̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - David Ford

Professor David Ford awarded Coventry International Prize for Peace and Reconciliation

bjb42 — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 09:32:13 +0000

̽��ֱ��peace prize is an annual accolade that was relaunched in 2010 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Coventry Blitz. It honours initiatives, organisations, individuals or projects that have made an exemplary contribution in the areas of peace, reconciliation and campaigns for social and environmental wellbeing.

After the official award ceremony, Prof. Ford will be facilitating an interfaith conversation among his colleagues on the role of interfaith dialogue in global peace building. ̽��ֱ��conversation will include Senior Rabbi Alexandra Wright (Jewish) at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, Dr. Aref Ali Nayed (Muslim), Founder and Director of Kalam Research & Media (KRM) and Jerry White (Christian) who is a policy adviser on partnerships and learning in relation to post-conflict stabilisation.

David Porter, Canon for reconciliation at Coventry Cathedral, said:

“I am delighted that Prof. David Ford of the Cambridge Interfaith Programme is receiving this award, in a world where misunderstanding so easily prevails between religions. We are privileged and excited to welcome such distinguished guests to the city and look forward to listening to their conversation”

This year’s Coventry International Prize for Peace and Reconciliation will be presented to Prof. David Ford, Founder and Director of the Cambridge Interfaith Programme.

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Inter-faith summer schools train future leaders in art of “intelligent disagreement”

bjb42 — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 11:38:06 +0000

Each summer, the Cambridge Inter-faith Programme, which is based at the ̽��ֱ��’s Faculty of Divinity, brings together an international group of students from Islamic, Christian and Jewish backgrounds, for a three-week programme of immersion in inter-faith education.

̽��ֱ��aim is to lay the ground for mutual understanding and friendship between them, while nevertheless acknowledging that the three “Abrahamic” religions, as they are known, are far from the same.

̽��ֱ��programme therefore tries to scrutinise what coexistence means in practice, by looking at what models each of the three religions offers the other for peaceful and serious engagement. Ultimately, the hope is that the participants will learn to turn their differences into fruitful faith leadership in a much wider sense as their careers progress.

“ ̽��ֱ��aim is to learn to live well with disagreement, or to disagree intelligently,” Dr Mike Higton, academic co-director with the programme, said. “Coming to an agreement on theology, politics or any other subject is not our aim, nor is the creation of some sort of neutral middle ground.”

“What we can do is explore each tradition, and look for the forms of coexistence and friendship that are possible between traditions that remain distinct and different.”

Over the course of the three weeks, the participants undertake an academic programme based at Madingley Hall, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. They not only study, but also live and dine together, according to the traditional Cambridge college model.

̽��ֱ��programme itself features lectures from academics and a range of guest speakers, including Professor David Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge; the renowned Muslim scholar, Sheikh Abdul Hakim Murad, and Middle East peacemaker Yehezkel Landau.

There are also sessions devoted to the practice of scriptural reasoning, in which the participants meet to read passages of their respective sacred texts, discuss the content, and explain how their various traditions have been shaped by them. Through this, they gain a deeper understanding of both their own sacred texts and those of others, as well as their possible interpretations.

̽��ֱ��programme also involves visits to religious communities around the UK including a weekend in Birmingham, and time in London’s East End.

This year’s cohort involves representatives from Egypt, Kuwait, Pakistan, Tanzania, the UAE, Oman, Israel, the USA, France, Italy, Germany and the UK.

Emerging religious leaders from around the world have arrived in Cambridge for a programme which aims to build understanding between faiths and teach them to “live well with disagreement”.

We aim to explore each tradition, and look for the forms of coexistence and friendship that are possible between traditions that remain distinct and different.

Mike Higton

Cambridge Inter-faith Programme.

Summer school participants during a tour of the ̽��ֱ��.

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Literature and Religion in Cheltenham

bjb42 — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:12:26 +0000

How do three novelists deal with faith? How do you compare translating the Bible and translating the Qur'an? These were leading questions at two well-attended sessions of ̽��ֱ��Times Cheltenham Literature Festival earlier this week. They were the beginning of Pathways, a series running through the week, which include Rabbi Lionel Blue and Abbot Christopher Jamieson on being contemplative, Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks and Jim Al-Khalili on religion and science, Mary Warnock, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Lord Harries on religion and politics, a talk on the Hajj by Venetia Porter, and Simon Sebag Montefiore on Jerusalem.

