Interfaith Dialogue Scheduled for Thursday [incl. Vincent Cornell]

In a world characterized by religious conflict, diverse spiritual perspectives, and varying degrees of enlightenment, how do we communicate as diverse believers and practitioners of faith? Where do we connect?

And where do we find common ground?

Those are some of the issues on tap at a daylong Interfaith Dialogue event scheduled for Thursday in Grand Rapids.

A trio of internationally renowned scholars, with perspectives rooted in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, will lead a discussion on the topic “Religion and the Challenge of Modernity.”

The panel will include: Vincent Cornell, a professor of Islamic and Middle East studies at Emory University in Atlanta; Rabbi Donniel Hartman, co-director of the renowned Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem; and James Carroll, author of the best-selling book “Constantine’s Sword: The Church and the Jews” and a longtime advocate of efforts toward Jewish-Christian-Muslim reconciliation.

All three scholars are veterans of interfaith dialogue, as is Martin E. Marty, the eminent Lutheran scholar and writer who will moderate the discussion.

All four have taken part in past events in a West Michigan series of such events, which has firm historical roots in Muskegon.

The dialogue series dates back to a centennial celebration of Muskegon’s Jewish community, held in 1988-89. From a theological symposium that was part of that celebration emerged the West Shore Committee of Jewish/Christian Dialogue, which for years presented major dialogue events at the Frauenthal Theater in downtown Muskegon and other venues in Muskegon County.

Out of a collaboration between the West Shore Committee and Grand Valley State University has emerged the Kaufman Interfaith Institute of Michigan, which is sponsoring Thursday’s event.

The Kaufman Institute is named for Sylvia and Richard Kaufman, longtime Muskegon residents who now live in Chicago. It was Sylvia Kaufman who spearheaded organization of the centennial celebration two decades ago and the subsequent series of dialogue events.

Since the Kaufmans moved from West Michigan in 2005, Grand Valley State University has taken on greater administrative responsibility for the series at Sylvia Kaufman’s request, according to P. Douglas Kindschi, interim director of the institute.

A 2006 interfaith dialogue event, the first such event to be presented through the institute, also featured Cornell, Hartman and Carroll. Such is the respect and influence commanded by the West Michigan series that the trio almost immediately agreed to return three years later.

One of the series’ developments since the foundation of the Kaufman Institute has been to expand the dialogue to include Muslim voices.

Cornell is a practicing Muslim. A former professor at Duke University and the University of Arkansas, he is also the editor of “Voices of Islam,” a five-volume introductory text to the Islamic religion. He has written three books and is currently working on projects on Islamic ethics and theology in conjunction with the Shalom Hartman Institute and the Building Bridges Seminar.

Hartman oversees and helps coordinate the Shalom Hartman Institute’s interfaith work, which brings together Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars from around the world in an effort to develop new avenues of understanding. He has written and edited books on Jewish philosophy and pluralistic thought.

Carroll is a contributor to several national magazines and a regular columnist for The Boston Globe. His “Constantine’s Sword” was named one of the best books of 2001 by the Los Angeles Times and Christian Science Monitor. In his more recent memoir, “Practicing Catholic,” he recounts his personal relationship with the Roman Catholic Church.

A full day’s schedule of events will begin with registration and coffee at 8:30 a.m. Registration for the day’s events, which continue through the afternoon, cost $10. Lunch and dinner reservations, which carry an additional cost, are optional. Events will be held at the L.V. Eberhard Center at GVSU’s Robert C. Pew Grand Rapids Campus.

An evening session, from 7 to 9 p.m., is available to the public at no charge.

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