SEMINARS
BUILDING BRIDGES MEDIA
Building Bridges 2011 Christian-Muslim Seminar on Prayer (Part One: Theology of Prayer) (Full Screen)
Featured: Michael Plekon and Reza Shah-Kazemi
Featured: Michael Plekon and Reza Shah-Kazemi
Building Bridges 2011 Christian-Muslim Seminar on Prayer (Part One: Prayer in Practice) (Full Screen)
Featured: Philip Sheldrake and Dheen Mohamed
Featured: Philip Sheldrake and Dheen Mohamed
Building Bridges 2011 Christian-Muslim Seminar on Prayer (Part Three: Mutual Perceptions) (Full Screen)
Featured: Caner Dagli and Daniel Madigan, with concluding reflections from Archbishop Rowan Williams
Featured: Caner Dagli and Daniel Madigan, with concluding reflections from Archbishop Rowan Williams
Building Bridges 2010: Tradition and History (Full Screen)
Featured: Vincent Cornell and Janet Soskice
Featured: Vincent Cornell and Janet Soskice
Building Bridges 2010: Religious Authority and the Challenges of Modernity (Full Screen)
Featured: Philip Jenkins and Recep Senturk
Featured: Philip Jenkins and Recep Senturk
Building Bridges 2010: Religion, Modernity and Freedom (Full Screen)
Featured: Abdullahi An-Na'im and David Bentley Hart
Featured: Abdullahi An-Na'im and David Bentley Hart
Building Bridges 2010: Seminar Closing Remarks (Full Screen)
Featured: Archbishop Rowan Williams with Abdolkarim Soroush, Harriet Harris, Caner Dagli, and Gavin D'Costa
Featured: Archbishop Rowan Williams with Abdolkarim Soroush, Harriet Harris, Caner Dagli, and Gavin D'Costa
The Building Bridges Seminar
2003 Building Bridges Seminar, Doha
The second Building Bridges Seminar was held in Doha, Qatar in April 2003 at the invitation of the Amir of the State of Qatar, His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. This seminar was the first to be chaired by Archbishop Rowan Williams, only a few weeks after he had taken up office; he has also chaired all the subsequent Building Bridges Seminars. From this point onwards the Building Bridges Seminars developed their characteristic emphasis on the study of texts from each tradition in small groups. The theme of this seminar, the place of the scriptures in the two faiths, was explored both through public lectures and through discussion in groups of paired Biblical and Qur’anic passages. A record of this seminar was published as Scriptures in Dialogue: Christians and Muslims studying the Bible and the Qur’an together, ed. Michael Ipgrave, London, Church House Publishing, 2004.
Scriptures in Dialogue: Christians and Muslims studying the Bible and the Qur'an together
Publication August 30, 2004
In April 2003, Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, convened a group of twenty-five leading Christian and Muslim scholars for three days of theological dialogue. Scriptures in Dialogue presents a record of this seminar, held in Doha at the invitation of the Emir of Qatar. The focus of this gathering was the intensive study of passages from the Qur'an and the Bible. Combining scholarship at the highest level with commitment to the practice of their faiths in the modern world, the participants addressed questions such as discernment of the Word of God, the place of women in their believing communities, and making space for the religious 'Other.' The book is available in its entirety in the PDF, provided by Church House Publishing, that follows the book's table of contents below.
Table of Contents
Introducing the Seminar
His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar
The Most Revd and Rt Hon. Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
Michael Ipgrave
Chapter 1 Muslims and Christians Reading Scriptures: When, Where, How, With Whom?
Chapter 2 Listening to God, Learning from Scripture
On the Road to Emmaus
Tom Wright
Listening to God through the Qur’an
Vincent Cornell
Scripture Dialogue I: Signs of God
Psalm 19; al-Rum (30) 19-30
Readings of the ‘Reading’
Timothy Winter
Scripture Dialogue II: Word of God
Al ‘Imran (3) 1-7; John 1.1-18
Chapter 3 Legacies of the Past, Challenges of the Present
Scripture Dialogue III: Abraham, a Righteous Man
Romans 4; al-Baqara (2) 124-36
The Ethics of Gender Discourse in Islam
Mona Siddiqui
A Circle Perspective
Esther Mombo
Scripture Dialogue IV: Righteous Women
al-Ahzab (33) 28-36; Proverbs 31.10-31
Chapter 4 Scripture and the Other
Christian Scripture and ‘the Other’
Frances Young
Affirming the Self through Accepting the Other
Basit Koshul
Scripture Dialogue V: Space for the Other?
