The Global Education and Peace Network would like to invite you to: “An Interfaith and Cultural Exploration” with Jennifer Oldstone-Moore, PhD on Thursday, January 11 at 6:30 p.m. at Room 105, Shouvlin Center at Wittenberg University. During the program, those attending will watch a short video and then be invited to participate in a small group experience based on Eboo Patel’s study program: “Embracing Interfaith Cooperation.”
“I really enjoy Patel’s approach to encouraging interfaith dialogue,” Nancy Flinchbaugh says. “We’ve used his curriculum the past five months in our Global Education and Peace Network planning group. It’s given us a great opportunity to sit down and share with each other, across our different traditions. In our group we have a variety of perspectives including: Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Baha’i. That made the discussion so rich as we talk about our commonalities and differences. I hope a diversity of people will come out January 11 as well.”
Participants will experience one session of Patel’s longer 5- to 10-week study for adults, young adults and high school teens. The study’s appealing video-journal format invites engagement and response. As an interfaith commentator, he explores what it means to be “literate” about other faiths, how interfaith cooperation “works” and why, the skills needed for interfaith cooperation and the significant role that our institutions, including colleges and faith communities, can play in this process.
Dr. Oldstone-Moore teaches courses in Chinese and Japanese Religions, Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism and Chinese popular religion, Pilgrimage, Religion and Literature in East Asia, the Silk Road, and an introduction to East Asian Studies. She earned her B.A. at Swarthmore College and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. She joined the Wittenberg faculty in 2000. She is also an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church, and serves St. Anne Church, West Chester, as a Resident Priest.
This year’s Global Education and Peace Network theme is: “Cultural Celebrations: Spiritual Journeys,” inviting people out into the community to learn at cultural celebrations and events. The Global Education and Peace Network started after the City conducted study circles following the 9-11 attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. Their goal is to educate and build bridges across cultures. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Nancy Flinchbaugh (937) 324-7696.