The series is moderated by Dr. Bob Bersson, visiting Jewish scholar at CIE. The films will be shown on Wednesdays beginning at 7 p.m. at Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Room 123. The first film showing is Jan. 13, 2016. Admission is free and all are welcome.

Each showing is preceded by Bersson’s introductory remarks and followed by analysis and a question-and-answer session with experts from the local community.

“This series is centered on conflict but featuring international persons and groups who have shown remarkable courage and resilience in working for peace and justice through non-violent means,” Bersson said. “These films were chosen for cinematic excellence, but also to provide inspiration and models of success and progress, large or small, in our world which often seems so dark and resistant to change.”

“CIE is pleased that Professor Bersson is prepared to lead another series this spring following the very successful one on Israel/Palestine that he taught the past two years,”  says CIE Executive Director . “The films this spring will have more of an interfaith emphasis about persons working for justice and peace, usually from a faith basis, in a variety of situations and locations.”

The series includes films about well-known figures such as Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Aung San Suu Kyi, Martin Luther King and Rigoberto Menchu, as well as interfaith leaders Pastor James Wuye and Imam Muhammad Ashafa, of the Muslim-Christian Interfaith Mediation Centre in Nigeria, and Utah college student Tim DeChristopher, who successfully bid for thousands of acres of Utah wilderness to save it from industrial destruction.

Other films, based on historical accounts, tell the story of the Bosnian-Serbian conflict of the 1990s (“No Man’s Land”) and a Jesuit priest’s missionary expedition in Canada (“Black Robe”). The final selection is the 2004 comedy “A Day without a Mexican,” which highlights the contributions of Mexican citizens and workers in California.

About the moderator

Bersson is a James Madison University emeritus professor who founded the Interfaith Initiatve for Peace and Justice in Harrisonburg in Harrisonburg. He returns to CIE after leading spring semester film series on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in 2014 and 2015. To that, he brought not only his critical lens, but also personal experience in the region.

Bersson taught modern and contemporary art history, aesthetics, art criticism and art appreciation at James Madison University for 20 years. He has studied Hebrew and Arabic and visited Israel/Palestine several times, where he has family and friends.

After he retired from JMU in 2003, he spent 14 months in Egypt (2006-09), where he learned firsthand about various Muslim and Christian cultures of the region. Because of his work in local interfaith activities, he has strong connections to diverse communities in the central Shenandoah Valley.

Film schedule

1/13:�� (Richard Attenborough, 1982, Part 1, 90 min). Respondent: Carl Stauffer, assistant professor, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, ��ݮ����.

1/20:�� (Richard Attenborough, 1982, Part 2, 100 min). Respondent: Carl Stauffer, assistant professor, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, ��ݮ����.

1/27:�� (Deepa Mehta, 2005, 117 min). Respondent: Nancy Klancher, assistant professor of philosophy and religion, Bridgewater College.

2/3:�� (Kevin Connor, 2002, 92 min). Respondent: Ron Copeland, executive director, Our Community Place, Harrisonburg.

2/10: (Luc Besson, 2011, 128 min). Respondent: Jayne Docherty, program director and professor, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, ��ݮ����.

2/17: (Alan Channer, 2006, 39 min) and (Alan Channer, 2010, 38 min). Respondent: Barry Hart, professor, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, ��ݮ����.

2/24: (Xavier Beauvois, 2010, 123 min). Respondent: Deacon Fred LaSpina, Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church and James Madison University.

3/2: (Danis Tanovic, 2002, 97 min). Respondent: Barry Hart, professor, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, ��ݮ����.

3/16: (Bruce Beresford, 1998, 101 min). Respondent: Deacon Fred LaSpina, Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church and James Madison University.

3/23: with “Filmmakers’ Commentary” (Pamela Yates, Thomas Sigel, Peter Kinoy, 1983, 90 min). Respondent: Burton Buller, independent filmmaker.

3/30: K (Ely Landau, Sidney Lumet, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1970, Part 1, 90 min). Respondent: Stan Maclin, founder and president, Harriet Tubman Cultural Center, Harrisonburg

4/6: K (Ely Landau, Sidney Lumet, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1970, Part 2, 90 min). Respondent: Stan Maclin, founder and president, Harriet Tubman Cultural Center, Harrisonburg

4/13: (Beth Gage, George Gage, 2013, 73 min). Respondent: Cathy Strickler, Climate Action Alliance of the Valley.

4/20: (Sergio Arau, 2004, 100 min). Respondent: Isabel Castillo, community organizer, “Dream Act” proponent, and graduate student, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, ��ݮ����.

For more information, email interfaith@emu.edu

“We do lots of exercises, many projects, in this class,” said Sabereh Ahmadi Movaghar, referring to “” taught as a seven-day intensive by , PhD, and Roxann “Roxy” Allen Kioko ’04, MA ’07.

Movaghar holds two master’s degrees – one in Shi’a Islam studies and the other in Islamic jurisprudence – which took a total of four years to earn. “I love studying; I am hungry to know,” she said by way of explaining her hope of continuing through a PhD and then teaching. For this reason, she has been an alert observer of the teaching methods employed in her current class at SPI and her previous one, “,” taught by , a Mennonite scholar and pastor.

Movaghar also praises “the very good friends I have made here, who I’ve invited to come to Iran,” as well as the opportunity to learn more about conflicts in the world, along with post-conflict reconciliation processes, especially those occurring in Africa.

Movaghar is one of nine women from Qom, Iran, who are taking classes at EMU’s annual Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI). Their home institution, Jamiat al-Zahra, is the world’s largest Islamic seminary for women, with 5,000 Iranian students, 1,000 international students and 10,000 enrolled in distance learning. The nine students at SPI are all linked to the postgraduate section of the seminary’s international department.

 “These women are excellent, diligent students,” said executive director of EMU’s . “They are devoutly religious as well as delightful – with great personalities, warm laughs, and deep insights. The friendships being built are priceless.”

The group is led by , an internationally known scholar of Islam and dean of postgraduate students at Jamiat al-Zahra. Shomali has designated the women’s English-language instructor, who wishes to be known as “Zainab,” as the coordinator for the women when he is not present.

Reflecting on her methods of teaching English at the Iranian seminary, Zainab cited the “practical strategies used at SPI” as a key take-away from her two SPI classes. She said she also appreciates the “rich experiences” enabled by having highly diverse classmates from different parts of the world. The atmosphere at SPI is “warm, open, and friendly,” she said. “Everyone is respectful of everyone’s beliefs.”

