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Since the 2024 election, questions of free speech, religious liberty, pluralism, and the rule of law have become increasingly urgent in U.S. public life. Join our conversation with Ruth Braunstein and Jemar Tisby as we consider how we can navigate the social and political challenges of this moment, and what resources religion, history, and sociology can offer for sustaining a multireligious democratic society.
In this moment in the United States, when some Christians are embracing Christian nationalism and Christian supremacy, how can other Christians model a different public witness? In this minicourse, ICJS senior Christian scholar Matthew D. Taylor will explore the Gospel of Mark—the earliest of the Christian Gospels—through historical and contextual lenses to uncover its vision of a Christian politics rooted in servanthood, sacrifice, and resistance to tyranny.
Right now, our civic fabric feels fragile, stretched thin and frayed by anger, fear, and the weight of vigilante violence. Can we talk about our deepest differences? In moments like this, it is tempting to go to extremes—to divide ourselves into warring camps who lash out at opponents, or opt out of public conversation all…
When I’ve told people about the work we have been doing this past year at ICJS, they have a lot of questions: How are you actually able to do dialogue right now? Has the violence in Israel and Gaza frayed interreligious relationships beyond repair? What are commonly held expectations and fears about interreligious dialogue, particularly…
For decades, interreligious dialogue has been a space where differences in theology, belief, and practice could be explored with respect. But ICJS Jewish Scholar Benjamin Sax, Ph.D., argues that one issue consistently breaks that fragile trust: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “People can disagree on deep theological matters and still remain in community,” Sax explained. “But when…
ICJS Executive Director and Roman Catholic Scholar Heather Miller Rubens, Ph.D., is shaping conversations at the intersection of faith, scholarship, and public life—both internationally and here at home. This summer, Rubens delivered a keynote lecture at the International Network for Interreligious Research and Education (INIRE) conference in Berlin, Germany. Her address, “God-seeking & Neighbor-seeking: Teleological…
American Unexceptionalism is a limited-series podcast from Dr. Matthew D. Taylor and the Rev. Susan Hayward about what Americans can learn from people around the world who have resisted religious nationalism and authoritarianism.
Nostra Aetate is the Vatican II statement issued in 1965 that changed how the Catholic Church relates to Jews, Muslims, and people of other faiths.
In this interreligious panel, ICJS Executive Director Heather Miller Rubens, Ph.D., spoke with Rabbi Katja Vehlow, Ph.D., Director of Jewish Life at Fordham University, and Syed Atif Rizwan, Ph.D., Director of the Catholic-Muslim Studies Program at Catholic Theological Union, on why Nostra Aetate was important when it was written, how it has shaped interreligious studies, and why it still matters today.
For more information, visit our Nostra Aetate 60th Anniversary Resource Guide: https://icjs.org/nostra-aetate-60th-anniversary/
This course with ICJS Jewish Scholar Benjamin E. Sax, Ph.D., interrogates the question of what it means to dialogue during a time of political violence, persecution, gaslighting, and oppression. Very often we teach that tolerance is a virtue in dialogue, yet should we also be tolerant of intolerance? How does that work?
We consider a variety of views and try to chart a new dialogical path together by examining how different philosophers, political theorists, historians, and theologians have broached these questions during their own times of political peril.
With the 2024 election behind us, it is clear that Christian nationalism and the empowerment of conservative Christians will play prominent roles in American politics and policy. How does Christian theology intersect with Christian nationalism, and how can it also inform Christian resistance to it? In this course with ICJS Christian Scholar Matthew D. Taylor, Ph.D., we explore the theological foundations and traditions that have supported much of the Christian backing for Donald Trump over the past decade. At the same time, the course examines theological voices from within the Christian tradition that challenge the ideas of Christian nationalism, Christian supremacy, and Christian hegemony.
Mary, the mother of Jesus—Maryam in Arabic—is venerated by Christians and Muslims around the world. This course examines the Islamic portrayal of Mary as described in the Qur’an and the holy narrations of Prophet Muhammad, both normative sources for Muslims, identifying similarities and differences that emerge in the Muslim depictions of Mary. By presenting examples of Islamic art and architecture, ICJS Muslim Scholar Zeyneb Sayilgan, Ph.D., highlights Mary’s ongoing importance in Muslim life. Finally, Sayilgan reflects on the possibilities of how Mary can serve as an important interreligious figure who can both divide and unite.
Explore our curated resources, assembled with the assistance of ICJS scholars, to help you explore Judaism, Christianity, and Islam from both vantage points. This list is not meant to be exhaustive. We hope this serves as a launching pad to your own learning.
Rabbi Dr. Rachel S. Mikva explored how considering the question of the human is essential when navigating religious differences today. Watch the videos of the two lectures and the response by Dr. Younus Mirza, and the Conversation Event held at Goucher College.
Read the most recent issue of ICJS Insights, our monthly newsletter featuring voices, essays, and perspectives.