Global Ethic and religions

 

The thematic horizon and the basis of the Global Ethic idea is located in the conversation with the religions and the humanist traditions of the world. Since the 1980’s, Hans Küng, as a Catholic theologian, has systematically pursued discussion with non-Christian religions. He is engaged in inter-religious research and in dialogue with religious representatives from around the world.
 

The basis of Hans Küng’s work was laid in his early dialogues with experts in religious studies (Josef van Ess, Heinrich von Stietencron, Heinz Bechert, Julia Ching) concerning Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and the Chinese religions.
 

In the context of the upheaval at the end of the 1980’s, Hans Küng posed the question of the role played by religion in today’s society. He attracted attention with the thesis „No peace among the nations without peace among the religions!“ and made it the programmatic basis of his book “Projekt Weltethos” (English: “Global Responsibility: In Search of a New World Ethic”). Hans Küng is convinced that shared ethical values can serve as a peace-keeping bond for the community of nations and can help us to live together more freely, more justly, and more peacefully in our globalized world.
 

Inspired by the book “Global responsibility”, the initiators of the 2nd Parliament of the World Religions in Chicago, 1993, asked Hans Küng to draft a “Declaration toward a Global Ethic”, which at the Parliament would be discussed and underwritten by religious representatives from around the world. This document became the programmatic basis for the Global Ethic Foundation established in 1995.
 

Within the framework of the Foundation, Hans Küng has continued his inter-religious research. Scientific cornerstones of his studies are his theory of the three religious stream systems and his theory of paradigm change in the history of religions. Hans Küng has applied these ideas in his comprehensive books on Judaism, Christianity and Islam. And Stephan Schlensog has continued the series with his book on Hinduism.
 

Pioneering inter-religious work has also been contributed by Karl-Josef Kuschel with his books on the Abrahamite religions: “Streit um Abraham”(= Controversy about Abraham), “Jud, Christ und Muselmann vereinigt? Lessings Nathan der Weise” (= Jew, Christian and Muslim united? Lessing’s „Nathan the Wise“), and above all “Juden, Christen, Muslime – Herkunft und Zukunft” (= Jews, Christians, Muslims – the Origins and the Future). You can find detailed bibliographical information on the above mentioned works as well as about other relevant inter-religious studies in the context of the Foundation under
  
-›› Literature on Global Ethic
 

A further stage of the work was marked by Hans Küng’s multi-media project “Spurensuche. Die Weltreligionen auf dem Weg” (English: Tracing the Way), on the basis of which the exhibition “World Religions – Universal Peace – Global Ethic” was put together. Since 2000, it has been travelling around the world, being presented in diverse languages.
 

Since its inception, the Foundation has been active around the world in the inter-religious field, with conferences (see Global Ethic International and Basic Documents), projects (see Youth Camp “Find your World”), and diverse publishing activities. It supports persons and organizations engaged in the inter-religious field, and it promotes the worldwide spread of the Global Ethic idea as the necessary basis for a fruitful inter-religious dialogue.