Zainab is often mistaken as one who comes from outside the United States, given her fully covered appearance in loose black clothing, except for her face. Actually, though, she is an American of Lebanese heritage, who completed most of her foundational education in public schools in Michigan. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in English from the University of Michigan, plus a teaching certificate.

In addition to directing the English as a Second Language program at Jamiat al-Zahra – in which about 45 women are enrolled each year – Zainab is completing a PhD. For her dissertation, she is working on a textbook that will use religiously and culturally appropriate text as the basis for teaching English to non-native speakers within the Shi’a Islamic tradition.

In her first SPI class, “” taught by Dr. , Zainab joined participants from 10 other countries to explore the social, psychological, neurobiological, physical, and spiritual processes of moving from violence to healing and transforming trauma. “I’ve studied sociology before, but never with a focus on the psychosocial aspects of trauma,” she said, “and rarely in a class as filled with activities. … Al was a great professor.” �ܲ����Բ���’s second class was “” taught by , PhD, and , MA ’09.

Movaghar and Zainab were part of two earlier educational trips to another Mennonite institution, Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg. In the summer of 2011, they took a one-week course on Christian understandings of peace and justice, followed by “Introduction to Christianity” in June 2012.

These women are the latest in a chain of Muslim-Mennonite interactions that goes back to 1991, when responded to a devastating earthquake in Iran. Educational exchanges followed that first contact.

Relations have grown to be highly collaborative. For instance, Shomali was a guest instructor in “Faith-based Peacebuilding,” which focused on identifying sources of conflict and resources for peacebuilding found in several faith communities and traditions, along with interfaith engagement.

During a break between SPI sessions, Shomali and most of the women went to Washington D.C., where they visited the , met with some Muslim women lawyers at the office of the , and had a meeting at organized by CJP graduate Rasoul Naqavi. They also visited the Capitol Hill offices of Mennonite Central Committee.

, director of the at EMU, has visited Iran more than two dozen times since 1991 and will be returning to Iran later this month for the 6th Mennonite-Shi’a dialogue. In addition to Martin, the EMU delegation includes Christian Early, a professor of philosophy and theology, and several students.

On an earlier two-day trip, they visited MCC’s headquarters in Akron, Pennsylvania, met with an Amish bishop, and attended a service and Sunday school class at in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Shomali told an EMU reporter that he hoped for better relations between the people of Iran and people of the United States and noted similarities between Quranic and Christian teachings about the importance of peace. “God says about the Quran in the Quran itself that God guides with the Qur’an those who seek His pleasure to the ways of peace (5:15).” There are “lots of things we can learn from each other,” he added. Iranians are rational people and “when you are rational, you tend to dialogue with people of other faiths and other cultures.”

Shomali welcomed more exchanges of Americans and Iranians from a variety of fields, including artists and professionals. He said that to reduce mutual misperceptions and encourage peace, “Nothing can replace face-to-face encounters. Our first Imam, Imam Ali, is quoted as saying: ‘People become hostile towards what they don’t know.’”

As the first session of ��ݮ����’s (SPI) comes to a close this week, guest lecturer reflected warmly on the past 10 days among fellow international peacebuilders.

In more than 20 years of participating in interfaith dialogue, Shomali has travelled widely. He is the director of international affairs at the world’s largest Shi’a Islam seminary for women, Jami’at al-Zahra, as well as director of the International Institute for Islamic Studies (IIIS). He resides in Qom, Iran.

“I feel at home in many places in the world,” Shomali said, “but ��ݮ���� is one of those places where I really feel at home.”

Shomali has met Mennonites in a variety of contexts in both North America and around the world, and has developed friendships with many of them. “The Mennonites are people who are loyal to their faith, and they want to live the gospel, but not in a rigid way,” he said. “They don’t just want to live this on Sunday, but throughout the week, they want to be like Jesus. I respect this. I love this. They are interested in being forces of good in the world, whether it is in helping people with development or peacebuilding or relief.”

Peace and peacebuilding, along with interfaith dialogue, is one of the core Quranic principles, Shomali says. This was one reason why nine female students, staff, and graduates from Jami’at al-Zahra are studying at SPI this summer, escorted by Shomali and his wife, Mahnaz Heidarpour, who also teaches at the seminary. In prior years, SPI has hosted a total of 10 students from Iran, but never a group of this size all at once.

The nine women have joined 130 international students until May 24 to learn concepts and practices of peacebuilding, trauma, conflict analysis and resolution, and restorative justice. The students are being co-hosted by EMU’s (CJP), as well as its , both based on EMU’s main campus in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Shomali was a guest lecturer in the Faith-based Peacebuilding course, facilitated by , a Mennonite pastor who has lived in the Middle East. The interfaith course helps participants identify sources of conflict and resources for peacebuilding found in various faith communities and traditions. Five of the Iranian seminarians chose to take this course.

Interactions with SPI students from around the world provide a practical complement to required seminary coursework in comparative peace studies, Shomali said. “Theoretical knowledge can come through books, but when the students eat and talk together and go to churches, this is different. They learn about the way people think, live, behave, and plan. This is very valuable.”

In addition to daily classes, the group made two special trips dedicated to interfaith dialogue. One weekend, they visited the (MCC) headquarters in Akron, Pennsylvania, met with an Amish bishop, and attended a service and Sunday school class at James Street Mennonite Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A later day trip to Washington D.C. included a meeting with MCC Washington office staff and a visit to the , which promotes understanding of Islamic values of peace and respect for diversity. At the El-Hibri office, they met with the leaders of . In the evening, the group had a meeting at , organized by CJP graduate Rasoul Naqavi.

Most of the women in the group had participated in previous trips, led by Shomali in 2011 and 2012, to study Anabaptist and Christian theology at in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The exchange continues later this month in Qom with the 6th Mennonite-Shi’a dialogue. A delegation from EMU includes professor , Center for Interfaith Engagement director and several students.

Shomali has also cultivated friendships and dialogue with other faith communities, most notably the Catholic Church. He has been a key contributor to five Shi’a-Catholic dialogues, the first taking place in England in 2003 and the most recent in Qom in 2012.

His interest in interfaith dialogue grew from his religious and philosophical studies as a seminary student in Qom. He holds a B.A. and an M.A. in western philosophy from the University of Tehran, as well as a doctorate in philosophy from the in the United Kingdom. While in the U.K., Shomali developed an interest in the , an organization devoted to encouraging unity and brotherhood among the practitioners of Christian religions, among followers of other world religions, and, more broadly, among all of humanity.

The unity of God and of man is also an important Quranic principle, Shomali says. “God has created you from one man and one woman, but made you into different tribes and nations so that you know each other, not that so you fight each other. We should not see these differences as barriers, but extra reasons to know each other.”

