02/07/2026 18:30 - 19:30

HALL: Parenzo - Aula Magna

Contact: Robinson M.R.

Chair: Grung A.H.

Hosted by the European Society for Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies (ESITIS), this panel aims to re-examine the terrain of interreligious and intercultural understanding in relation to academic and transdisciplinary (academic-civic) efforts. Over the past decades, in light of the complexities of living in pluralistic societies, interreligious dialogue and intercultural studies have evolved into a much broader and more diverse set of efforts toward mutual understanding and shared flourishing. Rapid changes — political realignments, environmental crises, digital transformations, and demographic shifts — have raised urgent questions for the relevance and future vitality of interreligious cooperation and peaceful, mutually respectful intercultural coexistence. What can IS and IcT offer to European societies now and in the future? What is needed and what is possible? How can the tasks be delineated and agendas set? What is the particular role of scholarship now and in the years ahead?


Papers and Speakers:
+ The Role of Interreligious Studies Under Conditions of Inequality and Religious Pluralism (Yaser Ellethy; President of ESITIS; Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
+ Sacred Spirituality: A New Old Approach to Religion, Ethics, and Human Flourishing (William F. Vendley; Senior Advisor for Religion at the Fetzer Institute and Secretary General Emeritus Religions for Peace)
+ Beyond (Dis-)Agreement as a Focus of Interreligious Encounter: Reframings of How We Imagine One Another (Marianne Moyaert)


By situating these themes within wider societal transformations, invited speakers will reflect on how Interreligious Studies can respond creatively to the complexities and injustices of the 21st century while envisioning intellectually and ethically robust futures for the discipline.