According to the Public Relations Office of the Islamic Sciences and Culture Academy, A Sacred Covenant: Essays on Family Ethics in Islam and Christianity was published in Canada in October 2026. The book is a notable example of scholarly collaboration between Muslim and Christian women in the fields of family ethics and interreligious dialogue.
One of the book’s most distinctive features is the formation of a women-led scholarly circle that transcends religious and cultural boundaries. Seven women scholars from diverse perspectives explore issues including the status of women, motherhood, marriage, chastity, child-rearing, and the challenges facing contemporary families. In addition to contributing chapters, the researchers also exchanged views on these subjects at a joint academic meeting.
The contributors include Jacinta Viegas, a Catholic theologian and professor at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome; Elena Sergienko-Rogatina, a professor at the Kazan Orthodox Theological Seminary in Russia; Maria Stajic, a Serbian researcher in Orthodox Christianity; and four Iranian scholars specializing in Islamic studies and family studies: Narges Roudgar, Seyedeh Fatemeh Ahmadi, Maryam Sahaf, and Razieh Shameli. The project brought together academics from institutions in Iran, Italy, Russia, and Serbia.
The book was developed and published in connection with the Second International Conference on Comparative Studies of Ethics in Islam and Christianity, with the Islamic Sciences and Culture Research Institute serving as its central coordinating institution.
Another notable feature of the publication is its international institutional collaboration, reflected in the inclusion of the logos of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Italy, the Kazan Orthodox Theological Seminary in Russia, the Ibn Sina Institute in Moscow, and the Institute for Islamic-Christian Dialogue, alongside the logo of the Islamic Sciences and Culture Academy on the back cover.
Following its publication, the book has also been listed for purchase or order through several major international retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, ThriftBooks in the United States, Readings in Australia, Orell Füssli in Switzerland, and IBS in Italy, as well as a number of other reputable international bookstores.
The publication of A Sacred Covenant is significant because Muslim and Christian women are brought together not merely as subjects of religious studies, but as independent thinkers and active participants in interreligious dialogue. Through this collaborative work, they seek to draw on the shared capacities of the two religious traditions to address contemporary family-related issues.