Those of the Abrahamic faiths have a “joint responsibility for brotherhood,” he said. “Muslim-Christian dialogue for me is a way to reunite or unite a family which is unfortunately sometimes broken. Sometimes you have cousins that you stop communication with or who you lose touch with. Muslim-Christian dialogue is a reunion of the family of Abraham and the children of God.”

Shomali is also resident Imam and director of the . His books have been published in a number of languages, including Malay, Kiswahili, Spanish and Swedish.

At a March 27, 2014, forum in Martin Chapel, two professors of religion at EMU debated approaches to interfaith engagement that lie somewhere in the middle. Amir Akrami, a visiting Muslim scholar from Iran, argued for “pluralism” as the best approach, while , professor of at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, promoted what he calls “particularism.”

The forum was led by CIE director .

Every person adheres to a “particular” belief system and wants others to join him or her in those beliefs, said Nation. At the same time, that doesn’t mean exposure to other beliefs has no value, he added. “I can believe that someone of another faith is profoundly wrong but still learn from them,” he said.

Nation, who did not grow up Christian, expressed concern that many Christians in general – and Mennonites in particular – are too willing to allow specific, “textured” Christian beliefs to be displaced by more vague, pluralistic ways of thinking.

He was drawn to the Mennonite faith through theologian John Howard Yoder’s seminal work, The Politics of Jesus, and he is particularly concerned that Mennonites not water down their stance on peace. “Many young people especially don’t want any clear convictions and are gravitating towards pluralism,” he said.

Pluralism, though, is exactly what Akrami wants to see. Too many people think their religion is superior to all others and that they have nothing to learn from other faiths, he said. “We must hold our particular beliefs but acknowledge that others hold particular beliefs as well,” he added.

To Akrami, pluralism means people must accept that other religions contain truth. “Pluralism is not a new religion or an attempt to reduce our religions to the least common denominator,” he said. “Pluralism is not wishy-washy relativism.”

Akrami, who has been involved in many interfaith dialogues over the years, argued that religious interaction often leads to pluralism. “I have learned that I do not possess the whole truth,” he said. “I want to be enriched by the truth in other religions while at the same time we challenge each other.”

A visiting scholar at EMU from 2012 through August 2014, Akrami has taught several courses on Islam. This semester he is co-teaching a class on comparative monotheisms with a visiting Jewish scholar and a Mennonite professor.

In Iran, Akrami was a researcher and lecturer at the Iranian Institute of Philosophy. Before that he was a visiting research fellow at the Centre for Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at the University of Birmingham in England. He earned a doctorate in the philosophy of religion at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

Nation has taught at for 11 years. Before joining the faculty, he was founding director of an ecumenical peace and justice organization, pastor in several denominations and director of London Mennonite Centre in England. His doctorate is in theological ethics from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.

CIE, founded in 2009 and funded by grants and private donations, promotes interaction between people of different faiths, especially the three world religions that worship one God and claim Abraham as one of their forebearers – Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Byler, who is executive director of the at ��ݮ����, last visited Iran in 2009, before Iran severely restricted visas for visitors from the United States and Canada for an extended period.

With the 2013 election of president Hassan Rouhani and subsequent diplomatic talks between Iran and the West, Iran’s doors have opened again.

Byler was among a 10-member group in Iran from Feb. 19 to Feb. 25, sponsored by . The delegation spent a whirlwind six days in Iran on a tightly managed schedule of workshops, meetings with religious and academic officials, and visits to sites of cultural and religious significance with the purpose of exploring “if this is indeed a new time in which MCC work in a country often perceived as the enemy can and should be reinvigorated or even expanded,” according to an MCC press release.

The delegation headquartered in Qom, a conservative-religious center of more than 1 million residents and home to more than 70,000 seminary students. From Qom, they made day-trips to Isfahan and Tehran.

Itinerary packed with fruitful conversations

The itinerary was so packed that Byler, scrolling though photos back in his CJP office, has trouble recalling what happened on which day. He pauses between a photo of female scholars, dressed in flowing black chadors, talking in a university hallway, and a meeting room, where the delegation sits across from bearded ayatollahs in traditional turbans and black cloaks.

“This was Sunday. No, this was Monday,” he says, then laughs. “Wait, I take that back. It was Sunday.”

Before becoming executive director of CJP, Byler and his wife Cindy Lehman Byler represented MCC in Palestine and Israel, Iran, Iraq and Jordan from 2007 to 2013.

With only a few days in Iran on this trip, every opportunity to connect and to share with Iranians in face-to-face contacts was potentially precious, beneficial, and rejuvenating to MCC’s goals of promoting “understanding, friendship, and interfaith connections between the people of Iran, Canada, and the U.S.”

The MCC-Iran relationship has been growing and changing since MCC first reached out to Iran after a devastating earthquake in 1990, offering relief supplies in partnership with the Iranian Red Crescent Society. Two more relief efforts followed in 2004 and 2012, as MCC’s outreach has focused and strengthened into “ through shared knowledge,” according to an MCC press release.

Relationship maintained amid absence of state-level interactions

This work continues in spite of the dissolution of formal diplomatic relations with Iran by both the United States, since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and Canada, which closed its Tehran embassy and expelled Iranian diplomats from its borders in 2012.

MCC has facilitated and supported many student exchanges, sending American and Canadian students to study in Qom, and Iranian students for advanced studies in Canada and the U.S. Ten Iranian students have attended the on EMU’s main campus, and two have gone on to earn their master’s degrees in conflict transformation.

MCC also started a series of academic dialogues between Mennonite and Shi’a scholars, the sixth of which will take place in May. These dialogues are now led by a network of Mennonite institutions of higher education in North America, with support from MCC. One of those scholars who has been involved in both dialogues and exchanges played an important role in this latest trip.

Dr. Mohammad Shomali, who helped secure visas, set the itinerary, and escorted the delegation on their travels, is director of the International Institute for Islamic Studies (IIIS) in Qom and also director of international affairs at Jami’at al-Zahra, the world’s largest women’s seminary for Shi’a Islam.

10 female students from Islamic seminary at EMU

Ten female students from Jami’at al-Zahra are expected to come to SPI this summer, escorted by Shomali and his wife, Mahnaz Heidarpour, who also teaches at the seminary.

On the first full day in Iran, the MCC delegation met seven of these women, already experienced international travelers who studied in 2012 at CMU in Winnipeg, Man. Also in the audience for a day-long workshop about peacebuilding were some of Shomali’s male students from IIIS. The students are all fluent in English and with the equivalent standing of doctoral students at North American universities, said Byler. Members of the delegation spoke on topics ranging from theological understandings of peacebuilding to church-state relations, to peacebuilding within the family and restorative justice.

