Models of Interfaith Engagement

3 credits · Divinity School

The contemporary “interfaith” sector is expanding exponentially as more organizations, persons, and governments realize the importance of constructive engagement among diverse “religious” traditions. This course maps major models of interfaith engagement (e.g., dialogue, faith-based diplomacy/peacebuilding, service leadership, organizing, etc.) and equips students with the practical and social ethical knowledge needed to be an interfaith leader in varied institutional spaces (e.g., congregations, non-profits, social movements, universities, chaplaincy, and government). With an eye to analysis of power, conflict, and ethical potential, we explore specific historical and contemporary case studies such as the Parliament of World Religions (beginning in 1863); the Black Freedom movement and Black Muslims in the 1950s and 1960s; the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican in the 1960s; and the rise of service leadership and community organizing models in the last fifty years in the living wage campaigns, broad-based organizing, and Movements for Black Lives. We engage the emerging field of literature on the interfaith movement, particularly in the U.S., along with questions addressing the categories of “religion” and “secularism” in interfaith movements. [3]