Critical Conversations about Religion: Promises and Pitfalls of a Social Justice Approach to Interfaith Dialogue (Transforming Education for the Future)

A volume in Transforming Education for the Future

Interfaith initiatives are increasingly prevalent on college and university campuses around the
country. In large part, this trend responds both to ongoing religious violence throughout the world
and to increasing religious tension in the United States. As such, these interfaith initiatives often
attempt to bolster interfaith collaboration and increase awareness of different religious cultures,
identities, beliefs, and traditions. In this book, Edwards reviews the various goals and processes associated with the interfaith
movement, and offers both warnings and suggestions for those who are interested in pursuing an approach to interfaith dialogue
that is oriented toward social justice. In doing so, this book fills a critical gap in academic literature surrounding the impact of
religious identity and interfaith relations on pedagogy, educational experiences, and campus climates.
Through three descriptive case studies set in a large public university in the United States, Edwards explores the use of Intergroup
Dialogue as a pedagogical model for interfaith dialogue. While the goal of this pedagogy is to increase student understanding of
privilege, oppression, and social injustice pertaining to religious identity, the cases in this book demonstrate how and why social
justice oriented interfaith dialogue can be easily derailed and, if so, may potentially have harmful implications for religious
minorities. Accordingly, Edwards offers five necessary conditions for assuring that social justice oriented interfaith dialogue (which
Intergroup Dialogue is intended to be) succeeds. By focusing on the unique perspectives
of four particular student participants (all of whom have religious identities outside of
the three dominant Abrahamic religions) Edwards also highlights the experiences of
those from religious identity groups that are the most overlooked and underrepresented
in the discourse on interfaith dialogue.

Sachi Edwards, University of Maryland, College Park