During the trip, the delegation also visited with three of the 10 Iranian SPI alumni, all of whom are in prominent roles: Mohsen Ghanbari Alanagh (SPI ’11), president of Al-Mustafa Open University; Mohsen Danesh Pajouh (’12), completing his PhD in philosophy of religion; and Seyed Mostafa Daryabari (’13), deputy of education at the International Institute for Islamic Studies.

Appreciation expressed for Summer Peacebuilding Institute

For Byler, reconnecting with SPI alumni in his new role as CJP director was a special experience, as each of these attendees said they had been deeply affected by the peacebuilding concepts shared at SPI and appreciated exploring the application of these concepts and dialogue in Iran.

“As the MCC representative, I was involved in the selection process for most of these students, so in that capacity, I knew them already,” Byler said. “As with most relationships in the Middle East, you start with one friendship and you build on that work. Those friendships continue in their importance to help us build bridges.”

Subsequent days were spent in a number of introductory meetings with ayatollahs, the powerful Shi’a religious leaders who are experts in various aspects of Islamic studies.

“There were a lot of pleasantries and some theological conversations,” Byler said. “A lot of what we were doing was shaking hands and making basic introductions with powerful religious leaders, so that they could see us as who we are theologically, as Mennonites, as people who stand for peace, and then we could move forward from there.”

4 EMU alumni among 10 in delegation

With Byler (’79 and MA ’85) on the delegation were ’97, EMU professor and MCC U.S. board chair; Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach, MDiv. ’07, MCC U.S. Washington Office director; J. Ron Byler, MCC U.S. executive director; Amela Puljek-Shank (’00 and MA ’04), MCC area director for Europe and the Middle East; Cheryl Zehr Walker, MCC U.S. director of communications; Ruth Keidel Clemens, MCC U.S. program director; Harry Huebner, Canadian Mennonite University professor emeritus of philosophy and theology; and Carolyne Epp-Fransen and Gordon Epp-Fransen, MCC representatives to Jordan, Iraq, and Iran.

In Tehran, the delegation met with Armenian Orthodox Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian, who leads the largest Christian minority in Iran, as well as other supporters of interfaith dialogue: Hawnah Sadr, daughter of the late Imam Musa Sadr (known for his ecumenical outreach); Dr. Rasoul Rasoulipour, a professor at Kharazami University; and Dr. A.M. Helmi, director of the Center for Interreligious Dialogue at the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization.

Byler says MCC’s return visit to Iran is a “hopeful sign” that the deep foundations of interfaith dialogue and friendship can continue to grow despite sometimes frosty diplomatic relations between Iranian and American governments.

“We have to be witnesses to the beauty of peace”

Shomali, too, shares this hope: “We have to be witnesses to the beauty of peace,” he told the delegation. “If it can be done by people of different faiths, it can be very effective.”

Though EMU has regularly hosted students and visiting professors from Iran, the last EMU visitor to Iran was , who was part of an MCC-led delegation in October 2008.

Byler hopes that will change this spring. In May, EMU professor is scheduled to present at the 6^th Mennonite-Shi’a dialogue in Qom. He’ll be accompanied by director and several EMU students.

“If the Iranian government also grants visas for this entire group, it will be a strong signal that we are indeed in a new day of U.S.-Iranian relations,” he said.

That’s what is happening at ��ݮ����.

“Interacting with people of other faiths builds friendship and understanding – something we sorely need in this world,” says , PhD, director of , “and interfaith dialogue strengthens our own faith.”

This semester a Muslim professor from Iran is teaching “Islamic Spirituality” and a Jewish rabbi from New York City is teaching “Spiritual Writers and Spiritual Writings.” Both of them join an instructor from to lead a class on “Comparative Monotheisms: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.”

Focusing on the three Abrahamic religions

EMU is focusing on the three world religions that worship one God – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Over the centuries Christians, Muslims and Jews have fought each other savagely. Millions have died in the name of their God. But the three religions share a common birthplace − the Middle East − and a common ancestor, Abraham. And they have enjoyed periods of peaceful co-existence.

CIE’s logo features Abraham’s tent, which the center ‘s website describes as “open to the four winds, a safe place of hospitality towards strangers and engagement with them.”

“In today’s world and in a pluralistic society like ours, it is important that our students learn to know people of other faiths,” says Martin. “Our students will be going to places − both in the United States and abroad − where they will encounter people of other faiths.”

Martin says the historic differences between the three religions are exacerbated today by the Israel-Palestine conflict, the rise of Muslim extremism, and the United States’ counter-attacks after the terrorist attack on New York City in 2001. He decries the prevalence of “Islamophobia” in the United States.

Course co-taught by Muslim, Jewish and Christian scholars

CIE, which is funded entirely by foundation grants and private donations, offers several courses each semester by visiting scholars. The team-taught “Comparative Monotheisms” course this semester draws two dozen undergraduates, graduate students, seminarians and members of the community.

“Students ask all sorts of questions, from theology to history, ancient or contemporary,” says the Muslim scholar, Amir Akrami, PhD. “However, the focus of our work is on prayer, scripture, reasoning, politics and action.”

Akrami, who has taught at EMU since September 2012, is from the in Tehran. He was a regular participant in the internationally respected Building Bridges Seminars around the world.

Akrami’s wife, Sheida Shakouri Rad, PhD, joined him at EMU a year ago. She is teaching Farsi, the language of Iran, this semester. Last semester she taught “Women in Islam.” She is on leave from the University of Tehran, where she has been a professor for 15 years.

The two other professors for the comparative-monotheism course are Niles Goldstein, an award-winning author and ordained Reform Jewish rabbi, and Reuben Shank, an EMU adjunct faculty member who is Mennonite and studying for a doctorate in religion at the University of Virginia.

Films, interfaith peace camp, lessons from disaster work

The fifth CIE course this semester is “The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in Film,” taught by Bob Bersson, PhD, a retired professor of art and art history at James Madison University in Harrisonburg and founder of the local .

In addition to bringing scholars to campus, CIE offers an each summer, which includes trips to the local mosque and synagogue. Other events have been a Wednesday film series and Thursday forums.

CIE’s director likes the way that interfaith engagement sometimes emerges from work on the ground at disaster sites, both at home and abroad. “People of different faiths find themselves working together,” says Martin, “and they get to know each other.”

