The Luce Grant and New Opportunities

By Kwok Pui Lan

The changing religious landscape in the U.S. and the important role that religion plays in contemporary politics require leaders of faith communities to work with religious neighbors, learn to form interfaith coalitions, and foster relations with civic groups for social change.

Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) has received a grant of $350,000 from Luce Foundation to support faculty development, curricular revision, and online continuing educational programs on religious pluralism. 

  

Islamic Society in Boston

This is a major initiative to help the faculty, alumni/ae, and students of the school to become leaders and facilitators of interfaith dialogue and solidarity. As the religious landscape of the United States and Canada has become more pluralistic, theological education must prepare students to be conversant with different religious traditions.

The proposal to build a mosque in Lower Manhattan near Ground Zero, where the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed, created a huge controversy. But many people do not know that Muslims have lived in the U.S. for a long time. The earliest Muslims arrived on slave ships from Africa. Today, there are six million Muslims in the U.S., approximately the same number as Jews. In New York, the number of mosques has grown from 10 in 1970 to 100. Los Angeles is the most religiously diverse city of the world. There are 131 Buddhist temples and 58 mosques in Los Angeles County.

Since the Immigrant Act of 1965, many immigrants have brought with them different religious traditions. The Pew Forum Religious Landscape Study conducted in 2008 estimated that the United States is about 78 percent Christian. About 16 percent of American people do not affiliate with religious institutions and 4.7 percent practice a religion other than Christianity.

At EDS, students are introduced to religious pluralism through course work, spiritual practices, and travel study seminars. Members of the faculty engage in interfaith dialogue in their academic guilds and civic coalitions. Study seminars to Mexico, India, Lesotho and South Africa, Cuba have introduced students to religious diversity and various forms of indigenous healing practices. Buddhist meditation has been introduced to members of the EDS community.

The Luce Grant will enable EDS to offer courses on Islam. The Grant will also enable us to share what we are learning at EDS with the wider Episcopal Church and other faith communities. EDS offers online courses, intensive weekend courses, simulcast classes, and webcast live events to educate lay and ordained leaders for God’s mission. The school has established partnerships with several dioceses for life-long education and formation.

In developing this initiative, EDS can draw upon the expertise and support of our alumni/ae. Some of our alumni/ae belong to the Unitarian Universalist Church, which celebrates diversity of belief. Alumnus Anthony Stultz is the founder and director of Blue Mountain Lotus Society, a non-profit organization devoted to sharing the teachings of the Buddha within the context of contemporary life.

EDS works with other schools within the Boston Theological Institute in promoting interreligious dialogue and understanding. For example, I will attend and speak at a weekend seminar on “Interreligious Dialogue and the Cultural Shaping of Religions” sponsored by Boston College in September. During the summer, I completed a book on Globalization, Gender, and Peacebuilding: The Future of Interfaith Dialogue to be published by Paulist Press. 



Nestorian Stele in Xian, China (781 CE)

On March 3, 2012, Professors Lawrence Wills and Patrick S. Cheng will convene a one-day conference on “What Would it Take to Move the Map? Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Others in the Ancient East.” This conference will focus on the interactions of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the early East, especially along the Silk Road. Professor Bruce B. Lawrence of Duke University, an expert on Islam and an alumnus of the EDS, will be the keynote speaker. 

EDS is planning a travel seminar to China led by Professor Patrick S. Cheng and I in May-June 2012. The travel seminar is supported by a generous grant from the DeFreitas Foundation. In addition to visiting churches, seminaries, and Christian organizations, the seminar will introduce students to the culture and religions of China. Participants will be able to visit Buddhist temples, a mosque, and a Confucian temple to learn about the popular religions of China. We look forward to a new academic year with exciting learning opportunities.

*Professor Kwok Pui Lan is William F. Cole Professor of Christian Theology and Spirituality and her most recent book is Hope Abundant: Third World and Indigenous Women’s Theology.