Dr. Christian Machek
Dr. Christian Machek was born in Germany to an Austrian father and a Belgian mother, and grew up in various countries including Iraq, Greece, and Indonesia. He studied philosophy and theology in Austria, earning a doctorate in theology from the University of Vienna in 2011. He is the author of a monograph on political philosophy Die Rückkehr zu den Ursprüngen der politischen Philosophie: Die katholische Soziallehre, Leo Strauss und Eric Voegelin als Repräsentanten des klassischen Naturrechts [Return to the Origins of Political Philosophy: Catholic Social Teaching, Leo Strauss, and Eric Voegelin as Representatives of Classical Natural Right] (Schöningh-Verlag, 2012). He is also co-editor of a collection of essays on natural law: Das Naturrecht Quellen und Bedeutung für die Gegenwart [Natural Law: Its Sources and Its Relevance for the Present] (Be&Be Verlag, 2015).
Sheikh Dr. Taher Amini Golestani
Sheikh Dr. Taher Amini Golestani was born in Ardebil, Iran. He has studied both at the Hawzah (Seminary) in Qom, and at the University. In the seminary he is now in his eighteenth year, and is engaged in advanced Kharij studies in Jusriprudence (Fiqh), principle of jurisprudence (Osoul alFiqh), Theology (Kalam) and Philosophy. At the University he studied culture and communications as well as Islamic studies. His dissertation in Islamic studies is on the Holy Spirit in Shi’ism and Catholicism. He is an expert in inter-religious dialogue, especially Christian-Muslim dialogue, and has taken part in many inter-religious conferences, and published numerous articles on inter-religious dialogue. He is the founder and head of the International Institute for Peace and Religions.
Dr. M. Malek Afzali
Abbasali Barati
Prof. Abbasali Barati was born in Yazd 1957 and entered Islamic seminary in 1973. He continued his studies and research in various fields in Qom from 1974 onwards. He has held various teaching position at the seminaries in Yazd and Qom, and the Al-Mustafa University (Qom) and the University of Tehran. He has researched and taught on logic, Islamic Jurisprudence, Quranic exegesis, theology, intercultural dialogue, comparative religion, and ethics. He was the first editor of the news website www.abna.ir news website. He is the author of many articles and books, including A critic on re-knowing Quran, The real followers of Sunnah, Satanic Verses as an endless conflict between Islam and the west, and Prophecies of Nostradamus.
Dr. Harald Bergbauer
Dr. Harald Bergbauer is assistant professor of political theory at the School of Political Scence (Hochschule für Politik) and the University of Armed Forces, both in Munich. From 2004 to 2008, he worked at the Foundation of Conservative Education and Research with the late Caspar von Schrenck-Notzing. His publications include a book on political philosopher Eric Voegelin: Eric Voegelins Kritik an der Moderne [Eric Voegelin’s Critique of Modernity] (Ergon, 2000), and a edited collection of essays Kulturtheoretiker denken den Staat: Der Staat im Werk ausgewählter Kulturdenker des 20. Jahrhunderts [Cultural Theorists Think the State: The State in the Works of Selected 20th Century Cultural Thinkers] (Nomos, 2013). He is an expert on the American, conservative political thinker Russel Kirk.
Dr. Vahid Kashani
Dr. J. Hanns Pichler
Sheikh Dr. Mohammad-Ali Savadi
Dr. Heinz Theisen
Dr. Heinz Theisen was born in Langenfeld Germany. He studied political science, sociology, history and law at the universities of Göttingen and Bonn, earning a PhD from the University of Bonn. He is professor at the Katholische Hochschule Nordrhein-Westfalen in Cologne, and guest lecturer at Bethlehem University in Palestine. His publications include Der Westen und sein Naher Osten: Vom Kampf der Kulturen zum Kampf um die Zivilisation [The West and Its Near East: From the Clash of Civilizations to the Clash for Civilization] (Reinbek, 2015), and Nach der Überdehnung: Die Grenzen des Westens und die Koexistenz der Kulturen [After the Over-Extension: The Borders of the West and the Coexistance of Cultures](Lit-Verlag, 2014).
Fr. Edmund Waldstein
Rev. Dr. Edmund Waldstein is a Catholic priest and a monk of the Cistercian Order. He was born in Rome and raised in the United States and Austria. After studying philosophy in California he entered a Cistercian Abbey in Austria. After completing a master’s degree in theology, he was ordained to the priesthood, and then completed a doctorate in moral theology at the University of Vienna. Fr. Edmund is currently lecturer in Moral Theology at the major seminary of his abbey. He has edited a collection of essays on Catholic Integralism, and is also editor of The Josias, a website on Catholic political thought. Fr. Edmund blogs at Sancrucensis.
Dr. Armin Wildfeuer
Dr. Armin G. Wildfeuer studied philosophy, musicology, Christian social teaching, and theology at the Pontificia Universitá Gregoriana in Rome, and the Universität Bonn. He is currently professor of philosophy at the Katholische Hochschule NRW in Cologne. He is an expert on the history of ideas— especially of the rise of modern thought.
Prof. Dr. Dr. Bernhard Fredrisch Uhde, director of Institut für interreligiöse Studien Freiburg, Germany
Pastor Dr. Stefanie Friederike Kleierl, in Augustana-Hochschule and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Prof. Dr. Milla Garnyk, Cultural Muslim Expert at Leadership Center (TEMPUS), Khativ University, Ukraine
Ms. Jelena Ljubenovic Damar, Oriental Studies Center, Persian Language Department, Belgeraad University, Serbia Interreligious Dialogue Researcher, Orthodox Church Poet
ViQo Circle 