Previous Lectures
Previous Events
Moses, Jesus, and Mary in the Qur'an
Speaker: John Kaltner
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Christians and other non-Muslims are often surprised to discover that many biblical figures are mentioned in the Qur’an. This lecture explored this phenomenon by discussing the roles several prominent biblical characters play in Islam’s sacred text.
John Kaltner is the Virginia Ballou McGehee Professor of Muslim-Christian Relations at Rhodes College in Memphis, TN, where he teaches courses on the Bible, Islam, and the Arabic language. Among his books are Introducing the Qur’an for Today’s Reader (Fortress Press, 2011); What Do Our Neighbors Believe? Questions and Answers on Judaism, Christianity and Islam [with Howard R. Greenstein and Kendra G. Hotz] (Westminster John Knox Press, 2007); Inquiring of Joseph: Getting to Know a Biblical Character through the Qur’an (Liturgical Press, 2003); Islam: What Non-Muslims Should Know (Fortress Press, 2003); and Ishmael Instructs Isaac: An Introduction to the Qur’an for Bible Readers (Liturgical Press, 1999).
Co-hosted by the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center and the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning
Free and open to the public
click here for streaming video of lecture
The Danger of Anti-Sharia Laws: Catholic and Muslim Perspectives
Speakers: Professor Robert Vischer, University of St. Thomas, and
Professor Abdulwahid Qalinle, University of Minnesota
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Professor Vischer Professor Qalinle
Rob Vischer, Professor of Law at the University of St. Thomas, and Abdulwahid Qalinle, Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School and director of its Islamic Law and Human Rights Program, presented the dangerous precedence of Anti-Sharia law from a Catholic and Muslim perspective.
Co-sponsored by the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center and The Murphy Institute
Click here for streaming video of the lecture
Catholicism and Islam in Dialogue:
Theologians from St. Thomas and from Qom, Iran, Confer in Rome
Speakers: Dr. Terence Nichols and Sheik Odeh Muhawesh
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Dr. Terence Nichols Sheik Odeh Muhawesh
After many difficulties, theologians from St. Thomas and from the universities and seminaries of Qom, Iran were able to meet in Rome June 6-9, 2012, to discuss "Religion and Spirituality in Life and Society." This presentation by Sheik Odeh Muhawesh and Dr. Terence Nichols is an account of the progress made at that meeting.
Click here for streaming video of the lecture
The Innocence of Muslims
Speaker Imam Makram El-Amin
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Why do Muslims react to depiction of Prophet Muhammad?
Why can't Prophet Muhammad be depicted?
These questions and many more were answered by Imam Makram El-Amin.
Sponsored by the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center with support from the Saudi Club and the Muslim Student Association click here for streaming audio of lecture...
Principles of Islamic Ethics
Dr. Mehmet Turkeri, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir Turkey
Dr. Mehmet Turkeri, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir Turkey
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Do we want to lead ethical lives? How do we do this? What makes our daily attitudes and behavior ethical? What are the distinguishing features of ethics? The speech covered the moral sensitivities of Islam, in the light of these questions, and iscussed an Islamic view of the distinguishing features of ethics.
"Muslim-Christian Dialogue: Religion and Spirituality in Life and Society"
A Conference between Al-Mustafa University, Qom, Iran, and the University of St. Thomas
June 6-9, 2012 
Pictured are (from left to right): Dr. Bernard Brady, chair, UST Theology Department; Fr. Ivan Sokolowsky, Cardinal Koenig Institute for Ecumenical Dialogue, Vienna; Ms. Lois Dament, Administrative Assistant, Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center, UST; Dr. Taher Golestani, Al Mustafa International University, Qom; Dr. Michael Hollerich, Professor, UST Theology Dept.; Dr. Qasim Safari. Head of Religions and Sects Dept., Al-Mustafa University, Qom, Iran; Dr. S.R. Mahdinejad, Director of Office of Scholarly and Research Cooperation and Conferences, Al Mustafa University, Qom; Dr. Terence Nichols, Professor, UST Theology Dept. & Co-Director, Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center; Ayatollah Mohsen Gharavian, Al-Mustafa University, Qom; Dr. Mohamad Kashani, Al Mustafa University, Qom; Monsignor Dr. Khaled B. Akasheh, Head Officer for Islam, Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue; Dr. Muhammad Hussein Taheri Akerdi, Imam Khomeni Educational and Research Institute; Dr. M.H. Zamani, Director, Department of International Islamic Seminaries, Qom; Sheik Odeh Muhawesh, President, Scorant Corporation, Associate, Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center
.