Jonah 3 and 4; al-Baqara (2) 62, Al ‘Imran (3) 113-15 John 14.1-14; Al ‘Imran (3) 19-20, 85
Christian Theology and Other Faiths
Rowan Williams
Chapter 5 Scriptures in Dialogue
>> PDF
Table of Contents
Introducing the Seminar
His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar
The Most Revd and Rt Hon. Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
Michael Ipgrave
Chapter 1 Muslims and Christians Reading Scriptures: When, Where, How, With Whom?
Chapter 2 Listening to God, Learning from Scripture
On the Road to Emmaus
Tom Wright
Listening to God through the Qur’an
Vincent Cornell
Scripture Dialogue I: Signs of God
Psalm 19; al-Rum (30) 19-30
Readings of the ‘Reading’
Timothy Winter
Scripture Dialogue II: Word of God
Al ‘Imran (3) 1-7; John 1.1-18
Chapter 3 Legacies of the Past, Challenges of the Present
Scripture Dialogue III: Abraham, a Righteous Man
Romans 4; al-Baqara (2) 124-36
The Ethics of Gender Discourse in Islam
Mona Siddiqui
A Circle Perspective
Esther Mombo
Scripture Dialogue IV: Righteous Women
al-Ahzab (33) 28-36; Proverbs 31.10-31
Chapter 4 Scripture and the Other
Christian Scripture and ‘the Other’
Frances Young
Affirming the Self through Accepting the Other
Basit Koshul
Scripture Dialogue V: Space for the Other?
Jonah 3 and 4; al-Baqara (2) 62, Al ‘Imran (3) 113-15 John 14.1-14; Al ‘Imran (3) 19-20, 85
Christian Theology and Other Faiths
Rowan Williams
Chapter 5 Scriptures in Dialogue
Second Building Bridges Seminar Sourcebook
Publication April 9, 2003
The sourcebook for the second Building Bridges seminar, which took place in Doha, Qatar in 2003 on the theme "Scriptures in Dialogue: Christians and Muslims studying the Bible and the Qur'an together," includes a range of scriptural texts selected to enable discussion of the following themes: listening to God, the legacy of Abraham, exemplary women, and relations with the "other." Biblical quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version; Qur'anic quotations are from M.A.S. Abdel Haleem's The Qur'an: a new translation. A PDF is available below.
>> PDF
Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem
Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem is King Fahd Professor of Islamic Studies and Director of the Centre for Islamic Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London University, as well as editor of the Journal of Qur’anic Studies. Born in Egypt, he learned the Qur’an by heart during childhood.
Haleem has published two translations of the Qur'an, The Qur'an: English Translation with Parallel Arabic Text (2010) and The Qur'an: A New Translation (2004). He has also published several other works in this field, including Understanding the Qur’an: Themes and Style (2001) and, together with Elsaid M. Badawi, Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage (2008).
Zaki Badawi
Shaikh Zaki Badawi, who died in 2006, was a prominent Egyptian Islamic scholar, community activist, and promoter of interfaith dialogue. After studies at al-Azhar University, Badawi received his PhD in modern Muslim thought from the University of London and went on to teach in Egypt, Malaysia, Singapore, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Britain. He served as director of the Islamic Cultural Centre and Chief Imam of the London Central Mosque; Badawi also co-founded the Three Faiths Forum and was vice chairman of the World Congress of Faiths. He was the Principal of the Muslim College in London, a frequent writer and broadcaster on Islamic affairs, and an honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire.
Kenneth Bailey
Ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA), Kenneth Bailey is a New Testament scholar and Canon Theologian of the Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church, USA. From 1955-1995 Bailey lived and taught in seminaries and institutes in Egypt, Lebanon, Jerusalem, and Cyprus, including 20 years as Professor of New Testament at the Near East School of Theology, Beirut, and 10 years as Research Professor of Middle Eastern New Testament Studies at Tantur Ecumenical Institute for Theological Research. His publications include (among others) Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes (2008), Jacob & the Prodigal: How Jesus Retold Israel's Story (2003), and The Cross & the Prodigal: Luke 15 Through the Eyes of Middle Eastern Peasants (1973/2005). Bailey is a member of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (the Society for New Testament Studies).
