Dublin Quaker Peace

Religion and the Other

Dublin Peace Committee Third Seminar

A Day of Reflection,
Led by
John D’Arcy May, Irish School of Ecumenics
at
Quaker House, Stocking Lane, Dublin
26 May 2007
10.00am-4.00pm

All Welcome!

We intensify the Problem of relating to the Other
when
the Other to be acknowledged
the Stranger to be welcomed
the Enemy to be reconciled
are religiously different from us.

Why is this? What gives religion its power to exacerbate conflict, but also to transform it?
What counts as `religion’ in general and `a religion’ in particular ?
Is Religion a Western invention imposed on many other cultures ?
Why does it still cause conflict and misunderstanding today ?
The problem of religion as the putative cause of violence is one of the main reasons for rejecting religion as such.
Why are non-Western perceptions, such as Buddhism, sources of violence too ?
Does this make religion necessarily alien, or can religion still be home to very different people without alienating others whose spiritual homes are elsewhere?

Schedule:

9.30 sharp : We are providing lifts from Windy Arbour Luas stop to Quaker House for anyone who does not have their own transport. The journey by Luas takes 15 minutes from St. Stephen’s Green terminus.

10.00-10.30 coffee
10.30-11.00 John ‘Arcy May introduces the theme.
11.00-12.30pm open discussion / this depends on you!
12.30-1.45pm, Lunch - please bring your own lunch - we provide tea, coffee and biscuits
1.45-2.00pm, divide into small groups to discuss points which arose in morning as concerns.
2.00-3.00pm, small groups / discussions
3.00-4.00pm, reassemble into single group. Feedback from each group into plenary session, then discussion and summing up.
4.00pm short time of silence
Coffee.

About John D’Arcy May
Biographical Details

b. Melbourne, Australia, 1942.
STL Gregoriana, Rome, 1969;
Dr. theol. (Ecumenics) Münster, 1975;
wissenschaftlicher Assistent at Catholic Ecumenical Institute, Faculty of Catholic Theology, Univ. of Münster, 1975-1982;
Dr. phil. (History of Religions) Frankfurt, 1983;
Ecumenical Research Officer with Melanesian Council of Churches, Port Moresby, and Research Associate at the Melanesian Institute, Goroka, Papua New Guinea, 1983-87;
Director, Irish School of Ecumenics, Dublin, 1987-1990;
now Associate Professor of Interfaith Dialogue, ISE, and Fellow of Trinity College Dublin. Visiting professor in Fribourg, Switzerland (1982);
Frankfurt, Germany (1988);
Wollongong, Australia (1994);
Tilburg, Netherlands (1996);
Australian Catholic University, Sydney (2001);
Istituto Trentino di Cultura, Centro per le Studie Religiose, Italy (2006).

Publications include:
Meaning, Consensus and Dialogue in Buddhist-Christian Communication: A Study in the Construction of Meaning (Berne: Peter Lang, 1984)
[ed.] Living Theology in Melanesia: A Reader (Goroka: The Melanesian Institute, 1985)
Christus Initiator. Theologie im Pazifik (Düsseldorf: Patmos, 1990)
[ed.] Pluralism and the Religions: The Theological and Political Dimensions (London: Cassell, 1998)
After Pluralism: Towards an Interreligious Ethic (Münster-Hamburg-London: Lit Verlag, 2000)
Transcendence and Violence: The Encounter of Buddhist, Christian and Primal Traditions (New York and London: Continuum, 2003)
[ed.] Converging Ways? Conversion and Belonging in Buddhism and Christianity (St Ottilien: EOS Verlag, 2006)