., 28th 2019: Fachtagung “The Concept of Body and the Concept of Soul in Judaism, Christianity and Islam”
We, September 25th – Fr., 27th 2019: Fachtagung “The Concept of Violence and the Concept of Just War in Judaism, Christianity and Islam”