Middle East Religions from Comparative Perspectives—How Religion Is Shaping the Middle East

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Religions is dedicated to the diversity of religions in the Middle East area. This topic is very broad, as it covers various religions, denominations and religious movements that have led to national, tribal, ethnic, historical, cultural and territorial diversity. It should also be emphasized that the Middle East is the birthplace of the five major monotheistic religions: Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Baha'i.

Religious diversity in the modern world is a natural thing, which was caused by numerous population migrations that were especially intense in the last hundred years. However, despite this diversity, modern man has too little knowledge of other religions. This is because in many social circles of the modern world, religion is perceived as a particularly individual and personal matter of each person. We do not know how to talk about religion, and this problem is in regard to our own religion as well as someone else's religion. In order to solve these problems, it is necessary to undertake a broad scientific discussion on the religious diversity in the Middle East. The main purpose of this Special Issue is to show the problems, challenges, threats and opportunities resulting from religious diversity, so numerously represented in the Middle East. In addition, this Special Issue is open to the study of religions from different perspectives: past, present and future. Moreover, we want the problems of religious diversity to be presented by various research communities: religion experts, political scientists, historians, philosophers, psychologists, educators, sociologists and all researchers who deal with these issues. We are committed to an interdisciplinary approach to important problems arising from diversity: security issues, politics, culture and theology. An extremely important element of this discourse is also the issue of interreligious dialogue and communication in diplomacy in the international arena, which is often an important element in the strengthening or straining of mutual relations between nations and states.

Usually, the topic of the diversity of Middle Eastern religions is raised in the context of armed conflicts (Abdulmajid 2018; Helsing 2004) or ethnic conflicts (Entelis 1979). It is also the main topic of works looking for the sources of conflicts in the Middle East (Turan 2017). Increasingly, religious diversity is becoming the foundation of research on the identity of societies (Ali 2021; Harb 2016) in the Middle East. Finally, religious diversity is an element in the research on migration (Torrado and Asua 2023) and religious communities living in the diaspora (Breskaya et all 2023; Robinson-Bertoni 2017). All these aspects also significantly affect the problems that occur in multicultural societies (Malović and Vujica 2021), as well as in interreligious (Strahovnik 2022), intercultural and international dialogue (Adamski et all 2021).

In this context, we encourage the academic community to send proposals for texts that would, in particular, study the following themes related to the diversity of Middle Eastern religions. We are interested in theoretical and empirical studies, showing the issues from both an interdisciplinary and phenomenological perspective. We also expect a critical review of the literature on various aspects of religious diversity, and we encourage you to present new research methods that enable a comprehensive presentation of the issues under consideration.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editors ([email protected], [email protected]) or to the Religions Editorial Office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring a proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

References

Adib, A. Religious Diversity and Conflict in the Middle East. Int. J. Soc. Sci. Humanit. Res. 2018, 6, 1–7.

Andrzej, A.; Piwko, A.; Sawicka, Z. Terrorism, Politics, Religion. Challenges for news media in the Middle East. Eur. J. Sci. Theol. 2021, 17, 11–25.

Amro, A. Unpacking the Arab part of Identity, Spring, and World. Mediterr. Dialogue Ser. 2021, 35, 1–11.

Olga, B.; Giordan, G.; Mignardi, M.; Sbalchiero, S. Attributes and Activities of Religious Communities in Italy: First Results from a City Congregations Study (CCS). Religions 2023, 14, 709. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14060709.

John, E. Ethnic Conflict and the Problem of Political Identity in the Middle East. Polity 1979, 11, 400–410.

Charles, H. The Arab Region: Cultures, Values, and Identities. In Handbook of Arab American Psychology; Amer, M., Ed.; Routledge: London, UK, 2016; pp. 3–18.

Jeffrey, H. The Regionalization, Internationalization, and Perpetuation of Conflict in the Middle East. In Ethnic Conflict and International Politics: Explaining Diffusion and Escalation; Lobell, S.; Mauceri, P., Eds.; Palgrave Macmillan: New York, NY, USA, 2004. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403981417_8.

Nenad, M.; Vujica, K. Multicultural Society as a Challenge for Coexistence in Europe. Religions 2021, 12, 615. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12080615.

Sarah, R.-B. Re-Territorializing Religiosity in Wholesome Muslim Praxis. Religions 2017, 8, 132. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel8070132.

Vojko, S. Holism of Religious Beliefs as a Facet of Intercultural Theology and a Challenge for Interreligious Dialogue. Religions 2022, 13, 633. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13070633.

Trinidad, T.; Asua, G. Religious Diversity and Migration: Exploring Research Trends in an Increasingly Secular Spain. Religions 2023, 14, 770. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14060770.

Kursad, T. Sources of Conflict in the Middle East: Borders or Stratified Identities? J. Def. Sci. 2017, 16, 85–113.

Prof. Dr. Aldona Piwko
Dr. Zofia Sawicka
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• diversity of religions
• Middle East
• interreligious dialogue
• intercultural communications
• religion and politics
• religious identity
• Judaism
• Christianity
• Islam
• Hinduism
• Buddhism