Religion and Global Challenges

Interfaith Futures: Talking faith, policy & community with Cambridge undergraduates

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Exploring Interfaith Futures: insights from Cambridge Divinity students

In this episode of the Interfaith Futures conversation series, three undergraduate students from the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge—Tassy, Alice, and Tom—discuss their experiences attending the national launch event for Inter Faith Week in London.

Speaking with CIP Programme Manager Dr Iona Hine, they share their initial awareness of Inter Faith Week, the key takeaways from the event, and how interfaith dialogue intersects with their studies and future aspirations.

The conversation highlights the importance of interfaith engagement in academia, community building, and policy-making, and underscores the potential for young people to shape interfaith futures--from thinktanks to religious education.

00:00 Introduction to Interfaith Futures

00:16 Background and recent developments in interfaith initiatives

01:06 Meet the students: Tassy, Alice, and Tom

01:26 Student reflections on Inter Faith Week

04:11 Highlights from the Inter Faith Week launch event

09:12 Personal takeaways and future aspirations

14:38 Conclusion and final thoughts

Empowering through coproduction and navigating intersections: strategies for a National Multifaith Youth Centre

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Arbah, a PhD Theology student at the University of Cambridge, interviews Jeeves Rohilla, CEO of the National Multifaith Youth Centre and now also studying at Cambridge, about interfaith futures and the role of young people in shaping them. The discussion covers the importance of co-creating programmes with young people, the intersection of interfaith and social justice, and challenges faced by young people in fostering interfaith dialogue. Jeeves shares insights from his experiences and emphasizes the need for inclusive and dynamic interfaith initiatives, particularly in engaging with youth, social media, climate change, and AI. The conversation also touches on gender-based violence and how interfaith collaboration can contribute to creating safer spaces for all genders. The interview opens with a reflection on Reverend Claudette Douglas’s legacy as a multifaith education chaplain and underscores the importance of long-term strategic planning.

0:20 Introduction and Guest Welcome

00:55 Tribute to Reverend Claudette Douglas

01:40 Interfaith Futures and Youth Involvement

05:44 Challenges in Interfaith Dialogue

08:53 Building Effective Interfaith Partnerships

09:45 Future of Interfaith Work and Social Justice

11:40 Interfaith Collaboration in Tackling Gender-Based Violence

15:44 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Resources mentioned

Faiths Forum for London
The National Multifaith Youth Centre
Research by Sophie Mitchell, Faith & Belief Forum

A mind-opening apprenticeship: contemplating interfaith encounters as an Anglican in Bradford

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Susie Triffitt, a PhD student in Theology and Anthropology, introduces her friend the Reverend Nathanael Poole, who shares his experiences and insights on interfaith work in Bradford, a city so religiously diverse it matches Pew research projections for the world in 2050. Nathanael discusses interactions with Muslim and Hindu communities, highlighting the importance of honest dialogue and shared spaces, like Park Run, for fostering interfaith connection. Challenges such as self-censorship and community segregation are addressed, alongside his thoughts on religious education and sensitive storytelling in schools. Nathanael reflects on changing faith dynamics, the decline of aggressive atheism, and a renewed interest in spiritual and theistic faiths among young people. The conversation emphasizes the ongoing importance and potential of interfaith engagement for future community harmony.

00:00 Introduction to the Cambridge Interfaith Programme

00:50 Meet Reverend Nathanael Poole

02:20 Challenges in Interfaith Dialogue

04:59 Interfaith in Non-Religious Spaces

07:20 Policy and Education in Interfaith Contexts

12:30 Interfaith Experiences with Hindu and Sikh Communities

15:02 Reflections on Faith and Interfaith Futures

16:48 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Cooking up connection: a global palate for local unity

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Religion and Conflict MPhil student Julia interviews Arezoo Farahzad, a television producer, director, and chair of an interfaith charity in Plymouth, UK. They discuss Arezoo's initiatives, including an annual interfaith festival and monthly international dinners aimed at fostering community and cultural understanding. Arezoo emphasizes that these events celebrate unity and dialogue among different faiths and generations without experiencing tensions. She shares insights on how food acts as a unifier and a springboard for deeper interfaith discussions, and reflects on her personal journey and the teachings of the Baha'i Faith. The conversation also touches on broader societal issues, the importance of global cooperation, and the role of schools in promoting interfaith dialogue.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

00:39 Arezoo's Work and Interfaith Initiatives

01:15 The Role of Food in Interfaith Dialogue

01:45 Experiences and Lessons from Interfaith Events

05:08 Challenges and Solutions in Interfaith Work

07:40 Global Perspectives and Collective Solutions

09:56 The Importance of Dialogue and Education

15:06 Future of Interfaith Relations and Personal Reflections

17:24 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Resources mentioned

Plymouth Centre for Faiths and Cultural Diversity, pcfcd.co.uk
International Dinner (Plymouth)

Euphoric Trans Formations: queer theology, intersectionality and interfaith inclusion

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Arbah, a PhD Theology student at the University of Cambridge, interviews the Reverend Dr Alex Clare Young, a trans non-binary United Reformed Church minister and theologian. They discuss the challenges and assumptions affecting intersectionality and inclusivity in interfaith futures.

Dr Clare Young emphasizes the importance of queer theology, their doctoral research and book “Trans Formations,” and the need for LGBTQIA+ voices in theological discussions. They share personal experiences of overcoming discrimination, fostering allyship, and the transformative power of joy in their work.

