We’ve moved!

The Multifaithworld blog has moved to the Web site of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Our new address is: www.RRC.edu/multifaithworld Please visit us there, where you can subscribe to e-mail updates and RSS feeds of our blog and other RRC bloggers.

This site now serves as the archive for entries we posted prior to December 2010. When you perform a search here or on the new blog, entries from this archive and the new site will show up in your results.

 Thank you for your support. I look forward to reading your comments at our new home.

Getting the Christmas Spirit

Our rabbinical college, RRC, launched a new website this week, MostJewish.com. In addition to a light hearted game exploring Jewish identity, the website also includes a blog with room for more probing explorations. The editor of the blog, Rabbi Deborah Glanzberg-Krainin, launched the conversation with a post on being a Jew at Christmas. A wonderful dialogue has already begun.

One of the rabbinical students, Amy Loewenthal, responded with her reflections on Christmas in light of her recent experience of interfaith learning with Christians as part of her rabbinical training. Here are some of her thoughts(slightly edited.) The whole discussion of Christmas can be read here.

Our Jewish-Christian Chevruta class (RRC and Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia) had a transformative discussion of Christmas.

A number of the Lutheran seminarians commented on their despair over the commercialization of Christmas and the pressure to spend money in non-meaningful ways. Discussion followed about the spiritual meaning of Christmas and the possibility of re-emphasizing the spiritual over the consumerist message.

I heard from them that Christmas is a time of hope for new possibilities. This flows easily into my Jewish symbol system … It is easy to become discouraged and turn cynical, to the point that the terms “peace” and “justice” are only buzz-words. But here is a celebration, with clearly pagan/seasonal foundation, that strives to bring light at the darkest time of the year, to disrupt pessimism and self-absorption.

The specific celebration is clothed in Christian imagery,  but zooming out of this specific frame, it’s a great time of year for people to instill in each other a sense of hope, even a sense of the possibility of something quite unexpected, a profound change for the good.

Coming to this understanding has eased much of my resistance to what has felt like “the onslaught” of Christmas….Knowing that many Christians want to redeem and re-emphasize the spiritual meaning of this holiday is gratifying to me. Finding a common basis of the holiday — a celebration of new, even radically new possibilities for good, and a renewal of our resolve to work to bring good to the world — is delightful to me and makes me want to celebrate too!

I’d say I’m beginning to get the Christmas spirit!

Amy Loewenthal
RRC ‘12

THIS I BELIEVE

Last week, I was able to share a 500 word statement of my beliefs on local public radio, WHYY in Philadelphia. The audio is available here and the text here. Thanks for your comments!

Willow Wilson speaks at RRC Multifaith Salon

 

On Friday, October 8, we welcomed author Willow Wilson to our Mutlifaith Salon. Wilson read from her new book, The Butterfly Mosque, a spiritual memoir that  chronicles her conversion to Islam and her subsequent marriage to a young Egyptian from a traditional Muslim family. 

Our salon participants included students and professors from colleges such as LaSalle and St. Joseph’s; seminarians and faculty from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and Lutheran Theological Seminary; local clergy and laypeople from a variety of faith traditions.

All participants enjoyed her insights and observations as well as her openness, honesty and approachability.

RRC Hevruta with Christian Seminaries

We have just posted the syllabi  from the joint course that RRC offers with Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia (LTSP) and Palmer Theological Seminary (PTS) on our Resources Page.   As well, there is information about Hevruta.  Please feel free to be in touch with Rabbi Melissa Heller for more information about these programs at:  mheller@rrc.edu

Law Professors Pledge to Contribute $18,000 to Park51

My husband recently joined a group of American law professors who are responding to the Park51 controversy by “putting their money where their principles are.” Rather than just issue a statement, the three law professors who organized this initiative decided to raise funds to show their support for the endeavor. Amazingly, a letter of support signed by 219 professors of law accompanied a collective pledge for $18,000.

The professors are hoping that this initiative will receive wide press coverage. In the meantime, you can read the letter and list of signers here. LawprofsforPark51

SEPTEMBER 11, 2010: RESOURCES FOR A TIME FOR TURNING

“Everything I need to know about Islam, I learned on September 11th, 2001.”

Many of us would disagree. In fact, what we have learned in the years since that day is the opposite. That everything we need to know about Islam we did NOT learn on September 11th, 2001. The proposal for the “Mosque at Ground Zero” that turns out not to be a mosque and not at Ground Zero has brought to light this simple fact: We Americans need to know a whole lot more about Muslims and their religion. We also need better ways to think about this particular controversy and, beyond the specifics of Park51 in lower Manhattan, about the larger issues it raises.

