News Release
Luce Foundation Awards Hartford Seminary
$375,000 for Interfaith Efforts
April 24, 2006 -- Hartford Seminary has received a three-year grant of $375,000 from the Henry Luce Foundation to support a professorship in Jewish Studies and the Seminary’s Building Abrahamic Partnerships program.
The grant will support the work of Yehezkel Landau, Faculty Associate in Interfaith Relations, who is the organizer of Building Abrahamic Partnerships, an interfaith community of learning for Jews, Christians and Muslims.
Hartford Seminary, building on its strengths as an interfaith, dialogical school of practical
theology, designed this innovative program to be a resource for Jews, Christians, and
Muslims who seek a solid foundation in interfaith ministry. It is an eight-day intensive immersion in interfaith dialogue and understanding.
The goals of the program are threefold:
- Educating participants about the beliefs and practices of all three faith traditions
- Creating a safe and supportive environment in which seminarians, religious and lay leaders, and religious educators can forge mutually beneficial relationships across communal boundaries
- Helping participants acquire pastoral skills useful in interfaith ministry
The Luce Foundation was a vital partner in establishing the Jewish professorship at Hartford Seminary three years ago. Since 2002, Landau has created an impressive training program in interfaith ministry.
Landau earned a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a Masters of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, and then 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.
Going forward, the objectives of the Building Abrahamic Partnerships program are to build on the original goals of the Luce-funded Jewish professorship:
- continuation of a Jewish voice in the Seminary’s academic and dialogic pursuits
- increased recruitment of Jewish students
- deepened relationships and increased dialogue with the local Jewish community
- augmented Jewish participation in the Seminary’s extracurricular events
- increased inter-religious understanding among the faithful of the three major Abrahamic religions
Additionally, the program aims to achieve the following outcomes:
1) Training a new kind of religious leadership
Landau will continue to coordinate and co-teach this innovative educational experience that prepares religious leaders (lay and clergy) to address the needs of our pluralistic society. The program will serve as an integral component of the Seminary’s new Graduate Certificate in Interfaith Dialogue.
2) Expansion
Offering a second, advanced tier of BAP will allow individuals who have completed the basic course to return for advanced training in communication skills, compassionate listening, joint study of sacred texts and the design of interfaith prayer. In this way, individuals from the first round can enhance their experience, deepen their professional ties with other interfaith practitioners, and augment the impact they have on their local communities.
Heidi Hadsell, President of Hartford Seminary, said, “I am particularly excited about the direction that the professorship and program are taking. Hartford Seminary recognizes both as integral to the interfaith relationships modeled here.
“Our Board and Faculty join me in appreciation for the commitment that the Foundation is making to the Abrahamic conversation at Hartford Seminary, and I am grateful for its support.”
For further information, please contact David S. Barrett, Director of Public and Institutional Affairs, at (860) 509-9519 or dbarrett@hartsem.edu.
A photo of Yehezkel Landau is available on request; Professor Landau is available for interviews.
