It’s Time to Let Jews, Muslims, and Sikhs Join the Military
This piece was originally published on The Daily Beast. The rash of hate crimes following the Boston Marathon bombings reminds us of the major challenges religious minorities face in this country. Last week a taxi passenger in Northern Virginia verbally and physically attacked his driver for being “a fucking Muslim.” The victim, Mohamed Salim, who [...]
Project Conversion: Rebuilding the Shattered Mirror
A few months ago when the request came on the State of Formation email group for reviewers for a book called ‘Project Conversion’, my literary greed took the better of me as I rushed to get hold of yet another book to add to my collection. I have to say that right from the word [...]
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Women Writing: She Answers Abraham on “Faithful Advocacy” and More
My Christian friend LeeAnne got the conversation about Faithful Advocacy started by reflecting on a passage from the Gospel of John: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth…” (14:16-17a). In LeeAnne’s reflection, she explains that advocacy—“speaking up for the [...]
Engaging the religious “Other” is only a matter of life or death.
In the interests of full disclosure, a few points as preface to the following: As a freshman in college, I gave serious thought to converting to Islam. While I’d like to think that I was stopped mainly by my concern for the status of women in some Middle Eastern nations, the facts are that I [...]
Ash Wednesday in Flux: Between Continents, Between Calendars, Between Identities
To walk through the streets of Amman—not many sidewalks to speak of here—or to sit in the minibus crammed with commuters can be disorienting. Now imagine those commonplace activities with ashes on your forehead. In the sign of a cross. To be fair a few thousand Ammanis perform this act annually, going about their business [...]
Experiencing Islam: An Interview with Homayra Ziad, PhD
In January, Hebrew College and Andover Newton Theological School offered for the first time a joint winter seminar on Islam for rabbinical, cantorial and ministerial students. This one-week intensive course, “Experiencing Islam,” was led by Homayra Ziad, assistant professor of religion at Trinity College. Following her time on our hilltop campus, Ziad spoke with the [...]
What’s the Big Deal About Interfaith Marriage?
I attended the 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne, Australia. I was amazed by the preponderance of sacred fashion statements (the hats!), the number of New Age practitioners from the North American West Coast, and the ubiquity of the phrase “interfaith dialogue.” As former chair of the Union Theological Seminary Interfaith Caucus, a [...]
Do We Worship the Same God? Part II: Jewish and Muslim Voices
This is part two of a two-part review of Miroslav Volf’s new edited volume, Do We Worship the Same God? Miroslav Volf has done a great service in bringing together a thoughtful group of renowned thinkers around the question of whether Jews, Christians, and Muslims worship the same God. Each essay offers a penetrating analysis from the [...]
Do We Worship the Same God? Part I: Christian Voices
This is part one of a two-part review of Miroslav Volf’s new edited volume, Do We Worship the Same God? Miroslav Volf has done a great service in bringing together a thoughtful group of renowned thinkers around the question of whether Jews, Christians, and Muslims worship the same God. Each essay offers a penetrating analysis from the [...]
Reflections from a Subway Platform: Sunando Sen and The Fight To End Discrimination
I can’t stop thinking about Sunando Sen. Two weeks before Mr. Sen was pushed into the elevated tracks at 40th-Lowery St, I stood on that platform, fresh from an evening with a good friend. I love the rhythm and rhyme of that part of Sunnyside. Perhaps Mr. Sen also walked past the Sunnyside mural and [...]
Contributing Scholars
Greg DuBowGreg DuBow grew up in Atlanta, where he attended the Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation until he left for college. Greg went to Antioch College in Yellow Springs Ohio where he got a philosophy degree, focusing on existential phenomenology. He is in process for a Master of Divinity at Meadville Lombard Theological School and is finishing his last year as a Meadville student at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tallahassee as their first ever intern minister. He has worked as a graphic designer, wolf rancher, and a hospital chaplain. He enjoys gardening, riding and working on bicycles, and has just started studying Kung Fu
Valarie KaurA third-generation Sikh American, Valarie is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, and advocate who speaks out on race, religion, gender, and power in America. You can read more about her work here: www.valariekaur.com/blog
DivInnovationsThe DivInnovations series represents an exciting new collaboration that State of Formation and the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue are embarking upon in an effort to capture dynamic research, initiatives, partnerships, and projects (particularly interfaith in nature) at seminaries, divinity schools, and graduate theological settings in general across the nation. We will be posting profiles of institutions both on the State of Formation blog through this account and in each issue of the Journal. We invite you to be in touch about nominating your institution for a profile by emailing our JIRD liaison and profile developer, Sophia Khan.