Summary of the Conference
Seven members of the theology faculty of Al-Mustafa University (Qom, Iran) and four members of the Theology Department at the University of St. Thomas, met in conference from June 6-9, 2012, at the Monastery of Sant’Anselmo, in Rome, to discuss aspects of “Religion and Spirituality in Life and Society.” Our two teams had not met before; a series of unusual events had led up to our meeting. In January, Dr. Taher Golestani had sent out an email to many Catholic theologians, informing them that he had started a movement in Qom, which he called M.C.I.D., for Muslim Christian Interfaith Dialogue. Very few answered this email, and some of the responses were hostile. However, because we had started a very similar Center at St. Thomas, I (Terry Nichols) thought it important that our two movements get together. So I answered his email. This led to a long email correspondence, which in the end led up to the meeting in Rome. Arranging the meeting was difficult; it was hard to find a place to stay and to meet, hard to get visas for the Iranians, many delays, and so on. But, through the grace of God and the hospitality of the Benedictines at Sant’ Anselmo, on June 6 we found ourselves all at the Abbey, ready to discuss aspects of Muslim Christian dialogue. Our working language was English, but most of what we said had to be translated into Arabic or Persian.
The participants in the conference were as follows:
Dr. Muhammad Hussein Taheri Akerdi, Imam Khomeni Educational and Research Institute
Ayatollah Mohsen Gharavian, Al-Mustafa University, Qom
Dr. Taher Golestani, Al Mustafa International University, Qom
Dr. Mohamad Kashani, Al Mustafa University, Qom
Dr. S.R. Mahdinejad, Director of Office of Scholarly and Research Cooperation and Conferences, Al Mustafa University, Qom
Dr. Qasim Safari, Head of Religions and Sects Dept., Al-Mustafa University, Qom, Iran
Dr. M.H. Zamani, Director, Department of International Islamic Seminaries, Qom
Dr. Bernard Brady, Chair, UST Theology Department
Dr. Michael Hollerich, Professor, UST Theology Department
Sheik Odeh Muhawesh, President, Scorant Corporation, Associate, Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center
Dr. Terence Nichols, Professor, UST Theology Dept. & Co-Director, Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center
Fr. Ivan Sokolowsky, Cardinal Koenig Institute for Ecumenical Dialogue, Vienna
Ms. Lois Dament, Administrative Assistant, Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center, UST
Order of presentation:
Wednesday afternoon, June 6, was spent mostly in introductions, exchanging gifts, and getting to know one another.
Thursday morning (June 7), Ayatollah Gharavian presented a paper entitled: “Peace and Peaceful Co-existence.” He noted that in God there is absolute peace; conflict only enters in in the material world, where animals and humans are subject to conflicting desires. “Therefore, to decrease conflict and war, we have to get closer to God and get further away from Satan…” He goes on to say that “Islam’s main and global invitation is to peace and serenity…the Quran wants all nations and societies to live with each other in complete peace and to act according to humane and ethical values such as mutual respect and observing other peoples’ rights.”
Also on Thursday morning, Terry Nichols presented a paper titled: “Muslim-Christian Dialogue: Challenges and Possibilities.” The paper first considered the Catholic background for Muslim Christian dialogue: Nostra Aetate, and the statement “Dialogue and Proclamation” issued by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. The paper concluded with a consideration of the aims of dialogue. Nichols saw five main aims: mutual understanding, common action, sharing of life and religious experiences, but, more profoundly, a deeper conversion of each other to God, and finally, that Muslims and Christians, rather than trying to convert each other to their own faiths, might stand together as common witnesses to the One God whom they both worship.
Thursday afternoon saw the presentation of two papers: one by Dr. Zamani, and another by Dr. Hollerich. Dr. Zamani’s paper focused on prayer: “Al Salat: A Comprehensive invocation and the summit of spirituality.” Prayer, he argued, allows humans to go higher than the beasts and even higher than the angels. He discussed the procedures of prayer, including ablution, which ought to cleanse the body and the soul. He concluded that man’s soul has originated from God and therefore can reach the summit of perfection. Prayer, Al-Salat “prevents man from forgetting God and reminds him of God’s presence, mercy, and power.”
Dr. Hollerich’s paper reviewed the long history of the Catholic Church on the subject of religious freedom, and analyzed why the Church up to Vatican II, found it so difficult to accept religious freedom. This, he hoped, might be a lesson for other faiths as they also strive to fully accept the implications of religious freedom.
