Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue

The Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue (FIIRD) was founded in 1999, sponsored by the Levant Foundation with the University of Geneva in Switzerland "to pursue its scholarly and humanistic goals with the main objective of fostering understanding of the three monotheistic religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism." The main program of the FIIRD is to enhance knowledge and the critical examination of the wellsprings of each religious tradition and then to acquire the linguistic and strategic tools needed to study the normative scriptures of these religions without syncretism or proselytism.

Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees currently includes

• Prince El Hassan bin Talal, of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
• Archbishop Michael L. Fitzgerald, Apostolic Nuncio in Egypt (who replaced Foundation co-founder and Trustee Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI)
• Chief Rabbi Rene-Samuel Sirat, former Chief Rabbi of France
• Sayyed Jawad Al-Khoei, Imam Al-Khoei Benevolent Foundation
• Emmanuel Adamakis, Metropolitan of France, Liaison Office of the Orthodox Church to the European Union
• Maitre Michel Halperin, Lawyer, Member of the Grand Conseil de la Republique et Canton de Geneve and its President in 2006
• Professor Damaskinos Papandreou, former Metropolitan of Switzerland and Director of the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate (Chambes/Geneva)
• Jamal Daniel, also FIIRD co-founder, current Vice President, and Trustee.

Projects and Goals

In 2006 the FIIRD published a boxed set of the three Holy Books, the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Holy Qur'an.

Another goal of the FIIRD, strongly supported by the Levant Foundation, was to create a post-doctoral program at the University of Geneva in the field of interreligious and intercultural dialogue whereby several Fellows, each possessing a PhD in theology, philosophy, history or other humanities and dedicated to further their knowledge and understanding of the monotheistic religions, participate in approved research and publish their results all done with the goal of searching for peace between the Abrahamistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

List of FIIRD Fellows

• Vito Evola
• Leila El Bachiri
• Naël Georges
• Guila-Clara Kessous
• Stefano Bigliardi
• Omar Fassatoui

External links

• "Prince Hassan launches new foundation for inter-religious, inter-cultural research", Jordan Times, Tuesday, May 4, 1999
• Prince El Hassan's webpage for the Foundation for Intercultural and Interfaith Research and Dialogue
• The Levant Foundations page for the FIIRD
• Pope Benedict XVI's address to the Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue, 1 February 2007
• FIIRD Academic Fellows announced for 2011/2012