Rabbi Goldie Milgram, a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, has been helping out at the Won Institute, just around the corner from RRC in suburban Philadelphia. Several years ago, the dean of the school called our Department of Multifaith Studies seeking a professor who could teach homiletics to her seminary students, Koreans newly arrived [...]
Archive for 2010
Progressive Jews Studying Traditional Texts: But Why?
Posted in Uncategorized on March 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Today’s ReligionDispatches carries an article by Professor Aryeh Cohen of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies of American Jewish University. Cohen does a great job of showing that there is, indeed, a sea change in the Jewish world in the relationship between traditional text study and progressive politics. My experience in American Jewish communities, dating [...]
Young American Muslims Tell Their Story on YouTube
Posted in Abrahamic Engagement, Religion in America, tagged American Muslims, Center for American Progress, Kareem Salama on March 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Recently, I came across two videos on YouTube, each designed to let young American Muslims have their chance to tell their truths—to present images different from the ones that too often fill the popular imagination. Are these videos needed? According to a Gallup Center for Muslim Studies report released in February, indeed they are. More [...]
What’s the big deal?
Posted in Jewish- Muslim Engagement, Religion in America, tagged jewish muslim dialogue on March 3, 2010 | 2 Comments »
In this article, Ira Rivkin raises an interesting question. The New York Times wants us to see the story of the friendship of two Princeton undergrads–a Palestinian and a Jew–as a big deal, worthy of a news item. But, Rivkin points out, doesn’t that just perpetuate the stereotype of emnity the story purports to challenge? [...]
The Muslim Call to Prayer at Harvard? A Jewish Response
Posted in Jewish- Muslim Engagement, Religion in America, tagged ahan, harvard, leon wieseltier, pluralism, public prayer on February 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Back in 2008, a controversy developed at Harvard University regarding the right of Muslims to sound the Arabic adhan(call to prayer) in a public space. Three graduate students published an op ed in the Harvard Crimson claiming that, unlike church bells or a menorah, these sounds booming forth in the center of the campus were [...]
The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism: Interfaith Implications
Posted in Abrahamic Engagement, Eastern Religions, tagged Jay michaelson, Judaism and Buddhism, nondual Judaism on February 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I took advantage of the blizzard(when “everything was snow”) to read Jay Michaelson’s new book, Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism, published last year by Shambala Press. Michaelson is completing a PhD in Jewish Thought at Hebrew University and has written extensively for The Forward, Huffington Post, Tikkun and many other publications. [...]
Moshe Halbertal weighs in on Goldstone Report
Posted in Jewish- Muslim Engagement, Jewish-Christian Engagement, Middle East, tagged gaza, goldstone report, military ethics, moshe halbertal on January 29, 2010 | 2 Comments »
A leading Israeli scholar who helped write Israel’s Military Code of Ethics, Professor Moshe Halbertal, has weighed in on the controversy surrounding the Goldstone Report. You can read about his views here. The Goldstone Report has been a subject of conversation in interfaith gatherings between Jews and Christians and Jews and Muslims since it was [...]
Haiti: A Philadelphia Religion Professor’s Reflections
Posted in Uncategorized on January 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Professor Terry Rey, the Chairman of the Religion Department at Temple University, has close personal ties to Haiti. He recently published his reflections in a local newspaper, The Philadelphia Daily News. I have read many commentators on this issue, but Terry’s thoughts were particularly meaningful and provocative. Thank you, Terry, for taking the time to [...]
