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1. Forgiveness
Since its inception, Elijah has recognised that one of the most important values for interreligious understanding and dialogue, a value promoted by all religious traditions, is that of Forgiveness. The third meeting of the Elijah Board of World Religious Leaders, under the title of “Sharing Wisdom,” used the example of Forgiveness as its case-study, to demonstrate that we have much in common but that we can be enriched by the wisdom of different traditions.
Click here for more about the meeting.
As part of the meeting, a series of videos was produced and released by the Fetzer Institute, in which religious leaders speak about the meaning and importance of forgiveness in their tradition.
Click here for videos.
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Recently, we forged a new partnership to strengthen and enhance our work on Forgiveness. The International Forgiveness Institute, based at Madison University in Wisconsin, is the premier centre for the exploration of all aspects of Forgiveness – from the psychological, social and spiritual perspective, for the individuals, for communities and for humanity. Elijah has been involved in a number of activities with them, contributing particularly to sharing the ancient and contemporary wisdom of the world’s religions.
This past summer, Elijah was co-sponsor of the first Jerusalem International Conference on Forgiveness, held at the Notre Dame Centre.
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Elijah’s Director of Educational Activities, Peta Jones Pellach, chaired the two-day event, which featured members of the Elijah Board of World Religious Leaders, Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Dr Adamou Njoya and Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, among the list of prominent speakers.
What does it mean to forgive? How do people go about forgiving others? What is the scientific evidence that forgiveness is beneficial? The scientific evidence of the benefits of forgiveness for one’s personal health is overwhelming.
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The conference opened with Dr. Robert Enright, founder and director of the International Forgiveness Institute, explaining the science of forgiveness.
[click here to see Dr. Enright's presentation]
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Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks supported Dr Enright’s contention that Forgiveness is a modern idea that has been around for hundreds of years.
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Dr Adamou Njoya described how important forgiveness is in Islam.
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The Christian position was presented by Cardinal Tagle of the Philippines.
The Cardinal made an analogy between the forgiving love of God and a mother forgiving her child.
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A spin-off from the Jerusalem Conference was the invitation for the Forgiveness Institute to sponsor a conference in Rome. The Rome Conference on Forgiveness: Virtue of Forgiveness Formation in Educational Programs to Promote Peace was held earlier this month at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
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Peta Jones Pellach was invited to present Forgiveness and Forgiveness Education from the Jewish Perspective. Here is a synopsis of her presentation.
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2. Friendship Corner
Elijah’s Make Friends campaign has now reached millions of people around the globe. To celebrate the spread of this message, our future newsletters will include a Friendship Corner, highlighting the wisdom of our religious leaders and the traditions from which they come on the importance of interreligious friendships.
We begin with an excerpt from Rabbi Jonathan Sack’s presentation on Forgiveness, where he is asked to describe his vision of a Forgiving Community and speaks passionately about the significance of friendships and what they represent.
The Marrakesh Declaration to which he refers can be found here.
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3. Remembering Jonathan Z. Smith
Religious Studies has lost one of its towering figures with the recent passing of Jonathan Z. Smith. Elijah has lost a friend and longtime supporter. Jonathan Smith of Chicago University was a member of Elijah’s academic advisory board, since its formation, in 1996. Smith was one of the sharpest analytical minds in the field of religion, and refined the comparative study of religion with great methodological acumen, through many by-now classical works, such as Drudgery Divine: On the Comparison of Early Christianities and the Religions of Late Antiquity.
While not a theologian, nor a specialist of one religion, Smith was highly supportive of the efforts of Elijah and appreciated its work, both on the academic and the communal plane. As Elijah was seeking its identity and ways of balancing its academic and spiritual quest, Smith was a valuable and supportive conversation partner. We will miss the caring heart of Gold that may have not been visible to all, given Smith’s outstanding brilliance and unique personality.
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DONATE
We know that you have many options in choosing where to make a contribution, and we are grateful for your faith in us that your contribution will be invested directly in the growth of the Elijah Interfaith Institute.
CLICK HERE to make your contribution. All donations are US tax exempt.
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Thank You! |
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Wisdom enables us to become mindful of the memories and impressions that condition our response to the world. Wisdom enables to respond to the world, not from the dualism of like and dislike, love and hate, but from a vision of the unity of existence and the seeing of the limitless in all beings. Wisdom frees us from responding to the world on the basis of historically formed memories and enables us to do so on the basis of compassion. - Anantanand Rambachan
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