Faith & Globalisation Programme Durham University Introduction


Welcome to the Faith and Globalisation Programme, launched by Durham University in 2009, in association with the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and a number of top world universities.


The Faith and Globalisation Programme is a joint initiative by the School of Government and International Affairs and the Department of Theology and Religion. It aims at providing teaching at Masters level and postgraduate research at world class levels, in an atmosphere of vigorous intellectual exchange and collaborative work.


There is an urgent need to better understand the recent trends in the relationship between religion and globalisation, as in former historical cases, and to stimulate constructive dialogue between religious and secular voices in such contexts. Faith as a mover of personal and collective identity has prompted proactive engagement, reaction, resistance, solidarity. There is a clear sense globally of the relations and tensions between religious and secular ethical or political reasoning and action, as religious traditions, organisations and communities go public. Dialogue and conflict, convergence and isolation are some of the directions such processes are taking.


In dealing with such challenges, the Programme takes a fully interdisciplinary approach involving staff from departments across the faculties of Social Sciences and Health, Arts and Humanities, and Science. It focuses on areas such as:


• science and technology, • economics and finance, • identity and culture, • governance and politics,


through the study of various faith traditions and forms of organised religion around the world.


Interest in those areas has resulted in research into issues such as:


• the links between cultural difference and religious diversity;


• critical international political issues involving religious traditions (such as terrorism, immigration, global health issues, peace building);


• the impact of global trends across national boundaries where religious identity and activism, or various faith perspectives (including secular ones), play a significant or major part.


www.durham.ac.uk/faithglobalisation


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