One result of Martin’s interest is an upcoming speech at EMU on how “disasters blow down fences and make good neighbors” by a federal government official, who is a former Mennonite pastor. He is David Myers, and he will speak on March 20. He is a senior advisor at the in Washington D.C. and works in faith-based and neighborhood partnerships for both the White House and the .

Martin experienced the connection between disaster relief and interfaith engagement first hand when a major earthquake hit Iran in 1990, killing more than 35,000 people. He worked at the time as program director for central and southern Asia for , a North American relief, development, and peacebuilding agency that works in about 60 countries.

MCC exchange welcomed in Iran

MCC wanted to respond to a country considered a U.S. enemy, “to demonstrate that we would respond to human need wherever it occurred, irrespective of the religion and politics of the country,” Martin says. But the United States and Iran had no diplomatic relations (and still don’t), making travel to Iran difficult, and MCC wondered whether the hardline Muslim government would welcome an overtly Christian aid agency.

“It turned out, however, that Iran was more comfortable with an explicitly Christian organization than with secular agencies,” says Martin. “They understand the motivation that comes from religious faith.” So MCC was able to establish a long-term relationship with the Iranian Red Crescent Society on disaster relief and reconstruction as well as assistance to refugees.

The post-earthquake work then led to interfaith dialogue in the form of student exchanges and Muslim-Christian conferences every two to three years. The sixth conference will be held this May in Qom, an Iranian city known for being a center of Islamic scholarship. Martin will attend, along with some EMU students.

Under the direction of Dr. Ed Martin

Martin was a program director with MCC from 1989 to 2007, based at its headquarters in Akron, Pa. After that he went to the , an international Quaker organization, in Philadelphia. He helped build connections between Iranian institutions and the United States and advocated for better relations between the two countries.

He started his career as an MCC volunteer in Nepal, where he met his future wife, Kathy Yoder. Later he worked at the in Sri Lanka. A graduate of Stanford University, Martin earned graduate degrees at Cornell University – a master’s in public administration and a doctorate in agricultural economics.

The vision for interfaith engagement at EMU grew out of conversations among faculty, resulting in a formal proposal to the Board of Trustees, which it approved in 2009. The center opened later that year in the seminary building, with seminary professor Gerald Shenk, PhD, as part-time director. Martin was appointed director in 2010, serving part time and commuting from Pennsylvania.

Near and far support

CIE’s largest donor to date is the of New York City, which has given $355,000 over three years.

A major local supporter is John Fairfield, PhD, co-founder of the Rosetta Stone language-software company and professor emeritus of computer science at James Madison University. “I enjoy getting inside the head of someone who thinks very differently than I do,” he says. “It’s like travel to a foreign country − makes you notice things in your own country you’d taken for granted.”

He adds: “CIE is where we Mennonites meet other kinds of Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists, liberals, conservatives and all kinds of people who challenge our understanding, because we value their critique and insights. And of course we think we’ve got something to offer, and we challenge them pretty deeply too. They seem to appreciate it. We need each other.”

And that’s why EMU goes out of its way to bring people of different faiths together.

A husband-and-wife team from Tehran, Iran, Amir Akrami and Sheida Shakouri Rad are splitting a faculty position at the CIE, supported by a grant from the . Akrami, who holds a PhD in the philosophy of religion, will teach an “introduction to Islam” course this fall. Shakouri Rad will teach a course this fall on “women and Islam,” the topic of her doctoral dissertation.

Next spring, Akrami will teach a course called “Islamic spirituality” and co-teach a “comparative monotheisms” course, while Shakouri Rad will teach Farsi and a course on “women, politics and Islam in Iran.” The classes are open to both undergraduate and graduate students at EMU, as well as members of the public who want to audit a course.

“They are both tremendous resources for our center and the university,” says CIE Director Ed Martin, who spent years working in the Middle East with , first meeting Akrami about a decade ago.

In 2010, when Akrami came to Indiana for a conference at Notre Dame University, Martin helped arrange several events for him on the East Coast, including a program at EMU. Several years later, after the CIE had secured funding to hire a visiting scholar, Akrami was one of more than a dozen Islamic scholars to apply for the job. He arrived in Harrisonburg last fall and was joined by Shakouri Rad in December. (During the hiring process, Martin wasn’t aware that she was also an academic of religion, making the whole affair a surprise two-for-one deal of sorts).

Coffeehouse-style conversations on Iranian culture

In addition to their teaching, Akrami and Shakouri Rad will lead a series of monthly, informal coffeehouse-style programs on campus about Iranian life and culture, topics unfamiliar to most Americans. The first one, about the recent presidential elections in Iran, will be held at at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 12.

The couple has a son in college in Montreal and a daughter studying clinical psychology at the University of Tehran, where Akrami and Shakouri Rad both earned their undergraduate and master’s degrees. Shakouri Rad says the transition from Tehran, a city with more than 8 million residents, to Harrisonburg has had it ups – plenty of peace and quiet – and downs – sort of isolated-seeming.

Since their arrival, both have enjoyed getting to know new colleagues and neighbors at EMU, as well as getting firsthand experience with Mennonite culture and faith.

Values in Valley feel similar to heart of Islam

Shakouri Rad said the commitment to simplicity, open-heartedness and compassion she’s seen since coming to Harrisonburg feels very similar to the values that lie at the heart of her Islamic faith, despite different theological and cultural expressions they’re given.

Akrami agrees, noting that the two of them have been struck by the warm welcome they’ve received at and around EMU. Exploring and understanding the core similarities between different faiths, when external ritual and tradition are pared away (e.g., how profound belief in and worship of God is reflected in daily life), Akrami says, is one of the valuable aspects of interfaith exchange.

“The specific way in which I worship God may not occur within a Christian church,” says Akrami, who has led and participated in interreligious dialogue in Iran and elsewhere for years. “But those differences don’t mean that the other traditions are deviant or out-of-line.”

He and his wife hope they are the first in a long line of visiting scholars at the Center for Interfaith Engagement.

This is just the beginning

“I hope this doesn’t end here. There should always be people from other religions here, teaching and engaging with the community,” says Shakouri Rad.

According to Martin, that is precisely the plan. The CIE is now searching for a Jewish scholar to join the faculty, and intends to keep bringing academics from different religious backgrounds to teach classes at the university.

“It’s important these days to have knowledge, understanding and be comfortable interacting with people of other faiths,” says Martin.

Dozens of youths from ��ݮ����’s (EMU) Interfaith Peace Camp planted the first tree a few years ago. It now stands taller than many of the students attending this year’s camp.

