Christian-Muslim and Muslim-Christian dialogue initiatives, movements and organisation

Since the emergence of Islam as a religion with global presence, dialogue between Christians and Muslims can be found in the common history of the relationships between these religions along, of course, with other modalities ranging from tolerance and parallelism through to pressure and violence. The focus of this chapter is not so much on the more general shape of Christian–Muslim relations as found in and between the historical societies informed by these religious traditions or on the theologically interpretive or sociologically descriptive and analytical aspects of these relations which other chapters in this book discuss. Rather, it highlights contemporary examples of specific collective forms for this relationship as manifested particularly in terms of ‘intentional’ movements, organisations and initiatives as both constituted by and concerned with dialogue between Christians and Muslims. Reference is also made to some initiatives, organisations and movements that encompass Christian–Muslim dialogue within a broader set of relationships – and especially those that involve Muslims, Christians and Jews. Space constraints dictate that what is described and discussed is necessarily selective but hopefully be illustrative in grounding the chapter’s analysis and evaluative discussion in examples from across a number of contexts.

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