SUSI Program Featured in Jewish Exponent

The Dialogue Institute's current Study of the U.S. Institute (SUSI) for Student Leaders on Religious Pluralism in the United States - hosting 20 young adult students from Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey, July 5-August 9 - was featured in the August 6th edition of the Jewish Exponent.

Click here to read the full article.

The five-week Institute, focused on religious pluralism and democracy, is run in cooperation with the International Center for Contemporary Education, with funding from the U.S. Department of State (Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs). Twice a year, students from the Middle East and Southeast Asia are introduced to central elements of U.S. history, society, institutions, and democracy through a focus on American religious freedom and interreligious dialogue.

The DI will host its next SUSI, January 9-February 13, 2016, with 20 students from Southeast Asia.

Latest J.E.S. Issue Explores a Common Vision for the Church in North America

The Spring 2015 issue of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies is primarily devoted to exploration of a common vision for the Church in a North American context, featuring a variety of essays presented at the annual conference of the North American Academy of Ecumenists (NAAE), held September26-28, 2014.

"The theme of the conference was ecumenical ecclesiology, focused particularly on the 2013 convergence document from the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches," writes Mitzi J. Budde, NAAE President and Head Librarian and Professor at Virginia Theological Seminary. "The Academy undertook to study this new convergence text and to explore its relevance and significance, particularly for a North American context."

Beyond the NAAE content, the issue includes an editorial by J.E.S. Co-Founder and Editor Leonard Swidler ("Three Paths - Whither?"), an article from Hazim Fazlić examining the role of religious leadership in Bosnia and Herzegovina with regard to interfaith work in the post-war context ("Perspectives on Building Trust among Communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Challenges and the Role of Faith Communities"), and several book reviews.

Click here to view the specific content listing. Contact Penn Press for subscription information.

DI's Public Forum on Interfaith Relations in the Workplace

Click image above to see additional pictures.

The Dialogue Institute hosted a special public forum on "Interfaith Relations in the Workplace," on Sunday, July 19th, at Temple University in Philadelphia.

The forum, moderated by DI Board member Dr. Gity Banan-Etemad, featured an interactive discussion on the rewards and challenges of engaging religion and religious identity in professional working contexts. Panelists included: Cheryl Perlmutter Bowen (Jewish, associate professor and associate chairperson in the Department of Communication at Villanova Universtity); Louis Del Soldo (Buddhist, former assistant principal and director of early education at Friends Central School); John McDay (Baha'i, radiation oncologist with Locum Radiation Oncology Group); Aziz Nathoo (Muslim, cloud computing and real estate investment consultant); and Peter Spitaler (Christian, professor and chair in the Department of Religious Studies at Villanova University).

Students from the DI's current Study of the U.S. Institute (SUSI) on Religious Pluralism in the United States - from Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey - also participated in the discussion.

SUSI Students Interviewed on The Nick Taliaferro Show

From left to right: Nick Taliaferro, Dr. Babara Zasloff (SUSI Admistrative Co-Director and President of the International Center for Contemporary Education), Karim Zughaib and Somaya Arab.

Two students - Karim Zughaib, a Christian from Lebanon, and Somaya Arab, a Muslim from Egypt - from the Dialogue Institute's current Study of the U.S. Institute (SUSI) for Student Leaders on Religious Pluralism in the United States were interviewed on the The Nick Taliaferro Show (WURD - 900 AM) on July 13.

Click here to listen to the full interview.

The five-week Institute, focused on religious pluralism and democracy, is run in cooperation with the International Center for Contemporary Education, with funding from the U.S. Department of State (Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs). Twice a year, students from the Middle East and Southeast Asia are introduced to central elements of U.S. history, society, institutions, and democracy through a focus on American religious freedom and interreligious dialogue.

The DI will host its next SUSI, Jaunary 9-February 13, 2016, with 20 students from Southeast Asia.

DI Hosting 20 Middle Eastern Students this Summer

The Dialogue Institute (DI) is hosting 20 young adult students from Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey, July 5-August 9, 2015, for an intensive five-week education and immersion program focused on religious pluralism and democracy in the United States.

The program—officially called Study of the U.S. Institutes (SUSI) for Student Leaders on Religious Pluralism in the United States—is run in conjunction with the U.S. Department of State (Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs), and introduces students from the Middle East and Southeast Asia to central elements of U.S. history, society, institutions and democracy through a focus on American religious freedom. The DI, along with the International Center for Contemporary Education, has been hosting Institutes twice a year since 2010.

The program includes a four-week residential program in Philadelphia, as well as visits to New York City, Washington, DC and other parts of the country. Activities include: classroom-based learning with lectures and interactive workshops/trainings/discussions, religious and historical site visits; community service projects; and visits with American host families. Topics include: dialogue and critical thinking; roots of religious tolerance in Philadelphia; volunteerism in a pluralist society; immigration, race, and ethnicity; gender and religious participation; and leadership.

