Over the last decade, interreligious and interfaith studies have flourished in religion and theology departments, emphasizing the value of religious literacy for professional, vocational, and civic leadership. Everyday Wisdom offers an accessible introduction with an emphasis on lived religion, interreligious studies, and interfaith engagement and leadership. Hans Gustafson first explores the study of religion and interreligious studies, including the complexity and dynamism of religious identity, the global religious landscape, lived-religion approaches to the study of religion, and (inter)religious literacy. He then examines the relationship between the academic field of interreligious studies and the civic project of interfaith engagement. Focusing on interreligious studies, he explores various responses to religious diversity, while welcoming the role of secular and pluralist forces in religiously diverse societies. Gustafson introduces the dominant theological modes of approach to other religious traditions and to interreligious theological encounter, and examines the vital experience of human relationship across religious difference for inter- and intra-personal and purpose development, changemaking, and leadership. By holistically tying together several of the ultimate aims and common learning objectives of interreligious-studies courses, Gustafson proposes a framework, based on practical wisdom, for interreligious studies and interfaith leadership. Everyday Wisdom aims to be a core text in undergraduate and graduate courses in the fast-emerging field of interreligious and interfaith studies, as well as for the wider context of the study of religion and leadership.
Hans Gustafson is director of the Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, where he teaches courses in theology and the study of religion.
Introduction Part I: Interreligious Studies (IRS) 1. "Religion" and Interreligious Studies 2. Global Religious Identities 3. Messy Religion 4. Multiple Religious Orientations 5. Lived Religion 6. Lived Interreligious Encounter 7. (Inter)Religious Literacy Intermezzo: IRS & IFE 8. Spider Silk, the Rock Climber, and Rocky Balboa's Broken Nose Part II: Interfaith Engagement (IFE) 9. The "Interfaith" Lexicon 10. Encountering Religious Diversity 11. Pluralism(s) and Secularism(s) 12. Theological Encounters 13. Friendship Across Difference 14. Practical Interfaith Wisdom 15. Everyday Leadership