̽��ֱ��sessions were conceived and sponsored by one of Cambridge ̽��ֱ��'s newest initiatives, the Cambridge Coexist Programme. This is a collaboration between the Cambridge Inter-faith Programme and the Coexist Foundation (www.coexistfoundation.net), with an array of projects on leadership, religious literacy, grassroots inter-faith work, art, film and gardens. It is directed by Michael Wakelin, former head of religious broadcasting at the BBC.

"Pathways" is the first of its projects to launch, and it began with Pamela Armstrong chairing a discussion with the novelists Anne Rice, Natasha Solomons and Tahmima Anam. Rice, who has sold over 100 million books, gave a graphic account of her Roman Catholic upbringing, loss of faith as a teenager, re-entry into Catholicism in 1998 and then, last year, her well-publicized departure from organized religion - though not from faith in Jesus. A fascination with vampires, werewolves and angels (what she called 'speculative, supernatural fiction') has been her way of exploring questions of life and death. 'I'm still in a state of turmoil', she said, 'But yes, I trust we are in the hands of a loving God.'

By contrast, Natasha Solomons ( ̽��ֱ��Novel in the Viola) is definitely on the outside looking in at those who practice the religious side of her Judaism. But she described her irresistible attraction to the subject: 'In each of my novels I say to myself I will not write about Judaism, yet it happens again and again and when my characters have faith I am baffled by them'. So she 'writes religiously' but without faith in God.

Tahmima Anam's latest novel, ̽��ֱ��Good Muslim, explores the aftermath in one family of the Bangladeshi War of Independence. 'How do you make a Mullah believable?' she asked. She tries to do so through exploring the conflict between a young man, who becomes a charismatic preacher, and his secular, revolutionary sister. 'Spiritual issues are not confined to those who have faith: even the most areligious person can have a spiritual crisis confronting mortality.' Does she herself believe? - 'I still haven't found a vehicle for my belief or lack of belief.' And the future? - 'I am writing a novel about the end of the world brought about by climate change.'

̽��ֱ��second session in "Pathways", on 'Translating Holy Texts', was a conversation about the Qur'an and the King James Version of the Bible. ̽��ֱ��KJV was represented by Professor Stephen Prickett and the playright David Edgar (whose play on the KJV, 'Written on the Heart' has its premiere with the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford at the end of this month), the Qur'an by Leila Aboulela, author of ̽��ֱ��Translator (and more recently of Lyrics Alley). ̽��ֱ��contrast was profound.

̽��ֱ��Christian Bible is a series of translations - first, Hebrew scriptures and Jesus' Aramaic into Greek, and thereafter continually translated, with no sacred language. ̽��ֱ��Bible Society was quoted: 'Not until the Bible is translated into every language on earth will it be fully understood.'

̽��ֱ��Arabic of the Qur'an is inseparable from its revelatory character: it is taken as the wording of God. 'If you move into human translation, it loses its power and strength, it is a faint reflection, more like a commentary', said Aboulela. Pickthall even calls his version ' ̽��ֱ��Meaning of the Glorious Qur'an', not a 'translation'. Yet the richness of meaning is not in doubt - some Sufis speak of twenty-four thousand meanings for every verse.

̽��ֱ��KJV and the Qur'an did come together to some extent under the heading of beauty. Even though the notes of the KJV translators show that 'beauty' was not a criterion they used - they were mainly after accuracy - in fact they wrote wonderfully well, and Edgar and Prickett poured out examples. Aboulela revelled in the rhythms and richness of the Qur'an's language. But the two books converged even more in their oral quality: the KJV process of translation by committee meant that every verse was read aloud for approval, making the auditory dimension intrinsic; and the very word 'Qur'an' means 'recitation', which is how most of the world's Muslims inhabit this text.

̽��ֱ��long drive back to Cambridge gave plenty of time for reflection. Here are three of my thoughts.

