Understanding and Engaging Religious Diversity

Summer 2013

Through reading, discussions, multi-media presentations, and site-visits, students will be guided toward gaining (or improving) an understanding of America’s current religious landscape, a conceptual grounding in the beliefs and practices of a number of America’s religions, some awareness of the internal diversity of these religions, and strategies for engaging this diversity—including an opportunity to clarify and articulate one’s own theological/philosophical position on the fact of religious manyness. Enrollees in this course will automatically become participants in Hartford Seminary’s annual Religious Diversity Leadership Workshop; lunch- and dinnertimes are part of its collaborative methodology. Students will also explore a variety of forms and methods of leadership in religiously plural contexts. During the seminar week, students will be guided in a personal assessment of their current understanding of America’s religious diversity, and (in conversation with the instructor) will develop a plan for self-guided field work after the conclusion of the workshop.

Sunday, June 9, 6:00-9:00 p.m.; Monday, June 10-Thursday, June 13, 9:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.; Friday, June 14, 9:00 a.m. -12:00 noon

Lucinda Mosher

Faculty Associate in Interfaith Studies

(646) 335 2951

lmosher@hartsem.edu

Read more about Lucinda Mosher

Downloads:

Syllabus

Syllabus:

Assessment

Grades will be based on:

Class participation (10%)
Short reflection papers (10–15 pages each)
1. Learnings from Trouble in Troy, A New Religious America, Belonging, and My Neighbor’s Faith in light of seminar experiences (20%)
2. Personal theology/philosophy of religious manyness (20%)
Book review of one item on the recommended reading list (no more than 10 pages) (20%)
Completion of and report on self-guided field work which has been approved in advance by the professor (length dependent on nature of field work and method of reporting (30%)

All assignments should be submitted by August 1, 2013.

Tentative Schedule

(the content may shift; the daily beginning and ending times will hold)

Sunday

6:00: Dinner
7:00: Welcome; intro to seminar; intro to (review of) America's multireligiousness - Dr. Lucinda Mosher
9:00: Adjourn for the evening

Monday

8:30: Breakfast and conversation
9:00: Leading Youth; Youth as Leaders-- Gust speaker TBA
10:15: Break
10:30: Leadership models and methods (small group work)
12:00: Lunch
1:30: Project Interfaith
3:00: Break
3:30: Project Interfaith-- Presentation by Beth Katz, executive director, on community-based activism; use of multi-media
6:00: Dinner
7:00: Read case study Trouble in Troy for tomorrow; optional activities: investigate resource table and poster display; for "academic credit" participants meet with Dr. Mosher

Tuesday

8:30: Breakfast and conversation
9:00: Multi-religious Leadership Case Study: Talking Through Walls
10:15: Break
10:30: Case Study, continued
12:00: Lunch
1:00: An introduction to Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism in America
5:30: Break; supper and discussion
7:00: Optional activities: Becoming the Buddha in LA; Webinar: Interfaith Social Media: Interfaith Leadership in the Digital World

Wednesday

8:30: Breakfast and board bus
9:00: Bus departs for Site Visit #1
9:45: Site Visit #1
11:30: Depart for Site Visit #2
12:15: Arrive at Site Visit #2
2:30: Depart for Hartford Seminary
3:15: Arrive at Hartford Seminary
3:30: Processing what we experienced (plenary and small group)
4:30: America's Interfaith Landscape and Infrastructure
6:00: Dinner
7:00: Optional activities: Fremont USA; investigate resource materials

Thursday

8:30: Breakfast
9:00: Theologies and philosophies of religious difference; models of dialogue
10:15: Break
10:30: Conflict Transformation and Interfaith Dialogue: the intersection (part one)
12:00: Lunch
1:30: Conflict Transformation and Interfaith Dialogue: the intersection (part two)
3:30: Break
4:00: Religious Diversity Competency Matrix (plenary and small groups)
5:30: Break
6:00: Dinner
7:00: Optional activities: The Calling; investigate resource materials; each participant should prepare a 15-second "elevator speech" and a 7-second sound-bite for presentation tomorrow

Friday

8:30: Breakfast
9:00: Multifaith leadership competencies - establishing the norms (small group work)
10:15: Break
10:30: Sharing our resources for multifaith education, ritual, dialogue, counseling, advocacy
11:30: Tying loose ends; evaluation
12:00: Seminar Adjourns

Books:

Required Reading

**Trouble in Troy case study (available from Professor Mosher; to be read before Tuesday, June 11th).

Eck, Diana L. A New Religious America: How a “Christian Country” Has Become the World’s Most Religiously Diverse Nation. HarperCollins 2001.

Mosher, Lucinda. Faith in the Neighborhood: Belonging. Seabury 2005.

Patel, Eboo. Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America. Boston: Beacon Press, 2012.

Peace, Jennifer Howe, Or N. Rose and Gregory Mobley, editors. My Neighbor’s Faith: Stories of Interreligious Encounter, Growth, and Transformation. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2012

Academic Programs

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