Upcoming Events
"The Challenge of Power, Morality, and Religion" - The Triennial Jewish, Christian, Muslim Dialogue
Date and Time
Thursday, December 5, 2024 9:00 AM - 9:00 PM
RSVP
You can RSVP for this event until December 5, 2024 at 7:00 AM
Location
Eberhard Center
301 Fulton St W, Grand Rapids, MI 49504
Description
Divisions have often led violence and religion is not immune. National power and nationalism can obscure the ethical issues in times of division. We see this in our country as well as internationally. It is current as well as being observed throughout history. These themes will be addressed in The Challenge of Power, Morality, and Religion, featuring three leaders from the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities.
West Michigan has a rich history of engagement in interfaith dialogue, largely because of the organizations Sylvia Kaufman, a respected community leader, has founded. Sylvia initiated the first community dialogue on interfaith issues through the former West Shore Committee for Jewish/Christian Dialogue in 1989. Since that time, hundreds of premier scholars, clergy, citizens, and students from the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths have come together every three years for a conference, now known as the Jewish/Christian/Muslim Triennial Interfaith Dialogue .
Featured Speakers:
Elaine Pagels, Ph.D. is an American religion
historian. She is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at
Princeton University. Pagels conducted extensive research into early
Christianity and Gnosticism as a part of her graduate study at Harvard
University. Her best-selling book The Gnostic Gospels examines the
divisions in the early Christian church, and the way women were viewed
throughout Jewish and Christian history. Modern Library named it as
one of the 100 best books of the twentieth century.
Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman is President of the Shalom
Hartman Institute and author of the highly regarded 2016 book, Putting
God Second: How to Save Religion from Itself. Donniel is the founder
of some of the most extensive education, training and enrichment
programs for scholars, educators, rabbis, and religious and lay
leaders in Israel and North America. He is a prominent essayist,
blogger and lecturer on issues of Israeli politics, policy, Judaism,
and the Jewish community.
Mustafa Akyol is a senior fellow at the Cato
Institute, where he focuses on the intersection of public policy,
Islam, and modernity. He is the author of acclaimed books such as “The
Islamic Moses,” “The Islamic Jesus,” and “Reopening Muslim Minds: A
Return to Reason, Freedom, and Tolerance .” He was a longtime
contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, and teaches
classes at Boston College and Foreign Service Institute. He is also an
affiliate scholar at the Acton Institute’s Collins Center for
Abrahamic Heritage. In July 2021, the Prospect magazine of the UK
listed him among “The world’s top 50 thinkers.”
Schedule
9:00 am - Session I: “Does Power Threaten Morality?”
9:00 am Introduction
9:15 am Jewish Presentation
9:45 am Responses from Christian and Muslim speakers, followed by Q&A
10:30 am Break
10:45 am Christian presentation
11:15 am Responses from Muslim and Jewish speakers, followed by Q&A
12:00 pm Lunch
12:45 pm Muslim presentation
1:15 pm Responses from Jewish and Christian speakers, followed by Q&A
2:00 pm Break
Session II: “Owning Power and its Challenges”
2:15 pm Each speaker speaks on respective tradition
3:00 pm Speaker interaction and audience Q&A
4:00 pm Afternoon Conclusion
Session III: “Naming the problem: Religion and Nationalism”
7:00 pm Recap of day and discussion of nationalism from each tradition
7:45 pm Panel conversation and audience Q&A
8:30 pm Evening Conclusion
Registration is now open.
This event also appears on the main events calendar.
Contact
[email protected]
(616) 331-5702