Interreligious study. Order the books and learning materials through this website. Have fun with the puzzle and the stories to read. Examples of interactive learning materials and a few lines from the books. Contact information of the Foundation Trialogue. Overview of the published works and books. Koran, Bible, Tenach. Three traditions, one story. Welcome to the Trialogue Foundation! Information about the Trialogue Foundation. Request a lecture and/or workshop, or ask for more information via a form. Motivation of the author Mrs. Dr. Francien van Overbeeke-Rippen. Back to the indexpage of the Trialogue Foundation.
The author Dr. Francien van Overbeeke-Rippen
Dr. Francien van Overbeeke-Rippen Why does one choose a subject like 'Trialogue'? It is not completely out of the blue. It has to do with a course of life, crossing boundaries and getting acquainted with other lifestyles.
The history began in Irian Jaya, former Dutch New Guinea, where Jan and I went as a young couple. The word 'development work' did not yet exist, but in this country without roads and with only air-traffic Jan had to maintain the technical equipment for the radio connections with aeroplanes as well as with civil services.
When this task unexpectedly ended in 1962 due to transfer of New Guinea to Indonesia, we decided first to educate our children in The Netherlands, considering when the children would have been grown up, we could accept a new development task.
That happened many years later in Pakistan, a mostly islamic country. A Christian Technical Training Centre with 70% moslim and 30% christian students asked for an engineer for setting up an electronic department and training local staff who could take over the job afterwards. Sent by our church in The Netherlands als 'world servants' we worked from 1986 and completed the teacher training in 1991.
Meanwhile I was busy to supply my Pedagogics with a study Theology, specialized in the theology of Islam. Back in The Netherlands I wrote a thesis about the similarities and differences between Islam and Christianity and between Koran and Bible; I defended this thesis in 1998 to obtain my doctor's degree.
Nevertheless, gaining a doctorate is not an aim in itself; rather it is to opem the way to a dialogue and trialogue. So I continued reading and writing and I started lectures about the relationship between the Abrahamic faith groups: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. So interreligious meetings have a high priority for me. Furthermore I am active for WCRP, the World Conference of Religions for Peace. There are meetings on national and European level as well as worldwide Assemblees. In 1999 Jan and I were present in Amman, Jordan. With 1500 other people we were the guests of de Royal Family in Jordan during five days. There, government leaders and religious leaders of conflicting areas from all over the world spoke about their hope and their initiatives for world peace.