Imperial Dreams and Realities: The Shaping of Social Pluralism in the Middle East
Professor Malik Habib gave the inaugural lecture in this planned new series on 2 October 2018 in Zurich, Switzerland and on 4 October 2018 at Boston College, Boston, USA.
His lecture was entitled ‘Contemporary Imperial Actors and their Impact on Socio-Religious Pluralism in the Middle East’. A video of the lecture can be viewed below.
Press release, Boston, 5 October 2018
Lebanese Christian Scholar: U.S. and Russia Should Cooperate to Protect Pluralism in Middle East
Habib Malik Sees Imperial “Callousness” Towards Plight of Minorities
When it comes to preserving the Middle East’s endangered religious pluralism, “all possibilities must be explored” Professor Habib Malik said at a public lecture at Boston College on Thursday. The historian particularly highlighted the benefits that a joint American-Russian effort to “enhance religious freedom” would have for the region’s beleaguered religious minorities and for the fight against Islamic radicalism.
In his lecture, entitled, “Great and Regional Powers in the Modern Middle East: Imperial Actors and their Impact on Socio-Religious Pluralism” Professor Malik explored in rich detail the history of outside intervention in the Middle East, and what this history can teach us about the existential threat faced by religious minorities in the Middle East today. The lecture was organized by Christian Solidarity International, and co-sponsored by Boston College’s Department of Slavic and Eastern Languages and Literatures, the History department, the program in Islamic Civilization and Societies, and the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry…
To continue reading, download the press release
About the speaker: Dr. Habib C. Malik is an Associate Professor of History and Cultural Studies at LAU Byblos, Lebanon. He has lectured and written widely in both English and Arabic on topics that include the history of ideas, Kierkegaard, existentialism, human rights, the plight of native Middle Eastern Christian communities, Lebanon, democracy in the Arab world, inter-religious dialogue, America and the Middle East, and Christian faith in a secular world.
Prof. Malik’s father Charles Malik, a Lebanese academic, diplomat and philosopher, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lebanon from 1956 to 1958, was responsible for the drafting and adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 2018 marks the 70th anniversary of the groundbreaking UN declaration, which is one of the founding pillars of CSI (Art. 18, freedom of religion).