Cultivating and Caring for the Whole Person

Confucian and Jesuit Resources for Personal Formation

Copy of "Spring Morning in the Han Palace" scroll by Qiu Ying: Chinese women in a garden with trees and scholar's rock

Tuesday, November 10, 2026
4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. EST
Location: Healey Family Student Center Social Room Map

This event celebrates the release of Berkley Center Senior Research Fellow Erin Cline’s new translation of the Confucian Analects: one of the most influential texts in the world. In the Analects, the Confucian tradition insists that you can become a better person—a conviction that it shares with the Jesuit tradition. The two traditions also share a deep commitment to the specific practices, values, and experiences that shape us into better people, by cultivating the whole person. In commemoration of Jesuit Heritage Month, Cline will be joined by Rev. Peter Folan, S.J., and Rev. Lucas Sharma, S.J., to explore the unique resources that these traditions bring to our formation, and how interreligious dialogue can enrich our moral and spiritual development. The event will feature opening remarks by David Edelstein, dean of the Georgetown University College of Arts & Sciences.

This event is hosted by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs in partnership with the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Asian Studies Program, and Georgetown Humanities Initiative.

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Participants

Erin Cline Toggle

About Erin Cline

Erin M. Cline, Ph.D., is the Paul J. and Chandler M. Tagliabue Distinguished Professor in Interfaith Studies & Dialogue at Georgetown University and senior research fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. She is the author of seven books and numerous articles on Chinese philosophy and comparative religion. Her new book, The Problem of God: The Challenges of Faith, Religion & Spirituality Today (2026) draws on her work as a comparative theologian teaching Georgetown’s iconic course for the last 17 years to an increasingly diverse student body (and features a foreword by Otto Hentz, S.J.). Cline is a specialist in ancient Chinese philosophy and religion, and she has just published a new translation of one of the most influential Chinese texts in human history, The Analects: A Contemporary Translation (2026).

Erin Cline's Profile

Peter Folan Toggle

About Peter Folan

Rev. Peter Folan, S.J., is an assistant professor in Georgetown University's Department of Theology and Religious Studies. He is the author of Martin Luther and the Council of Trent: The Battle Over Scripture and the Doctrine of Justification (2022) and several articles that address the role of the Bible in the church, ecumenical theology, ecclesiology, and Jesuit and Catholic higher education. His forthcoming book, Well-Versed: The Bible in American Politics, will be published by Georgetown University Press.

Peter Folan's Profile

Lucas S. Sharma Toggle

About Lucas S. Sharma

Rev. Lucas S. Sharma, S.J., is the John Hayden doctoral dissertation fellow and pastoral associate in the LGBTQ Resource Center at Georgetown University. He is also a doctoral candidate in sociology at the University of California San Diego, completing a dissertation comparing the experiences of former Catholic and practicing Catholic gay and lesbian cisgender men and women. His research is published in Sociology of Religion and Review of Religious Research, and he serves on the editorial board of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Sharma is also a trustee of Seattle University and on the advisory board of New Ways Ministry, an LGBTQ Catholic ministry.

Lucas S. Sharma's Profile