Intellectual dialogue (ideas and doctrines)

Inter faith dialogue aims at understanding rather than agreement, ensuring that the distinctiveness of religious traditions is not undermined. Indeed, cooperation and mutual respect thrive when our doctrinal differences are acknowledged and explored.

Intellectual dialogue happens when people of different faiths listen and talk to each other. It happens in living rooms, gyms, beauty parlours and classrooms. It also happens on the world stage, and the Archbishop of Canterbury is a leading figure in the intellectual dialogue between religious faiths. The interfaith section of the Archbishop’s website provides fascinating reading by making available some of his lectures and speeches.

The Archbishop of Canterbury sponsors the Building Bridges Seminars that bring together Muslim and Christian scholars from around the world. Christian-Muslim dialogue received an injection of energy when Muslim scholars published A Common Word Between Us and You to stake out common ground with Christians.

For the last few years, Shi'a scholar Maulana Jan Ali Kazmi has brought Muslims into churches in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire to hear about the suffering of Jesus. Shi’a Muslims commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Husain (the prophet Muhummad’s grandson), and Maulana Kazmi believes it important for Muslims to understand the suffering of Jesus.