Interfaith Relations

About

Cambridge Interfaith Programme's 2022 Summer School opens for applications on Friday 18 March. The course will run online from Monday 4 July through to Friday 15 July.

Why attend this course?

Study with University of Cambridge professors and lecturers
A comprehensive, in-depth academic course addressing inter-religious relations from different disciplinary perspectives, including anthropology, philosophy, theology, history and comparative study
Taught online with students from across the world
Timetable to include an information session on further study at the University of Cambridge, an introduction to Scriptural Reasoning, and hands-on experience with different methods and approaches
Bursary scheme
Optional one-to-one follow up meeting with the CIP Programme Manager to discuss your next steps (available to Summer School alumni)
Apply by 30 April for a 25% discount.

Use the left-hand menu to find further information, or download a complete brochure and application form below (from 18 March).

You can also register to join the convenors for an online question and answer session, 1pm on Tuesday 26 April.

Course leader

Professor Esra Özyürek, Dr Safet HadžiMuhamedović, Dr Iona Hine

Target group

No prior subject knowledge is required, but you are expected to have a strong interest in the field of interfaith studies and a readiness to engage with academic learning styles. A diversity of opinions and experiences is expected and encouraged.

You may be a student seeking to deepen and extend your existing field of study, a researcher exploring new territory, a practitioner welcoming the chance to develop your professional expertise, a faith leader wanting to learn and reflect through comparative study, or another kind of curious learner looking to understand inter-faith relations from different perspectives.

We welcome applicants without any discrimination based on ability, class, sex, gender identity or expression, sexuality, ethnicity, race, national origin or religion.

We also welcome applicants of different ages, although you will need to be 18 or older when the Summer School starts (4 July 2022).

To be able to fully benefit from the course, you should be able to read and discuss complex academic texts in English.

Participation in the Summer School is subject to payment of the relevant registration fee. We offer a bursary scheme (reduced fee) for applicants from the Global South (following the UN definition) and others from disadvantaged backgrounds, in keeping with the University’s commitment to Widening Participation. See further details in the bursary section.

Course aim

An interactive course

The Summer School is taught by University of Cambridge academics. Building on our extensive research and teaching expertise, we will guide you through a mixture of lectures, seminar discussions, interactive workshops and immersive exercises. You will have a chance to engage in the Cambridge tradition of Scriptural Reasoning, visit an online photographic exhibition of Shared Sacred Landscapes, try out your own talents for visual research, and create your own inter-faith archive!

The course structure has been revised, based on feedback from our previous participants.

Each day includes a three-hour scheduled teaching session, hosted by your convenors. During these sessions, you will have lectures, masterclasses, and workshops with different members of the teaching team. At the end of each session, you will have chance to question the convenors and to continue informal conversations with other participants.

Between sessions, you will have exercises to complete, and the opportunity to interact with one another in the online learning environment.

Course content

What will you learn about? Some of the topics that we consider are:

Plurality & diversity

religious plurality & social change;
faith-based responses to life elsewhere in the universe;
indigenization;
migration;
empathy;
shared & syncretic landscapes
Engaging traditions

Scriptural Reasoning;
religion & gender;
visions of hell;
religion & ways of seeing
Creativity & change

theology & poetry across religious traditions;
music;
photography & cognitive mapping;
religious conversion;
religious encounters in history and today
Violence & the sacred

religion & conflict;
problems of violence and evil;
colonialism, nationalism & religion;
scripture & violence
Interfaith methodologies

methods & methodologies for the research of interfaith and inter-religious relations: archival, visual, ethnographic, phenomenological, hermeneutic

Learning outcomes

Those who complete the Summer School will:

demonstrate familiarity and critical engagement with different theoretical and practical approaches to interfaith relations;
understand the benefits and limits of historical, anthropological, philosophical, theological and visual methods in the study of inter-faith relations;
gain practical experience in archival, visual and autoethnographic research;
locate connections between your studies/work and scholarship on inter-faith relations;
have a grasp of Scriptural Reasoning and engage in critical, comparative reading of scriptures;
be able to discuss the relations between religious plurality, politics and subjectivity;
develop an awareness of historical and contemporary inter-faith relations and challenges;
gain expertise to be academic researchers, teachers, activists, religious leaders, writers, artists, public speakers, event organisers or consultants in the field.

Fee info