The interview also covers the importance of moving from tolerance to celebration of diversity in public spaces and educational systems, and the need for policy adaptations to support these changes.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

01:07 Understanding Interfaith Futures

01:49 Challenges in Queer Theology

02:56 Personal Motivations and Experiences

04:32 Transformative Conversations

05:51 Identity and Interfaith Work

08:26 Joy in Leadership

09:49 Future of Interfaith and Inclusive Spaces

12:08 Policy and Planning for Diversity

14:52 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Resources mentioned

Joy Laddin
Alex Clare Young (2024) Trans Formations: Grounding Theology in Trans and Non-Binary Lives

Radical capital: Activating faith for urban resilience

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Reem, a first-year PhD student at the Faculty of Divinity, interviews Professor Chris Baker from Goldsmiths University of London, to discuss the role of faith in public life. Baker emphasizes the importance of “radical ontology,” alternative social visions, and “radical practice” as contributions of faith groups to policy-making. He highlights examples where faith communities have influenced urban sustainability and grassroots projects. The conversation also touches on the necessity of integrating faith perspectives into policy development and overcoming secular biases in policymaking. Baker advocates for greater interfaith collaboration and the inclusion of young faith leaders in climate change initiatives and public policy formation.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

01:09 The Role of Faith in Public Life

03:54 Faith and Urban Sustainability

05:34 Co-Creation of Climate Policy

07:32 Engaging Faith Communities in Policy Making

10:20 Future of Interfaith Collaboration

12:46 Clarifying Misunderstandings about Faith Contributions

15:22 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Birthing Mitzvah Day and women-led interfaith movements

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

PhD student Peach interviews Laura Marks CBE, a distinguished policy advisor and interfaith social activist. Marks discusses the evolution of Mitzvah Day, which she founded as a Jewish-led initiative promoting interfaith collaboration through acts of community service. She reflects on how the interfaith landscape has changed over the years, highlighting the significance of positive engagement among diverse faith communities. Marks also shares her experiences establishing women-led interfaith partnerships, Nisa Nashim and the Women's Faith Forum, emphasizing the unique resilience and impactful roles these groups play. Toward the end of the conversation, a question about the presence of young people in interfaith settings, prompts reflection on how to ensure future generations continue to engage in and benefit from interfaith dialogue, with an eye to social cohesion.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

01:13 The Vision and Evolution of Mitzvah Day

05:35 The Role of Women in Interfaith Activities

08:23 Challenges and Opportunities in Women's Interfaith Work

10:29 Engaging the Next Generation in Interfaith Dialogue

15:22 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Resources mentioned:

Mitzvah Day mitzvahday.org.uk
Nisa Nashim: Jewish Muslim Women’s Network www.nisanashim.com
The Women’s Faith Forum

Bridging faith and economics to combat climate change: a precedent-based case

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In this episode, host Noah Rouse engages in discussion with Professor Michael Pollitt, Professor of Business Economics at Cambridge Judge Business School. They explore the intersection of faith, economics, and climate change, with Pollitt pressing the case for faith leaders to support economic solutions like carbon markets. The conversation touches on overcoming theologians’ misconceptions about market economies, the role of faith in historic social movements, and the potential for faith-based leadership to inspire action in addressing global climate challenges. Professor Pollitt emphasizes the need for a clear, unified ask from faith groups to make significant progress on climate policy, highlighting youth activism as a cause for optimism.

00:00 Introduction and Host Background

00:46 Guest Introduction: Professor Michael Pollitt

01:13 Professor Pollitt's Research Overview

02:09 Religion and Economics in Climate Change

04:45 Faith Leaders and Market Economists

05:37 Historical Precedents of Faith Movements

06:55 The Role of Faith in Climate Policy

08:24 Challenges and Opportunities for Faith-Based Climate Action

11:03 Uniting Faith and Secular Efforts

13:29 Hope and Solutions for Climate Change

16:17 Final Reflections and Hopeful Initiatives

17:48 Conclusion and Thanks

The economics of religion: co-opetition, wellbeing and community resilience

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In this episode, Ryan Keating, a PhD student at Cambridge University and pastor in North Cyprus, engages with Professor Sriya Iyer, a pioneer in the field of economics of religion. They discuss the role of religion in mental health, the impact of religious communities on public welfare, and how economic theories can help understand religious interactions. Their dialogue explores the intersection of religion and economics, offering valuable perspectives for policymakers and faith leaders alike.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

01:32 Exploring the Economics of Religion

03:31 Religion, Mental Health, and Wellbeing

06:13 Faith Communities and Economic Perspectives

11:08 Concluding Thoughts and Future Directions

Resources mentioned

• SCORE | Religion and Economic Development programme, reported at interfaith.cam.ac.uk: Exploring religion and economic development.

• Iyer’s research on religion, mental health and wellbeing, reported at interfaith.cam.ac.uk Research news: “Religion may have helped during COVID”.

• Sriya Iyer, 2018, The economics of religion in India (Harvard University Press).

Ways to connect: From broadcasting to leadership, literacy and social media

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In this episode, Susie Triffitt, a third-year PhD student studying Theology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, interviews Michael Wakelin, the executive chair of the Religion Media Centre. They discuss Wakelin's extensive background in religious broadcasting, his work with the Cambridge Interfaith Programme, and various interfaith projects, such as the leadership training program at St George's, Windsor. Wakelin also talks about the Religion Media Centre's mission to improve religious literacy in the media, responding to the Bloom Review, and the importance of new media, including TikTok, in furthering interfaith engagement. The conversation highlights the significance of building interfaith relationships and addresses the challenges and successes in the interfaith space.

