The World Council of Churches (WCC) has announced an essay competition for youth who want to reflect on the theme “The Future of Interreligious Dialogue.” The contest marks the 50^th anniversary of the WCC’s Office of Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation.

The contest aims to encourage people under the age of 30 with interests in the field of interreligious relations and engagement to develop and share their ideas on different subjects such as: Christian theologies of interreligious engagement; some aspect of another religious tradition which is relevant to its relationship to Christianity; religious pluralism more widely; or the theory or practice of interreligious dialogue. Essays may also reflect on interreligious cooperation for the sake of the common good; or the World Council of Churches and interreligious relations.

The five best essays, chosen by a panel of judges comprising of WCC program executives and faculty from the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, will be published in the 2021 issue of Current Dialogue, the WCC’s journal for interreligious encounter. Further, the prizewinning authors will have the opportunity to present their work in a conference on “The Future of Interreligious Dialogue” (either physically or virtually) that is being planned for 2021. At this stage it is likely that participation in this conference will be virtual.

All entries, should be 3,500-5,000 words in length (including notes), and be written in English, following the WCC style guide which is available upon request at Media@wcc-coe.org. Contributions must be the original work of the participants and should not have been published elsewhere.

The deadline for the competition is 15 January 2021.

Source: The World Council of Churches