Friday morning (June 8) we heard Dr. Safari’s paper on “Spirituality from Imam Sjjad’s View Point.” This paper concerned the mysticism of the Fourth Imam (Imam Sjjad). To the mystic, explained Dr. Safari, “the world is nothing but God, his actions and his attributes.” All things in the world are signs of God. But we get deluded by false images and impressions of the world. The dialogue between religions ought to be the same, because all religions seek God.
Friday morning we were also received a surprise visit from Abbot Notker Wolf, the abbot of Sant’Anselmo, but also the Primatial Abbott of all the Benedictines. He spoke to us for over an hour about the Benedictine way of life (“We pray, work, and read.”), mission, and the structure of the Benedictine confederation. There were many questions from the Muslims. Dr. Zamani, for example, asked Fr. Wolf “How can we cooperate to witness together to God?”
Friday afternoon, we heard brief summaries (because of time shortage) of five papers.
Dr. MahdiNejad spoke on “The Relation between Morality and Politics in Islamic Thought.” He defended a universal moral system, which applied to individual and social behavior, so that what was immoral for individuals (like lying) was also immoral for governments. Islamic society he said is governed by universal moral standards; in particular, he singled out the government of Imam Ali as an example of a moral government of a society.
Dr. Kashani presented a paper on “The Role of Pilgrimage in Religion and Spirituality with an Eye to the Principles of Shiism and Catholicism.” The paper noted the many similarities between the Shi’a and Catholic understanding and practices of pilgrimage. It concluded with the fascinating suggestion of common pilgrimages between Shi’a and Catholics. This was followed by a discussion of such common pilgrimage sites, for example, the House of Mary in Ephesus.
Dr. Golestani spoke of the History of Shi'a-Catholic dialogue in Islamic History. He noted Issa is mentioned in the Qur’an 23 times, and that many Quranic verses deals with how to talk to Christians or People of the Book. Therefore Muslim Christian dialogue begins in the Qur'an and in the life of Muhhamad. Dr. Golestani gave us a number of verses from the Qur’an, and cited a letter from the Prophet Muhammad to the (Nestorian) Christians of Najaran, which declared that the Christians of Najaran were our brothers.
Dr. Taheri Akerdi (Professor at the Imam Khomeni Educational and Research Institute, Qom Seminary) gave a paper on Woman in the Qur’an’s View. Islam, he noted, regards men and women as complements to one another, and it emphasizes the centrality of the family. Finally, the paper compared Lady Mary with Lady Fatima (the Prophet’s daughter) as the two most superior women of the world.
Dr. Bernard Brady presented a summary of his paper: “Freedom and Conscience for Morality: the Catholic Understanding of Conscience and Freedom.” This paper focused on the understanding of conscience as the “sacred space where God speaks to man,” conscience as an inner voice, as a process of discerning a moral decision, and raised the question of correspondences in the Muslim tradition.
Finally, we heard some reflection from Fr. Ivan Sokolowski, a Jesuit from the Cardinal Koenig Institute in Vienna, on interreligious dialogue. He gave the example of John the Baptist, who is recognized as a prophet by Christians, yet who did not become a Christian. As such, John may be a model to Christians of someone who is recognized as a non-Christian prophet within the Christian tradition.
Saturday morning (June 9) our group met with Monsignor Khaled Akasheh, the Head Officer for Islam at the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. He explained the role of the Council for Interreligious Dialogue, then opened the floor for questions and discussion. At one point Dr. Zamani said that Shi’as believe that at the end of history, Jesus and the Mahdi (the 12th Imam) will return together to establish a reign of justice and peace, and that he, Dr. Zamani, believed that our dialogue together was bringing about that age. At the end of the discussion, Msgr. Akasheh asked us to consider working in theology, on the questions (1) can Christians accept other prophets after Jesus?, and (2) can Muslims accept other prophets after Mohammad? Dr. Golestani said that he thought our conference was a “turning point” in Shi’a Catholic dialogue, and that they were hoping it could continue. This was a very fruitful discussion click here to view streaming video of the meeting. (Note: The audio is not high quality; the better part of the discussion is toward the end. Also, Arabic and English translations of the speakers are part of this video.) As we were leaving the offices of the Pontifical Council, we had a group photo taken, which is posted above.
