News

Asia Project Green Tea Conversation - American Muslims Redefining Religion and Identity: A Critical Discourse Analysis on 9/11 Uproar

At a September 17 event, GTU President James Donahue and CIS Director Munir Jiwa spoke against the violence perpetuated in Libya and Egypt, actions which spawned protests around the world, following the circulation of a 14-minute movie trailer maligning the Prophet Muhammad. They addressed a full-house alongside of Hatem Bazian, UC Berkeley and Zaytuna College; Zaid Shakir, Zaytuna College; and Hamza Yusuf Hanson, Zaytuna College. Hanson is also a doctoral student at the GTU. The panel was moderated by journalist Sandy Tolan.

GTU received a $5,000 grant to conduct a research survey of religious thought related to end-of-life healthcare and, specifically, theological perspectives on withholding nutrients for terminally ill patients. The donor worked in retirement communities and faced these decisions on a daily basis. Lisa Fullam, Assistant Professor of Moral Theology at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University directed the project and will make it available to the public in the Spring. Look for more information in the next issue of Currents.

Rev. Kristin Johnston Largen (Ph.D. ’02), Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (PA), has been selected at the GTU’s Alumna of the Year for 2012 and will be honored during the Alumni Reception at AAR/SBL (see back cover for details). Largen was selected in recognition of her pioneering work in interreligious dialogue and comparative theology.

Josefina J. Card, Ph.D., who prefers to go by J.J., first learned of the GTU from her friend, Judy Larsen who serves on the Board of Trustees as the representative for the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. Larsen approached Card to see if she would accept a nomination to the GTU Board of Trustees. Moved by the interfaith and multireligious mission of the GTU, Card agreed. In her first year as a Trustee, she has seen in action her belief that there are many roads to God, and that the GTU clearly helps articulate those roads.

Though much of our religious traditions are recorded and communicated through text or action, art has been a long-standing avenue for expression and instruction of things concerning the soul.

Given the continued prominence of economic recovery in public debate, two students and one alumna discussed with us the economy from a faith based perspective.

An Interview with Robert J. Russell, Director of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences

Science and Religion have always been thought of as diametric opposites, searching for different truths. One need only think of Galileo and Copernicus. How have these poles been brought closer together?

Certainly ethicists have always asked the normative questions about what is right and good. That hasn’t changed since I did my doctoral work at the GTU in the early eighties. Relying on the canonical work of Tillich, the Niebuhrs, Durkheim, Rahner, Weber, Barth, and others for a grand unified theory, we focused on identifying laws, norms, and principles that guide behavior.

by Gabriella Lettini (SKSM) and Rita Nakashima Brock

Published: Beacon Press (November 2012)

Description: The first book to explore the idea and effect of moral injury on veterans, their families, and their communities.