St. Olaf to host workshop on multifaith leadership and engagement
A daylong workshop at St. Olaf College on March 3 will explore what it means to engage across religious differences in a time of heightened division globally and locally.
The Multifaith Leadership and Engagement in a Fractured World workshop is organized and hosted by the Lutheran Center for Faith, Values, and Community at St. Olaf, the Minnesota Multifaith Network, the Interfaith Fellows Program of the Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies at the University of St. Thomas, and the Interfaith Institute at Augsburg University.
The keynote speakers will be Rabbi Rachel Mikva and Najeeba Syeed, who will discuss various dimensions of multifaith leadership, including their own, and strategies for bridging religious divides. In their moderated keynote dialogue, they will offer methods to foster understanding and collaboration across different lifestances.
Mikva serves as the Herman E. Schaalman Professor in Jewish Studies and Senior Faculty Fellow of the InterReligious Institute at Chicago Theological Seminary. With a passion for justice and academic expertise in the history of scriptural interpretation, her courses and publications address a range of Jewish and comparative studies, with a special interest in the intersections of sacred texts, culture, and ethics. Mikva’s most recent books are Dangerous Religious Ideas: The Deep Roots of Self-Critical Faith in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and Interreligious Studies: An Introduction.
Syeed is the inaugural El-Hibri endowed chair and executive director of the Interfaith Institute at Augsburg University. An award-winning educator, she has taught extensively on interreligious education and published articles on faith and community-based conflict resolution, restorative justice, and interfaith peacemaking. Syeed also brings significant executive experience with organizations focused on conflict resolution in community, higher education, and government settings, including the Western Justice Center Foundation and the Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center.
The keynote dialogue will be followed by breakout sessions with a number of other experts on multifaith practices and interreligious work, including a session specifically for and by students.
“This workshop really provides two opportunities for people who attend. First, you will have the opportunity to connect with other community members committed to building connections across lines of religious difference. Second, you will be equipped to build relationships across religious divides for the sake of a less-polarized, more compassionate world,” says Lutheran Center Associate Director Peter Carlson Schattauer ’08. “We encourage anyone interested to attend.”
Registration capacity has been reached, but there is limited space for St. Olaf students, staff, and faculty who can continue to register here until February 24.