My own impression of this conference is that we, Muslims and Christians, were able to establish a high degree of trust and mutual respect, and a realization that the goal of our dialogue is not to convert each other to our own faiths, but rather come together to a deeper conversion to God, and to witness together to the One God.
Next Year
We agreed to meet again in a year. Our preference would be to meet at Qom, otherwise at St. Thomas, or Vienna, or Beirut, or Rome. Our theme will be “Salvation and the Hereafter.”
Reported by Terence L. Nichols
June 21, 2012
Friends of God in Islamic Art and Literature
Dr. John Renard
April 17, 2012
A colorful illustrated introduction to the major types of "Friends of God" and major themes Islamic hagiography from the medieval to the contemporary. Friends of God have played a role for at least half the world's Muslims roughly analogous to the importance of Saints for about half the world's Christians. As a the "heirs of the prophets" the Friends function as exemplars of devotion and piety, and enjoy immense popularity for hundreds of millions of Muslims from Morocco to Indonesia.
John Renard received his doctorate in Islamic Studies from Harvard University’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations in 1978. Since then he has been teaching courses in Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism, religion and the arts, and comparative theology in the Department of Theological Studies at Saint Louis University. Earlier publications include All the King's Falcons: Rumi on Prophets and Revelation (SUNY 1994); Seven doors to Islam and Windows on the House of Islam (California 1996, 1998); and Islam and the Heroic Image: Themes in Literature and the Visual Arts (Mercer, 1999), as well as volumes on Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism in Paulist Press's "101 Questions" series. His most recent books are Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood (California, 2008) and Tales of God’s Friends: Islamic Hagiography in Translation (California, 2009), and Islam and Christianity: Theological Themes in Comparative Perspective (California, 2011).
Muslim-Christian Dialogue: Challenges and Possibilities
Dr. Amir Hussain
Dr. Amir Hussain
February 14, 2012
Christians and Muslims together make up over half of the world's population. Their relationship has included periods of violence, but also of cooperation and coexistence. A prominent Muslim scholar, Professor Hussain, discussed Muslim-Christian dialogue both historically and in our contemporary world.
Amir Hussain, Ph.D., is professor of theological studies at Loyola Marymount University, a Jesuit university in Los Angeles, where he teaches courses on world religions. A Canadian Muslim who specializes in the study of Islam, his academic degrees are from the University of Toronto, where he received a number of awards, including the university’s highest alumni award for outstanding service. He is the author of Oil and Water: Two Faiths, One God, an introduction to Islam and Muslim-Christian dialogue, and more than two dozen book chapters and scholarly articles about Islam and Muslims. He is also the editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, the premier scholarly journal for the study of religion. An appointed fellow of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities, he has appeared on the History Channel and has given interviews to numerous newspapers and magazines, including Beliefnet.com, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Toronto Star, and The Washington Post.
Co-sponsored by the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center and the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning.
click here for streaming video of lecture...
The Role of Anatolia in the History of Christianity
Speaker: Namik Ilksoy
November 21, 2011
Namik Ilksoy discussed the journeys of Saint Paul, the letters of Disciple John and Saint Ignatius and the early Christian Councils.
As a professional tour guide in Turkey leading tours internationally, Namik has been helping Dr. Adil Ozdemir's J-term class, "Islam in Turkey," for the last four years. He brings to Muslim Christian Dialogue twenty-four years of experience as a professional tour guide, who has led at least ten Church groups a year to religious sites. He discussed the beginnings of Christianity on the soils of Anatolia (Turkey), and shared how he came to realize how little we as Muslims and Christians know about each other.
Namik often gets invited by the churches to share his views.
Pilgrimage: What might Jews, Christians, and Muslims learn from and with each other? Panel with Rabbi Norman Cohen, Sheikh Odeh Muhawesh, and Susan Stabile, J.D.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
What do Jewish, Christian, and Muslim pilgrimages teach us about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam? When examining pilgrimages in these three traditions, what might Jews, Christians, and Muslims learn from each other about religious commitment and devotion? These are among the questions discussed in this program by the panelists who also considered whether interfaith pilgrimages might be appropriate or should even be encouraged.
