The sixth webinar in Baraza - URI Europe webinar series was titled “Christian – Muslim relations: Lessons from history about the dynamics of Muslim-Christian encounters” and it was held on 24th February. This webinar offers participants to get insight into an illustration of historical examples of collaboration between Christians and Muslims with interpretations and relevance for today. The speaker at the webinar was Baraza associate Prof. Douglas Pratt. Professor Pratt studied philosophy and theology in New Zealand and gained his PhD in Divinity from the University of St Andrews, Scotland (1984) and a Doctor of Theology from the Melbourne College of Divinity, Australia (2009).

Professor Pratt taught religious studies at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, for 30 years and is now an Honorary Professor at the University of Auckland, New Zealand where he was previously, from 1991 to 2003m, an Honorary lecturer in Theology. He has held Visiting and Honorary positions at the Universities of Heidelberg (Germany) and Oxford and Birmingham (England). In 2010 he spent a semester at Georgetown University as a Fulbright scholar and teacher and a semester in 2011 as a Guest Professor in the Dept. for Old Catholic Theology at the University of Bern. Since then he has been an Adjunct Professor. Professor Pratt is a Research Team Leader, since 2012, for the University of Birmingham based ‘Christian-Muslim Relations: A bibliographical history 600-1900’ international research project which is funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council.  Professor Pratt is also an Anglican priest and Canon Theologian emeritus in New Zealand and holds a license to officiate within the Church of England Diocese of Europe.