A group of Jewish interfaith educators is encouraging Jews to use this season of turning to reflect on our own fears and prejudices, on ways we might educate ourselves about Islam, and on the role we might play in helping to create a more inclusive and just society. Here is the statement: Shabbat Shuva Letter

Here are just a few of the resources I have found helpful. I look forward to more suggestions.

*The Auburn Theological Seminary website is gathering a growing collection of resources and is an excellent first stop to learn more.

*The Reverend Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite has excellent ideas here for Christian preachers.

Statements:

Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association

Reform Movement

A video statement created by Auburn Theological Seminary

History:

Jonathan Sarna “When Shuls were Banned in America.”

Nancy Fuchs Kreimer “Park51 Should Not be Complicated for Jews”

Reuven Firestone, a rabbi and professor of islamic Studies at Hebrew Union College “The Ground Zero-Sum Game”

Analysis:

Rabbi Justus Baird

Alan Dershowitz

Shaul Magid

Frank Rich

Rabbi Steve Gutow

Keith Olbermann video,

Rabbis David Ellenson and Robert Levine

Eboo Patel

0mid Safi

Sarah Sayeed

To learn more about Islam:

The best place to begin is the website of the Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement with its growing bank of resources.

This is an amazing site with over five hours of high quality films to view, entirely free of charge. There is a short film about a Muslim New York City firefighter, and a portion of a longer PBS special about Islam, “Allah Made me Funny,” and more. There are also discussion guides to download.

ChangeTheStory.net is an on-line resource aimed at transforming harmful stereotypes about Muslims that persist in society. Many useful materials here, especially for people just beginning to learn about Islam.

The website for the Daughters of Abraham Book Group Includes a helpful reading list.

NPR’s Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett has many excellent shows on Islam. The website includes transcripts, podcasts, and additional resources.

Actions:

Here is an inspiring report of one rabbi’s unusual response.

Hebrew Union College Students and Faculty rally

Check the website of New York Neighbors for American Values

* THE LIBERTY WALK: INTERFAITH RALLY FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Date: Sunday, September 12, 2010, 3pm
Location: Starting at St Peter’s Church on the corner of Church and Barclay and ending at Park51.

We are pleased to announce that Religious Freedom USA is leading a demonstration in support of Park51. We must support the religious freedoms that are at stake for all Americans. We will walk from St Peter’s to a synagogue (TBD), World Trade Center, and finish at Park51. Please be respectful and mindful. We won’t allow any signs at this demonstration. Rather, we ask everyone to bring a flag to the demonstration as a reminder of religious freedom. Together, not as Christians, Jews, or Muslims, but as Americans, we can uphold the American values that brought our ancestors here, the freedoms that we take for granted, and the ideals that we must uphold for our future.

Proposed Muslim Community Center near Ground Zero: Let’s Have the Right Conversation!

Over the weekend, I posted an opinion piece on Huffington Post about the controversy surrounding “Cordoba House,” the proposed community center and mosque to be built in lower Manhattan.You can read it here.

Over 300 people have taken the time to post comments, and I am sorry to report that much of the conversation is disheartening. There is so much ignorance, anger and fear out there!

I urge you to follow this issue and try to steer the conversation in helpful directions. We have a long way to go…

Room at the Table

I was  pleased to be able to attend the conference in April sponsored by Andover Newton Theological School and Hebrew College Rabbinical School, “Educating Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Leaders for Service in a Multi-Religious World: The American Seminary Context.”

Like my colleague Nancy, who blogged about the experience below, I came away impressed and inspired, also noting many of the recurring themes that Nancy listed in her last post.

One of them- including Evangelical Christians in inter-religious dialogue- resonates deeply with me. A course that I am currently co-teaching with Professor Emmanuel Itapson at Palmer Theological Seminary (PTS) is doing exactly that.

“Jewish-Christian Encounter Through Text”- a course offered jointly by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) and PTS brings together 8 Rabbinical students from RRC and 8 seminarians from PTS to study in interfaith pairs. For a semester, the students engage deeply with one another, with Biblical text as a foundation for their explorations and conversations.

What happens when you bring these seemingly disparate groups of emerging religious leaders together?
A lot.

They seek commonality. They tell stories. They bring their vulnerabilities. They navigate issues of accessibility and ownership of the text. They are offered a new lens through which to view their sacred text. They are forced to articulate their beliefs and explain aspects of their traditions to their partners, helping them to clarify their relationships to their tradition, their sacred literature and to God. As the semester progresses and trust develops, they share their challenges. They question their partners. They practice humility. They come to understand their differences-and respect them.

As the relationships deepen between the pairs, and among the group, so too does understanding. What results is a broadening of the definitions of “Progressive Jew” and “Evangelical Christian” –to include nuance, personal narratives and diversity.

