Dialog:Abraham
Abrahamitic trialogue initiated by students
Initiators
Dialog:Abraham was initiated by a group of students of Jewish Studies, Catholic and Protestant Theology, Islamic Religious Pedagogy and Theology.
Occasion
The initiative started as a get-together of students of the Abrahamic religions to discuss commonalities as well as differences of the traditions, their texts and questions of faith.
Target Groups
Dialog:Abraham meetings are mainly directed at Jewish, Christian and Muslim students interested in interdisciplinary text work and scriptural reasoning but also at students and young grown-ups identifying with other religions or who have no religious background.
Objectives
The initiative is a public and transparent exchange on religion, politics and society at places of study aiming at an effective and sustainable dialogue which promotes the trialogue between Jews, Muslims and Christians. Goals include the generation of insights and findings relating to new contents, alteration of false conceptions and overcoming prejudices. Dialog:Abraham also aims at building networks between religious, student and academic institutions.
Building strong networks between cooperating independent organizations, university communities etc. is being regarded essential for one of the main organizational objectives: to reach out to students, non-students, academics, Jews, Muslims and Christians as well as those generally interested and to encourage and support them in founding their own Dialog:Abraham Café.
Topics
Any concerns or matters somehow relating to religion, dialogue or topics of social relevance are welcome as subjects of discussion. The emphasis is on theological interest, in particular in the other theologies. The focus is placed on the scientific-hermeneutic analysis of texts from the Tanach, the New Testament and the Qur´an, in original language or translation, supplemented by commentary texts from the different traditions. Subjects of discussion extend to personal questions of faith and the participants´ personal religio-spiritual approaches to the texts.
Duration
The initiative started in 2015 as "Café Abraham".
Activities
During „scriptural reasonings” different texts from the three Abrahamic religions relating to a specific subject are being read, discussed and compared. No specific preparation, as would typically be required for seminars, is necessary for the discussions. Students´ own experiences and their different fields of study are deemed important in exploring and illuminating the various subjects. After the sessions, participants cook together and discuss current religio-social debates. Apart from monthly meetings, additional events relating to current discourses are being organized (p. e. on the occasion of the Day of Judaism).
Dialog:Abraham is part of the „Feiertagsgruss“ team and responsible for designing and producing the annual Interreligious Calendar.
Form of Organization
Dialog:Abraham developed out of the international initiative Café Abraham and is a non-profit organization.
Funding
Dialog:Abraham is sponsored as a „group of young grown-ups“ by the Coordinating Committee for Christian-Jewish Cooperation (Koordinierungsausschuss für christlich-jüdische Zusammenarbeit) [hier evtl. LINK zu „Koordinierungsausschuss“].
Products
- Participants are given the opportunity to publish their papers (grades must be higher than 2,0)
- Annual Calendar of religious holidays
Website | Social Media | Contact
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/dialogabraham
E-mail: dialogabraham_wien@gmx.at
editor: lz / update: jd / jv 2022