Dear Readers, 

What a year it's been. I hardly need recount the momentous difficulties we have all lived through: clinging to health and staving off aloneness in a worldwide pandemic, being confronted as a nation once again with our country's legacy of systemic racism and injustice, and weathering a bitterly polarizing election have all taken a toll on us. The toll has undoubtedly been higher for some individuals and communities than for others, but we have all felt it. 

It was an honor and a pleasure to take over the editorship of Sightings from Joel in September, and I can honestly say that working with incredibly talented scholars and observers of religion in the public sphere to bring their insights to you twice weekly has been a source of joy and light during a hard time. I hope that Sightings has brought some interest, excitement, and comfort to your inbox as well. Thank you so much for being with us through it all.

We will be going on a short hiatus for the remainder of the year but will resume our normal publication schedule with the new year. The Marty Center will also host an exciting online symposium in January on interfaith education; for details and registration, see the notice below. In the meantime, we at the Martin Marty Center wish you a holiday season full of light and good will – cheer where it may be found, solace where it is not, compassion for the suffering, and hope for a brighter future.

With warmest wishes,

Daniel Owings
Managing Editor, Sightings

 
With the generous support of the Luce Foundation, the Martin Marty Center is excited to host this symposium in collaboration with Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), Chicago. It will consist of an opening plenary, led jointly by David Nirenberg, Dean of the University of Chicago Divinity School, and Eboo Patel, Founder and President of Interfaith Youth Core, followed by four interactive panels on relevant themes related to interfaith education. The project Typologies of Interfaith Education neatly aligns with the Luce Foundation Theology program’s aim to advance the understanding of religion and theology. The project strives for greater communication between administrators, students, and scholars from different seminaries and universities, bridging religious and political divides by bringing them together for the purpose of developing a more integrated and responsive public approach to interfaith education.
 
 
Typologies of Interfaith Education: From Promise to Practice  
January 11, 4-5:30pm CST

In this opening plenary of the virtual symposium Typologies of Interfaith Education Dean David Nirenberg and Eboo Patel reflect on the history, the tasks, and the promise of interfaith education.

Register Here.

 
Biblical scholarship: Tasks and Challenges  
January 14, 4-5:30pm CST

Moving beyond the mere issue of academic freedom, this panel discusses with Bible scholars to what extent they see their work as primarily academic and historical and to what extent they see their work as nourished by and informing their religious tradition.

Discussants: Prof. Adele Reinhartz (University of Ottawa), Prof. Ross Wagner (Duke University), Prof. Richard Newton (University of Alabama), Prof. Joel Lohr (Hartford Seminary), Prof. Erin Walsh (University of Chicago)
 

Register Here.

 
 
Pluralism and Moral Formation
January 18, MLK Day, 4-5:30pm CST

Moral formation is an important goal of all religious and theological education. This panel of ethicists focuses on how interfaith education can be taught in such a way that it strengthens moral formation, treating such questions as whether one’s own tradition should take priority, how to avoid religious relativism and which moral topics lend themselves best for interfaith discussion.

Discussants:  Prof. Hille Haker (Loyola University Chicago), Rabbi Rachel Mikva (Chicago Theological Seminary), Prof. William Schweiker (University of Chicago), Prof. Aristotle Papanikolaou (Fordham University), Prof. Nichole Flores (University of Virginia)
 

Register Here.

 
 
“Where do we go from here?” – A Reflection on the Future of Seminary and Divinity School Education in a post-COVID world
January 20, 4-5:30pm CST

This panel consists of deans and presidents representing a range of seminaries and divinity schools reflecting on how their institutions have traditionally understood interfaith education within the broader curriculum, and how that approach might be shifting in light of the changing realities that the COVID-19 pandemic has created. The panel engages senior administrators on how they understand the role of interfaith education at their institutions, past, present, and future.

Discussants: Prof. Steed Davidson (McCormick Theological Seminary), Prof. Richard Mouw (Fuller Theological Seminary/Calvin University), Prof. Marianne Moyaert (Free University of Amsterdam), Prof. Elias Ortega (Meadville Lombard Theological School), Rabbi Or Rose (Hebrew College), Prof. Najeeba Syeed (Chicago Theological Seminary)
 

Register Here.

 
 
The View from Emerging Scholars
January 21, 4-5:30pm CST

This panel consists of current students at, and recent graduates from, seminaries and divinity schools who have expressed scholarly interest in interfaith and/or interreligious studies. These young scholars reflect on how they conceive of “interfaith education;” they do so in terms of the training they received at their institution as well as the field they hope to shape through their careers.

Discussants: Viraj Patel (University of Chicago), Rachel Heath (Vanderbilt University), Prof. Anand Venkatkrishnan (University of Chicago), Harmeet Kaur Kamboj (Union Theological Seminary), Casey Jones (UCSB), Amar Peterman (Princeton Theological Seminary)
 

Register Here.

 
 

Sightings is a publication of the Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion at the University of Chicago Divinity School. 
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Marty Center or its editors.