Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life
Questioning "World Religions"
A Conversation
Monday, November 16, 2026, 12:30-2:00pm
Light lunch provided.
From its invention in the late nineteenth century though to the present, the category of “world religion” has served not only to demarcate the boundaries of certain forms of interfaith dialogue, but also shaped how courts define and protect religious freedom, how scholars of religious studies imagine their fields of inquiry, and, more generally, how non specialists conceptualize what religion is and what all religions seem to share. This event will feature scholars in conversation about the category of “world religion” and the modern emergence of interfaith dialogue, touching on the history and legacy of Chicago’s “Parliament of World Religions” and other key moments in the institutionalization of interreligious relations in the United States and elsewhere.
Speakers:
Rebekah Coffman (Chicago History Museum)
Alexander Rocklin (Kenyon College)
Location: Casa Hispánica 612 W. 116th
Series: Interfaith: The Practice, History, and Politics of Dialogue
Register here