One of the kids, Kate Weaver, a 9-year-old fourth grader at Linville-Edom Elementary School, said she loves “everything [about Interfaith Peace Camp],” but enjoyed the group’s visit to the Islamic Center of Shenandoah Valley most.

The mosque, located on Country Club Road, is one of many destinations visited during the weeklong event hosted by .

The campers also visited the Jewish community’s Beth El Congregation, a Valley Friends Meeting (a Dayton-based Quaker group) and Park View Mennonite Church, among other local religious institutions.

This year’s theme at Interfaith Peace Camp, which started as a pilot project in 2008, was “One Tree with Many Branches.” The theme reflects the camp’s mission to promote the building of friendships and understanding among local children involved with different Abrahamic faith traditions.

Camp Quotes

Philip Hart, an 11-year-old seventh-grader at Thomas Harrison Middle School, said he enjoys the camp “because there are lots of fun things to do … and we learn about different traditions.”

, director of the Center for Interfaith Engagement, said he believes the camp “demystifies” other religions and “promotes understanding and respect.”

“It’s so important to know about each other’s religions, because there’s a lot of misinformation, a lot of fear,” he added.

Tree Of Life

Before the tree planting, which symbolizes the interconnectivity of different faiths, the students learned about Islam from some of the mosque members.

“Islam is about serving `the other,'” Ibraheem Rasoul explained to the group of about 35 students. “In our community here, regularly we try to serve the greater Harrisonburg area.”

Rasoul also explained why Muslims often address each other as “brother” and “sister.”

“We’re all essentially from the same grandfather and grandmother, and we’re all brothers and sisters.”

His message resonated with Weaver, who said, “The coolest thing that I’ve learned so far is that all these churches communicate with [each other, but] they have different Bibles.

Courtesy Daily News Record, June 15, 2013

Amir Akrami, from the Iranian Institute of Philosophy in Tehran, is teaching two courses during the spring semester 2013 – “Introduction to Islam” and “Issues in Islam.” During the fall semester he taught a non-credit mini-course on Islam that attracted over 20 regular students. During the year he is also invited frequently to guest-lecture in other classes, and he spoke at EMU’s first Interfaith Forum of the 2012-13 school year.

The visiting scholar series, initiated by EMU’s three-year-old Center for Interfaith Engagement, is funded by a $355,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. The center focuses on the three monotheistic religions that started in the Middle East and which honor Abraham. The three are Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

“We decided to start the visiting scholar program with a Muslim professor,” said Ed Martin, PhD, director of the Center for Interfaith Engagement, “especially in this time of an expanding Muslim population in the U.S. and a great deal of Islamophobia.

“It’s important that our [majority Christian] students learn about other faiths, such as Islam, and be comfortable relating to people of other faiths, particularly Muslims,” he added.

EMU selected Akrami from an application pool of 16 Muslim scholars. He was a regular participant in the internationally respected Building Bridges Seminars in London, Bosnia, Washington, Singapore and Rome. The seminars are based at Georgetown University in Washington.

Akrami holds a master’s degree in religions and mysticism from Tehran University in Iran and a PhD in the philosophy of religion from McGill University in Montreal. He finished his doctoral thesis at the Iranian Institute of Philosophy. Adrami also was a visiting scholar at the University of Birmingham in England and taught at the Al-Mahdi Institute in Birmingham.

What are Americans’ most common questions about Islam? “After the 9/11 attacks, they wondered whether Islam is an inherently violent religion,” said Akram. “The answer is ‘no.’” Other questions have to do with the status of Jesus in Islam and – especially from Catholics – the place of Mary.

On the reason for misunderstanding, even hatred, between Christians, Jews and Muslims, Akrami observed: “People are afraid of the dark – what they don’t know. But when you shed light on the dark areas, often through education, attitudes change.”

Another way to reduce hostility, Akrami said, is for people in the three religions to simply get to know each other.

One of Akrami’s students during the fall semester, assistant professor Linda Gnagey, was impressed with the diversity of the class – EMU students and faculty, community members, those with and without personal experience with Muslims.

“Dr. Akrami differentiated between Islam the historical religion and Islam as a code of conduct,” she said. “This helped me to recognize the many beliefs, behaviors and attitudes that Christians and Muslims share.”

Akrami was joined in December by his wife, who is also a Muslim scholar. He has a 22-year-old daughter in Iran and an 18-year-old son in Canada.

“Our goal is to increase understanding of Islam and Judaism within the EMU community and strengthen interfaith relationships in the Harrisonburg area through building relationships with local Jewish and Muslim communities through the forum and film series,” said , director of the center.

Each forum series is in Martin Chapel on Wednesdays, at 4:30 p.m. All film series are held in Martin Chapel on Thursdays, at 7 p.m., with follow-up conversation about the film to follow. All events are free and open to the public.

FORUMS:

Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2012, 4:30 p.m., Martin Chapel

Yehezkel Landau, Faculty Associate in Interfaith Relations at Hartford Seminary and first holder of the newly endowed chair in Abrahamic Partnerships at Hartford Seminary, will offer professional and personal insights on “Abrahamic Partnerships in Pursuit of Peace.” This talk combines Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations with the wider agenda of religious peacemaking.

Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, 4:30 p.m., Martin Chapel

Mark Gopin will speak on his national and international Interfaith Peacebuilding efforts. Director of the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University, Gopin is an expert on the role that religion and culture play in conflicts and conflict resolution.

Thursday, Mar. 14, 4:30 p.m., Martin Chapel

Najeeba Syeed Miller, professor of interreligious education at Claremont School of Theology and Director of the Center for Global Peacebuilding, will speak on, “Prophetic Peacebuilding: Abrahamic Visions for Peace.” A practitioner and educator in conflict resolution among communities of ethnic and religious diversity, her involvements include conducting gang interventions, implementing diversity training in universities and public agencies, conflict resolution in public schools, and environmental conflict resolution.

Wednesday, April 3, 4:30 p.m., Martin Chapel

Amir Akrami and Mark Thiessen Nation – Pluralism, Particularity & the Way to Peace: A Muslim and a Mennonite in Dialogue. Thiessen Nation is Professor of Theology at Eastern Mennonite Seminary and Akrami is Visiting Muslim Scholar at EMU’s Center for Interfaith Engagement. They will each speak from their respective approaches followed by opportunity to engage the audience in discussion.

FILMS:

Thursday, Jan. 24, 7 p.m., Strite Conference Room

Bam 6.6, a story of the human condition, weaves together themes of survival, loss, and healing, through the prism of the devastating 2003 earthquake that destroyed Bam, an ancient Iranian village. The movie transcends geopolitical differences with a simple message of love and hope amidst tragedy, unfolding through the story of two young American victims – a Jewish-American woman, an American businessman – and the Iranian residents of Bam.