Vincent J. Cornell
Vincent J. Cornell is the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Middle East and Islamic Studies at Emory University and has taught at Northwestern University, the University of Georgia, Duke University, and the University of Arkansas. His interests cover the entire spectrum of Islamic thought from Sufism to philosophy and Islamic law. He has lived and worked in Morocco for nearly six years and taught and researched in Egypt, Tunisia, Malaysia and Indonesia. He is the author of publications on Islamic theology and philosophy and the challenges to the Muslim world of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, including Realm of the Saint: Power and Authority in Moroccan Sufism (1998), The Way of Abu Madyan: The Works of Abu Madyan Shuayb (1996), and the five volumes of Voices of Islam (2007). Cornell received his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Ellen Davis
Ellen Davis is Amos Ragan Kearns Professor of Bible and Practical Theology at Duke Divinity School. Her research interests focus on how biblical interpretation bears on the life of faith communities and their response to urgent public issues, particularly the environmental crisis and interfaith relations; Davis is now cooperating with the Episcopal Church of Sudan to develop theological education, community health, and sustainable agriculture. She is the author of (among others) Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible (2009), Wondrous Depth: Old Testament Preaching (2005), and Who Are You, My Daughter? Reading Ruth through Image and Text (2003), as well as numerous articles and essays. Davis holds an AB from the University of California, Berkley, MDiv from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, and PhD from Yale University.
Salwa El-Awa
Salwa El-Awa is Lecturer in Qur'anic Studies at the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Birmingham, where she has taught and researched on the Qur’an, Hadith, theories of Islamic text interpretation, and, more recently, the historical and textual foundations of Islamic extremism in the Middle East. At Birmingham El-Awa co-led the two-year-long research program that produced the 2009 report "Police-Muslim Engagement and Partnerships for the Purposes of Counter-Terrorism: An Examination”; she is also the author of Textual Relations in the Qur'an: Relevance, Coherence and Structure (2006). El-Awa moved from Egypt to the UK in 1998 to pursue her PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies, where she studied contemporary linguistic theory and utilized it to explain a number of problematic questions about the structure of the Qur’anic text.
Michael Fitzgerald
Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, a member of the Society of Missionaries of Africa, currently serves as Papal Nuncio to Egypt and Delegate to the Arab League and is one of the Roman Catholic Church’s leading experts on Islam. Previously, he had been Secretary and then President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue. He has also taught at the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies and at the University of Makerere, Kampala, Uganda. He studied Arabic at the University of London and has long been a strong advocate of interreligious dialogue.
David Ford
David Ford is an Anglican theologian and Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge, where he has taught since 1991. He is also the Director of the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme and Fellow of Selwyn College. Previously Ford taught for 15 years at the University of Birmingham. His work in the area of Christian theology has been inspired by post-liberal and narrative theology. Ford is one of the founders of Scriptural Reasoning and has been extensively involved in generating new modes of engagement for inter-faith relations in the post-9/11 world. He is the author of (among others) Christian Wisdom: Desiring God and Learning in Love (2007) and co-editor of The Promise of Scriptural Reasoning (2006), and Fields of Faith: Theology and Religious Studies for the Twenty-First Century (2005).
Ida Glaser
Ida Glaser is Academic Director of the Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies in Oxford and an Associate Tutor at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. Previously she was a Senior Teaching and Research Fellow at the Edinburgh Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies and on staff with Crosslinks, an Anglican mission society. She has researched and taught in the areas of Islam, the interface between the Qur’an and the Bible, comparative religions and Christian mission. Her publications include The Bible and Other Faiths: What Does the Lord Require of Us? (2005).
Riffat Hassan
Professor of Religious Studies Emerita at the University of Louisville, Riffat Hassan is a Pakistani-American theologian and a feminist scholar of the Qur’an. Before coming to Louisville she taught at Oklahoma State University, Harvard University, Villanova University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Iliff School of Theology. Hassan co-edited Women's and Men's Liberation: Testimonies of Spirit (1991) and is the author of The Sword and the Sceptre (1977), The Bitter Harvest (1977), and An Iqbal Primer (1979), as well as numerous articles and essays. She received her BA and PhD from Durham University; her thesis focused on Muhammad Iqbal. Hassan immigrated to the United States in 1972.
Michael Ipgrave
The Right Reverend Dr. Michael Ipgrave is the Bishop of Woolwich in the Church of England. Ipgrave was Archdeacon of Southwark from 2004-12. He was Inter Faith Relations Adviser to the Archbishops' Council of the Church of England and Executive Secretary of the ecumenical Churches' Commission for Inter Faith Relations from 1999-2004. Ipgrave has a PhD from the University of Durham and has lectured and written extensively about inter faith relations, Christian-Muslim dialogue, and religion and human rights. He is a member of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Commission for Dialogue with the Chief Rabbinates of Israel. Ipgrave is the author of Trinity and Inter Faith Dialogue (2003) and has edited several volumes recording Building Bridges seminars.
