Religion in Public Life
Globalisation for the Common Good

Invited seminar convened by:

The Revd Canon Vincent Strudwick
Chamberlain and Fellow Emeritus,
Kellogg College,
Emeritus member of the Theology Faculty,
University of Oxford
(Mawby Pavilion, Rewley House, June 5th 2008)

Distinguished guests, friends, ladies and gentlemen,

First, Vincent, please allow me to thank you for your kind words of introduction and welcome. I am most grateful to you and thank you for all your efforts and hard work to make this seminar and this gathering possible. I would also wish to thank Dr. Farhang Jahanpour for bringing us together, discovering that we share much in our research and academic interests and outlook.

Secondly, I cannot tell you what a pleasure it is for me, to be here in Oxford with you today. It is always a very special joy for me to return to Oxford. It is here that I first landed all those years ago in 1971 as a young man coming from Iran.  It is in Oxford that I met my future wife, Annie, here with me today. It is here where I have met many wonderful friends some in this room today.  It is to Oxford I returned in the early 2000s to study Pastoral Theology in my search for life’s bigger picture.

But it is a particular privilege to be back to Oxford today, to share with you my journey for Globalisation for the Common Good (GCG). We at the Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative fully believe that the rich heritages of the world’s religions have much to offer in the drive to promote global peace, justice, and human well-being. While globalisation is all too often conceived in terms of impersonal economic and the so-called market forces, we believe that in breaking down the barriers between cultures, it also provides the possibility for productive inter-religious and inter-cultural encounters. We at GCG seek to celebrate religious diversity while seeking to overcome ideological divisions to harness the wealth of the world’s diverse spiritual and ethical traditions to create a sense of common purpose that can enable us to build social and economic policies that are truly humane and life-enhancing.

The Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative was first established in 2002 at a conference in Oxford. Since then, the GCG International Conference has become an annual event growing as it has traveled across the globe through St. Petersburg, Dubai, Kenya, Hawaii, and Istanbul. The 2008 conference is at Trinity College, University of Melbourne, and the 2009 conference is scheduled to take place at Loyola University, Chicago.

These multi-disciplinary conferences have been lively and productive affairs, in which scholars, politicians, businessmen and women, NGO leaders, theologians, journalists, peace activists, and students from many diverse faiths and cultural backgrounds have come together from around the world for intense discussions on a spiritual and value-centred vision of globalisation and the common good. Indeed, we have now moved from research and discussion to articulate position papers and an active agenda for change in the international community and its economic and development policies.
 
Our work over the past few years has given rise to numerous collaborations, several book publications, and academic papers, as well as the establishment of the rapidly developing online Journal of Globalisation for the Common Good. There are also modules on Globalisation for the Common Good offered at different unversities around the world, including Fatih University in Istanbul and Trinity College, University of Melbourne.

We at the Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative believe that the current developments in promoting inter-faith relations are a vital step in adapting humanity to the age of globalisation. We look forward to being able to play a part in what we hope is a fruitful period of inter-religious dialogue which can see peace, justice, and human well-being furthered across the globe.

And now I will share a bit more on my journey of a wonderful discovery, namely, Globalisation for the Common Good; a vision and an initiative we can believe in to heal our broken world.

Click the link to download more of this lecture in Adobe .pdf format - June 2008 Oxford Lecture