The IIRF is pleased to announce Dr. Kyle Wisdom as a research fellow and collaborator. He has recently completed his PhD through Middlesex University in the area of political philosophy. Dr. Wisdom’s research focused on ways religious traditions can play a meaningful role in political society without necessarily usurping the state’s authority. Drawing on the writings of Nurcholish Madjid, an Indonesian, Muslim philosopher, Dr. Wisdom proposed civil religious pluralism as a political philosophy that addresses the chronic tension between religious and state authority. If justice is a chief end of the democratic state, then the entire society, including religious communities, is implicitly responsible for contributing towards this goal. A holistic administration of justice becomes possible when the religious goods held by religious selves, expressed in religious moral orders, are placed in dialogue within civil society.
Dr. Wisdom draws on his education in research, his experience in Muslim-Christian relations, and cross-cultural awareness after living in Indonesia for over a decade to contribute to IIRF’s mission to promote religious freedom for all faiths from an academic perspective.