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Epiphany West conference at CDSP furthers interfaith dialogue
"Our presenters this year took inter-religious dialogue to a new level of engagement, enabling us to meet one another through our sacred texts, and allowing our own identities to be challenged and stretched," said David Gortner, director of CDSP's Center for Anglican Learning and Leadership.
"Seeing one's self is the most transformative element in reading texts of other traditions. This requires intellectual humility and the acknowledgement of the possibility of divine inspiration outside our own religion," said Peter Phan, Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought in the Theology Department of Georgetown University, Washington D.C. "We must also guard against looking through the window and seeing only similarities. The glass of our windows so far has been essentially Christian-tinted." One of four featured presenters, Phan challenged the audience with the topic, "Can We Read Religious Texts Inter-religiously?"
Speaking on "Toward a Judaeo-Muslim Sexual Ethic," Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert emphasized, "All dialogue should result in a conversion of some kind...recognition of a partially-shared history, of mutual engagement, and a history of each shaping the other." Fonrobert is associate professor of Religious Studies and co-director of the Taube Center for Jewish Studies, Stanford University.
"Embracing the 'Other' as an Extension of the Self," was addressed by A. Rashied Omar, research scholar of Islamic Ethics and Peacebuilding at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame. His presentation focused on engaging Hebrews 13:2, "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares," from a Muslim perspective. "Muslims and Christians operate with radically different theologies of revelation," said Omar. "Sensitivity to and appreciation of different theologies builds bridges of understanding."
In the final presentation, "Moses Received the Torah at Sinai and Handed It On," Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski, assistant professor of Church History at CDSP, emphasized the need for a positive Christian theology of the Torah. Significantly, he noted, "Jesus, confessed as Messiah by Christians, kept Torah." Further, he cited the Torah as "a grand inspiration of Jesus' teaching." And, "just as the early rabbis saw the Torah as a living tradition, so did the disciples of Jesus." He concluded, "Christians can honor Torah by not turning from it, but by turning to it, and studying it."
Among the 20 classes and workshops offered were a Midrash (House of Study) led by Rabbi Alan Lew, Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Beth Sholom, San Francisco, with daily sessions of intensive reading and discussion of sacred texts.
Special prayer and worship services were offered throughout the conference, including Muslim Noonday Prayer, and a Shabbat Service and Meal. The featured preacher at a Eucharist on January 30 was Bishop Michael Ingham of the Diocese of New Westminister in Vancouver, British Columbia, of the Anglican Church of Canada. Ingham also conducted a workshop on The Buddha Parable of Jesus. On sensitive use of appropriate language he cautioned, "Words that are powerful to one religious paradigm will mean something entirely different to another. We must be completely open and respectful in dialogue with one another."
The event was organized by the Center for Anglican Learning & Leadership (CALL) at CDSP, in partnership with the Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies, and the Center for Islamic Studies, both at the Graduate Theological Union; and the Episcopal Church's Office of Interfaith and Ecumenical Relations.
Epiphany West is organized annually by CALL. A national leader in online theological education, CALL offers a range of courses and programs designed to enrich the religious life and strengthen the ministry of every Christian adult.
Established in 1893, CDSP's mission is to provide the highest quality Christian theological education in an environment of scholarship, reflection and worship, rooted in the Anglican tradition. CDSP is a founding member of the Graduate Theological Union, an ecumenical and interfaith consortium based in Berkeley, California. Further information is available here.
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