The Institute of Islamic-Christian Studies was founded in 1977 to promote knowledge of Islam and Christianity among Christians and Muslims, in a spirit of mutual respect and according to academic methods. Despite the Lebanese civil war that ravaged the country between 1975 and 1990, our institute has continued its activities. The institute provides teaching, supports research programs, and regularly issues publications. It also offers a documentation center and a dialogue center.
Mission and Vision: Our mission is to deepen mutual understanding between Muslims and Christians in alignment with the vision with the faculty of Religious Sciences at Saint Joseph University of Beirut (Lebanon).
The two religious traditions present in Lebanon today seek to address the vital questions of contemporary man, confronted in their diversity by the challenges of modernity. To this end, the Institute of Islamic-Christian Studies provides teaching based on interdisciplinary scientific methods.
Dialogue is a value shared by many Muslims and Christians today. The institute aims to offer meeting spaces, avenues for joint action, awareness programs, and training in interreligious mediation.
Important Undertakings:
Academic: Several of our alumni and teachers are in decision-making positions, whether in religious and political posts. Many others have earned doctorates and teach at various universities around the world.
Patriotic: The institute plays an important role in promoting understanding and establishing civil peace among the country’s different faith groups.
Research: We have several collections of manuscripts and documents, the most important of which is “Islamic-Christian Studies and Documents.” We have a research unit affiliated with the faculty’s research center (CRSR), which used to form CEDRIC. We have unpublished documents on Chrisitinan-Muslim Dialogue to be explored in the future, as well as works by prominent names in the field of Islamic studies. We host a series of conferences called “Figures of Dialogue.” We have recently completed a research project on the “Perception of the ‘Other’ in Higher Education in Lebanon,” with publications forthcoming.
Community-Service: We formed the Lebanese Group for Islamic-Christian Friendship and Dialogue (GLADIC), which has an important project called The School Project. This project consists of training secondary school students on dialogue, working through various projects, and presenting findings during a collaborative day where students from 30 schools on campus come together, exchange, and share their lives and experiences.
Human Rights: We have established a DU in religions and human rights in collaboration with Faith for Rights.
Training: we provide training in dialogue on all our campuses, as well as in non-violent communication, and various other interreligious themes and subjects.
National and International: We are a member of the PLURIEL network, a university research platform on Islam. We are also members of the Kircher Network in Europe and the Arab Group for Dialogue.
Future Objectives: We are set to launch a new project on the topic of martyrdom involving field studies on the different religious communities in Lebanon. We have recently signed an agreement with Ahl al-Bayt University in Jordan to establish a Master’s program in Islamic-Christian relations. This program, which has been set in motion, will promote better understanding and cooperation between religious communities in Jordan and beyond.
