Upcoming event: "Judaism and Islam: Dialectics of a Veiled Courtship"

An Exploration of Jewish-Muslim Intellectual Interactions; 9th-13th Centuries
One-Day International Conference, Tuesday 3rd June 2008, 9:00am-5:30pm
Brunei Gallery, School of Oriental and African Studies, London

This trailblazing conference was the first of its type and stature in the last six years in Britain. Our academic associates were the universities of Exeter, Manchester and London. Other eminent Jewish and Muslim scholars came from the universities of Cambridge; Glasgow; Kentucky, USA; Sorbonne, Paris; Leo Baeck College, London and Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.

More than 100 participants, most of them young Muslims and Jews, attended the Conference. One of the aims of the Conference was to highlight the undeniable influence of academic research and discourse in removing prejudicial misconceptions, misinformation, and misrepresentation, particularly among our young people. This is the focus of the work of the Foundation.

As a joint, Muslim-Jewish organisation, this conference is part of the work of the Foundation in combating religious prejudice and ignorance, while creating forums for dialogue and social interaction between the Jewish and Muslim communities in Britain. As we state in our mission statement, our work is based on a professional approach and realistic expectations.

All feed back forms asked for the publication of the papers, and the conference to become an annual event, both of which we are aiming to do. One young student wrote: "I never knew Judaism and Islam had so much in common."

 

Programme details

Language and Revelation:
Development of philology and grammar and their centrality in textual exegesis

Professor Philip Alexander
University of Manchester

Dr Timothy Winter
University of Cambridge

Chair: Professor Mona Siddiqui
University of Glasgow

Sectarianism versus Orthodoxy:
Establishment of dogma and promotion of religious homogeneity

Dr Amira Bennison
University of Cambridge

Professor Marc Saperstein
Leo Baeck College, London

Chair: Rabbi Dr Norman Solomon
Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies (retired)

 

Uniformity in Religion:
Development of liturgy and ritual as means of unification of religious communities

Dr Sajjad Rizvi
University of Exeter

Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg
Rabbi of the New North London Synagogue

Chair: Dr Jeremy Schonfield
Leo Baeck College, London

 

Theology:
The polarity of reason and literalism in scriptural hermeneutics

Professor Bernard Jackson
University of Manchester

Dr Toby Mayer
The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London

Chair: Dr Basil Mustafa
Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies

 

Maimonides and Ibn Rushd:
The hegemony of the scholar as a religious leader

Professor Azim Nanji
The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London

Professor Oliver Leaman
University of Kentucky, USA

Chair: Professor Mona Siddiqui
University of Glasgow

 

Mysticism:
The challenges of antinomianism to religious asceticism

Professor Paul Fenton
La Sorbonne, Universite de Paris

Dr Leonard Lewisohn
University of Exeter

Chair: Dr Sajjad Rizvi
University of Exeter

 

Attendance by Ticket Only. Please find full application details at:
www.josephinterfaithfoundation.org