Rabbi Norman Cohen is senior rabbi of Bet Shalom Congregation in Minnetonka. A graduate of Holy Cross College before entering rabbinical school at Hebrew Union College where he wrote a rabbinic thesis later published as Jewish Bible Personages in the New Testament (University Press of America, 1989), he is currently writing a book on stereotypes and misconceptions Jews and Christians have about each other and what to do about them
Susan Stabile, J.D., holds the Robert and Marion Short Distinguished Chair in Law at the University of St. Thomas School of Law and is among the leading scholars in the United States on the intersection of Catholic social thought and the law. A spiritual director who often leads retreats and other programs of spiritual formation, she recently finished writing a book that adapts Tibetan Buddhist analytical meditations for Christians, which will be published by Oxford University Press in 2012
Sheikh Odeh Muhawesh is both a highly successful business leader and an accomplished scholar. He has founded several businesses and he is currently the CEO of Scorant LLC in Minneapolis. A specialist in Islamic theology and modern Middle East history, he teaches courses on these subjects as an adjunct professor at the University of St. Thomas, where he also serves as an associate of the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center and a member of its board.
Sponsored by the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning and the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center at the University of St. Thomas
Click here to view streaming video of lecture...
Should Catholics be Engaged in Interreligious Dialogue?
In place of Bishop Piché, presentation by Fr. Erich Rutten
October 25, 2011
Due to illness, Bishop Piché, the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, was unable to be present as scheduled. In his place, Fr. Erich Rutten, chaplain and director of campus ministry at the University of St. Thomas, shared his own reflections on the significance of interreligious dialogue for Catholics and the anniversary of the World Day of Prayer in Assisi, Italy. Terry Nichols, UST professor of theology and co-director of UST’s Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center, and Hans Gustafson, assistant director of the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning, also shared reflections on the significance of interfaith dialogue.
Sponsored by the Center for Catholic Studies, Campus Ministry, Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning, and the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center
Click here for streaming video of lecture...
Islamic Sharia: Threat to Democracy?
Professor Abdulwahid Qalinle
October 11, 2011
Professor Qalinle spoke on the nature of Sharia law in Islam, and how it relates to American democracy.
Abdulwahid Qalinle has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Law School since 2004. He is an expert in the areas of comparative constitutional law, Islamic law, International law and the rule of law.
Qalinle received advanced degrees in law from the International Islamic University in Islamabad, Pakistan and from the University of Minnesota Law School. Most recently he was appointed director of the Islamic Law and Human Rights Program (IHRP) at the Law School, which opened on February 4, 2011.
Sponsored by the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center
Click here to view streaming video of lecture
Art in Islam and Christianity
April 13, 2011
As a part of the Interfaith art pARTners festival, Dr. Adil Ozdemir and Dr. Terry Nichols, Co-directors of the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center, discussed the role of art in Islam and Christianity. Both Islam and Christianity use various forms of art to communicate the glory and presence of God. But the understanding of art, and the way it is used, differs somewhat in each tradition. This discussion explored both the similarities and the differences in the use of art in Islam and Christianity.
Interfaith art pARTners is a collaborative festival of Twin Cities institutions who come together to promote the arts as a catalyst for conversation within the context of faith and spirituality. The goal of this collaboration is to advance an understanding of the diverse communities, cultures, faith traditions, and spiritual beliefs in the broader community.
A variety of museums, places of worship, historical societies, performing art organizations, and colleges each participated through individual exhibitions and programming as they expressed their unique stories through various art forms. The festival ran throughout late winter and spring of 2011.
Click here to view streaming video of the lecture.
The Role of Religion in U.S. Foreign Policy
Main Speakers: Congressman Keith Ellison;
Major General Richard Nash, Adjutant General, State of Minnesota
April 8, 2011
Congressman Ellison and General Nash discussed the role of religion in U.S. Foreign Policy. From designing foreign policy to implementing it on the ground, religion is a critical factor for consideration. The U.S. has struggled with how to address the role of religion in the implementation of its foreign policy. From the Dali Lama to Ayatollah Sistani to the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt the U.S. must engage powerful religious leaders.
Click here to view streaming video of the lecture.
Muslims and America: Beyond Fear of the Other
Main Speaker: Dr. Muqtedar Khan, University of Delaware
Respondent: Dr. Gerald Schlabach, University of St. Thomas
April 6, 2011
There has been a great deal of concern about Islamophobia in America. The speaker and respondent addressed this issue.
Featured speaker, Dr. Muqtedar Khan, is Associate Professor in the Department of Political 
Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware. He earned his Ph.D. in International Relations, Political Philosophy, and Islamic Political Thought, from Georgetown University in May 2000.