Michael and Susie find themselves in agreement: despite secular trends in census data, many people continue to exhibit religious behaviors, and the future of faith is promising, filled with passionate individuals.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

01:11 Michael Wakelin's Background and Career

01:54 Interfaith Leadership Program

02:54 Religion Media Centre

05:01 Religious Literacy and Bloom Review

07:32 Challenges and Successes in Interfaith Work

11:31 New Media and Interfaith Engagement

13:34 Future of Faith and Interfaith Relations

16:28 Closing Remarks and Final Thoughts

Resources mentioned

Faith in Leadership (St George’s Windsor)
Religion Media Centre (ReligionMediaCentre.org.uk)
Bloom Review
Religious Literacy Partnership
Creating Connections (an RMC project)

Cultivating understanding: embracing the transformative power of Religion and Worldviews education

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Dr Anastasia Badder, an anthropologist of religion at the University of Cambridge, converses with Dr Kathryn Wright, the Chief Executive of Culham St Gabriel's, about the evolving role and significance of Religious Education (RE).

They discuss how RE can respond to contemporary challenges by fostering understanding, empathy, and critical thinking among students. Dr Wright highlights the importance of policymakers recognizing the subject's value, backed by public opinion supporting its role in promoting a respectful society. In addressing a question on shared values, Dr Wright introduces the concept of a “pedagogy of embrace.” Quoting Miroslav Volf, she emphasizes the idea of an embrace as an enriching encounter that respects individual integrity while fostering communal harmony and understanding, indicating its potential as a metaphor for interfaith relations as well as R.E. pedagogy.

00:00 Introduction to Dr. Anastasia Badder and Dr. Kathryn Wright

01:45 The Role of Religious Education in Contemporary Society

03:13 Building Empathy and Understanding Through RE

05:37 Future Challenges and the Role of RE

11:01 Policymakers and the Importance of RE

17:44 Values for a Holistic Society and RE Futures

24:46 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Resources mentioned

Savanta Comres survey statistics on Culham St Gabriel’s website (2021)
Nobody Stands Nowhere: an animation created in partnership between Culham St Gabriel’s and the Theos thinktank. www.theosthinktank.co.uk
Miroslav Volf (1996) Exclusion & Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation
Kathryn Wright (2017) A pedagogy of embrace: a theology of hospitality as a pedagogical framework for religious education in Church of England schools [PhD Thesis]

Beyond superficiality: delving into the depths of Religious Education

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Ian McKay Constantine, a legal professional from St Lucia and alumnus of The Faith & Belief Forum's ParliaMentors Programme, interviews Dr Daniel Moulin, Religious Education lead at the University of Cambridge. They discuss the importance and potential of religious education (RE) in contemporary society. Dr Moulin emphasizes the need for deep, authentic engagement with religious traditions in RE, going beyond superficial understanding to address issues like prejudice, discrimination, and moral development. They also consider the implications of artificial intelligence on education and the necessity of maintaining our humanity, including through deep and meaningful engagement with religious studies.

Part of the Interfaith Futures series, this episode also belongs to a three-part special on Religious Education produced in partnership with The Faith & Belief Forum. Religious Education is a statutory subject in UK schools, but a shortage of specialist teachers is among several challenges that have challenged its delivery. In principle, the subject is intended to provide chance to learn about and from different religions, supporting learners’ individuation, character development, and understanding of the world.

Learning to coexist: Religious Education and societal challenges

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

CIP Programme Manager Dr Iona Hine interviews Bushra Nasir CBE, a pioneering educator and advocate for religious education. They discuss the importance of religious education in the UK, particularly amid contemporary societal challenges such as politicized differences and misinformation. Bushra Nasir emphasizes the role of schools in fostering understanding, tolerance, and respect among young people, referring to specific examples of good practice from her time as head of Plashet girls’ school and an academy CO—and advocating for the importance of specialist teachers and an equitable place for RE. In context of the national curriculum review, discussion highlights the opportunity to address global and multicultural issues, and the essential skills of debate and critical thinking RE can develop.

Listeners are encouraged to reflect on the role of education in their communities and consider how embracing diverse faith perspectives can contribute to a more cohesive and understanding world.

00:00 About the series: RE Future & Interfaith Futures

01:22 Introducing Bushra Nasir CBE

03:03 The Role of Religious Education in Contemporary Society

05:15 Building Capacities Through Religious Education

08:06 Policy Makers and Religious Education

12:56 Values in Religious Education

16:56 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Faith in urban spaces: steps toward inclusive community engagement

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Dr Iona Hine interviews Professor Flora Samuel, Head of the Department of Architecture at the University of Cambridge. The conversation explores the concept of urban rooms, spaces where communities converge to discuss city futures, and the potential role of faith groups in these discussions. They discuss theoretical and practical challenges of considering representation, noting the 1% of a populace that typically participates in planning consultations is far from diverse.

Dr Hine also invites Professor Samuel to reflect on four possible ways faith communities can engage in sustainable urban futures, referring to a recent article by Prof Christopher Baker and Dr Chris Ives.

This episode is part of the Cambridge Interfaith Programme's UK Interfaith Futures series.

00:00 Introduction to the Interfaith Futures Series

00:38 Meet Professor Flora Samuel

01:37 The Concept of Urban Rooms

02:19 Faith Groups and Community Building

04:23 Challenges in Representation and Engagement

07:32 Faith and Urban Sustainability

10:01 Reflecting on Faith's Role in Urban Spaces

12:21 Concluding Thoughts

Resources mentioned

The Cambridge Room, an urban room for Cambridge: www.cambridgeroom.org
Quality of Life Foundation: www.qolf.org
Ives & Baker, Engaging faith for a sustainable urban future, in Global Sustainability 7. doi.org/10.1017/sus.2024.32

Advocacy and mentorship: empowering new participants in dialogue and policymaking

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Peach, a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, interviews Professor Jagbir Jhutti Johal from the University of Birmingham about the role of women in interfaith activities. Professor Jhutti Johal discusses the increasing prominence of women in interfaith dialogue, emphasizing the need for support and mentorship to facilitate these conversations. They also talk about the importance of community engagement and academics co-producing research with communities. The discussion includes insights into empowering other underrepresented voices, such as young people, those with disabilities, and the LGBT community, in interfaith conversations and policy-making.

