Dr Josef Boehle - A Brief Biographical Note
Dr Josef Boehle is Research
Fellow in Globalisation, Religion and Politics at the Department
of Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham, UK and he is the Director
of the Peace Charter for
Forgiveness and Reconciliation.
From
2004–2010 Dr Boehle was the Coordinator of the
UNESCO Chair in Interfaith Studies and from 2005-2010 a member of a UK
Government (DFID) sponsored Research Consortium on 'Religions and Development'
at the University of Birmingham.
Conference on Interfaith
Cooperation for Peace, 22 June 2005,
United Nations Headquarters, New York
He received a postgraduate degree in Theology from the
University of Tübingen, Germany and received his
PhD from the University of Birmingham in 2001 for his thesis on 'Inter-religious Co-operation in a Global
Age'.
He taught modules on ‘Religion in Contemporary
Global Politics’ and on ‘Religion and Peacebuilding’ at the
University of Birmingham. He is currently working on a research project on ‘Religion and Peacebuilding: A
Critical Analysis and Overview of Key Actors in International Relations’
and on publications on Religion in a
Global Age and Forgiveness,
Reconciliation and Peacebuilding.
He has worked for international interreligious organisations and helped to organise major conferences and summits addressing interreligious, intercultural and intercivilisational issues, including the first URI Global Summits and Charter, a Symposium at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on 'Unity in Diversity. Ethical and Spiritual Visions for the World' in November 2000, the Conference on Interfaith Cooperation for Peace at UN Headquarters on 22 June 2005 and the Civil Society Hearing of the High-level Dialogue on Interreligious and Intercultural Understanding and Cooperation for Peace of the UN General Assembly in October 2007.
United Religions Initiative Charter Signing,
June 2000, Pittsburgh, USA
He participated in the Millennium NGO Forum at the UN in May 2000, the
Millennium World Peace Summit at the UN in August 2000, the Conference on Interfaith
Cooperation for Peace in June 2005 at the UN, the High-level Dialogue on
Interreligious and Intercultural Understanding and Cooperation for Peace of the
UN General Assembly in October 2007, the first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth
UN Alliance of Civilizations Forum in Madrid, Spain (2008), Istanbul, Turkey
(2009), Doha, Qatar (2011), Vienna, Austria (2013) and Nusa Dua,
Bali, Indonesia (2014). In October 2010 he was one of the Interfaith
Visionaries to be honoured at the 50th Anniversary Gala and Conference of the
Temple of Understanding in New York City. He is now the Director of the Peace Charter for Forgiveness and
Reconciliation.
Selected Symposia, Conferences, Workshops,
Publications: Timeline of Dr Boehle
Earth Community: Globalisation and
Civilisations,
Seminar organised at UN Association–UK,
Oxford Branch, Oxford Union, 23 February 1999.
The UN System and Dialogue among
Religions and Civilisations,
Paper Presented at the
Higher Education for Peace Conference, University of Tromsoe, Norway, 6
May 2000.
Unity in
Diversity. Ethical and Spiritual Visions for the World, Presenter and Member
of Organising Team,
Symposium at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France, 19
November 2000.
Josef Boehle speaking at Unity in Diversity. Ethical and Spiritual Visions for the World,
Symposium, UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France, 19 November 2000
Inter-religious
Co-operation in an Age of Globalisation, Paper presented at conference of Centre UNESCO
de Catalunya, World Trade Centre, Barcelona, 1
December 2000.
The Growth of
International Inter-religious Activity, Paper presented at Transnational Civil Society
Seminar,
London School of Economics, 2 June 2001.
Inter-religious
Co-operation and Global Change: From a Clash of Civilisations to a Dialogue of
Civilisations,
Paper presented at 2002 Annual Meeting of Academic Council on the United
Nations System, Cascais,
Portugal, 22 June 2002.
Religious
Co-operation or Confrontation?
Paper presented at An
Inter-faith Perspective on Globalisation 2002 Conference,
Plater College, Oxford, 29
July 2002.
Inter-religious
Cooperation and Global Change:
From a Clash of Civilisations to a Dialogue of Civilisations
Paper published in Pacifica Review: Peace, Security and Global Change,
Volume 14, Number 3, October
2002.
Inter-religious
Co-operation in a Global Age,
Paper
presented at North-South Roundtable, Cairo, Egypt, 28 November 2002.
Inter-religious
Cooperation and Global Change:
From a Clash of Civilisations to a Dialogue of Civilisations,
Paper presented at ‘An Inter-faith Perspective on Globalisation 2003
Conference’,
St Petersburg, Russia, 28
April 2003.
Inter-religious
Cooperation and Global Change:
From a Clash of Civilisations to a Dialogue of Civilisations,
Paper presented at International Student Forum, Rothermere
American Institute,
Oxford University, 21 May
2003.
Religions and
International Institutions,
Paper presented at UK Pre-parliament Event, preparing for the 2004
Parliament of the World's Religions,
Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha, Birmingham, UK, 13 October 2003.
Workshop on
Globalisation, Moderator,
International Summit 'Towards a Culture of Harmony and Peace',
preparing for the 2004 Parliament of the World's Religions,
New Delhi, India, 9 December 2003.
Religions and
Cooperation for the Common Good,
Paper presented
at ‘An Inter-faith Perspective on Globalisation 2004 Conference’,
Dubai, UAE, 28
March 2004.
Symposium on ‘Religions
and International Institutions’, Moderator,
2004 Parliament
of the World’s Religions, Barcelona, Spain.
