Music as a medium in interreligious dialogue. A contribution towards a theology of dialogue

• Applicant: Dr. Verena Grüter
• Subject Area: Protestant Theology
• Term: from 2014 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 245882141

During the last twenty years interreligious music projects were initiated world wide with the aim to enhance mutual understanding and peace between religious communities. Theological research dedicated to interreligious dialogue so far has not involved in the role of music in these processes. Religious science since its "esthetic turn" has focussed on esthetic codes and the significance of sound in religions. As a matter of fact, all religious communities benefit from sound codes for their messages and to shape religious behaviour. Recent research projects focussed on the role of music in the construction of religious identities. The use of music in order to contribute to interreligious dialogue has not yet been studied.Intercultural Theology as an emerging discipline and heredetary of Mission and Ecumenism is compelled to deal with cultural shapes of religious traditions. Until today, only visual arts have been taken into account by theological research. Although some scholars call for the extension towards sound phenomena, until today this has not been put into practice.The present research project reflects music as a medium of interreligious dialogue. The theological framework comes from Intercultural and Comparative Theological studies on methods and hermeneutics of interreligious dialogues and their history in mission and ecumenism. First results of research on the role of music as a medium of cultural transformation in mission will be taken into account. The empirical foundation are several interreligious music projects. A field study has been accomplished during the festival of Musica Sacra International in Marktoberdorf 2012 and is being evaluated. Two more projects are exemplarily analyzed by means of CD´s. The biggest interreligious music festival has been realised for the last twenty years in Fès/Marocco. To my knowledge, it is the only one in a muslim context and,therefore, represents an important point of comparison with the other projects performed by Christian initiatives.Finally, I will discuss the results in the context of the "esthetic turn" in Practical and Systematic Theology: Could they be a step towards a "theology of culture of cultures"?

• DFG Programme: Research Grants