Searching for interreligious understanding: complex engagements with sameness and difference in an American women's interfaith book group
This article explores the interreligious dynamic between Muslim and non-Muslim members of the American women's interfaith book group, Daughters of Abraham. It uses ethnographic material to examine how Jewish, Christian and Muslim participants use the categories of sameness and difference to pos...
| Published in: | Journal of beliefs and values |
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| Subtitles: | How do we see each other? : Interdisciplinary studies of relations between Abrahamic religions |
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge
[2017]
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| In: |
Journal of beliefs and values
Year: 2017, Volume: 38, Issue: 3, Pages: 341-351 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
USA
/ Reading circle
/ Interfaith dialogue
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| RelBib Classification: | AX Inter-religious relations KBQ North America |
| Further subjects: | B
Women
B Ethnography B difference / sameness B Abrahamic Religions B Identity B Interreligious encounters |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | This article explores the interreligious dynamic between Muslim and non-Muslim members of the American women's interfaith book group, Daughters of Abraham. It uses ethnographic material to examine how Jewish, Christian and Muslim participants use the categories of sameness and difference to position themselves in relation to each other. The influence of the sociocultural context on the positions taken is also considered. I argue that the individual engagements with religious commonalities and differences serve to explore, develop and assert religious identities. Moreover, they contribute to generating interreligious understanding. I propose that the categories of sameness and difference help capture and account for the nuanced dynamics of interreligious encounters, and so advance our understanding of this particular type of social interaction. I conclude that a tension exists between the approach taken by the organisation's leadership and individual members to engaging with religious diversity, which highlights the complexity involved in engendering interreligious understanding. |
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| ISSN: | 1469-9362 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of beliefs and values
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/13617672.2017.1317527 |