Globalisation and
Religion,
Paper presented
at One World Forum, University of Warwick, 16 January 2005.
Religion, Civil
Society and the UN System,
Paper presented
at UN Seminar Series, Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies,
Graduate Centre,
City University of New York, New York, 30 March 2005.
Religions, Civil
Society and the UN System,
Paper presented
at the Conference
on Interfaith Cooperation for Peace at United Nations Headquarters,
New York, 22
June 2005.
Religions and
Globalisation: What is the Outlook?,
Paper presented at the Conference on
‘Religions and Globalization: Disorder or Harmony’
organised by the Institut Aspen France, Lyon,
1-2 July 2006.
The UN System and
the World(s) of Religions and Cultures,
Workshop organised at the 2007
Annual Conference of the Academic Council on the United Nations System,
Ralph Bunche Institute for
International Studies, City University of New York, New York, 8 June 2007.
Religions, Civil
Society and the UN System,
Paper published in Studies
in Interreligious Dialogue, Volume 17, No 1, July 2007.
High-level
Dialogue on Interreligious and Intercultural Understanding and Cooperation for
Peace
Advisor and
Respondent at the Interactive Hearing with Civil Society of the High-level
Dialogue,
United Nations
Headquarters, New York, 4 October 2007.
Interactive Hearing with Civil Society, High-Level
Dialogue, United Nations Headquarters,
New York, 4 October 2007
Religion in
Contemporary Global Politics, Paper presented to Commonwealth Scholars and Fellows
at a weekend seminar at
Cumberland Lodge, invited by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, 13
April 2008.
Religion in the Public Sphere, panelist in discussion at
Launch of Commonwealth Scholarship
Commission ‘Faith and Civil
Society’ Network, Birkbeck College, London,
17 January 2009.
Religion in a Global Age: Initiatives at
the United Nations, Plenary Speaker at
the 2nd International Conference on
‘Integrating Spirituality and Organisational Leadership’, 10
February 2009, Pondicherry, India, invited by the Faculty of Management
Studies, University of Delhi.
Universal
Ethics Summit and
Dialogue among Civilizations, Cultures and Religions, Moderator of two panels,
during G20 Moral Politics side event organised
in the context of the G20 Summit, November 2010, Seoul
and Iksan City, South Korea.
Co-convenor, laboratoire/workshop on Interfaith Collaboration and Global
Development,
4th UN Alliance of Civilizations Forum, 12 December 2011, Doha,
Qatar.
Can
Religious NGOs Help to achieve Development Goals?,
Paper presented at 10th Annual Conference ‘Globalisation
for the Common Good’, 4 September 2012,
Waterperry House (near Oxford), UK.
Co-organiser and Panelist, 1 April 2014, The University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
International
Symposium on Forgiveness and Reconciliation,
Lead Organiser of Symposium and Director of Charter for Forgiveness
and Reconciliation,
Nishkam Centre, Birmingham, UK, 2 April 2014.
Dr Boehle, International Symposium on Forgiveness and
Reconciliation,
2 April 2014,
Nishkam Centre, Birmingham
Charter for Forgiveness and
Reconciliation, Workshop Presentation,
34th World Congress
of the International Association for Religious Freedom, 25 August 2014,
The University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
Some Selected International Meetings in 2016 and 2017:
Dr Boehle (4th from left), Interreligious
Pilgrimage, Ujjain, India, May 2016
Dr Boehle at Peace Pledge Conference, International Peace
Palace, The Hague, 13 September 2017
Dr Boehle at Religions for Peace
Audience with Pope Francis, 18 October 2017
Dr Boehle with Pope Francis at Religions
for Peace Audience, 18 October 2017
Advisory Group Meeting of
Network of Religious and Traditional Peacemakers,
Rose Castle, UK, 15-17 November 2017.
Recent Publications:
The UN System and Religious Actors in the Context of Global Change,
in: CrossCurrents, Volume 60, No 3 (Special Issue on Religion
and the UN), September 2010.
Religious
NGOs at the UN and the Millennium Development Goals: an Introduction,
in: Global Change, Peace and Security, Volume 22, No 3,
October 2010.
Trialogue in an Interreligious Context: Reinterpreting the
Dialogue Model of Martin Buber,
in: Culture and Dialogue Volume 6, Issue 2, November
2018.
Religion and Politics in a Global Age: A
New Vision for Inter-religious and International Relations,
(I.B. Tauris, monograph,
forthcoming).
Dr Boehle’s research
focuses on inter-civilisational, inter-religious
dialogue and co-operation in a global age; religion, politics, peacebuilding,
conflict resolution, reconciliation and forgiveness; international
organisations and movements.
A Recent Presentation on the United
Nations System, Peacebuilding and Religious Actors (2016):
International
Inter-religious Peacebuilding and the UN System: Challenges and Opportunities
(Presentation given in Rabat, Morocco, February 2016).
He has worked with international
inter-religious organisations and has a wide experience of transnational civil
society and issues of inter-religious co-operation. Presently he researches
inter-religious co-operation, peacebuilding and international institutions and
works on publications on Religion
in a Global Age and Forgiveness,
Reconciliation and Peacebuilding. He is also the Director of the Peace Charter for Forgiveness and
Reconciliation.
He seeks to develop new perspectives and models that are needed to enable
humane answers to the challenges of globalisation, based
on respect for the diversity of cultures and religions in our world
community.
For
Academic Correspondence: j.boehle@bham.ac.uk
For Peace
Charter for Forgiveness and Reconciliation: office@charterforforgiveness.org
Copyright
© 2002 - 2020 Dr Josef Boehle