Jews, Christians And Muslims Study Together At Hartford Seminary

[cbayer]

http://articles.courant.com/2012-07-01/news/hc-liberal-conservative-religion-hartford-20120630_1_jewish-theological-seminary-rabbinical-students-muslims

July 01, 2012|BY DENISE BUFFA, [e-mail], The Hartford Courant

Call them warriors of hope in a crusade against ignorance. They are fighting for tolerance and trust among Jews, Christians and Muslims in a peaceful way.

Three Conservative Jews, all rabbinical students at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, have made the pilgrimage to liberal Hartford Seminary, marking the first time the Jewish seminary has allowed its pupils to study at the Christian seminary for credit. It's considered precedent-setting.

Along with Jews, Christians and Muslims are also attending the Building Abrahamic Partnerships program this week. The program offers a practical foundation for mutual understanding and cooperation among the three religions. The religious exchange is taking place at Hartford Seminary's Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam & Christian-Muslim Relations. It's a place where books like "How To Be A Perfect Stranger" and "The Koran for Idiots" are available.

What makes this different is the formal blessing the Jewish seminary has given the study at the Christian seminary.

more at link

[dmallind]

1. For the interim, and hopefully ongoing, there should and easily could be more of this

it's no great news to even the vaguely interested that the three share a lot in common, and not just their allegorical founder. The differences we see today came about much more due to political history than anything else.

The hope thet ecumenicalism will generate more co-operation and less hate is a perfectly valid one, if a tad optimistic. It's certainly worth a try. There are two risks however. One immediate risk for the groups themselves - that greater interaction among those with a strong tradition of self-imposed apartheid will foster even more resentment and antagonism than wilfull blind eyes. One longer term risk for people NOT "of the book" though is that if ecumenicalism achieves its ideal ends, then we become a single focused "them" for a much more potent unified "us" of Abrahamic desert monotheisms none of which have demonstrated much tolerance for "thems" in the past when they have had the power alone, and are seriously unlikely to demonstrate it together.

[Adsos Letter]

2. What dmallind said.

One longer term risk for people NOT "of the book" though is that if ecumenicalism achieves its ideal ends, then we become a single focused "them" for a much more potent unified "us" of Abrahamic desert monotheisms none of which have demonstrated much tolerance for "thems" in the past when they have had the power alone, and are seriously unlikely to demonstrate it together.

Very well said.