Godspeed - 08/22/10

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A PEACEMAKER AMONG JEWS, CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS. Michael Hallundbaek interviews Peter Ochs, the Edgar M. Bronfman Professor of Modern Judaic Studies at the University of Virginia. A prolific author, Ochs holds a Ph.D. and B.A. from Yale, an M.A. from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, and has held teaching positions at Drew University, Colgate, and the University of Maryland at College Park, as well as visiting lectureships at Hebrew Union College and Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

He is the co-founder of the Children of Abraham Institute, an organization that focuses specifically on the three Abrahamic Religions -- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- and on the conflicts that divide peoples who otherwise, according to the web site, “share allegiance to the same God.” Ochs is also co-founder of the Society for Scriptural Reasoning, which seeks to bridge the gap between faith and reason in scriptural interpretation. Since 1994 he has practiced Scriptural Reasoning with Jewish, Muslim and Christian scholars, a practice that began as academic, and then grew to have broader benefits, as he says, “offering the broader public a way of practicing peace at a time of inter-religious tension and conflict.”

In this fascinating hour, Ochs describes what inspired him to begin these organizations that seek to build understanding between Jewish, Christian and Muslim believers; he explains what ‘scriptural reasoning’ is; the
origins and continuing relationship between the three Abrahamic faiths; how the Jewish people developed from the ancient Sumerians or Iraqis, and how the concept of “one God” developed; how Judaism, Christianity and Islam all relate to each other through their common ancestor, Abraham, as well as surprising points of consensus in the Old Testament, New Testament and Qur'an; and how the students of these sibling texts often “study in tears.”

Dr. Ochs continues to share about his book “Breaking the Tablets: Jewish Theology After Shoah,” or after the Holocaust; how American or Western culture affects Jewish spirituality today; challenges of and suggestions to the ‘secular’ Jew; how the conflict between Israel and Palestine is a deterrent to new members of the faith; where Judaism is going, and Ochs’ perspective on what will help guide it into the future; more.

For more information, please visit The Journal of Scriptural Reasoning:

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/journals/jsrforum/

And the Children of Abraham Institute (CHAI):

http://etext.virginia.edu/journals/abraham/