While there is much I could say about the ways this experience has been thus far transformative for the students (and the instructors!) I would rather share a few words from one of the Rabbinical students taking the course. She writes:

“Each study session with [my partner] takes us deeper into the text, into our curiosity about one another and each other’s faith tradition, and into the spaces where we differ, which is where the energy and excitement (and fear of what we will encounter) lie. When we first met, we were a bit shy and polite, almost like a first date when you are excited and want to make a good first impression, and most of all do not want to get off on the wrong foot. Now we jump right into our dialogue, not wanting to waste a second and I feel slightly annoyed when someone comes to the door of “our space” and says we have to stop!…Anyway, the conversations now are beyond intellectually stimulating – they are soul stirring!”

Educating Leaders for a Multi-Religious World

Last week, I had the privilege of attending a wonderful conference, “Educating Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Leaders for Service in a Multi-Religious World: The American Seminary Context.” The college was hosted by  Andover Newton Theological School, Boston Theological Institute, and Hebrew College. To read an overview of the conference written by Joshua Stanton, editor of the  Journal of Inter-religious Dialogue,  click HERE. To read Samir Selmonovic’s comments, click here.

The conference was extraordinarily rich: two and a half days filled with panels and programs from breakast till late in the evening. A wide range of speakers presented on a rich variety of topics, all related to the question of training the next generation of religious leaders. Certain themes recurred. Here is a brief list of the ones I noted:

1)Radical pluralism—Professor Diana Eck, founder of the Harvard Pluralism Project, was honored with an award at the conference and was quoted often, sometimes merely to note the title of her 2001 book, “A New Religious America: How a “Christian Country” Has Become the World’s Most Religiously Diverse Nation

2)The Need for Community Based/Experiential Learning–Rabbi Justus Baird reported on a national study Auburn Seminary conducted of multifaith education in seminaries. One surprising finding: at most, 15% of the courses involved anything beyond classroom learning. It was widely agreed that the field should make more use of community based learning, focusing more on hands-on  education, including service,  travel and experiential opportunities of all kinds.

3)Wild Hybridity– Several speakers, especially those working on college campuses,  referenced the emerging reality of interfaith work: the boundaries between groups are less clear; sometimes the multifaith dialogue takes place within a single individual.  What does it mean to be advocating conversation across groups, when the tribal ties themselves are fraying and identities are increasingly complex, faith stances increasingly syncretistic? No one thought this meant there was less need for the work of interfaith education, just that it had to take into account the changing landscape.

4)Israel/palestine–This topic arose as a central concern in a panel devoted to international issues. It also came up at other times in conversations regarding issues in Jewish-Christian and Jewish-Muslim dialogue, in discussions of funding sources and in the all-important conversations over coffee and late at night. Clearly, much more attention needs to be paid to bringing this issue into the world of interfaith in a fruitful way.

5)American Muslim Religious Leadership–Throughout the conference, we were aware of the growing presence of a second and third generation  Muslim American community eager to join the multifaith conversation. That community is beginning to figure out how to train religious  leaders in and for this country. On a panel devoted to this topic,  Professor Ingrid Mattson, the president of the Islamic Society of North America, spoke of the need for American Muslims to commit resources to training a new generation of leaders. An Americanized version of the “imam” role may emerge(as the role of “rabbi” also adapted to a Christian context).  A huge question that lingers: how will American Muslims find a common platform in the midst of religious diversity? Will we see Reform, Conservative and Orthodox versions of Islam emerge?

6)Inclusion of Evangelical Christians– Association of Theological Schools reported that the accrediting institution he works with has as its constituency Christian seminaries–21% Roman Catholic and Orthodox and the rest evenly divided between Evangelical Protestant schools and Main Line(liberal)Protestant schools. However, he pointed out, when you look at the number of students, a different picture emerges. 10% Roman Catholic/Orthodox, 60% Evangelical and 30% Mainline Protestant. Many speakers expressed their desire for interfaith work to not be  limited to the progressive religious community.Panels included evangelical representatives. The modern version of interfaith left less room for evangelicals than the post-modern version does. This area holds exciting possibilities.

7)”Shacking Up”— The campus on which we met, shared by Hebrew College and Andover Newton, clearly reflects a trend that many agreed will be more important as the years go by. Funders want to know that money is used wisely, that individual institutions are not “reinventing the wheel.” Particularly when the subject is interfaith, collaboration seems often to be the best choice.

8) Curriculum Infusion– Many speakers agreed that adding extra courses, as if multifaith was an added on bonus/elective, was not the best way to transform seminary education. Rather, we need to think about how the formation of our clergy in all its aspects might reflect an awareness of the multifaith world they will confront.