Click here for more information about the SUSI program.

DI Awarded Funding to Continue SUSI Program

Students from the DI's Winter 2015 SUSI in January.

The Dialogue Institute (DI) was recently awarded funding from the U.S. State Department to continue its Study of the U.S. Institutes (SUSI) for Student Leaders on Religious Pluralism. The renewal funding enables the DI to host two more Institutes focused on the study of religious pluralism and democracy in America, one this coming summer (July-August) with 20 students from the Middle East, and another next winter (January-February) with 20 Southeast Asian students.

The DI just completed its 9th SUSI this past winter (click here to see a State Department promotional video featuring our students!) and has been hosting Institutes since 2010 in collaboration with the International Center for Contemporary Education. SUSI is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and its Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. 

New Steps in the "Cosmic Dance of Dialogue"

DI Executive Director, Rebecca Mays, introducing the conversation with (seated, from left): Paul Knitter, Leonard Swidler and Sr. Joan Chittister.

In celebration of 50 years and counting of ecumenical and interreligious scholarship and activism, more than 100 guests joined the Dialogue Institute (DI) and the Journal of Ecumenical Studies (J.E.S.) on April 24, 2015 for New Steps in the "Cosmic Dance of Dialogue."

Click here to see additional pictures
(images by James Graves Photo).
Click here to see the full video
(produced by Zachary Van Heel).

The event, held at Temple University in Philadelphia, featured an engaging and inspiring conversation on intra- and interfaith dialogue—past, present and future—with three prominent scholars/activists and old friends:
Sr. Joan Chittister, Paul Knitter, and Leonard Swidler (DI founder and co-founding editor of J.E.S.). DI Executive Director Rebecca Mays moderated the conversation. The conversation reflected the three major directions of the DI and J.E.S. going forward: interreligious/interfaith dialogue training; intra- and interreligious scholarship through the Journal; and global interfaith collaboration through the Dialogue Institutes Network.

Special thanks to Theodore Friend and Rebecca Mays for their generous support of the event.

Latest J.E.S. Issue Honors Leonard Swidler

The latest issue of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies (J.E.S.) is a Festschrift in honor of Dialogue Institute founder and J.E.S. co-founder Leonard Swidler.

The special issue was officially announced as a surprise to Professor Swidler during the New Steps in the "Cosmic Dance of Dialogue" event on April 24th. J.E.S. Managing Editor Nancy Krody, who herself has been with the Journal since 1973, made the announcement and presented copies to each of the three speakers.

Click here to see full content details (Volume 50, Number 1) or to order individual copies. To subscribe to the Journal, beginning with this issue, contact Penn Press (which now publishes the Journal). The Journal of Ecumenical Studies was co-founded by Arlene and Leonard Swidler in 1964.

Bernstein's MASS: An Interfaith Dialogue

From left to right: moderator and DI/J.E.S. Board member, Ellen Frankel, and panelists S. Zakiya Hasna Islam, Hazzan David Tillman, and Father Dennis Gill.

Inspired by the exploratory nature of Leonard Bernstein's MASS* and the questions it raises about religion, faith and peace, The Philadelphia Orchestra, in collaboration with the Dialogue Institute, presented an interfaith panel discussion on April 22, 2015.

Click here to see full video
(courtesy of The Philadelphia Orchestra).

The discussion, held in Philadelphia at Temple University's Chapel of Four Chaplains, was moderated by DI/J.E.S. Board member, Ellen Frankel, and featured panelists from Muslim, Jewish and Catholic Christian traditions:
S. Zakiya Hasna Islam (a friend and associate of the DI, and graduate student/adjunct faculty member in the Department of Religion at Temple University), Hazzan David Tilman (Keneseth Israel), and Father Dennis Gill (Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul/Archdiocese of Philadelphia). A Temple University multi-choir concert followed the discussion, during which Temple's Concert Choir performed excerpts from MASS.

* MASS, which premiered in 1971, explores a Celebrant's crisis of faith through the eyes of a Jewish composer

DI Program Featured in State Department Video

In order to promote its Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI), the U.S. State Department recently released a video featuring the Dialogue Institute's Winter 2015 Study of the U.S. Institutes (SUSI) for Student Leaders on Religious Pluralism. Twenty students from five different countries in Southeast Asia participated, and were interviewed in Washington, DC at the completion of the DI's five-week program, January 10-February 14.

YSEALI is an initiative of President Obama with which the Dialogue Institute now actively works in conjunction with its hosting of the semi-annual SUSI programs (the second is held during the summer for students from the Middle East).

Note that the video, as a recruiting tool for YSEALI, emphasizes only the leadership development aspect of the program; the DI's overall focus is on religious pluralism and dialogue training. Click here for more info about the DI's SUSI programs.