Josef Boehle - A Short
Biographical Note
Dr Josef Boehle is Research Fellow in Globalisation, Religion and
Politics at the Department of Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham,
U.K. and is also the Focal Point of the UN Alliance of Civilizations at the
University of Birmingham.
He taught modules on ‘Religion in Contemporary Global Politics’ in
2007/08 at the University of Birmingham and is now teaching a module on
‘Religion and Peacebuilding’. He is
currently working on a research project on ‘Religion and Peacebuilding in International Relations’ and on
publications on 'Religion in a Global Age'.
He received a postgraduate degree in Theology from the University of Tuebingen, 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 has worked for international interreligious organisations and helped
to organise major conferences and summits addressing interreligious,
intercultural and intercivilisational issues,
including a Symposium at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on 'Unity in Diversity.
Ethical and Spiritual Visions for the World' in November 2000.
From 2005-2010 he was a member of a UK Government (DFID) sponsored Research
Consortium on 'Religions and Development'.
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 and fourth
UN Alliance of Civilizations Forum in Madrid (2008), Istanbul (2009) and Doha,
Qatar (2011). 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.
Selected Publications, Symposia and
Workshops:
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.
Inter-religious Co-operation in an Age of Globalisation,
Paper presented
at 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.
The Future of
Interfaith Organisations, Graduate Seminar
organised at Graduate Institute for Theology and
Religion,
University of
Birmingham,
29 April 2002.
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
of the UN General
Assembly,
Advisor and Respondent at the Interactive
Hearing with Civil Society of the 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.
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.
Religion and Politics in a
Global Age: A New Vision for Inter-religious and International Relations,
(I.B. Tauris,
monograph, forthcoming 2012).
Dr
Boehle’s field of research is inter-civilisational, inter-religious dialogue and co-operation
in a global age, focusing on international organisations and movements. 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 and international
institutions and works on publications on
Religion in a Global Age.
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.
E-mail:
j.boehle@bham.ac.uk