Part of the UK Interfaith Futures series.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

00:50 The Role of Women in Interfaith Activities

02:44 Academics and Interfaith Engagement

05:20 Challenges and Opportunities in Interfaith Dialogue

10:36 Underrepresented Voices in Interfaith Conversations

16:51 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

A point of collapse? Observing shifts in value and the past in our present

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Dr Iona Hine, Programme Manager for the Cambridge Interfaith Programme, interviews Professor Esra Ozyurek, Academic Director of the Cambridge Interfaith Programme and Sultan Qaboos Professor of Abrahamic Faiths and Shared Values. Discussion begins by considering how Esra's research on interreligious relations in Turkey and Germany may be applied to the UK. They discuss the impact of historical empires, British and Ottoman, and how imperial management of diverse groups and historical actions affect modern interfaith relations, policy, and governance. Past injustices and material realities impact on present conflicts. The conversation also highlights the value of cross-disciplinary partnerships and the erosion of shared values in today's socio-political landscape.

Part of the UK Interfaith Futures series, November 2024.

00:00 Introduction to the Cambridge Interfaith Programme

01:15 Esra Ozyurek's Research and Its Relevance to the UK

02:09 Historical Context of Interfaith Relations

04:31 Modern Implications of Historical Conflicts

08:01 Religion and Global Challenges Initiative

11:18 Collaborations and Unexpected Partnerships

15:05 Abrahamic Faiths and Shared Values

17:47 Conclusion and Future Prospects

Introducing Interfaith Futures: cross-sector conversations from the UK

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

What does the future hold for interfaith relations?
What research is needed?
What knowledge do researchers and practitioners hold that might benefit each other?
And what do policymakers need to know?

Such are the questions that underpin Interfaith Futures, a 15-part conversation series featuring a mix of academics, practitioners and activists, interviewed by an emerging generation of scholars and professionals—around the central topic of Interfaith Futures.

The interviews were first published on the Faculty of Divinity YouTube channel in November 2024, and now repackaged for podcast listeners. Episodes range from 12 to 25 minutes, and cover a diversity of topics. Listen in and join the conversation, with #InterfaithFutures.

More information: Interviews: 15 perspectives on Interfaith Futures via www.interfaith.cam.ac.uk

Produced by the Cambridge Interfaith Programme.

Ethics for the Coming Storm—an interview with Laurie Zoloth

Tue, 18 Jun 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Cambridge Interfaith Programme Manager Dr Iona Hine interviews Professor Laurie Zoloth about her recent book, Ethics for the Coming Storm. The conversation was recorded via Zoom in June 2024 and is now included as an extension to the Religion and Climate Change miniseries.

About the guest

Laurie Zoloth is Margaret E Burton Professor of Ethics at the University of Chicago and former Dean of Chicago’s Divinity School. She has served as President of the American Academy of Religion, President of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, and Vice President of the Society for Jewish Ethics. Professor Zoloth was also a founding board member for the International Society for Stem Cell Research, the Society for Neuroethics, and the Society for Scriptural Reasoning. She holds a Life Fellowship at Clare Hall, Cambridge.

About the book

Ethics for the Coming Storm: Climate Change and Jewish Thought (2023) was published by Oxford University Press.

How can we come to understand our existence on this earth, surrounded by air and light and water, while living in a place we deliberately and carelessly abuse, where resources are becoming scarce, and where the well-being and basic health of our neighbors is threatened?

Debates about environmental issues have largely been driven by the language of economics and political power. They have become both deeply divisive and symbolic, turning differing truth claims and moral appeals into signs of identity. This discourse has utterly failed to change the human behavior or political and economic structures necessary to face global warming head on.

In Ethics for the Coming Storm, Zoloth turns to another language, found in the texts and traditions of Jewish thought—the language of Scripture, the Talmud, and philosophy of Judaism—which, she contends, offers a different kind of argument for such a change. The traditions, histories, and texts of Jewish thought, Zoloth claims, address precisely the sort of existential crisis that we now face, and thus deepen and enrich our public discourse about what to do, and who to be.

References

The following is a non-exhaustive list of persons referred to during this episode.

Bill McKibben (1960–)

Author of The End of Nature (1989), the first general audience book about climate change billmckibben.com/bio.html

Emmanuel Levinas (1905–1995)

In the opening chapter of Ethics for the Coming Storm, Zoloth summarises Levinas as follows: “The act of ethics, for Levinas, is the moment of recognition of the plight of the Other, and it is the phenomenological event of this recognition that he teaches ... prior to the recognition of the Other, the self is not fully constituted or called into being.” See further: plato.stanford.edu/entries/levinas/

Fritz Haber (1868–1934)

Winner of the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recognising his innovative Haber-Bosch process used to synthesise ammonia for agriculture.

Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)

Exiled from Nazi Germany, Arendt became a highly influential political philosopher. After introducing Arendt, Zoloth summarises: “For Arendt, the actions of citizens in public are the actions that define them as individuals with particular, irreplaceable identity, for in the social what matters is not their being, but their social role, and as consumers or producers, they are, like their products, completely replaceable, expendable. Agency in public allows for the defining acts of freedom and equality that are critical to our humanity.” See also plato.stanford.edu/entries/arendt/index.html.