Assaad Elias Kattan
Assaad Elias Kattan is Professor in Orthodox Theology at the Centre of Religious Studies at the University of Münster. Before arriving at Münster Kattan taught at the University of Balamand from 2001-04. His areas of interest are hermeneutics and Christian-Muslim dialogue, and he has also written on the history of Christianity and the Orthodox experience in the Middle East. Kattan earned his BA from the University of Balamand, Lebanon, and his ThD from Marburg University.
Basit Koshul
Basit Koshul is Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, where he has taught since 2006. He previously taught for four years at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. His interests include the relationship between religion and modernity, philosophy of science, philosophy of religion, the sociology of culture and the contemporary Islam-West encounter. He authored The Postmodern Significance of Max Weber’s Legacy (2005) and co-edited Scripture, Reason and the Contemporary Islam-West Encounter (2007). Koshul received his PhD in 2003 from Drew University, specializing in the sociology of religion, and in 2010 earned a second PhD from the University of Virginia.
Daniel Madigan
Father Daniel Madigan, an Australian Jesuit priest, is the Jeanette W. and Otto J. Ruesch Family Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Georgetown University’s Department of Theology, where he has worked since 2008. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center and the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. His main fields of teaching and research are Qur’anic studies and interreligious dialogue, with a special focus on Muslim-Christian relations. Madigan previously taught in Rome from 2000 to 2007, where he was the founder and director of the Institute for the Study of Religions and Cultures at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He has also taught as a visiting professor at Columbia University, Ankara University, Boston College, and Central European University. He is the author of The Qur’ân’s Self-Image: Writing and Authority in Islam's Scripture (2001).
Maleiha Malik
Maleiha Malik is a Professor in Law at King’s College London. Her research focuses on the theory and practice of discrimination law, particularly the intersection between sexual and cultural equality and the adjustments that may need to be made to feminist theory to accommodate increasing cultural pluralism. Malik was a co-director (with Dr. Jon Wilson) of the Arts and Humanities Research Council projects on "Traditions in the Present," which promoted networking and scholarship on the role of tradition in contemporary societies. She has written extensively on discrimination law, minority protection, and feminist theory and is the co-author of Discrimination Law: Theory and Practice (2008). Malik studied law at the University of London and University of Oxford and is a barrister, as well as a member of the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn.
Jane McAuliffe
Jane McAuliffe is the president of Bryn Mawr College, a position she has held since 2008. Previously, she had been Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at Georgetown University, where she was appointed Dean in 1999. McAuliffe has also taught at the University of Toronto and Emory University, where she also served as Associate Dean for the Candler School of Theology. She is a scholar of Islam, specializing on the Qur’an and its exegesis. She is a past president of the American Academy of Religion and the author of numerous publications, including The Qur’an: A Norton Critical Edition (forthcoming), Qur’ānic Christians: An Analysis of Classical and Modern Exegesis (1991), and The Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān (2001-2006, general editor). McAuliffe holds a BA from Trinity College (Washington, DC) and MA and PhD from the University of Toronto.
Mustansir Mir
Mustansir Mir is University Professor of Islamic Studies at Youngstown State University. Originally from Pakistan, he has taught at colleges in Lahore, at the University of Michigan, and at the International Islamic University in Malaysia. His main interests are Qur’anic studies and Iqbal studies. Recent publications include Iqbal: Makers of Islamic Civilization(2006) and Understanding the Islamic Scripture: A Study of Selected Passages from the Qur'an(2007). He co-edits the journal Studies in Contemporary Islam. Mir earned his PhD from the University of Michigan.
Esther Mombo
Dr. Esther Mombo is Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics) of St. Paul’s United Theological College in Limuru, Kenya, where she teaches church history and theologies from women’s perspectives. Mombo is also a member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians and writes on women’s issues, evangelism, HIV/AIDS, Christian-Muslim relations, and poverty in Africa. She is a member of the Inter-Anglican Doctrinal and Theological Commission. Mombo earned her BD from St. Paul's United Theological College, MPhil from Trinity College Dublin, and PhD at Edinburgh University .