Dr. Kahn is the author of American Muslims: Bridging Faith and Freedom (Amana, 2002), Jihad for Jerusalem: Identity and Strategy in International Relations (Praeger, 2004), Islamic Democratic Discourse (Lexington Books, 2006) and Debating Moderate Islam: The Geopolitics of Islam and the West (University of Utah Press, 2007).
Dr. Khan frequently comments on BBC, CNN International, FOX and VOA TV, Bridges TV, NPR and other radio and TV networks. His political commentaries appear regularly in newspapers in over 20 countries. He has lectured in North America, East Asia, Middle East and Europe . Dr. Khan is from Hyderabad in India. He is married to Reshma and has a son Rumi, and a daughter Ruhi.
His articles on Islam and American Muslims can be read at www.ijtihad.org and his commentaries on global politics can be read at www.Glocaleye.org.
Free and open to the public. For more information, please contact the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center at mcdc@stthomas.edu or 651-962-5650.
Click here to view a streaming video of the lecture.
Panel Discussion: Doing Virtuous Business:
An Interreligious Dialogue on Faith and Work
An Interreligious Dialogue on Faith and Work
March 8, 2011
Description: Our panel discussed the Jewish, Christian and Muslim perspectives on the interrelation between faith and work. Drawing upon their respective religious traditions, the panelists discussed what it means to be faithful leaders in business today.
Panelists:
• Ted Malloch is Chairman and CEO of the Roosevelt Group, a leading strategy thought leadership company. His most recent book is Doing Virtuous Business, which is also the subject of a PBS documentary to be aired in spring 2011.
• Odeh Muhawesh is a Minneapolis based entrepreneur who is presently CEO of Scroant Inc. (Minneapolis). He also teaches courses in the history of the Middle East and in Islamic theology at the University of St. Thomas.
• Brian Shapiro is an associate professor at the University of St. Thomas in the accounting department at the Opus College of Business. He is also an active member of Bet Shalom Congregation in Minnetonka, MN.
Sponsors:
• Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center
• John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought, the Center for Catholic Studies
• Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning
• SAIP Institute at the Opus College of Business
Click here to view a streaming video of the lecture.
A Panel Discussion:
Women in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
October 7, 2010
PANELISTS:
Rabbi Amy Eilberg
is the first woman ordained as a Conservative rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. After many years of work in pastoral care, hospice and spiritual direction, Rabbi Eilberg now directs the Interfaith Conversations Project at the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning. Deeply engaged in peace and reconciliation efforts in connection with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she now serves as chair of J Street Minnesota. She is at work on a book on Judaism and Peacebuilding.
Ms. Gail Anderson
is the Director of Unity and Relationships, Minnesota Council of Churches, where she directs Interfaith and Ecumenical programming. With the Muslim American Society she organizes Taking Heart, a program designed to bring Muslim and Christian neighbors together. She was a 2009 recipient of a Building Bridges award from the Islamic Resource Group in Minnesota. Her newest program is called Taking Root, a program to create interfaith understanding as well as welcome refugees to Minnesota who arrive without any connection to the community. Gail earned a Masters Degree in Theology from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. She also has been an award winning television producer, and president of a corporate communications company.
Dr. Elaine MacMillan
received her PhD in ecclesiology from the University of Toronto, and is now teaching courses in the University of St. Thomas theology department. She has done research and has spoken widely on the role of women in the Christian church. For many years she represented the U.S. Catholic Bishops at the national Faith and Order Conference (a branch of the National Council of Churches of Christ).
Dr. Fatma Reda, M.D., Ph.D.,
is a consulting physician who has spoken widely on Islam and the role of women in Islam. She studied medicine at Oxford University and the University of Minnesota medical school (psychiatry, psychopharmacology), and also has a Ph.D. in Comparative Religious Studies from the University of Canterbury (Kent, U.K.). She has been extremely active in interfaith dialogue in the Twin Cities area with both Jewish and Christian organizations for decades. She is also a third level Mureedah (female seeker) in the Naqshabandi Sufi order.
Ms. Honaida Al-Mottahar
is an American of Yemeni descent. Ms. Al-Mottahar is a prolific speaker and expert on matters of faith and cultural matters. She is an active member of the Minnesota faith communities and a strong advocate of inter-religious dialogue. Ms. Almottahar is completing her post graduate studies majoring in education. She is married with three lovely sons.
The event was introduced and moderated by Dr. Marisa Kelly, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
This event was co-sponsored by the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning and the Luann Dummer Center for Women at the University of St. Thomas, and the Minnesota Council of Churches. click here for a streaming video of the panel discussion...
