Editor-in-Chief Georges Mghames English Editor Kenneth Mortimer ...

May 27th Inauguration of the CRVP/NDU
(Edward J. Alam)
I must begin first of all by thanking our President,
Father Walid Moussa, for agreeing to host the Council
for Research in Values and Philosophy here at NDU,
and for having confidence in me when I was asked
to become the General Secretary of the Council in
the fall of 2009—a culmination of conversations and
negotiations that began between me and the previous
General Secretary in the summer of 2009 in Cambodia
and then later in China. The Council (known
throughout the world now as the RVP) grew out of a
series of international philosophy conferences in the
1970’s that took place in India and South America.
In 1983, it was established as an NGO in Washington,
D.C., and today cooperates with a network of scholars
virtually everywhere on the globe. One of its great
claims to fame was the significant role it played in
philosophically developing and disseminating the
concept of Solidarity, when the heart and soul of the
RVP, and its founder, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy,
Father George Francis McLean, traveled to Poland and
worked closely with another outstanding professor of
philosophy by the name of Karol Wotilja, later to be
known as Pope John Paul II.
After great success in Poland and Eastern Europe
through what was to become the trademark of the
RVP, namely, 10-week intensive seminars, which I will
say a bit more about in a moment, Father McLean
had prolonged stays in India, China, and Egypt and
the opportunity to spend sabbatical years studying
Indian philosophy, Chinese philosophy, and Islamic
philosophy with notable masters in these traditions.
Thus, his work became a global movement with global
ramifications. The 10-week seminars were set up in
such a way as to give philosophers from around the
world ample time to get to know one another’s work,
but more importantly, to get to know one another,
which served to strengthen a global network of
philosophers from different religious faiths and various
cultures. Organized around a timely theme, scholars
prepare academic papers which are then presented
and corrected over a ten-week period, benefiting from
critical, interdisciplinary, and intercultural interaction
with thinkers from other traditions. The result over the
last 25 years has been a 260-volume book series titled
Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change. The goal
of the RVP is to assist philosophers from around the
world in mining their own cultural, philosophical, and
therefore, inevitably, religious treasures and to bring
this treasured wisdom to bear upon contemporary
changes and challenges.
Issue 52
June 2011
In a word, to promote a dialogue between modernity
and tradition, taking into account the complex variety
of all that both these categories entail. Over time,
and with the shrinking appreciation in academies
around the world, of the Humanities in general and
of philosophy in particular, 10-week seminars proved
to be too long and costly. Thus, the 10-week seminars
were reduced to 6 weeks, and then to 5. We have
been very fortunate, due to the generous support of
NDU and the Iranian Institute of Philosophy, to hold a
three-week seminar, which began on May 16 and will
end this coming Tuesday on May 31st. Our theme,
Philosophy and Mysticism between Europe and Asia:
The Cosmopolitan Dimensions of Islamic Thought
and Spirituality, has attracted accomplished scholars
from around the world, beginning with the Executive
Director of the Iranian Institute of Philosophy, just
mentioned, Dr. Gholamreza Aavani, whom I would
like to publically and personally thank once again for
covering all the airline expenses for scholars coming
from Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa, Nigeria, Iran,
India, Russia, and America. Unfortunately, our Indian
scholars had unforeseen difficulties in attending,
but have submitted scholarly papers which will be
published along with the other proceedings of the
seminar. Accomplished Lebanese scholars and Institutes
have also participated in the seminar, most notably,
Dr. Richard Khuri of the Lebanese American University,
whose important book, Freedom, Modernity, and
Islam, dedicated to Albert Habib Hourani, was the
main reference text for the seminar. Moreover, the
Sapiential Knowledge Institute for Religious and
Philosophical Studies in Beirut also hosted us and has
pledged to support the work of CRVP/NDU in the
future. I would like to thank Mahmoud Yuness, one
of our own NDU graduates, who is here representing
Sheikh Shafiq Jaradi of the Sapiential Institute.
Needles to say, the themes we have been dealing
with over the last few weeks, namely freedom and
modernity, in the context of Islam and religion in
general, could not be more timely or important for
Lebanon, for this region, and for the world. Over
the last few weeks, we have been engaged in serious
conversation regarding the meaning of freedom, the
meaning of modernity, the nature of religion, and
the nature of Islam. We are convinced that our work
has made a difference precisely because it has made a
difference for us: ideas have consequences and these
consequences begin in the way individuals live out
their own little lives. Tomorrow, a number of us will
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