|
AN INVITATION
THE ANNUAL SEMINAR
Faith and Reason in Our Day
March
1-31, 2008
Washington, D.C.
I. Theme
The recent letter entitled “A Common Word” by 138
leading Islamic religious leaders and scholars addressed
to Christian leaders was a most creative initiative
which all should heartily endorse.
It brought forward in detail our shared belief based in
the Holy Qur’an and the Bible regarding the One God,
father of all, and its implication: the brotherhood of
humankind. It concluded with a call for cooperation in
working toward justice for all. This echoed the words of
the Second Vatican Council: “On behalf of all humankind,
let them make common cause of safeguarding and fostering
social justice, moral values, peace and freedom.”
The letter noted that “polite ecumenical dialogue
between selected religious leaders” was not enough; “the
very survival of the world is perhaps at stake.” This
calls then for open, rigorous and creative work to bring
the insight and inspiration of our faith to bear upon
the dynamics of our world as we enter the new reality of
intense global interchange.
Such an effort on the role of faith for our times faces
serious difficulties. Modern times began with a strong
effort to separate thought from its religious
foundations as typified by Descartes’ universal doubt
and Locke’s blank tablet. This has been reinforced by
John Rawls’ relegation of all religious vision behind “a
veil of ignorance” as a condition for political
discourse.
As a result, on the one hand, the West has become so
secular that it fears the religious inspiration it
needs. On the other hand, Islam, Judaism and
Christianity, while standing against the secular
rationalism of the Enlightenment, share a common search
for ways to live faithfully in modern times. In both
cases there is urgent need for deep exploration of the
relation of faith and reason, of religion and modern
life.
For this there is great need to share our common
experience and insight and to think through how a
religious perspective can engage the secular mind and
how faith can be lived, rather than attenuated, in the
modern context.
To this end the Council for Research in Values and
Philosophy invites ten
Islamic scholars to
its Catholic University Center for the Study of Culture
and Values for an intensive one month seminar with
Christian scholars in order jointly to explore these
issues. In the following months corresponding work will
be carried out in Iran, Pakistan and South East
Asia.
The combined results will be published in print for
distribution to 350 university libraries and on the web
for universal availability and will be presented at the
World Congress of Philosophy under its theme:
“Rethinking Philosophy Today”.
II. The Structure (each week)
-
The historical Hermeneutics
-
Classical Islamic texts on
faith and reason
-
The Encyclical letter of
John Paul II on faith and reason
-
Contemporary Islamic authors
on faith and reason in our day
First Week (March 3-7):
Monday March 3
- Introduction and planning
Tuesday March 4
- Hermeneutics I: Heritage and Application
B. Tatar (Turkey), G. McLean (CUA)
Thursday March 6
- Hermeneutics II: Intercultural Interchange
G. Dastagir (Bangladesh), J. Hogan (CSCV)
Friday March 7
- Intellection as Wisdom
Karim Crow (Singapore)
Second Week (March 10-14):
Monday March 10
- Averroes, Harmony
of Religion and Philosophy
H.
Heriyanto (Indonesia) and O. Alper (Turkey)
- Meeting and Interweaving of Christian and Islamic
Thinkers
S. Griffith (CUA)
Tuesday March 11
- Faith and Reason
B. Tatar (Turkey)
- Language: Christian and Islamic
Th. Druart (CUA)
Thursday March 13
- Alfarabi: Attainment
of Happiness IV
Ch. Butterworth (U. MD)
- Conference “The Future of Christian-Moslem Relation”
Georgetown University
Friday March 14
- Conference “The Future of Christian-Moslem Relation”
Georgetown University
Third Week (March 17-21):
Monday March 17
- Muslim-Christian Dialogue
T. Michel, S.J. (Georgetown University)
- The Epistemology of al-Ghazali: Reason, Revelation and
Intuitive Knowledge of God
Y. Mohamed (South Africa)
Tuesday March 18
- The Dialectical Moment of Explanation and Uncovering
of the Faith and Reason Relationship: Mulla Sadra and
Hans-Georg Gadamer Thought
H. Heriyanto (Indonesia)
- Mulla Sadra and the Shiite Tradition
Mehdi Aminrazavi (University of Mary Washington)
Wednesday March 19, 10.30am
- The Prophecy of Wisdom
Prof. Sayyed Hossein Nasr (George Washington
University)
Thursday March 20
- Reason, Religion and Revelation
O. Alper (Turkey)
- Theological Critique of Fide
et Ratio
D. Power (CUA)
Friday March 21
- Philosophical Analysis of Fides
et Ratio
K.
Schmitz (University of Toronto)
- Benedict and Habermas: A Dialogue
H. Zaborowski (CUA)
Fourth Week
Monday March 24
- Political Islamic Issues
A. Soroush (Iran)
- The Role of Faith and Reason in Enhancing the Efficacy
of New Economy
Y. Dadgar (Iran)
Tuesday March 25
- Faith and Reason in Islam
L. Kazmi (India)
- Philosophical and Comparative Perspectives on the
Relation between Faith and Reason
J. Kenny (Nigeria/USA)
- The Dialogue between Christinaty and Islam in Nigeria
J. Abah (Nigeria)
Wednesday March 26
- The Islamization of Knowledge
International Institute of Islamic Thought
Thursday March 27
- Interrelation
for “Regime of Truth” of Faith and Reason: Central Asian
Context
P. Shozimov (Tajikistan)
- Conceptualize: Paradoxes of Faith and Reason of
Post-Soviet System
U. Asanova (Kyrgyzstan)
Friday March 28
- Conclusion and suggestion
|