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)

Perhaps the premiere philosopher of European modernity, Kant’s influence over metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, and aesthetics continues. See plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant/.

Jimmy Carter (1924–)

39th President of the USA (1977-1981) and the first to take concrete action about climate change. See: www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/james-carter/

Margarete Susman (1872–1966)

Philosopher, cultural critic, and essayist, Susman was part of the circle around Georg Simmel. See: plato.stanford.edu/entries/susman-margarete/

Naomi Oreskes

Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University. See: histsci.fas.harvard.edu/people/naomi-oreskes

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971).

American Reformed theologian and ethicist, known for his political realism. See plato.stanford.edu/entries/realism-intl-relations/

Theology in the Anthropocene – Dr Hjördis Becker-Lindenthal & Dr Simone Kotva

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 11:00:00 +0000

In this second instalment of our mini-series on religion and climate change, we host Dr Hjördis Becker-Lindenthal (University of Cambridge) and Dr Simone Kotva (University of Oslo) to talk about the reverberations of Christian theology within environmental movements. Together we discuss how to face the end of the world as we know it, how to tackle climate despair, and what it might mean to cultivate a spiritual attitude toward nature.

Music: Pacing by Chad Crouch

Bios

Dr Simone Kotva is Research Fellow at the Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo, and Affiliated Lecturer at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge. Simone's work is situated at the intersection of theology, critical theory and earth ethics. With Hjördis Becker-Lindenthal she teaches the MPhil module, Theology in the Anthropocene, and has published widely on religion and ecology.

Dr Hjördis Becker-Lindenthal is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow and affiliated lecturer at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge. She works on the intersection of philosophy, theology, intellectual history and literature. Hjördis published a study on The Repetition of Philosophy: Kierkegaard’s Cultural Critique and its Consequences (Die Wiederholung der Philosophie. Kierkegaards Kulturkritik und ihre Folgen (De Gruyter)) and she is currently writing a monograph on Kierkegaard’s reception of the medieval mystic Johannes Tauler. Together with Dr Simone Kotva, Hjördis teaches the MPhil course Envisioning the Environmental Future: Theology in the Anthropocene at the Faculty of Divinity in Cambridge.

References

Becker-Lindenthal, Hjördis (forthcoming), “Climate Despair from a Kierkegaardian Perspective: Asceticism, Possibility and Eschatological Hope”. In Living in Uncertainty. Kierkegaard and Possibility, ed. by Erin Plunkett, London: Bloomsbury.
Becker-Lindenthal, Hjördis and Simone Kotva (forthcoming), “Practicing for Death in the Anthropocene:Reading Christian Asceticism After the End of the Human.”
Bruckner, Pascal (2013), The Fanaticism of the Apocalypse: Save the Earth, Punish Human Beings, translated by Stephen Rendall, Cambridge: Polity.
Garrard, Greg (2013), “Environmentalism and the Apocalypse Tradition,” Green Letters 3: 27–68.
Keller, Catherine (2018), Political Theology of the Earth: Our Planetary Emergency and the Struggle for a New Public, New York: Columbia University Press.
Keller, Catherine (2021), Facing Apocalypse: Climate, Democracy, and Other Last Chances, Marknoll: Orbis Books.
Kierkegaard, Søren (1980 [1849]), The Sickness Unto Death. A Christian Psychological Exposition for Upbuilding and Awakening, ed. and trans. by Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong (Kierkegaard’ Writings, XIX),Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Kotva, Simone and Eva-Charlotta Mebius (2021), “Rethinking Environmentalism and Apocalypse: Anamorphosis in The Book of Enoch and Climate Fiction,” Religions12(8):620. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12080620
Lear, Jonathan (2006), Radical Hope. Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Moltmann, Jürgen (1979), The Future of Creation, trans. Margaret Kohl, London: S.C.M. Press.
Stengers, Isabelle (2015), In Catastrophic Times: Resisting the Coming Barbarism, trans. Andrew Goffey, Lüneburg: Open Humanities Press.
Walsh, Sylvia (2009), Kierkegaard: Thinking Christianly in an Existential Mode, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Spirituality, religious communities and climate change activism – Dr Tobias Müller

Wed, 09 Mar 2022 10:00:00 +0000

In this first episode of our mini-series on religion and climate change, we host Dr Tobias Müller (University of Cambridge) to talk about the role religious communities play in climate change activism. Reporting from his research with Extinction Rebellion (XR) and at COP26, Tobias talks about the many points of convergence between spirituality and climate activism and highlights how religious communities and their heritage can become crucial resources in the fight for a just, carbon-neutral future.

Music: Alustrat by Blue Dot Sessions

Bio

Tobias Müller is Affiliated Lecturer at the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS), College Research Associate at King’s College, University of Cambridge, and Research Fellow at The New Institute, Hamburg. Previously, he was postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) at Leiden University and Junior Research Fellow at the Woolf institute, Cambridge. His main research interests include political and social theory, decolonial and feminist theory, secularism and religion, masculinities and extremism, and the politics of climate change. His recent work was published in Political Theory, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Social Compass, Religion, State and Society, Review of Faith & International Affairs, Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft / Comparative Politics and Governance and Nature.

