| FAQs | Schedule |
Want
to know more about other faiths?
Want to meet people from other religious traditions?
Interested in interreligious dialogue?
The United States today is an increasingly multi-religious society, and many who are engaged in religious formation, training, and ministry are seeking opportunities to dialogue with people outside their religious tradition. The Interfaith Academies for Religious Leaders are intensive study programs for people engaged in or training for leadership in various religious traditions. The Interfaith Academy for Emerging Religious Leaders and the Interfaith Academy for Religious Professionals provide a forum where people from diverse religious traditions can learn about each other’s faiths with and from each other.
“It
was an invaluable experience….during the site visits, I
felt a warm sense of unearned hospitality that was very humbling.
I am thankful for the opportunities I have to engage in interfaith
dialogue.” |
The first Interfaith Academies for Religious Leaders were hosted by Religions for Peace – USA in partnership with the Harvard Pluralism Project, Saint Paul School of Theology, and the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council, with generous funding by the Henry Luce Foundation. The Academies, held on June 13-27, 2007 in Kansas City, MO, assembled 45 religious leaders, graduate students, undergraduates, scholars, and specialists in interfaith affairs, on the campus of the Saint Paul School of Theology. Participants of the Academies visited a spectrum of religious communities, participated in worship services, and learned the richness of religious pluralism.
Graduates
of 
the
program left Kansas City with memories of Buddhist a Sikh langar, Greek
Orthodox iconography, Hindu dance, Muslim adhan. They saw the beauty in
the lights and flowers ringing the deities at a Hindu temple, were moved
to tears at a young man's Bar Mitzvah, and were soothed in the cool silence
of a Buddhist meditation room. Participants prayed together in Latin,
Persian, Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, Spanish and a number of Indian dialects.
They learned together, prayed together, and amid all the trips, the lectures,
the ceremonies, and the late night movies, they came to dialogue together.
“I was faced with a challenge: to remain inside my metaphorical box or to broaden my perspectives; knowing that everyone around me was engaged in the same process made this much less frightening… and when I stumbled over theological roadblocks, all I had to do was took at the beautiful people around me to confirm that my worldview was too narrow; that it needed to grow to accommodate all of them in their wonderful uniqueness. I am changed…” –Anonymous Participant |
For a detailed schedule of the events, please click here.
We are in the process of planning future Interfaith Academies. Check back here for updates on future application deadlines.
Still have questions? Try our FAQ page, or e-mail: interfaithacademy@rfpusa.org.