UNITWIN/UNESCO
Network of the Chairs on inter-religious dialogue for intercultural understanding
Phone: +41 (0)76 504 82 26
Mail: office@inter-cultural.org
UNESCO Chair on Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures and Inter-religious Dialogue
The UNESCO Chair on Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures and Inter-religious Dialogue was initiated in 2001, based on the facilities of the St.Petersburg Branch of the Russian Institute for Cultural Studies. Dr. Dimitri Spivak is the second and actual Chairholder. He is also Director of the St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Institute for Cultural Studies. The Chair has swiftly become a medium-scale center of research and education, contributing to dissemination of the ideals, principles and good practices elaborated in the framework of UNESCO, both at national and international level. Extensive lecturing activity was provided by six honorary professors of the Chair, mostly centred upon philosophical foundations of religions, their history and psychology, and present-day means of leading constructive interfaith and cross-cultural dialogue. Internet resources, as well as radio and TV, have been actively involved in promoting intermediate results of these manifold activities, both at regional and national level. Novel forms of activities have also been introduced, e.g. by granting Prof. D. Ivashintsov the possibility of forming a department of the Chair, dedicated specifically to Russian studies.
The main objectives of the Chair were defined by its founding chairperson, Dr. Liubava Moreva, who acted in close contact with the UNESCO authorities. These objectives are to strengthen the contribution of higher educational institutes to education and research concerning the main cultural and religious principles of harmony and unity in a multi-ethnic and pluri-religious society, to foster active development of international cooperation in the sphere of advanced interdisciplinary comparative studies of philosophical, psychological and ethical aspects of inter-religious and cross-cultural dialogue and to hone sharp attention to people’s perception of values and meanings, and to educate young people in a spirit of peace and tolerance, solidarity and intercultural and interfaith dialogue.
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