CIC and Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) offered a fifth seminar this summer to help faculty members strengthen the teaching of interfaith understanding and develop new courses and resources on the subject. Twenty-six CIC faculty members in the humanities and social sciences were competitively selected to participate in the multidisciplinary program. Generously supported by the Henry Luce Foundation, the Teaching Interfaith Understanding seminar took place July 31–August 4, 2016, at
DePaul University (IL) in Chicago.
Laurie Patton, president of
Middlebury College(VT), and Eboo Patel, founder and president of IFYC, led the seminar. The week opened with a welcoming dinner hosted by IFYC and small-group work on interfaith understanding case studies. Seminar discussions and small group work during the week allowed participants to explore their own case studies and the substantial theoretical questions involved in teaching interfaith understanding and the practical work of translating these ideas into courses. Discussions also examined the interfaith frameworks articulated in Patel’s new book,
Interfaith Leadership: A Primer (2016), and explored potential syllabus content. Participants toured DePaul’s interfaith spaces and spaces set aside for both Muslim and Jewish students to pray and organize their respective communities; they also visited Chicago’s Inner-City Muslim Action Network to consider the challenges and opportunities of site visits as a way of teaching interfaith understanding.
Participants praised the collegiality, small seminar setting, and open discussions with new colleagues that already have led to plans for future collaboration. Dan Mathewson, associate professor of religion at
Wofford College (SC), noted, “I enjoyed the combination of intellectual rigor and nuts-and-bolts practicality of the seminar. The case studies, in particular, were an incredibly useful way to unpack the challenges and opportunities of interfaith work. I also treasured the informal conversations I had with my fellow seminar participants outside of the formal seminar setting.”
Coming out of this seminar, as well as the previous four, CIC and IFYC have been working with past participants to develop an online Faculty Resource Library that will allow other faculty members to access syllabi, teaching tools, sample activities, and other resources for teaching interfaith understanding. CIC and IFYC launched the recently completed curated library in September. Many of the resources were created by faculty members as direct results of their participation in the seminars; others are resources these scholars have used for years in their teaching.
All resources can be found online.
Kristi Del Vecchio, IFYC’s academic initiatives manager, summarized the week by saying, “Participants expressed enthusiasm about the different opportunities for engagement throughout the seminar. They reported feeling intellectually enriched by the site visits, syllabus workshops, and case study discussions, yet they also had pragmatic next-steps to act upon as they return back to campus.”
The 2017 Teaching Interfaith Understanding seminar will take place June 18–22, again at DePaul University in Chicago.
Eboo Patel, Interfaith Youth Core founder and president, and Laurie Patton,
Middlebury College (VT) president (front), led the 2016 Teaching Interfaith Understanding seminar at
DePaul University (IL).
2016 Teaching Interfaith Understanding Seminar Participants
Augustana University (SD) Benjamin Jeppsen Assistant Professor of Psychology
Bennett College (NC) Ruth Lucier Professor of Religion and Philosophy
Berea College (KY) Jeffrey Richey Professor of Religion and Asian Studies
Bethel University (MN) Marion Larson Professor of English
Bluefield College (VA) Rob Merritt Professor of English
Calvin College (MI) Douglas Howard Professor of History
Cardinal Stritch University (WI) David Stosur Associate Professor of Religious Studies
Carthage College (WI) Fatih Harpci Assistant Professor of Religion
Chatham University (PA) Katherine Cruger Assistant Professor of Communication
Converse College (SC) Sherry Fohr Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy
Duquesne University (PA) Marinus Iwuchukwu Associate Professor of Theology
Elizabethtown College (PA) Christina Bucher Professor of Religious Studies
Guilford College (NC) Michael Dutch Professor of Business Administration
| Huston-Tillotson University (TX) James Kraft Associate Professor of Humanities
Lakeland College (WI) Karl Kuhn Professor of Religion
Lynn University (FL) Mark Luttio Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion
Marygrove College (MI) Sarah Heidt Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies
Our Lady of the Lake University (TX) Oswald Nira Associate Professor of Religious Studies
Pacific Lutheran University (WA) Erik Hammerstrom Assistant Professor of Religion
Principia College (IL) Gretchen Starr-LeBeau Associate Professor of Religion
Randolph College (VA) Suzanne Bessenger Assistant Professor of Religion
University of Mount Union (OH) Nicole Johnson Associate Professor of Religious Studies
University of the Ozarks (AR) William Eakin Professor of Humanities
Virginia Wesleyan College Craig Wansink Professor of Religious Studies
Washington & Jefferson College (PA) Olga Solovieva Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
Wofford College (SC) Dan Matthewson Associate Professor of Religion |