References

De la Cadena, Marisol (2015) Earth Beings: Ecologies of Practice Across Andean Worlds. Durham: Duke University Press.
Ellingson, Stephen (2016) To Care for Creation: The Emergence of the Religious Environmental Movement. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Escobar, Arturo (2016) “Thinking-feeling with the Earth: Territorial struggles and the ontological dimension of the epistemologies of the south.” Revista de Antropología Iberoamericana 11: 11–32.
Federici, Silvia (2018) Re-enchanting the World: Feminism and the Politics of the Commons. Oakland: PM Press.
Ghosh, Amitav (2016). The Great Derangement. Climate Change and the Unthinkable. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Chapter three.
Latour, Bruno (2017). Facing Gaia. Eight Lectures on the New Climactic Regime. Cambridge: Polity. Particularly lectures three, five, six.
Müller, Tobias (2020) “People of Faith are Allies to stall Climate Change.” Nature, 592, 9.
Tsing, Anna (2005). Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Between Muslims: Religious Difference in Iraqi Kurdistan – Dr Andrew Bush

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 18:00:00 +0000

In this third instalment of our mini-series on Living with Religious Difference, we talk to Dr Andrew Bush (Cracow University of Economics) about the way in which pious and not so pious Muslims in Iraqi Kurdistan craft everyday lives together. During our conversation, we delve into the everyday as a site of exploring religious difference and consider how poetry becomes a way of engaging with alterity, whether Christian, Muslim, or other.

Music: ‘Ebasî Kemendî: Gelawej, Refîq Chalak: Diyarm Deyrî ‘Îshqe

Bio

Andrew Bush completed a PhD in anthropology at Johns Hopkins University in 2014, and then held teaching and research positions at New York University Abu Dhabi until 2019. When the podcast was recorded, he was a Visiting Fellow in Harvard Law's School's Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World, and now as the podcast is released, he is a Research Fellow at the Cracow University of Economics. His work has appeared in American Ethnologist, the Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, and the Wiley-Blackwell Companion to the Anthropology of the Middle East. His book, Between Muslims: Religious Difference in Iraqi Kurdistan was published in 2020 with Stanford University Press.

References

Atmaca, Metin (2021). "Negotiating Political Power in the Early Modern Middle East: Kurdish Emirates between the Ottoman Empire and Iranian Dynasties (Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries)." In Cambridge History of the Kurds, ed. Hamit Bozarslan, Cengiz Gunes, and Veli Yadirgi, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Benjamen, Alda ed. (2020). "Narratives of coexistence and pluralism in northern Iraq" Special Issue of the Journal of Contemporary Iraq & the Arab World, no. 14.
Bush, Andrew (2020). Between Muslims: Religious Difference in Iraqi Kurdistan, Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Ghaderi, Farangis, Clémence Scalbert Yücel, and Yasar Hassan Ali, (2021). Women's Voices from Kurdistan: A Selection of Kurdish Poetry, London: Transnational Press.
Uşşaklı, Kerem Can (2002). "Securitizing Citizenship and Policing Security in Iraqi Kurdistan,’ MERIP 295.

Ruins, treasures, and memories of state violence in eastern Anatolia – Dr Anoush Suni

Tue, 09 Nov 2021 13:30:00 +0000

For the second episode of our mini-series on Living with Religious Difference, I talked to Dr Anoush Suni (Northwestern University) about her research on the reverberations of the historic Armenian presence in the lives of contemporary Kurdish communities in eastern Anatolia. Together we explore how the memory of the Armenian past lives on within Kurdish communities, how legacies of state violence materialize in ruins and treasures, and we discuss how Armenian religious sites take on new meaning within Kurdish life worlds.

Music: Balık by Collectif Medz Bazar (with special thanks)

Bio

Anoush Tamar Suni is currently the Keyman Modern Turkish Studies Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University. Previously, she was a Manoogian Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Armenian Studies Program and the Department of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. She earned her PhD in anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2019. For her doctoral dissertation, entitled “Palimpsests of Violence: Ruination and the Politics of Memory in Anatolia,” she spent over two years (2015-2017) in the region of Van, in southeastern Turkey, conducting ethnographic research. She is currently working on her book project, which investigates questions of memory and the material legacies of state violence in the region of Van with a focus on the historic Armenian and contemporary Kurdish communities. Her research interests include state and intercommunal violence, memory, materiality and landscape, cultural heritage, space and place, and political and historical anthropology in Turkey, Armenia, Kurdistan, and the broader Middle East.

References

Biner, Zerrin Özlem. 2020. States of Dispossession: Violence and Precarious Coexistence in Southeast Turkey. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Darici, Haydar. 2011. “Politics of Privacy: Forced Migration and the Spatial Struggle of the Kurdish Youth.” Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies 13 (4): 457–74.
Leupold, David. 2020. Embattled Dreamlands: The Politics of Contesting Armenian, Kurdish and Turkish Memory. New York: Routledge.
Navaro, Yael. 2020. “The Aftermath of Mass Violence: A Negative Methodology.” Annual Review of Anthropology 49 (1): 161–73.
Parla, Ayşe, and Ceren Özgül. 2016. “Property, Dispossession, and Citizenship in Turkey; or, The History of the Gezi Uprising Starts in the Surp Hagop Armenian Cemetery.” Public Culture 28 (3 80): 617–53.
Tambar, Kabir. 2016. “Brotherhood in Dispossession: State Violence and the Ethics of Expectation in Turkey.” Cultural Anthropology 31 (1): 30–55.
von Bieberstein, Alice. 2017. “Treasure/Fetish/Gift: Hunting for ‘Armenian Gold’ in Post-Genocide Turkish Kurdistan.” Subjectivity 10 (2): 170–89.

Religion as Moral Infrastructure in Rio de Janeiro – Dr Tilmann Heil

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 11:00:00 +0000

In this first episode of our new series on Living with Religious Difference, our guest is Dr Tilmann Heil who talks about his research with Muslim Senegalese migrants in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Together, we consider how religion may function as a moral infrastructure that allows navigating a world where different communities, beliefs, and convictions meet. Tilmann outlines how his interlocutors position themselves within their new lifeworlds and how religion becomes a key resource for negotiating, taming, and accommodating societal difference..

