Richard Friedli

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Richard Friedli (born December 20, 1937 in Welschenrohr ) is professor emeritus for religious studies at the University of Friborg (Switzerland) .

biography

Friedli received his basic training in theology , religion and peace studies at the Dominican Study Center in Belgium and at the University of Freiburg i.Ü. receive. He taught since 1965/66 at a high school in Kivu- Congo and 1966–1971 development ethics at the National University of Rwanda in Butare . 1971–1992 he was professor of missions and religious studies at the theological faculty of the University of Freiburg i.Ü. After leaving the order, he held the chair for comparative religious studies at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Freiburg from 1993 until his retirement in 2006. Since then he has been working in research and training groups on "Religion-Politics-Conflict": u. a. MAS program "Transformation of Conflicts and Peace" at the World Peace Academy (WPA - accredited University of Basel); Spokesman for the “Culture and Religion” working group of the Working Group for Peace and Conflict Research (AFK) (Augsburg / Bonn); Consultant for the "Religion-Politics-Conflict" desk of the Human Security Department in the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA (Bern) . He was appointed academic director by the board of directors of the World Peace Academy in early 2013.

Friedli is a founding member of the Swiss Society for Religious Studies (1977). Together with Hans-Jochen Margull and Walter Hollenweger , he founded the trilingual book series “Studies on the Intercultural History of Christianity” (Lang-Verlag, Frankfurt a. M.) in 1975. Friedli has undertaken several intercultural mandates / expert trips on behalf of various “faith-based NGOs”: u. a. in Madagascar (1975), Thailand (1977) and India (1980). He has been a member of the “ World Conference of Religions for Peace ” since 1974 and headed the interreligious working group “Spirituality Definition” at its 3rd World Conference in Princeton / USA (1979).

Richard Friedli is married and has one son.

Work / research focus

Since teaching in the post-colonial context of Eastern Congo and Rwanda (1965 ff) and through his advisory work in the post-genocidal reconciliation processes " gacaca " in Rwanda (since 1994 until today), Friedli has dealt scientifically with the conditions of "practical religious studies" and “applied peace research”. His basic academic option is based on the one hand on constructivist future-oriented cultural anthropology and on the other hand from intercultural social sciences. Social science methodologies and basic knowledge of the history of religion are therefore part of the theoretical and practice-oriented foundations of his public intercultural and sociological interventions. The university study programs in comparative religious studies, which Friedli created in Friborg in an interdisciplinary way, therefore also include study trips, "cultural immersion" on site, the preparation and follow-up of which was planned for two academic years for the approx. B. 1974 "in the footsteps of the Buddha" in northern India and in a Buddhist monastery in Thailand; 1977 in the Central African contexts of Tanzania ( Ujamaa socialism), Rwanda and Zaire; 1980 theologies of liberation in Mexico, Colombia and Peru; 1982 in China (social sciences in Beijing and Nanking) and Japan ( Risho Kosei Kai ); 1988 in Zaire: Kimbangu Church in Kinshasa and Nkamba. Friedli's understanding of university politics is thus articulated around the function and responsibility of the institution “university” in the socio-political, local and global network.

Fonts (selection)

In addition to the publications already mentioned above:

  • “Foreignness as a home. In search of a criterion for the dialogue between the religions ”, Zurich-Freiburg i.Ue. 1974 (doctoral thesis)
  • "Some Aspects of an Inter-Religious Spirituality in the Service of Peace", in: Homar A. Jack, "Religion in the Struggle for World Community". Proceedings of the WCPR III: Princeton 1979, New York 1980, pp. 259-266.
  • “Dare to make peace. A Contribution of Religions to the Analysis of Violence and Peace Work ”, Freiburg I.Ue 1981.
  • “Between heaven and hell - the reincarnation. A handbook on religious studies ”, Freiburg i. Ue.1986.
  • "Le Christ dans les Cultures", Paris-Friborg 1989.
  • “Tolerance and intolerance as a topic in religious studies. From the mid-life of religions to the deep culture of conflicts ”, (Vol. 1 of the Gustav Mensching Lectures for Religious Tolerance, edited by Udo Tworuschka), Frankfurt am Main 2003.
  • Art. “Intercultural Theology”, in Müller K. / T. Sundermeier, Lexicon Missiontheological Basic Concepts, Berlin 1987, pp. 181–185.
  • "Conflict Transformation with Religious Dimensions. Mediators as Transcultural Go-Betweens ", in: Gesa Mackenthun et al.," Agents of Transculturation: Border-Crossers, Mediators, Go-Betweens ", Rostock 2012.
  • Applied religious studies on the test stand. A contribution to the participating action research, in: Burkard Franz-Peter u. a., practical religious studies: theoretical and methodological approaches (Festschrift Prof. Udo Tworuschka), Lit-Verlag, Berlin 2014, 21–34.
  • Reconciliation without surrender. A workshop report, in: Ueli Mäder, Barbara Schürch, Simon Mugier (eds), Reconciliation. Forgive without forgetting ?, Edition gesowip, Basel 2014, 53–78.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ World Peace Academy - PEACE ACADEMY. In: world-peace-academy.ch. Retrieved February 11, 2013 .
  2. ↑ In the anniversary volume 150 of 2010 "Intercultural Perceptions and Prospects of World Christianity" (eds .: Richard Friedli, Klaus Kokorschke, Theo Sundermeier, Werner Ustorf) Friedli wrote the "Postcript: Variations on Intercultural".
  3. ↑ See his articles on "Applied Religious Studies", in: Hamid Reza Yousefi u. a. (Ed.), “Ways to study religion. An intercultural orientation ”, Nordhausen 2007, pp. 79–93; and in: Michael Klöcker, Udo Tworuschka (ed.), “Practical Religious Studies”, (UTB 3165), Cologne-Weimar-Vienna 2008: intercultural considerations on business and business ethics (pp. 207–215) and international conflicts (SS . 216-227).
personal data
SURNAME Friedli, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss scholar of religion
DATE OF BIRTH December 20, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Welschenrohr