First, I found it impossible to place labels on the participants - each escaped the usual categories, though in different ways. Both the religious and the secular appeared in many forms, and the complexity of their interweavings cried out for the rich, nuanced description of a social anthropologist - or a novelist. Second, there was a vigorous combination of open-eyed (often penetrating) critique of the religions together with deep empathy and a recognition of the continuing generativity of the faiths and their classic texts. Third, and following on from the first two, I wondered what contribution such discussions might make to people who pray, study and practice in any of the traditions that had been under consideration. ̽��ֱ��hallmark of the sessions was a combination of acute observation (I particularly liked Natasha Solomon's description of her first Shabbat meal with fellow-Jews at university, and Anne Rice's evocation of an oyster-eating scene in Anna Karenina), imaginative perspective, and question after question. Faith that has engaged with such conversations has been given the chance not only to hold up a mirror to itself but also to be questioned and stretched by very different people and worlds of meaning - this is something that in our pluralist, complexly religious and secular society, we would be wise to encourage. I wonder how the other "Pathways" events will contribute to the debate....

Professor David Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity and Director of the Cambridge Inter-faith Programme, reflects on the first project in an exciting new venture, the Cambridge Coexist Programme.

Faith that has engaged with such conversations has been given the chance not only to hold up a mirror to itself but also to be questioned and stretched by different worlds of meaning.

David Ford

Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme

David Ford

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All in the script

bjb42 — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:34:36 +0000

Professor David Ford, who is also Director of the ̽��ֱ��’s Inter-Faith Programme, will give the Pope John Paul II Honorary Lecture today (Tuesday, 5 April). ̽��ֱ��highly prestigious annual lecture, which takes place at the Pontifical ̽��ֱ�� of St Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), examines interreligious understanding.

Scriptural reasoning brings together members of different religious traditions in small groups to read and discuss extracts from their sacred texts. Professor Ford will argue that the process can function as a bridge between Abrahamic faiths which, without necessarily leading to consensus, can result in mutual understanding and respect.

His lecture will begin by describing the 21^st century as a “kairos” – a particularly propitious moment – for engagement between faiths. Professor Ford himself was brought up as an Anglican in the Church of Ireland in Dublin (placing him in a 3% religious minority) and spent parts of his early academic career working in an inner city Anglican parish in Birmingham, which was both multi-ethnic and multi-faith.

“Scriptural Reasoning has transformed my understanding of both Judaism and Christianity,” he said.

“This is not about becoming clearer regarding any of the faiths – I was much clearer about Judaism and Islam before getting to know so many Jews and Muslims. To plunge into a sea of Talmud and Hadith while trying to interpret a scriptural text is often more bewildering than clarifying. To hear Jews or Muslims arguing among themselves subverts many textbook generalisations.”

̽��ֱ��presentation will advocate Scriptural Reasoning as one way in which it is possible to achieve “wise faith”; an understanding of faith as something which doesn’t necessarily always involve clear assertions or imperatives, but is instead about asking questions and exploring and seeking a relationship with God. This, Professor Ford suggests, has the potential to lead not just a deeper understanding of one’s own faith, but to a broader commitment between Christians, Muslims and Jews to the wider, common good.

“ ̽��ֱ��global inter-faith challenge we face requires institutional creativity, conversation, collaboration and thorough theological work and education – locally, nationally and internationally,” he concludes. “ ̽��ֱ��thinking required for this has, I think, hardly got going. As a catalyst for this I have not found anything as helpful as Scriptural Reasoning.”

̽��ֱ��lecture is a central event of the John Paul II Centre for Interreligious Dialogue, created through a partnership between the Russell Berrie Foundation and the Pontifical ̽��ֱ�� of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum). ̽��ֱ��Centre aims to build bridges between Catholic, Jewish and other religious traditions by providing the next generation of religious leaders with a comprehensive understanding of and dedication to inter-faith issues.

Details of the event can be found at https://jp2center.org/, where a full copy of Professor Ford’s lecture will also be published.

̽��ֱ��power of “scriptural reasoning” to transform the way in which different faiths understand one another is to be the subject of a major lecture in Rome, by Cambridge’s Regius Professor of Divinity.

Scriptural Reasoning has transformed my understanding of both Judaism and Christianity.

Professor David Ford

Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme

Scriptural reasoning.

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Yes