Emmanuel Pisani
Born in 1972 in France, Emmanuel Pisani is deputy coordinator of Pluriel, director of the Dominican Institute for Oriental Studies (IDEO) in Cairo since 2020, and associate professor at the Vice-Rectorate for Research of the Catholic Institute of Paris (ICP). Since October 2023 he also holds the Anawati Chair “Fight against religious extremism by interfaith dialogue” at IDEO.
His research focuses on Islamic studies, Muslim theology of religions, and the relationship between Islam and otherness. He holds doctorates in philosophy (Jean-Moulin University, Lyon III) and theology (Catholic University of Lyon, UCLy), and has devoted particular attention to the thought of al-Ghazali. His dissertation on heterodox and non-Muslim believers in the work of this medieval theologian earned him the Muhammad Arkoun Prize in 2014. It was published by Vrin in 2022 under the title Hétérodoxes et non musulmans dans la pensée d’al-Ġazālī.
Emmanuel Pisani teaches Islamic studies and interreligious dialogue at several institutions. He directed the Institute for Science and Theology of Religions (ISTR) at ICP from 2013 to 2021 and has served on several occasions as editor of the scholarly journal MIDÉO (2014-2021; 2024). He has convened numerous international conferences, including “The religious Other in tafsīr” (2023) and “Islam and otherness” (2021). A polyglot, he is notably fluent in German, English, Italian and Arabic.
His recent publications include edited volumes such as Théologies musulmanes des religions (Cerf, 2024) and Dynamiques de l’islamologie en Europe (Cerf, 2023), as well as articles on Islam and Islamism, authority in Islam, and theologies of religions. He regularly contributes to media outlets and advises public institutions on these issues.
Resources of this researcher
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videos
The theme of the Cordoba congress
- Emmanuel Pisani
An opening presentation of the stakes of the 5th international congress of the University Platform for Research on Islam (Pluriel), held in Cordoba from 10 to 14 February 2026 on the theme “E...
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Revival and Dynamics of Islamic Studies in Europe
- Michel Younès
- Emmanuel Pisani
- Cédric Baylocq
- Zohra Aziadé Zemirli
- Michele Brignone
- Haoues Seniguer
“In a troubled international context where Islam is sometimes defined as an ideological marker of many conflicts, academic research drawing on history, sociology, and political science has mu...
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Muslim Theologies of Religious Pluralism. Proceedings of the Colloquium Held on November 20 and 21, 2021
- Emmanuel Pisani
- Cédric Baylocq
- Anne-Sophie Vivier-Muresan
- Zohra Aziadé Zemirli
- Charbel Attallah
- Haoues Seniguer
- Youssouf Sangare
The laboratory of the Institute of Science and Theology of Religions of Paris (Theologicum, ICP) presents here the outcome of four years of research on the theme of religious pluralism in Islam. Wh...
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MIDÉO No. 37: Recitation in the early centuries of Islam
- Emmanuel Pisani
The history of reciting the Quran has been rarely studied. This volume comprises most of the papers presented at the Third IDEO Conference held in Cairo in October 2020 on reciting in the early Isl...
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videos
Synthesis of the congress ‘Islam and Otherness’
- Emmanuel Pisani
Friar Emmanuel Pisani, Director of the Dominican Institute of Oriental Studies, Cairo 3rd International Congress of the PLURIEL network, from 23 to 27 May 2022 in Beirut. In partnership with the Un...
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Heterodox and non-Muslim in the thought of Abū Ḥāmid al-Ġazālī
- Emmanuel Pisani
This study addresses the question of how to view and understand religious otherness from a Muslim perspective, in the light of one of its greatest thinkers. Starting from a questioning of the statu...
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videos
al-Ġazālī, a figure of a magisterial authority?
- Emmanuel Pisani
Conference « Religious Authority in Islam », organised by the Centre for the Study of Cultures and Religions and the Research Unit of the Catholic University of Lyon (UCLy), on 18 and 19 November 2...
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MIDEO 36 – Iǧtihād and taqlīd in Sunnī and Šīʿī Islam
- Emmanuel Pisani
The theme of iǧtihād and taqlīd, by pointing to the notional antagonism between independent reasoning on the one hand and submission to the argument of authority on the other, plunges us into the h...
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Religions and dialogues
- Emmanuel Pisani
Founded in 1967 in the wake of the Vatican Council II at the request of the missionary congregations and of Rome, by Fathers Jean Daniélou and Henri Bouillard, the Paris Institute of Science and Th...
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MIDEO 35 – Interactions between Twelver Shiites and Christians
- Emmanuel Pisani
This volume 35 is made up of a dossier gathering most of the papers presented at the conference held in April 2018 at the Institut Catholique de Paris on the interactions between Imamites and Chris...
Resources related to
Muslim-Christian Dialogue
article
Kenneth Cragg and the Event of the Qur’an
- Timo Güzelmansur
Article by Timo Güzelmansur published under the title Kenneth Cragg und das Ereignis des Koran on the theological portal feinschwarz.net (12 June 2026, open access). Timo Güzelmansur presents the A...
article
Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas and the Pluriel working group on AI-assisted interreligious dialogue
- Wael Saleh
Text by Wael Saleh, researcher at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and member of the Pluriel coordination committee. The simultaneous appearance of Leo XIV's encyclical Magnifica Human...
publication
The Recognition of a Hummingbird. Essays on Interreligious Dialogue and Missionary Work (2007-2025)
- Rémi Caucanas
Published in May 2026 by PISAI (Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Rome), this collection brings together the essays of Rémi Caucanas on interreligious dialogue and missionary wor...
videos
From Lavigerie to PISAI: The Institutional History of the Missionaries of Africa’s Engagement with Islam
Delivered on 21 May 2026 at the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) in Rome, this lecture opens the series of conferences marking the institute's centenary (1926-2026). Fr. ...
videos
Interreligious Dialogue and Ethnic Nationalisms in the Balkans
At the invitation of PISAI (Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Rome) and Georgetown University, Ahmet Alibašić, professor of Islamic civilization at the Faculty of Islamic Studies...
publication
For a Christian Theology of Religions
- Michel Younès
Faced with contemporary religious diversity, how can Christian theology make sense of the place that other religions occupy in God’s design? Michel Younès examines the three traditional ̶...
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Intercultural Theology
- Jean Patrick Nkolo Fanga
Because every theology is culturally situated, Christian theology is inevitably multicultural. Yet one step remains to be taken: to become intercultural. Crossing languages, contexts, origins, ages...
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Bells and Muezzin in Harmony: Dialogue with Islam as a Spiritual Responsibility
- Timo Güzelmansur
Article by Timo Güzelmansur published under the title Glocken und Muezzin im Einklang. Der Dialog mit dem Islam als geistliche Verantwortung in Herder Korrespondenz (special issue devoted to Pope L...