UNESCO Chair in Interfaith Studies and founder of the Elijah Interfaith Institute, Rabbi Dr. Alon Goshen-Gottstein, will be facilitating a unique educational experience, with as its theme“Friendship Across Religions”.
The Summer School Program and Inter-religious Leadership Seminar, to be held between 4-15 August 2019 in Beit Yosef, (Dormition Abbey), Mt Zion, Jerusalem, takes place not in isolation or in abstraction, but within an interfaith community of faculty and students, where the study of religious traditions is integrated with exposure to their lived spirituality. Using diverse learning techniques, including formal text analysis and the more creative bibliodrama, lectures and small group study, an Elijah Summer School is an intense encounter with oneself and with the other.
Week One will focus on what is the understanding of friendship in diverse religions, Abrahamic and Dharmic (Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.)? What are different dimensions of friendship and why are they important for the religious life? Is friendship necessary, perhaps indispensable, for the religious life?
Week Two will ask: Can friendship be applied to members of other faiths? Can friendship teachings that were developed initially in relation to members of one’s faith be extended to members of other faiths? What are models, examples and resources that each of the religions offers for developing a contemporary notion of friendship across religions?
Expert speakers include Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rabbi David Rosen, Shrivatsa Goswami, Suheyl Umar, Merav Stein, Rav Daniel Kohn, Dr Maria Habito and Professor David Ford.
For more information on this dymamic and interactive summer program: Website: www.summerschool.elijah-interfaith.org
Email: peta@elijah-interfaith.org