Special issue of Religions: Interfaith, Intercultural, International

The interdisciplinary papers in this issue of Religions traverse boundaries relating to faith, culture, life forms and/or nations. This collection draws together current and sometimes ground-breaking scholarship regarding the barriers to, and facilitators of, enhanced understandings. Each article focuses on the challenges between faiths, between cultures, forms of life and/or between nations. Religion itself is conceived as one of a wide range of social practices, given practical, devotional, instrumentalist and educational expression. In some cases, religion can be a key to critical insights and a guide for actions and behaviour. In others, it is more peripheral, diffused across a range of imperceptible habits. Each of the contributions to this special issue will strive to break down social, cultural, ecological and economic divides, especially as they relate to fundamental human rights and responsibilities. The case studies highlighted in this issue are testament to a new approach to contemporary scholarship, one that places human responsiveness and rights at the core of academic theory and practice.