Music: Sneak by A.A. Alto; Kiss And Tell (breezy bossa nova) by Keshco

Bio

Tilmann Heil is a Postdoctoral Investigator at Maria Sybilla Merian Centre Conviviality-Inequality in Latin America - Mecila - and Principal Investigator at the Global South Studies Center at University of Cologne. In his current ethnographic research with West African and Southern European migrants in Rio de Janeiro, he inquires into how migrant newcomers value and evaluate difference within complex urban assemblages characterized by intersectional hierarchies and deep inequality. In his ethnography Comparing Conviviality. Living with Difference in Casamance and Catalonia (Palgrave, 2020) that derives from earlier work in Senegal and Spain, he has conceptualized conviviality as a process of interaction, negotiation, and translation from which forms of minimal and fragile sociality emerge. Across various spaces bordering the Atlantic, Tilmann has continuously addressed ethical reflections on, and habitual tactics of, everyday struggles with ethnic, religious, and racial plurality.

References

Heil, Tilmann. 2019. “Muslim - Queer Encounters in Rio De Janeiro: Making Sense of Relative Positionalities.” Ethnography, no. online first: 1-20. doi:10.1177/1466138119859601.
Diouf, Mamadou. 2000. “The Senegalese Murid Trade Diaspora and the Making of a Vernacular Cosmopolitanism.” Public Culture 12 (3): 679-702.
Puar, Jasbir K. 2007. Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times. Durham: Duke University Press.
Haritaworn, Jin, Adi Kuntsman, and Silvia Posocco, eds. 2014. Queer Necropolitics. London: Routledge.
Kane, Ousmane O. 2011. The Homeland Is the Arena. Religion, Transnationalism, and the Integration of Senegalese Immigrants in America. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Revolutionary afterlives, promiscuous martyrs, and India’s haunted present – Dr Chris Moffat

Thu, 26 Aug 2021 12:00:00 +0000

In this third and last episode of our mini-series on the politics of martyrdom, we talk to historian Dr Chris Moffat (Queen Mary University London) about the manifold afterlives of the early-twentieth-century Indian revolutionary Bhagat Singh. Our conversation explores the political potency of self-sacrifice, interrogates the difficulty to stabilize the meaning of martyrdom, and reflects on the politics of commemoration in contemporary India.

Music: Plaster Combo by Blue Dot Sessions; Punjab Shuffle by The Polish Ambassador

Bio

Chris Moffat is Lecturer in South Asian History at Queen Mary University of London. In 2019 he was Visiting Faculty in the Department of History, Government College University, Lahore, Pakistan. Chris is the author of India’s Revolutionary Inheritance: Politics and the Promise of Bhagat Singh, published with Cambridge University Press in 2019. He is currently writing a book on architecture, politics and the philosophy of history in Pakistan.

References (in order of mentioning)

Alex Houen, ‘Sacrificial Militancy and the Wars around Terror’, in Elleke Boehmer and Stephen Morton (eds.), Terror and the Postcolonial (Chichester, 2010), 113-140.
Faisal Devji, The Terrorist in Search of Humanity (New York, 2008).
Jagmohan Singh and Chaman Lal (eds.), Bhagat Singh aur Unke Saathianke Dastavez (Delhi, 1986).
Chaman Lal, The Bhagat Singh Reader (New Delhi, 2019).
Christopher Pinney, Photos of the Gods: The Printed Image and Political Struggle in India (London, 2004).
Sumathi Ramaswamy, The Goddess and the Nation: Mapping Mother India (Durham, NC, 2010).
Kama Maclean, A Revolutionary History of Interwar India (London, 2015).
Simona Sawhney, ‘Bhagat Singh: A Politics of Death and Hope’, in Anshu Malhotra and Farina Mir (eds.), Punjab Reconsidered (Delhi, 2012), 377-408.
Vyjyanthi Rao, ‘Hindu Modern: Considering Gandhian Aesthetics’, Public Culture 23:2 (2011), 377-394.

Martyrdom, Sacrifice, and Affect in Pakistan — Dr Maria Rashid

Thu, 29 Jul 2021 12:00:00 +0000

The second episode of our series on the politics of martyrdom hosts Dr Maria Rashid, author of Dying to Serve: Militarism, Affect, and the Politics of Sacrifice in the Pakistan Army (Stanford UP, 2020). Together we discuss the role that affects and emotions play in making martyrdom a key theme for Pakistani militarism, the way in which gender impacts ideas about sacrifice, and how religion and nationalism intersect in the construction of martyrdom.

Music: Sunday Lights by Blue Dot Sessions; Entonces by A. A. Aalto

Bio

Dr. Maria Rashid has been working in the human rights and development sector for over 22 years now. A psychologist by training, she has been associated with various non-governmental groups in Pakistan including heading a national women and child rights organization for 14 years. She acquired her doctorate in Politics and International Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 2018. Her book, Dying to Serve: Militarism, Affect and the Politics of Sacrifice in the Pakistan Army was published in 2020 by Stanford University Press and received an honourable mention for the IPS-International Political Sociology Book Award, 2021. She continues to be involved in trainings and research on violence against women, gender, masculinities and militarism and serves on the board of a number of groups and collaboratives both nationally and in South Asia.