Thursday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m., Strite Conference Room

The Syrian Bride During summer of 2000, Mona, a young Druze woman living in the Golan Heights, prepares for her wedding to a successful Syrian actor. Permission to cross the demilitarized zone is extremely rare and must be granted by both sides under special circumstances with the understanding that when she crosses she cannot return to even visit her family. The Israeli exit stamp causes a UN liaison officer to trudge back and forth between Israeli and Syrian officials, giving us a glimpse of the extreme frustration that is daily life for Palestinians.

Thursday, Mar. 21, 7 p.m., Strite Conference Room

Unresolvable? Angered by attacks on his faith and desperate for answers, filmmaker Bryan Hall, a devout Mormon, travels into the heart of the Bible Belt to discover what it means to be a “Christian.” Somewhere between the movement to establish a Christian Nation and those who believe Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world, the lines between fanaticism and devotion are easily blurred. We ask the most difficult and revealing question in all of Christianity: Must you really love your enemies to be a true disciple of Christ?

“The Mennonite community’s dedication to peace is a significant contributor to the practice of ‘scriptural reasoning,’” said Ochs, a religious studies professor at the University of Virginia (UVa).  “Some of our central leaders and participants are from EMU.”

Two dozen people attended the two-day event at EMU. UVa hosted the first three days of the seven-day training tour while George Mason University hosted the final stop.

Founded in 1995 by Ochs and David Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University, scriptural-reasoning groups are scattered throughout the world, including universities in Canada, South Africa, and the Middle East.

Sessions involve Jews, Christians and Muslims reading passages from the Torah, Bible and Quran that are addressing a single theme, such as fire and forgiveness. This week’s theme, music, saw participants looking at the symbolic nature of music and how passages portray a musical quality, especially when they move us to action.

“It can become more than a theme,” said Ed Martin, director of EMU’s Center for Interfaith Engagement. “It can become a communal experience, sharing the whole creation of music.”

Ochs agreed, adding, “You hear and study the passages and discover an inspirational significance.”

There is no “how-to” manual for scriptural reasoning, said Ochs, rather experiences by the participants are discussed in connection with passages read aloud. In addition, grammatical constructions, tone and narrative structure are used to deepen the conversation. Sessions can also dive into controversial and sensitive topics addressed by scripture, such as Jews as “chosen people” and the resurrection of Jesus.

“We believe where the practice of scriptural reasoning takes place is part of the experience, and sharing this environment of Mennonite influence and ways of faithful peace and patience celebrates that,” Ochs said, a Judaic scholar who began doing scriptural reasoning with EMU scholars about six years ago. “The significance of training here completes the circle.”

More information on scriptural reasoning

The UVa Library hosts the and that provide guidance on scriptural reasoning. , chair of at EMU, is on the editorial board for the journal.

“Our goal is to increase understanding of Islam and Judaism within the EMU community and strengthen interfaith relationships in the Harrisonburg area through building relationships with local Jewish and Muslim communities through the forum and film series,” said Ed Martin, director of the center.

Each forum series is in Martin Chapel on Wednesdays, at 4 p.m., except the Friday, March 16, forum which has yet to be determined. All film series are held in Martin Chapel on Thursdays, at 7 p.m., with follow-up conversation about the film to follow.

Forum Series

Jan. 11 – One of the first ten women in Jewish history to enter Rabbinic life and the first woman ordained in the Jewish Renewal Movement, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb will address, “Trail Guide to the Torah of Nonviolence.”

Feb. 8 – For opening its doors to Muslim neighbors, Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Alexandria was featured on “The Daily Show with John Stewart.”  Rev. Dennis Perry, an Eastern Mennonite Seminary graduate, and Naeem Baig, vice president of Islamic Circle of North America, will talk about crossing boundaries to build relationships.

*Friday, March 16 – Daniel Tutt, Outreach and Program Director, will talk about his work to promote peace and understanding across religious and cultural lines at Unity Productions Foundation.

April 4 – Mohammed Ghanem, assistant professor at Damascus University, will talk about his pilgrimage from English teacher to peacebuilder. Ghanem, a native of Syria, is a Fulbright scholar and a Center for Justice and Peacebuilding student at EMU.

Film Series

Jan. 19 – “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” tells the story of 8-year-old Bruno, whose family relocates when his Nazi officer father is given command over Auschwitz. Bruno’s forbidden explorations lead him to meet and befriend 8-year-old Shmuel, who always wears striped pajamas and lives on a “farm” behind an impenetrable fence.

Feb. 16 – “Second Home,” documents how Kurdish immigrants to Harrisonburg inadvertently ran afoul of the law and how the community rallied to help them accurately represent their intentions to the judicial system.  The video was filmed by EMU Visual and Communication Arts Professor Jerry Holsopple’s Documentary Production class.

March 15 – “Talking Through Walls: How the Struggle to Build a Mosque Unites a Community,” chronicles the struggle of Zia Rahman to build a mosque in his New Jersey community. As post-9/11 fears threaten to scuttle the project, a coalition of Jews, Catholics, Buddhists and others join Zia’s efforts, revealing the best of American ideals.

April 12 – “Amreeka,” follows the trials of a Palestinian mother and her son as they immigrate to the U.S. Two years post 9-11, anti-Arab sentiments are rampant and the newcomers confront many obstacles to their start in America.

The grant will be dispersed in increments of $119,000 in 2012 and $118,000 in 2013 and 2014. It will allow the at EMU to host visiting scholars in Islam or Judaism as resources in the classroom and across campus. , director of CIE, said the grant will enable students to deepen their understanding of other faiths by learning from scholars that adhere to them.

“In today’s world, we believe engaging with and learning from people of other faiths is essential for creating a more knowledgeable and peaceful society,” said , provost at EMU. “The support of the Henry Luce Foundation is deeply appreciated and will strengthen our efforts significantly.”

The full three-year CIE program budget to which the Luce grant is providing support includes salary and benefits for the CIE director, associate director, a Mennonite scholar, a second visiting scholar, and travel to conferences, said Martin. In addition, the visiting scholars funded by the grant will be available to , and .

“The CIE hopes that participants in the program will be able to analyze the role of religion in conflicts and how faith traditions can be helpful in promoting peace,” said Martin. “Participants will be encouraged to envision and design programs for communities of different faiths to cooperate in meeting human needs, particularly in times of disaster.”

