Wednesday, April 6, 2011

CANADIAN STUDIES ON ISLAM with IIMS projects

PlottingIn the latest issue of the Canadian journal Academic Matters, Tariz Ramadan – the noted Islamic scholar and Oxford University fellow who was refused entry to the US by the Bush administration – traces the changes and continuities in the West’s interest in Islam. Self-interest still reigns, he argues, and it is time for long term investment in a more serious, more academic, and less ideological framework for university Islamic Studies.

Ramadan’s article, “Plotting the future of Islamic Studies: Teaching and research in the current political climate", leads an issue of Academic Matters titled God on Campus (or religion in academia). Other articles include:

How religious studies misunderstands religion
The University of Toronto’s CT McIntire says religious studies can offer leadership for the construction of new templates to replace the modernist, scientific model in the university.

Theology and religious studies in the academy: co-existing paradigms and contested categories
The University of Toronto’s Roger Hutchinson’s hopes that the evolution of religious studies means those who seek the common good by banishing religion from the public realm and those who embrace religious diversity in our public space can work together to resist threats to the public university.

Jewish Studies, the State of Israel, and anti-Semitism on Canadian campuses
York University’s Martin Lockshin describes how Jewish Studies have become an almost universal offering at Canadian universities – but within a chilly climate.

University chaplaincy for today’s students: What does it mean?
Carleton University chaplain Tom Sherwood writes that ecumenical chaplaincies at universities do more than nurture spirituality and ethical values. Wherever a university has such a spiritual and religious resource, he argues, it is better able to maintain its own best tradition and integrity.

Religion and Ecology in the Canadian Academy: Scientific Knowledge Has Its Limits
The ecological crisis raises critical questions about the meaning of existence itself and deeply confronts our ability to hope. Anne Marie Dalton of St Mary’s University believes the new field of Religion and Ecology can help.

EditorialMatters
Academic Matters’ editor-in-chief Mark Rosenfeld looks at the difficult questions involving religion facing the academy today. Are there limits to accommodation? At what point does respect for diversity and difference undermine academic freedom and integrity in university teaching and research?

               the future of Islamic Studies  pls mail to                shafi@zuhoorihealing.com

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