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Jews and Muslims in London: Navigating between commonalities and differences in a superdiverse city
Author(s): van Esdonk, Susanne
Date: 2020
Topics: Jewish - Muslim Relations, Interfaith Dialogue, Interfaith Relations, Inter-Communal Relations, Dialogue, Main Topic: Other
Abstract: This thesis seeks to answer the question of how Jews and Muslims in London configured constructive engagement between 2014 and 2016 and how the interplay between various factors influenced the way in which engagement was forged and sustained. It demonstrates how Jewish-Muslim engagement is frequently situational, forged in response to certain trigger events and circumstances such as the intensification of transnational conflicts, changes in national government and developments in the composition of local neighbourhoods. Concerning the configuration of constructive engagement, the thesis demonstrates an interplay between goals and substantive approaches and that the capacity to forge and sustain engagement depends highly on actors and funding opportunities, as well as the (successful) application of strategies to deal with difficulties and tensions. Together, the multitude of actors, goals and approaches and the plethora of influential contextual factors create a highly diverse and widely dispersed landscape of Jewish-Muslim engagement in London.
Scriptural Reasoning among Jews and Muslims in London: Dynamics of an Inter-Religious Practice
Author(s): van Esdonk, Susanne; Wiegers, Gerard
Date: 2019
Topics: Main Topic: Other, Interfaith Dialogue, Jewish - Muslim Relations, Jewish Texts and Text Study
Abstract: Scriptural Reasoning (SR)—the philosophical inter-religious study of foundational religious texts—came into being as an academic practice in the 1990s. In this article, based on empirical research, we analyse how in London over the past decades this practice has gradually been applied by new groups—including as a means for Jewish-Muslim engagement, the focus of our research. We discuss the ways in which the role of the foundational religious texts in SR practices has changed and how Jewish and Muslim initiators and participants at the local level now navigate between academic theological guidelines, daily interactions, and grassroots’ objectives for inter-religious engagement. We argue that SR practices, after having been adapted to community and individual needs and responding to religious and social caveats from different sides, provide a meaningful approach to constructive and dynamic interaction and engagement between Jews and Muslims at a grassroots level.