The is dedicated to encouraging the development of religious leaders through theological education, and fostering scholarship that links the academy to religious communities and other audiences. A key priority is support for new models of theological education to prepare leaders for service in a religiously plural world.

The dialogue, hosted by Canadian Mennonite University (CMU), Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), and co-hosted by ��ݮ���� (EMU) and Conrad Grebel University was the fifth of its kind and brought together Shi’a Muslim scholars from the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute (IKERI) in Qom, Iran and Mennonite scholars from Canada and the U.S.

“These dialogues provide a safe place for academics and theologians to speak frankly about their beliefs without ignoring important differences,” said David Shenk, a global consultant with Eastern Mennonite Missions, Salunga, Pennsylvania, who has participated in all of the conferences.

The primary goal, he said, is fostering dialogue and improving understanding, not finding consensus or agreement.  “Islam is Islam and the gospel is the gospel, they are not the same,” he said.  “The goal is to understand each other’s faith and to bear witness to our own faith.”

These academic conferences build on MCC’s work in Iran which began with relief efforts following the massive earthquake in the early 1990s. This was followed by peace-building programs, such as a student exchange program and learning tours.

Peter Dula, EMU professor of bible and religion, spoke on the “Theological Assessment of Human Rights Language.”

“The discussions were very illuminating because they sharpened distinctions and clarified differences,” said Dula.  “It was fascinating to see how that results not just in increased knowledge of Islamic theology but also made us much more theologically articulate about what each of us really believes about Christ, about sin, about scripture.”

At the Winnipeg conference, seven scholars from Iran and seven scholars from Canada and the U.S. explored issues surrounding the theme of “Human Nature and Destiny: Explorations into Theological Anthropology.”

“In a global context, these dialogues are significant because it is very unusual for Muslim and Christian scholars to meet together like this in a collegial way,” said Shenk.  “What makes these dialogues even more significant is that they have been happening for almost 10 years and there is interest for these conversations to continue.”

“A conference like this is in keeping with CMU’s mission statement which includes a commitment to peace and justice, generous hospitality and radical dialogue,” said CMU president Gerald Gerbrandt during the opening ceremony.

Mohammad Ali Shomali, head of the IKERI religious department, said he appreciates these conferences because both Mennonite and Shia scholars “take their faith seriously” and are deeply committed to putting their faith into action.

Shomali is hopeful that the mutual friendships and trust that has developed over the years between participants will lead to a sense of cooperation between faith communities.

“I personally believe that dialogue begins with tolerance and then goes on to respect and understanding,” he said. “The more I understand you, the more I respect you. This should lead to cooperation. I believe there is no limit to dialogue and when it comes to cooperation, it is the same.”

Shomali said it is too early to envisage how Christians and Muslims can work together but he added: “We can do a lot, if we do it together. My dream is to have a joint Muslim and Christian organization that works for peace and justice. We would work together, shoulder to shoulder, to establish peace and justice all over the world. This could happen as a result of these conversations.  It is not impossible.”

Participation in the conference was limited to the scholars presenting papers and a number of invited academics and observers. The observers included nine female students from Iran who also participated in a special course arranged by CMU.

Maryam Esmaeili teaches history of Islam and the interpretation of the Quran at the al-Zahra University, an Islamic university for women in Qom that has 15,000 full-time and correspondence students.

She believes interfaith conversations and interactions can improve relationships between Muslims and Christians.

“If I don’t speak with you, my judgment about you might be wrong,” she said. “When we sit around the table and talk, my judgment about you is correct because I understand you and you understand me.”

Robin Penner Thiessen, a CMU student and observer at the conference, described the conference as kingdom living. “We are building relationships and breaking down walls,” she said. “Apart from everything else that is being accomplished, there is the willingness to be in relationship.”

Trevor Bechtel, an instructor of contemporary theology in Bluffton College, believes one of the long-term contributions of the interfaith dialogue will be the collection of academic papers that are being presented on Mennonite-Anabaptist theology.

The papers, he said, represent the careful thinking, arguments and analysis that are reminiscent of the writings of early leaders in Anabaptist church history.

“We understand ourselves better when we engage in dialogue like this,” he said. “This dialogue with Muslims has pushed us to examine what we believe and to write it down.”

Ed Martin, director for the Center for Interfaith Engagement, has participated in four of the past five conferences and moderated one of the sessions.

“All of the discussion sessions following presentation of papers were lively and could have extended longer,” said Martin.  “I was pleased that the Iranians invited the North American Mennonites to participate in a sixth conference, scheduled for Qom, Iran in 2013.”

“Ed’s proven track record of relationship-building in places as diverse as Indonesia and Iran makes him a perfect fit for this role,” says EMU provost Fred Kniss. “We are grateful for Ed’s leadership, building on his long-term commitment to engage people of all faiths in pursuit of common goals.”

Martin most recently served with American Friends Service Committee as the Quaker International Affairs Representative for Iran, building connections between Iranian institutions and the United States, and providing resources for public education and advocacy regarding Iran in United States.

Prior to that appointment Martin worked for 18 years with the international aid and development organization Mennonite Central Committee as director of programs for Central and Southern Asia, as well as the Middle East. Early in his career, he worked at the International Irrigation Management Institute in Sri Lanka.

Martin has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Stanford University and a master’s of public administration and PhD in agricultural economics from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. He has also studied at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind., and completed courses with EMU’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI).

The Center, begun in 2008 as a feasibility study, grew out of decades of Mennonites’ practical experience working across deep religious divides around the world. Through this work, “Mennonites have created an international network of cooperative relationships and pragmatic engagement with highly diverse religious communities and leader,” says Martin. “We hope to facilitate safe respectful relationships as we seek a deeper understanding and also struggle with our differences.”

The Center will continue to host speakers for campus- and community-wide forums and seminars and facilitate university and institutional exchanges. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, according to Martin, the Center will continue efforts to strengthen interfaith relationships in the Harrisonburg area.

“We will continue to build relationships among the three Abrahamic faith traditions right in our own community,” says Martin. This includes facilitating student visits to the local mosque and synagogue and continued hosting of the annual summer Interfaith Peace Camp for children from the three local faith communities.”

The Center consults with a local steering committee and an international advisory group, both of which consist of persons representing the three Abrahamic faiths. Gretchen H. Maust, associate director, joined the Center staff during the feasibility study phase.  EMU is a leader among faith-based universities offering undergraduate, graduate and seminary programs that emphasizes peacebuilding, cross-cultural understanding, sustainability and service to others.

More on EMU’s Center for Interfaith Engagement can be found online at www.emu.edu/interfaith. Email interfaith@emu.edu or phone 540-432-4674.