To dismantle religious bias and bigotry, ICJS builds learning communities where religious difference becomes a powerful force for good.

BALTIMORE—The Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies (ICJS) has named Francis X. Clooney, S.J., a theologian at the Harvard Divinity School and a leader in the field of comparative theology and interreligious studies, as the inaugural Silber-Obrecht Lecturer. The Silber-Obrecht Lecture, the first endowed lectureship in the emerging field of Interreligious and Interfaith Studies,…

I am proud of my Judaism, but I wear it quietly. In the USA I have had years of developing an understanding of my identity as a minority outsider—years of growing up with the view that religious belief belongs in the private sphere, shared gently and carefully among those of one’s own faith. I am…

Interacting and engaging with peers and colleagues from other faiths has opened my eyes to a few issues. I realized that prejudice and bias exist not only towards Muslims, but also other groups. In many situations it manifests its ugly face as an outcome of unintentional ignorance and cultural baggage, influenced by media and societal…

I surround myself with creative people, but I usually do not consider myself to be creative. So I was shocked that I volunteered to work one-on-one with a storyteller to tell my Teachers Fellowship cohort a story at our Fellowship retreat. I am a preacher and a teacher, but I have never done something like…