To acquaint himself with the soul of Islam Jonas Yunus Atlas had openhearted conversations with influential Muslim scholars and artists. For three years this Christian theologian met with academics, Sufis, feminists, punkers and poets from Jakarta to New York and from London to Lahore. This journey brought him new inspiration and insights which might help us transcend some of our current global tensions and conflicts on the often convoluted crossroads of religion and society .

The Halal Monk project had two aims: to be a concrete project of sincere interreligious dialogue and to seek for ways out of the cultural and religious impasse our world seems to be creating.

Within efforts of interreligious dialogue the more difficult questions are often circumvented by superficial talks in which the different parties respectfully listen but seldom truly engage. Halal Monk therefore wanted to revive the tradition of true interreligious debate and discussion like it used to be held between wandering monks, travelling artists and journeying preachers. The Halal Monk project did not do so for the sake of the argument but because of the hope that such deeper debate might lead to unexpected solutions for the problems this world is facing.

For the project website:
www.halalmonk.com

For the book:
click here