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 in Comparative
The UNESCO Chair in Comparative Studies of Religions at Manouba University proposes to give a substantial dash in the Tunisian participation in the modernization of our apprehension of the whole religious fact and the renew of the dialogue of cultures and religions. This, while taking as a starting point the orientation that UNESCO defined at the World Conference on higher education held in 1998 and the World Forum of the UNESCO Chairs from 2002. In the line of this orientation, the Chair takes part in putting the academic education in the effort of consolidation of the dialogue of cultures and religions through the promotion of the comparative and open studies of the religions and civilizations. Tunisia, a modern country which enjoys a higher education corresponding to the requirements and the international standards, offers an opportune ground for the experimentation of a modern model of teaching as regards religions which could be extended to the whole Arab and Moslem world as well as to the Moslem communities living in Occident or in countries with a Moslem minority. The main objectives of the activities of the Chair are firstly to take part in the rapprochement of the universities and research centers from the UNESCO member countries, in the consolidation of the rational thought and the multi-field approaches, in the exchange of knowledge, experiments and publications as well as in the internationalization of the teaching programs; then, to develop the instruction and the research in the field of modern and comparative studies of religions and civilizations as well as to offer the opportunity of common reflexion about the current problems of humanity; also to give the dialogue of the religions a new breath in this era of globalization and information; furthermore, to prepare the youth with a tolerant and open vision of the religions and civilizations and to encourage the teaching programs to adopt this spirit of approach; and to strengthen the occasions of meeting, connection and co-operation between the academics, the researchers and the organizers in the field of the modern and comparative studies and the dialogue of the religions; and finally, to promote at the Arab and African universities and research centers the Tunisian asset as regards the modern studies of the religious and civilization facts. Moreover, the Chair organizes some public conferences which allow giving the students and a bigger public some presentations about the development of the science and of the history of religions, about the modern research methods, the reflexion and the actual theories in this field. These conferences have the goal to familiarize the Tunisian public with the world religions in order to encourage a spirit of tolerance and of mutual comprehension. The Master of comparative studies of religious facts and civilizations is currently directed by Prof. Mohamed Haddad, the actual Chairholder. It is about an innovative experiment in the Arab world, where Islam and the other religions are generally taught within the frameworks of the national orthodox traditions. The Master proposes a critical historic approach, from the point of view of comparative religions. |