A Panel Discussion
A Common Word: Love in Christianity and Islam
April 15, 2010
A Common Word click here is a Muslim declaration, signed by hundreds of
Muslim scholars, clerics, and intellectuals worldwide, which emphasizes the commonality of love in Islam and Christianity. This declaration has received very positive responses from many Christian organizations.
PANELISTS:
Dr. Jamal Badawi
Dr. Jamal Badawi is Professor Emeritus at St. Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, where he served as Professor of both Management and Religious Studies. Dr. Badawi is the author of several works on Islam, including books, chapters in books and articles. Some of his works are available also on the internet including Gender Equity in Islam available on http://www.soundvision.com/ and a 352-segment television series on Islam, now available [in audio format] under "Reading Islam” then click on “Islam in 176 hours" at http://www.islamonline.net/ and other sites. In addition to his participation in lectures, seminars and interfaith dialogues in North America, Dr. Badawi has been frequently invited as guest speaker on Islam in nearly 38 other countries. He is a member of the Islamic Juridical [Fiqh] Council of North America, The European Council of Fatwa and Research and the International Union of Muslim Scholars. He has been serving as a volunteer Imam of the local Muslim community in Halifax since 1970.
Dr. Badawi is father of 5 children and grandfather of 17 [so far!]
Zafar Siddiqui
Zafar Siddiqui is co-founder and President of the Islamic Resource Group, and serves as chairman of the board of Al-Amal school in Fridley. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Muslim Christian Dialogue Center at the University of St. Thomas. He blogs on interfaith topics in the Star Tribune's "Your Voices" section. He has a Masters degree in Computer Science and is a software engineer by profession. He is married, with four children, and resides in Blaine, MN.
Dr. Terence Nichols
Dr. Nichols is a professor in the theology department at St. Thomas, and is co-director of the Muslim Christian Dialogue Center. His book, Death and Afterlife: A Theological Introduction, has just been published by Brazos Press.
Gail Anderson
Gail Anderson is the Director of Unity and Relationships for the Minnesota Council of Churches. With the Muslim American Society, she organizes Taking Heart, a program designed to bring Muslim and Christian neighbors together. She also organizes a new program, Taking Root, which builds interfaith sponsorship teams to help resettle refugees who are moving to Minnesota. She hosts the Twin Cities Interfaith Network, and heads the Minnesota Interreligious Initiative, designed to strengthen the state’s interfaith infrastructure.
This event is co-sponsored by the Islamic Resource Group of Minnesota and by the Minnesota Council of Churches.
click here to view streaming video of panel discussion
Dr. Yahya Michot
Muslims and Christians Today: The Challenges of Mystical Praxis
Muslims and Christians Today: The Challenges of Mystical Praxis
November 5, 2009
Dr. Yahya Michot, Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford
Seminary, teaches courses in Islamic theology and philosophy, Muslim societies and Arabic language. Professor Michot is editor of The Muslim World.
From 1982 – 1997 Dr. Michot (Ph.D., Catholic University of Louvain) was director of the Centre for Arabic Philosophy at the University of Louvain, Belgium; from October 1998 – September 2009 Professor Michot was a KFAS fellow in Islamic Studies at the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies and Islamic Centre Lecturer in the Faculty of Theology, Oxford University.
click here to view streaming video of lecture
A Panel Discussion:
Muslim-Christian Dialogue: Journeying Together
May 5, 2009
PANELISTS:
Dr. Terence Nichols, Professor in the theology department of St. Thomas, and Co-Director of the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center. He is the author of two books as well as a number of articles and book chapters in the area of systematic theology. He has been involved in Muslim-Christian dialogue for fourteen years.
Dr. Adil Ozdemir, Assistant Professor of theology, and Co-Director of the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center. Dr. Ozdemir has taught courses on Islam at St. Thomas for five years, and is the author of Visible Islam in Turkey. Before coming to St. Thomas, he taught for twenty-five years at Dokuz Eylul University in Izmir, Turkey.
Sheikh Odeh Muhawesh, an Associate of the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center, recently retired as President of Stratika, a Minnesota company. He currently teaches courses in the history of the Middle East and Islamic theology at the University of St. Thomas.
Dr. Pamela Nice, teaches courses on Arab writers and films at St. Thomas, and has made several documentary films concerning cross-cultural understanding between Americans and Arabs.