Further readings

Acton, C. (2007). Grief in War time: Private Pain, Public Discourse. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Holst-Warhaft, G. (2000). The Cue for Passion: Grief and Its Political Uses. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Goldstein, J. (2003). War and Gender: How Gender Shapes the War System and Vice Versa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Navaro-Yashin, Y. (2012). The Make-Believe Space: Affective Geographies in a Postwar Polity. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Verdery, Katherine (1999). The Political Lives of Dead Bodies: Reburial and Post Socialist Change. New York: Columbia University Press.

New Martyrs, Nationalism, and Moral Conservatism in Contemporary Russia and Cyprus — Dr Victoria Fomina

Wed, 30 Jun 2021 12:00:00 +0000

The first in a series of episodes on the politics of martyrdom in which we consider how religious and spiritual ideas about self-sacrifice animate contemporary social movements, political ideas, and moral imaginaries. In this episode, social anthropologist Dr Victoria Fomina (University of Toronto) discusses the rise of new martyr cults in the Christian Orthodox world, and how these articulate with a rise of nationalist politics, an admiration of militarist values, and the appeal of moral conservatism.

Bio

Dr Victoria Fomina is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto. She received her doctorate in sociology and social anthropology from Central European University. Her research interests include anthropology of religion and nationalism, moral conservatism, postsocialist economic transformation, and grassroots political activism. She has carried out research in Russia and Cyprus, investigating the role the practices of commemoration and new martyr cults play in the recent surge of nationalist mobilization in the two countries. Her book project, Land of Heroes and Martyrs: Public Commemoration, Moral Conservatism, and the Making of Russia’s New Military-Patriotic Culture, examines the transformation of Russian nationalism since the 1990s through the lens of the contested cult of soldier Evgenii Rodionov beheaded in Chechen captivity in 1996. Drawing on interviews with clerics, lay parishioners, artists, and nationalist activists engaged in promotion of this new martyr cult, the book traces the development of the new, memory-centered conservative public sphere and reveals the moral imagination driving the patriotic revival in Russia.

Music: Lobo Lobo by Blue Dot Sessions; Russian Dance by Yair Yona

Further Readings

Atran, Scott. "ISIS is a Revolution." Aeon Essays, recuperado el 8 (2015). https://aeon.co/essays/why-isis-has-the-potential-to-be-a-world-altering-revolution
Christensen, Karin Hyldal. The Making of the New Martyrs of Russia: Soviet Repression in Orthodox Memory. Routledge, 2017.
Christou, Miranda. "A Double Imagination: Memory and Education in Cyprus." Journal of Modern Greek Studies 24, no. 2 (2006): 285-306.
Efthymiou, Stratis Andreas. Nationalism, Militarism and Masculinity in Post-Conflict Cyprus. Springer, 2019.
Fomina, Victoria. “Between Heroism and Sainthood: New Martyr Evgenii Rodionov as a Moral Model in Contemporary Russia.” History and Anthropology 29, no. 1 (2018): 101-120.
Oushakine, Serguei Alex. The Patriotism of Despair: Nation, War, and Loss in Russia. Cornell University Press, 2011.

Welcome to Religion and Global Challenges! [Trailer]

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Welcome to “Religion and Global Challenges”, a podcast of the Cambridge Interfaith Programme that is brought to you from of the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. In this podcast, we explore the many ways in which religious narratives and ideas, practices and experiences inform some of the most crucial challenges facing our world today. You can look forward to monthly sessions where we will invite guest speakers to discuss topics ranging from religion and climate change to how people navigate religious difference in their everyday lives.

For more information follow us on Twitter (@CamInterfaith), visit our website or send us an email at cippodcast@divinity.cam.ac.uk

Music credit: Tripoli by Blue Dot Sessions

Religion and Global Challenges

Interfaith Futures: Talking faith, policy & community with Cambridge undergraduates

Empowering through coproduction and navigating intersections: strategies for a National Multifaith Youth Centre

A mind-opening apprenticeship: contemplating interfaith encounters as an Anglican in Bradford

Cooking up connection: a global palate for local unity

Euphoric Trans Formations: queer theology, intersectionality and interfaith inclusion

Radical capital: Activating faith for urban resilience

Birthing Mitzvah Day and women-led interfaith movements

Bridging faith and economics to combat climate change: a precedent-based case

The economics of religion: co-opetition, wellbeing and community resilience

Ways to connect: From broadcasting to leadership, literacy and social media

Cultivating understanding: embracing the transformative power of Religion and Worldviews education

Beyond superficiality: delving into the depths of Religious Education

Learning to coexist: Religious Education and societal challenges

Faith in urban spaces: steps toward inclusive community engagement

Advocacy and mentorship: empowering new participants in dialogue and policymaking

A point of collapse? Observing shifts in value and the past in our present

Introducing Interfaith Futures: cross-sector conversations from the UK

Ethics for the Coming Storm—an interview with Laurie Zoloth

About the guest

About the book

References

Suggested reading

Theology in the Anthropocene – Dr Hjördis Becker-Lindenthal & Dr Simone Kotva

Spirituality, religious communities and climate change activism – Dr Tobias Müller

Between Muslims: Religious Difference in Iraqi Kurdistan – Dr Andrew Bush

Ruins, treasures, and memories of state violence in eastern Anatolia – Dr Anoush Suni

Religion as Moral Infrastructure in Rio de Janeiro – Dr Tilmann Heil

Revolutionary afterlives, promiscuous martyrs, and India’s haunted present – Dr Chris Moffat

Martyrdom, Sacrifice, and Affect in Pakistan — Dr Maria Rashid

New Martyrs, Nationalism, and Moral Conservatism in Contemporary Russia and Cyprus — Dr Victoria Fomina

Welcome to Religion and Global Challenges! [Trailer]