Abdal Hakim Murad (Timothy Winter)
Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad (also known as Timothy Winter) is the Shaykh Zayed Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Cambridge University and Director of Studies in Theology at Wolfson College Cambridge. He is also the Imam of the Cambridge Mosque, Chair of Trustees at Cambridge Muslim College, and Secretary of the Muslim Academic Trust, which oversees the Cambridge Muslim College. After studying Arabic at Cambridge, Murad studied the traditional Islamic sciences at al-Azhar University. He has translated a number of Islamic works and is the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology (2008) and author of Bombing without Moonlight: The Origins of Suicidal Terrorism (2008). Murad was one of the original signatories of A Common Word Between Us and You, a letter addressed to Christian leaders in an appeal for peace and cooperation between the two religions.
Michael Nazir-Ali
Michael Nazir-Ali, born in Karachi, was Bishop of Rochester in the Church of England from 1994 to 2009, having previously served as General Secretary of the Church Missionary Society and Bishop of Raiwind, Pakistan. He has played a prominent role in the Anglican Communion with regard to Muslim-Christian relations. His publications include Understanding My Muslim Neighbour (2003) and Conviction and Conflict: Islam, Christianity and World Order (2005). In October 2010 the Diocese of South Carolina (Episcopal Church) announced that Nazir-Ali had agreed to serve as Visiting Bishop in South Carolina for Anglican Communion Relationships, a post designed to strengthen the diocese's international relationships.
Mona Siddiqui
Mona Siddiqui, OBE is Professor of Islamic and Inter-religious Studies and Assistant Principal for Religion and Society at the University of Edinburgh. She researches classical Islamic law, contemporary law and ethics, and Christian-Muslim relations. Siddiqui is the chair of the BBC's Scottish Religious Advisory Committee and is a regular broadcaster and commentator on radio and other media. She is a member of the Commission on Scottish Devolution and the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Islam-West Dialogue. Her publications include How to Read the Qur’an (2007), Islam (2010), and The Good Muslim (2012), as well as numerous articles, essays, and opinion pieces. Siddiqui received her PhD from the University of Manchester in 1992 and holds three honorary doctorates.
Muhammad Suheyl Umar
Muhammad Suheyl Umar is the Director of the Iqbal Academy Pakistan. Umar previously worked as Academic Director for the Institute of Islamic Culture and as a consultant to publisher house Suhail Academy; he was also a visiting scholar at the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization from 1993-94. Umar specializes in Sufism and in the intellectual history of the Indian subcontinent from Shah Waliullah to Iqbal. He is the editor of the journals Iqbal Review, Al-Ma'arif, and Riyawat, as well as The Religious Other: Towards a Muslim Theology of Other Religions in a Post-Prophetic Age (2008). Umar earned his BA and MA at Government College (Lahore), MPhil at Allama Iqbal Open University, and PhD at Punjab University in Lahore.
Rowan Williams
Rowan Williams is the Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he has held since 2002. Ordained in the Church of England in 1980, he taught at Cambridge and Oxford before becoming Bishop of Monmouth in 1992 and Archbishop of Wales in 2000. As Archbishop of Canterbury, Williams has developed a number of initiatives focused on improving Christian-Muslim relations, including the annual Building Bridges Seminar. He has written on a wide range of topics, and his publications include A Margin of Silence: The Holy Spirit in Russian Orthodox Theology (2008), Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief (2007),On Christian Theology (2000), and Arius: Heresy and Tradition (1987/2002). Williams earned a BA from Christ's College at the University of Cambridge and his DPhil from Wadham College at the University of Oxford. At the end of 2012 he will be stepping down as Archbishop of Canterbury and taking up the post of Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Nicholas Thomas Wright
Nicholas Thomas Wright is Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the School of Divinity at the University of St. Andrews. From 2003-10 Wright was the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England, preceded by three years as Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey. He previously taught at McGill University, the University of Oxford, and the University of Cambridge. A prolific author (also published as Tom Wright or NT Wright), his publications include Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense (2010), Justification: God's Plan & Paul's Vision (2009), The Resurrection of the Son of God (2003), the five-part "Christian Origins and the Questions of God" series, and a series of popular commentaries on the books of the New Testament.
Frances M. Young
Frances M. Young is Edward Cadbury Professor Emeritus at the University of Birmingham, as well as an ordained minister in the Methodist Church (UK). Young was the first Methodist and first women to preach at a Church of England General Synod when she addressed that body in 2005; she was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1998 for her theological work. Her publications include (among others) From Nicaea to Chalcedon: A Guide to the Literature and Its Background (1983/2010, with Andrew Teal), Brokenness and Blessing: Towards a Biblical Spirituality (2007), A Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature (2004, as co-editor), and Biblical Exegesis and the Formation of Christian Culture (1997).