Interfaith lecture promotes understanding of diverse religions

The Interfaith Dialogue Association strives to promote friendship and trust among people of diverse religions and ideologies by study, dialogue, and sharing about religious experiences.

The IDA’s 2011 Rabbi Philip Sigal Memorial Lecture, “From Tolerance to Holy Envy: The Interfaith Agenda,” will be presented by Douglas Kindschi. The lecture will be given Thursday, January 20, at 7 p.m., at Loosemore Auditorium in the DeVos Center, 401 West Fulton, on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus of Grand Valley State University. Admission is free. See Building #5 on the map link.

Kindschi, director of the Kaufman Interfaith Institute, is now in his 35th year at Grand Valley, and served as a dean for 28 of those years. He is currently a professor of mathematics and philosophy. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Houghton College in New York, Kindschi did graduate study at the Divinity School, University of Chicago, and also received his master’s and doctorate degrees in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with a minor in philosophy.   

At Grand Valley, Kindschi began a faculty science and religion discussion group that is now in its 13th year and developed a similar course which received a Templeton Course Award. He also received a Metanexus grant to establish the Local Society Initiative called the Grand Dialogue in Science and Religion for the Greater Grand Rapids Area, which is cosponsored by IDA.
  
The Rabbi Philip Sigal Memorial Lecture was created by the IDA as a means of encouraging interest and discussion of subjects that are significant to the broader faith community of West Michigan. It was named for the former rabbi of Ahavas Israel, who was a great pioneer in local interfaith relations. This event is cosponsored by the Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University. For more information, call (616) 454-5960 or visit www.interfaithdialogueassociation.org.