Understanding Interreligious Relations

The ways in which religious communities interact with one another is an increasing focus of scholarly research and teaching. Issues of interreligious engagement, inclusive of dialogue more specifically and relations more generally, attract widespread interest and concern. In a religiously pluralist world, how different communities get along with each other is not just an academic question; it is very much a focus of socio-political and wider community attention. The study of religions and religion in the 21st century world must necessarily take account of relations within and between religions, whether this is approached from a theological, historical, political, or any other disciplinary point of view.

Understanding Interreligious Relations is a reference work of relevance to students and scholars as well as of interest to a wider informed public. It comprises two main parts. The first provides expositions and critical discussions of the ways in which "the other" has been construed and addressed from within the major religious traditions. The second presents analysis and discussions of key issues and topics in which interreligious relations are an integral constituent.

The editors have assembled an authoritative and scholarly work that discusses perspectives on the religious "other" and interreligious relations that are typical of the major religious traditions; together with substantial original chapters from a cross-section of emerging and established scholars on main debates and issues in the wider field of interreligious relations.

David Cheetham has been teaching and researching the theology and philosophy of religions for over 15 years. He has published books and numerous articles in this field. He is the author or editor of Ways of Meeting and the Theology of Religions, Contemporary Practice and Method in the Philosophy of Religion, and John Hick. He is Secretary to the European Society for Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies.

Douglas Pratt has been teaching and researching in theology, religion, and interreligious relations for over 25 years. He has published seven books and numerous chapters and articles in these fields. Professor of Religious Studies at a New Zealand University, he holds adjunct professorial appointments in Australia and Switzerland. He is the New Zealand Associate of the UNESCO Chair in Intercultural and Interreligious Relations - Asia Pacific, and an Associate of the Centre for the Study of Religion and Politics, University of St Andrews, Scotland.

David Thomas has been a student and teacher of Islamic religious thought and Christian-Muslim relations for more than 30 years. He is currently Professor of Christianity and Islam and Nadir Dinshaw Professor of Interreligious Relations at the University of Birmingham. Among his most recent works are Christian Doctrines in Islamic Theology and Christian--Muslim Relations, a bibliographical history, vols 1-5.