Dialogue and Difference : An Interfaith Conference

Dialogue and Difference

A Pagan, a Muslim woman and a male Muslim college lecturer were less familiar figures in the main lecture room at Ripon College Cuddesdon last autumn than John Drane, author of ‘The Macdonaldisation of Church,’ Hugh Boulter, chair of ODCIC (Oxford Diocesan Committee for Inter-Faith Concerns) and Anthony O’Mahony of Heythrop College, London. To audiences of around 50 comprised of people from around Oxford Diocese who had managed to find their way through the mists and Oxford countryside to the venue and students from the College, ‘Dialogue and Difference’ conversations took place on three evenings over three months.

This was the first such collaboration between RCC and ODCIC, and the most important thing about it was undoubtedly the difference in witnessing and being part of engagement between people of different faith positions rather than talking about the differences in their absence. I found myself profoundly moved by the presence and words of Kate West, the Pagan representative, Selina Ullah, a Muslim woman much involved in community affairs, and Ataullah Siddiqui, Senior Research Fellow from the Islamic Foundation in Leicester and Director of the Markfield Institute of Higher Educaton, and the courage, grace and seriousness each of them brought with them to the heartlands of Anglicanism. Powerful too was the quality of friendship, understanding, and relating through clear identity and witness demonstrated in each of the dialogues, between Kate West and John Drane, Hugh Boulter and Selina Ullah and Anthony O’Mahony and Ataullah Siddiqui.

The format for each evening was to hear the two presenters for around 30 minutes each and then to open up to questions and discussion before the rapporteur for each event summarised. Rev Anne Richards Mission and Theology Advisor to the Mission and Public Affairs Division of the Archbishops Council, Robin Richardson from INSTED (Inservice Training and Educational Development) and former Director of the Runnymede Trust and Hugh Boulter took on these roles with great facility. Chairs for the different evenings included Martyn Percy, Principal of Cuddesdon and Bishop Richard Harries, who has  participated in his own Abrahamic inter-faith group. He was there for the presentation ODCIC made to Rev Marcus Braybrooke to mark all his contribution to inter-faith dialogue after his recent retirement from full-time ministry. A wealth of different experience was represented around the room from those involved around the Diocese.

Just a taste, that’s what the evenings gave us, which left us wanting more, and more of the direct encounter, not just the talking about it. It felt as though we were just getting to the interesting bit of the conversation by the end of each evening. To be continued. . . in many and varied ways.

ODCIC and Ripon College hope to make the talks available shortly and as audio files to be downloaded from the RCC website. Watch out for future co-productions!

Rosy Fairhurst is Director of Mission and Ministry, Ripon College Cuddesdon.