Call for Papers

Date: March 16, 2023

Venue: Al-Mahdi Institute, Birmingham, UK

Abstract Submission Deadline: December 12, 2023

Since 2018, the Inter-Religious Symposia (IRS) platform has been successful in bringing together representatives from the three Abrahamic faiths, to appreciate each other’s perspectives on various theological issues.

The Annual IRS Academic Workshop seeks to advance these discussions further into the academic arena, delving into the theological topics that are of shared concern.

The Inaugural Annual IRS Academic Workshop in the Eschatology Series, hosted by Al-Mahdi Institute (AMI), provides a forum for sharing perspectives related to the nature of the human soul, its transitioning at the point of death and the nature of death itself. Being the first workshop in the series, its theme is based on the start of the eschatological journey. The soul and death, at the end of this temporal realm, are both topics of extensive discussion within all three Abrahamic traditions, stemming from their respective scriptures and sacred texts.

In line with the ethos of the IRS platform, the workshop will bring together scholars from various persuasions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, enabling each to understand, appreciate, compare and even critically assess the standpoints of others, in an open and safe academic environment.

This workshop, therefore, seeks to explore theological standpoints on the nature and makeup of the human soul and its creation, answer questions about its im/mortality, and examine notions about the soul’s characteristics. Part of this examination also assesses the relationship of the soul to the physical body and interrogates theological positions about the traits of the soul; whether they are incidental or essential, temporal or perpetual.

More information on: Almahdi Institute