Mr. Owais Bayunus, President of the Islamic Center of Minnesota, recently retired from the engineering and management division of Marathon Oil Co. He has been involved in Muslim-Christian dialogue for over eighteen years.
Click here to view streaming video of lecture.
Dalia Mogahed
Who Speaks for Muslims? What A Billion Muslims Really Think
November 5, 2008
Dalia Mogahed is a Senior Analyst and Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, a non-partisan research center dedicated to providing data-driven analysis on the views of Muslim populations around the world. With John L. Esposito, Ph.D., she is coauthor of the book Who Speaks for Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think. Her analyses have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy magazine, the Harvard Review, the Middle East Policy journal, and many other academic and popular journals. Mogahed is a member of Women in International Security, serves on the leadership group of the Project on U.S. Engagement with the Global Muslim Community, and is a member of the Crisis in the Middle East Task Force of the Brookings Institution.
Click here to view streaming video of lecture
Dr. Abdullah al-Ahsan
The Clash of Civilizations? A Viable Alternative
October 23, 2008
Abdullah al-Ahsan, Ph.D., is Vice President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST) and Professor, Department of History and Civilization at the International Islamic University, Malaysia. He teaches courses including: Introduction to Western Civilization, Rise and Fall of Civilizations, Modern History of Europe, and Colonialism in the Muslim World and Muslim Nations in Contemporary History at the undergraduate level; and Rise and Fall of Civilizations, Islam in the Modern World, and Orientalism at the graduate level. Click here to view streaming video of lecture
Dr. Liyakat Takim
Islam in America Post 9/11
Islam in America Post 9/11
April 23, 2008
A native of Zanzibar, Tanzania, Dr. Liyakat Takim has authored sixty scholarly works on diverse topics such as Islam in America, dialogue in post-9/11 America, war and peace in the Islamic tradition, the treatment of women in Islamic juridical literature, Islamic law, reformation in the Islamic world, jihad in Shi‘i law, and Islamic mystical traditions. He teaches a wide range of courses on Islam and offers a course on comparative religions.
Professor Takim’s book titled, The Heirs of the Prophet: Charisma and Religious Authority in Shi‘ite Islam was recently published by SUNY press. He is currently working on his second book, The Shi‘i Experience in America. He is also translating volume four of ‘Allama Tabatabai’s voluminous exegesis of the Qur’an. Professor Takim has taught at American and Canadian universities and is actively engaged in dialogue with different faith communities. He has lectured at many institutions in different parts of the world.
Click here to view streaming video of lecture
Distinguished Visitor Dr. Anouar Majid
Being Muslim in America
February 26, 2008
Anouar Majid is professor and founding chair of the Department of English at the University of New England in Maine. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Unveiling Traditions: Postcolonial Islam in a Polycentric World (Duke University Press, 2000), Freedom and Orthodoxy: Islam and Difference in the Post-Andalusian Age (Stanford University Press, 2004), and A Call for Heresy: Why Dissent is Vital to Islam and America (University of Minnesota Press, 2007). He also edits Tingis, a Moroccan-American magazine he co-founded in 2003. Majid has lectured and given keynote addresses at major universities. His work has been profiled on PBS and Al Jazeera.Click here to view streaming video of lecture
Dr. Jamal Badawi
Is Coexistence Feasible? An Islamic Response
February 20, 2008
Click here to view streaming video of lecture
Dr. Aref Abu-Rabia, Visiting Fulbright Scholar
Working Toward Coexistence: Arabs and Jews in Israel
November 13, 2007
Dr. Abu-Rabia is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, with a Ph.D. in Anthropology and Sociology. He visited from the Department of Middle East Studies at Ben Gurion University in the Negev, Israel. He is a world authority on Arab medicine, education, and religions practices. When he was chair of the Middle East Studies Department (2004-2006), he facilitated Jewish-Arab student visits to Jewish and Bedouin towns, and worked in other ways to foster mutual understanding and coexistence between Jews and Arabs.Click here to view streaming video of lecture
Dr. Omid Safi
Religious Voices: Beyond the Clash of Civilizations
Monday, October 15, 2007
Dr. Omid Safi is an associate professor of Islamic Studies at the University of North Carolina, and is the Chair for the Study of Islam Section at the American Academy of Religion. He is the author of The Politics of Knowledge in Premodern Islam (2006), and the editor of Voices of Diversity and Change (2006), and Progressive Muslims (2003).Click here to view streaming video of lecture.
