Hartford
Seminary is offering a new interfaith training program for clergy,
religious educators, and seminarians from the three Abrahamic faith
traditions. The
initiative is called “Building Abrahamic Partnerships” and is
made possible by grants
to the Seminary from the William and Mary Greve Foundation and the
Alan B. Slifka Foundation.
Our
society needs a new style of religious leadership, grounded in a
particular tradition and, at the same time, able to interact
effectively with other faith communities.
Hartford Seminary, building on its strengths as an
interfaith, dialogical school of practical theology, has designed
this innovative program to be a resource for Jews, Christians, and
Muslims throughout North America who seek a solid foundation in
interfaith ministry.
The
goals of the new program are threefold:
-
educating
participants about the beliefs and practices of all three faith
traditions
-
creating
a safe and supportive environment in which clergy, religious
educators, and seminarians can forge mutually beneficial
relationships across communal boundaries
-
helping
participants acquire pastoral skills useful in interfaith
ministry
The
format for the training programs will be eight-day intensive
seminars in January and June. The
aim for both sessions will be to enroll 10 members of each faith
tradition, for a total of 30 participants.
Course content will include historical overviews; shared text
study of primary sources and prayers; comparative spirituality;
demographic and sociological data on Jews, Christians, and Muslims
in North America; obstacles to interfaith relationships;
communication skills needed to create and sustain interfaith
partnerships; visits to a mosque, a synagogue, and a church for
worship; strategies to counter negative media portrayals;
formulating joint interfaith projects in local communities; web
links and e-mail exchanges to foster communication and cooperation
among graduates of the program.
The
third round of the program is scheduled for May 29 to June 5,
2005 and is intended for seminarians, clergy, religious
educators, and lay chaplains.
For
additional information, please contact Prof. Yehezkel Landau by
e-mail at ylandau@hartsem.edu
or by phone at 860-509-9538.
Yehezkel
Landau
Yehezkel Landau, faculty associate in interfaith relations, is the
organizer and lead faculty for Building Abrahamic Partnerships. After
earning an A.B. from Harvard University (1971) and an M.T.S. from
Harvard Divinity School (1976), Landau
immigrated to Israel in 1978. His work has been in the fields of
interfaith education and Jewish-Arab peacemaking. From 1991 to 2003,
he was co-founder and co-director of the Open House Center
for Jewish-Arab Coexistence in Ramle, Israel.
He joined the Seminary’s faculty in 2002.
