On the 16th of March 2023, The Inter-Religious Symposia (IRS) Platform held its inaugural academic workshop, looking at the theme of The Nature of the Soul and Death, from the perspectives of the three Abrahamic traditions. The IRS has been convening interfaith meetings since 2018. This workshop sought to further those efforts and project the standpoints, from renowned theologians, into the academic arena. This workshop managed to bring together scholars from various persuasions from within each of the three Abrahamic faiths, each presenting on the topic from various disciplines within religious study. Presentations included those that posed jurisprudential, theological and philosophical questions. As such, the day’s panels were arranged to discuss, firstly, how theological tenets inform jurisprudential stances on the soul and death; secondly, addressing beliefs about the transition from this life to the next; and lastly, tackling the subject of the nature of the soul itself and its possible existence before this life. Debates and discussions from the presentations spilled over into the lunch, tea and coffee breaks. Furthermore, the workshop proved to be an excellent networking event between scholars of the different faiths, thus allowing further collaborative work in the future.
Resources:
| Speaker Name & Affiliation | Title of Research Paper (Click to View Abstract) | Listen to Podcast |
|---|---|---|
| Rabbi Jeff Berger (KAICIID Dialogue Centre and GERIS-EU) | Ritual Washing Before Burial: A Comparison | Listen Now |
| Reverend Dr Scott S. McKenna (Ayr St. Columba) | In Support of Assisted Dying: A Christian Perspective | Listen Now |
| Professor Ali Fanaei (Al-Mahdi Institute and Mofid University) | Qur’ānic Conceptions of Life, Death, and Resurrection | Listen Now |
| Professor Maria Massi Dakake (George Mason University) | The Soul, the Barzakh, and Human Transformation in Life and Death | Listen Now |
| Professor Christopher Clohessy (The Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies) | Living Eschatologically: A Catholic Understanding of Death | Listen Now |
| Shaykh Arif Abdul Hussain (Al-Mahdi Institute) | A Case for the Pre-existence of Human Souls: A Qur’ānic Perspective | Listen Now |
| Rabbi Mark L. Solomon (Leo Baeck College, London) | Not a Simple Soul: Jewish Views of the Human Psyche | Listen Now |
Gallery:
