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

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鈥檚 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 鈥渃hosen people鈥� 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.

Two world religions, Christianity and Judaism, didn’t have to split the way they did.

That’s the belief of the late Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder as outlined in his posthumously-published book, “The Jewish-Christian Schism Revisited.”

草莓社区 will examine Dr. Yoder’s assertions in a one-day seminar to be held Friday, Mar. 16, 2007.

John Howard Yoder

“Yoder declares that for Jesus to be faithful to his ‘divine mandate,’ his coming did not need to mark the beginning of a new, ‘Christian’ religion,” said Ray C. Gingerich, professor emeritus of theology and ethics at EMU and planning coordinator.

“If Yoder, the most influential Anabaptist-Mennonite theologian of the past century, is correct, this book is destined to rank among his most significant theological works. It may well, within the coming decades, overshadow his ‘The Politics of Jesus’ in its significance for both local and global inter-religious peacebuilding,” Dr. Gingerich added.

“This gathering is designed to raise campus and community awareness and to stimulate a timely and much needed conversation around one of the most pressing inter-religious issues of today – How shall the Children of Abraham live together peacefully in the 21st century,” said Gingerich. “We hope this seminar will be a catalyst to organize more extended studies, stimulating our religious and political imaginations to work toward a more peaceful world.”

Keynote speakers for the conference are Peter Ochs, an Orthodox Jew and professor of Judaic studies at the University of Virginia, and Alain Epp Weaver, long-term Mennonite Central Committee representative in Palestine/Israel and specialist in Jewish-Christian dialogue.

In addition to the main input session, several special topics will be presented by EMU faculty members Nancy Heisey, Ted Grimsrud and Gingerich with ample opportunity for questions, open discussion and a “Where to from here?” closing.

The program will begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m. The main sessions will be held in Martin Chapel of the seminary building at EMU.

More information on the seminar is available by contacting Ray Gingerich at 540-432-4465.