Historical PeriodEra
Modern (1893, 1993, 1999+)
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Festivals
Parliament of the World's Religions
Chicago 1893 & 1993 — The Meeting of Faiths
Chicago 1893 & 1993 — The Meeting of Faiths
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The World's Parliament of Religions was the first global interreligious conference in history. It was held in Chicago from 11–27 September 1893, as part of the World's Columbian Exposition marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the Americas. For the first time, delegates from Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity (Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant), Shinto, Taoism, and the Baháʼí Faith (indirectly) addressed a single global audience.
It is widely considered the birth of the modern interfaith movement. Its centenary gathering in 1993, also in Chicago, produced the declaration "Towards a Global Ethic" drafted by Swiss Catholic theologian Hans Küng — the first serious attempt to articulate a shared moral framework across the world's religions.
Convened by: Rev. John Henry Barrows (Presbyterian minister) and Charles Carroll Bonney (Chicago lawyer).
Location: The "Hall of Columbus" in the then-new Memorial Art Palace of Chicago (now the Art Institute of Chicago), Michigan Avenue.
Participation: Approximately 4,000 delegates and addresses, with daily audiences reaching 4,000–7,000 listeners.
Significance for India: The Parliament introduced Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain thought to American and European audiences at an unprecedented scale. For Asia it marked the first assertion of non-Christian religions as world-historical equals on Western soil.
This encyclopedia gives primacy to how each faith's own delegates named and defined themselves at Chicago 1893. This table records those self-designations:
| Tradition (modern English) | Delegate(s) at Chicago 1893 | Self-Designation(s) Used |
|---|---|---|
| Hinduism | Swami Vivekananda (Ramakrishna Order); Protap Chunder Mozoomdar (Brahmo Samaj); Manilal Nabhubhai Dvivedi | Hinduism / Sanātana Dharma / Vedanta (Advaita) / Brāhmo Samāj (reformist stream) |
| Theravāda Buddhism | Anagarika Dharmapala | Buddhism / Southern Buddhism (as the then-common distinction) / Sinhalese Buddhism |
| Mahāyāna Buddhism (Zen) | Soyen Shaku (translator: D. T. Suzuki) | Buddhism / Northern Buddhism / Japanese Buddhism / Zen |
| Jainism | Virchand Raghavji Gandhi | Jainism / Jaina philosophy / Jaina dharma |
| Zoroastrianism | Jeanne Sorabji (represented Parsee community of Bombay); Jinanji Jamshedji Modi (paper presented in absentia) | Zoroastrianism / Parsee Religion / Mazdayasna |
| Judaism | Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch; Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler | Judaism / Reform Judaism / Judaism of the Synagogue |
| Roman Catholic Christianity | Cardinal James Gibbons; Archbishop John Ireland | Catholic Christianity / Roman Catholic Church |
| Orthodox Christianity | Archbishop Dionysius Latas (Zante) | Greek Orthodox Church |
| Protestant Christianity | Various — Rev. John Henry Barrows, Rev. Henry Harris Jessup et al. | Evangelical Christianity / Protestant Churches |
| Islam | Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb (American Muslim convert) | Islam / Mohammedanism (period term the delegates themselves sometimes used, though considered disrespectful today — "Islam" was always the self-name) |
| Confucianism | Pung Kwang Yu (Chinese legation secretary) | Confucianism |
| Shinto | Nobuta Kishimoto; Shibata Reiichi | Shinto |
| Taoism | Pung Kwang Yu (delivered paper on Taoism) | Taoism / Tao-chiao |
| Bahá'í Faith | Introduced indirectly by Rev. Henry Harris Jessup quoting Bahá'u'lláh's letter to Edward G. Browne | Referred to at the Parliament as Bábism / the teaching of "the Persian Prophet" — the community's self-name was Bahá'í (established c. 1863 by Bahá'u'lláh), but it was not self-represented at Chicago |
| Sikhism | Did not formally participate in 1893; later Parliaments featured Sikh delegates | Self-name: Sikhī / Gurmat ("the Guru's way") / Khalsa Panth |
How ELGODS uses these names: When defining a religion, we lead with the name its own representatives used. We retain external English labels (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, etc.) for accessibility, but we foreground the self-designation wherever possible. This is an editorial principle grounded in respect for each community's right to name itself.
Speaker: Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902), disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Opening address: 11 September 1893, beginning with the words "Sisters and brothers of America" — which received a standing ovation lasting several minutes.
Five addresses in total:
Principles enunciated:
Legacy: Vivekananda's addresses are universally regarded as the catalytic event introducing Hinduism to the modern Western world. His subsequent 4-year lecture tour through America and Europe founded the Vedanta Society (New York, 1894), which continues today.
Speaker: Anagarika Dharmapala (1864–1933), Sinhalese Buddhist revivalist and founder of the Maha Bodhi Society.
Principles presented:
Legacy: Dharmapala's addresses launched the global Theravāda Buddhist revival. His Maha Bodhi Society successfully restored Bodh Gayā to Buddhist control in the 20th century.
Speaker: Virchand Gandhi (1864–1901), 29-year-old Jain scholar.
Principles presented:
Legacy: First major presentation of Jainism to a Western audience. Virchand Gandhi subsequently lectured extensively in the USA and Europe before his early death at age 37.
Despite its Christian-Protestant framing and colonial-era context, the Parliament articulated principles that crossed traditions:
Date: 28 August – 4 September 1993, Chicago. Attendance: ~8,000 participants from 125 faith traditions. Principal document: "Towards a Global Ethic: An Initial Declaration" — drafted by Hans Küng and signed by more than 200 religious leaders.
Subsequent gatherings (every 5–7 years):
The 1893 and 1993 Parliaments are the historical anchor-points for treating the world's religions as equal objects of study. Principles articulated at these gatherings — religious pluralism, the Golden Rule, ahiṃsā, the dignity of every person, interfaith dialogue as a moral duty — underpin the editorial stance of ELGODS as a respectful encyclopedia of divine traditions.
