A Shared Sacred Story for the Human Family: A Scholarly-Practitioner Panel

Wednesday, September 9, 2026
6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Robert C. Pew Grand Rapids Campus
Community

"A Shared Sacred Story for the Human Family: A Panel Discussion" text over an image of a galaxy. Wednesday, Sept 9 6-7:30pm, reception to follow.

About the Event

A Shared Sacred Story for the Human Family will explore the Our Shared Sacred Story project (Orbis Books, 2025) by examining the possibilities, challenges, and limitations of collaboratively retelling diverse religious narratives and writing a polyphonic shared sacred story to address global issues, promote dialogue, engage pluralism, and strengthen both civic and academic understanding.

The event is taking place to mark the launch of The Fetzer Institutes publication Retelling Sacred Stories: Our Journeys to a Shared Sacred Story, a groundbreaking, multi-faith collaboration five years in the making.

Published by Orbis Books, this 544-page volume brings together nine global teams of scholar-practitioners from major world traditions to re-envision their sacred narratives for a deeply interconnected world. The project is a central expression of Fetzers mission to build a spiritual foundation for a loving world, which brings together leaders from Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Indigenous traditions, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, and Inter-spiritual communities to explore how ancient narratives can speak powerfully and poetically to the crises of the contemporary world.

About the Organizers

Fetzer Institute works to build a spiritual foundation for a loving world. Its sacred stories work has brought together scholars and spiritual leaders from multiple faith traditions to explore how ancient narratives can speak to contemporary crises and help generate a shared sense of the sacred.

fetzer.org

The Sylvia and Richard Kaufman Interfaith Institute at Grand Valley State University advances equity and belonging for persons of all religious, secular, and spiritual identities by fostering human connection, interfaith understanding, and collective transformation on campus and in the wider West Michigan community.

We seek to cultivate a vibrant and pluralistic culture in which persons of all religious, secular, and spiritual identities are cooperatively engaged in the grassroots work of growing a community of belonging.

InterfaithUnderstanding.org

Panelists

William Vendley

Vice President of World Religions and Spirituality, The Fetzer Institute | Secretary General Emeritus of Religions for Peace International

Jessica Joustra

Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Calvin Theological Seminary

Kelly James Clark

Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Ibn Haldun University (Istanbul)

Ghazala Munir

Co-Founder, Interfaith Dialogue Association

Moderator

Kyle Kooyers

Director, Sylvia and Richard Kaufman Interfaith Institute

The discussion will be followed by a reception and book signing. Registration is free but required.

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Location Information

Loosemore Auditorium
Richard M. Devos Center, Building E
Downtown Grand Rapids

Contact Information

Kaufman Interfaith Institute
[email protected]

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This event was added to the calendar by Liz English (englisel@gvsu.edu) on Monday, July 20, 2026 and was last updated on Tuesday, September 1, 2026 at 3:20 p.m.

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