About the Duncan Black Macdonald Center

The Duncan Black Macdonald Center is an academic unit within Hartford Seminary dedicated to scholarly research, teaching, publication and communication with the public.

The Center is responsible for the Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations component of the Seminary’s MA and PhD programs, and the Muslim Chaplaincy program. Named for one of the nation’s early, pre-eminent scholars of Islam, the Macdonald Center is the country’s oldest center for such study.

Academic courses taught through the Macdonald Center cover a range of topics, including Islamic history, law and theology; study of the Qur’an, sunnah and hadith; contemporary social and political movements; Christian-Muslim relations in their historical and current contexts; Sufism; Arabic; and comparative religion.

Professors Yahya Michot, Mahmoud Ayoub, Timur Yuskaev and Steven Blackburn base their teaching on their on-going research, and have published in a broad spectrum of subjects. 

A major part of the activity of the Macdonald Center is involvement in interfaith dialogue, with particular emphasis on Christian-Muslim relations. All Center faculty and personnel are committed to the importance of better understanding between and among faiths, and to supporting efforts toward building relationships based on tolerance and trust.

The Macdonald Center provides resources as well as a gathering place for its local and international students, and participants in Center activities find it a “safe place” where they are free to share their perspectives on a range of issues. While the Macdonald Center is frequently the locale for conversations among members of several religious traditions, often focusing specifically on Christian-Muslim-Jewish interactions, its history and particular expertise is interaction and dialogue between Muslims and Christians. 

A major part of the activity of the Macdonald Center is dedicated to relationships with the wider community. Faculty regularly speak and participate in meetings and conferences in the greater Hartford area, nationally and in the international context, and are available to provide information for members of the press and other media, researchers, local churches and institutions, and the public in general.