Throughout the last two decades the modern dialogue movement has gained worldwide
significance. The knowledge about its origins is however still very limited. This book
presents a wide range of insights from eleven case studies into the early history of several
important international interreligious interfaith dialogue organizations that have shaped the
modern development of interreligious dialogue from the late nineteenth century up to the
present. Based on new archival research they describe on the one hand how these actors put
their ideals into practice and on the other how they faced many challenges as pioneers in the
establishment of new interreligious interfaith organizational structures. This book concludes
with a comparison of those case studies bringing to light new and broader
historico-sociological understanding of the beginnings of international and multi-religious
interreligious interfaith dialogue organizations over more than one century. The World's
Parliament of Religions 1893 The Religiöser Menschheitsbund 1921 The World Congress of
Faiths 1933-1950 The Committee on the Church and the Jewish People of the World Council of
Churches 1961 The Temple of Understanding 1968 The International Association for Religious
Freedom 1969 The World Conference on Religion and Peace 1970 The Council for a Parliament
of the World's Religions 1989-1991 The Oxford International Interfaith Centre 1993 The
United Religions Initiative 2000 The Universal Peace Federation 2005 Based on these
analyses the authors identify three distinct groups with sometimes-conflicting interests that
are shaping the movement: individual religious virtuosi countercultural activists and
representatives of religious institutions. Published in cooperation with the King Abdullah Bin
Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious & Intercultural Dialogue Vienna.
