The Director of the Center for the Study of Islam at Glasgow University and past participant and speaker at the annual Shalom Hartman Institute Theology Conference, Professor Mona Siddiqui, will present a major honorary lecture at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas ("Angelicum") in Rome on Wednesday, May 5, 2010. Prof. Siddiqui will address historical and contemporary Islamic theological perspectives on Judaism and Christianity.
This year for the first time, Angelicum and the US-based Russell Berrie Foundation which co-sponsor this high-profile interfaith event, are inviting select universities and interfaith institutions to participate in a global conversation with the outspoken Professor Siddiqui, Rabbi Jack Bemporad of the progressive Center for Interreligious Understanding, and Rector Charles Morerod of Angelicum.
Shalom Hartman Institute has been selected to be one of the participating institutions. Institute faculty, fellows, and students are invited to log onto the website of The John Paul II Center for Interreligious Dialogue to read or watch Prof. Siddiqui’s lecture, see a lively roundtable discussion among the Professor, Rabbi and Rector, and post comments and questions for any of the participants. Questions, comments, and responses are welcome.
The lecture and roundtable will not be streamed live, but is posted above. The lecture was given May 5, 2010.
 During her prominent career as a leading female voice and scholar in Islamic academic circles, Prof. Siddiqui has dedicated herself to interfaith dialogue at both the academic and public levels. Her Angelicum Lecture will address the problem Islam has confronted from its earliest days: that of Judaism and Christianity as both divine and corrupted revelations. Today, as theological and political tensions are intertwined, Prof. Siddiqui calls for a more robust theology of inclusion where compassion, not salvation, is the starting point. She has participated in several Hartman Institute theology conferences. Click here to read a recent article on a related topic, "Listening as an act of faith," by Prof. Siddiqui in the Washington Post.
Shalom Hartman Institute, in partnership with the Russell Berrie Fellowship Program at the Angelicum, runs a program that includes a 10-day visit to Israel, providing participants with a unique opportunity to see the Holy Land up close. Interspersed with meaningful site visits, the program includes daily study sessions at the Hartman Institute, lectures by leading faculty, and academic explorations of Jewish texts, utilizing the Hartman Institute's expert teachers and its unique peer-group study method.
Russell Berrie Fellows also have had the opportunity to meet and dialogue with leading Hartman Institute scholars on matters of mutual interest. Upon completing their studies, the Fellows will return to their parishes and communities to lead others in efforts to promote interfaith understanding.
The Berrie Fellows visit to Israel is done in conjunction with Institute's Osher Department of Religious Pluralism. The Osher Department of Religious Pluralism engages senior academics and prominent religious figures from the Christian and Islamic communities around the world in learning conferences with Jewish scholars, laying the foundations for advances in interreligious research, pluralism and understanding.
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