Oxford Interfaith Forum

The Oxford Interfaith Forum is an interfaith, intercultural, and interdisciplinary academic hub connecting scholars and communities across the world to explore academic exchange in interfaith contexts with interdisciplinary lenses.

Overview

The Oxford Interfaith Forum advances scholarship related to theology and comparative religions. It runs its signature Thematic International Interfaith Reading Groups, focused on a number of academic disciplines:

Eastern Christianity in Interfaith Contexts, chaired by Prof Sebastian Brock, FBA
Psalms in Interfaith Contexts, chaired by Revd Prof John Goldingay, DD
Science and Religion in Interfaith Contexts
Art in Interfaith Contexts

International collaborations, and linguistic and cultural diversity

The Oxford Interfaith Forum designs and hosts academic and community engagement events to promote cultural and linguistic diversity.

Sacred sounds

2023 - Awake, My Soul! An Interfaith Exploration of the Psalms Through Music, with Deus Ex-Musica
2024 - Celebrating Interfaith Harmony: Singing Together, Across Languages and Time, with Ashmolean Museum
2025 - Attuning the Mind to the Divine: The Pluriversal Archive of Sikh Liturgical Songs, with Hofstra University
2025 - Sacred Music and Sacred Poetry, with Ashmolean Museum

Sacred art

2025 - Sacred Scripts, with Ashmolean Museum
2025 - Rustaveli's Gift to Humanity, Multilingual Poetry Reading dedicated to the 65th Anniversary of the Recovery of Shota Rustaveli's Fresco in the Jerusalem Monastery of Holly Cross, held at All Souls College

Science and religion

2023 - Awakened Brain, with Prof Lisa Miller at the Spirituality Body Mind Institute, Columbia University
2025 - Death and Dying in Interfaith Contexts, with Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies (ICJS), USA
2025 - Decoding the Cosmos, with Cambridge Interfaith Programme, University of Cambridge

International recognition, awards, and impact

The Oxford Interfaith Forum' s contribution to religious education and peace has been recognised by prestigious international prizes:

The 2024 Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize, awarded by Hofstra University, New York, US^[1]^[2]^[3]
The 2023 UN World Interfaith Harmony Week Award, awarded by HM King Abdullah II of Jordan^[4]

The Forum's activities have been featured in:

Endowed interfaith lectureships

Edward K. Kaplan Interfaith Lectureship, endowed by Dr Jana Kaplan (Brandeis University) on behalf of her family.

Oxford Interfaith Forum connects communities

A theology student at Durham University wrote about her experience with the Oxford Interfaith Forum. ^[5]

References

^ "Recipients of Hofstra's 2024 Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize Announced". Hofstra University. 3 December 2024. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
^ "Oxford Interfaith Forum awarded prestigious international prize". Oxford Mail. 21 May 2025.
^ "Oxford Interfaith Forum awarded prestigious international prize". This is Oxfordshire. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
^ "UN World Interfaith Harmony Week". World Interfaith Harmony Week.
^ Goodgame, Gretel (25 November 2025). "Widening the Table: How the Oxford Interfaith Forum is Connecting Community". Oxfordshire Guardian. Retrieved 25 November 2025.

External links