First Emory Summit on Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding

This event is jointly sponsored with the International Summer School in Religion and Public Life (http://www.issrpl.org/).

About the respondents

David Rosen

Rabbi David Rosen is the President of IJCIC, the International Jewish Committee that represents World Jewry in its relations with other world Religions. He is Director of the Department for Interreligious Affairs and Director of the Heilbrunn Institute for International Interreligious Understanding of the American Jewish Committee, and is an Honorary President of the International Council of Christians and Jews, and an International President of the World Conference of Religions for Peace. In November 2005, Rabbi Rosen was named a papal Knight Commander of the Order of St Gregory the Great for his outstanding contributions to promoting Catholic- Jewish reconciliation. (http://rabbidavidrosen.net/)

Sister Joan Chittister

Sister Joan Chittister, OSB is an author of 30 books, an international lecturer, and writer of "From Where I Stand," a weekly column for the National Catholic Reporter. In addition, she is the executive director of Benetvision: Research and Resource Center for Contemporary Spirituality. A member of the International Committee for the Peace Council, she is a well-known activist in the areas women in church and society, human rights, peace and justice, and contemporary religious life and spirituality. She is co-chair of the Women's Global Peace Initiative. A member and past prioress of the Benedictine sisters of Erie, she is past president of the Conference of American Benedictine Prioresses and of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. (http://www.benetvision.org/)

Rajmohan Gandhi

Rajmohan Gandhi, author of a major new biography of his grandfather the Mahatma, is Visiting Professor in the Program in South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Faculty Director of Global Crossroads, a learning and living community at the University of Illinois. He is a Jury Member, Nuremberg International Human Rights Award, and Co-chair, Centre for Dialogue & Reconciliation, Gurgaon, India. A former member of the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of the Indian Parliament), he led the Indian delegation to the UN Human Rights Commission in 1990. He is a commentator in the Indian media, and the author of several books. In 2002 he received the Sahitya Akademi (India's National Academy of Letters) Award for his "Rajaji: A Life," a biography, published by Penguin, of Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (1878-1972), leading figure in India's freedom movement and Governor General of India, 1948-50. Photo by Bill Wiegand

Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im

Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im is Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory Law School. An internationally recognized scholar of Islam and human rights, and human rights in cross-cultural perspectives, Professor An-Na'im teaches courses in international law, human rights, and Islamic law. His research interests also include constitutionalism in Islamic and African countries, and Islam and politics. Professor An-Na'im's current research project is a book manuscript on The Future of Shari'ah: Secularism from an Islamic Perspective. His previous research projects include Women and Land in Africa, Islamic Family Law, and Islam and Human Rights. (http://people.law.emory.edu/~abduh46/)

Professor Laurie L. Patton (Moderator)

Laurie L Patton received her B.A. from Harvard University and her Ph.D. from University of Chicago is the author or editor of seven books in the study of early Indian religions, women and religion, and contemporary theory in religion. She is co-founder of the Initiative in Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding at Emory, whose work has spanned seven years of conferences, workshops, and curriculum development. For the past two years, she has also directed Emory University's "Religion and the Human Spirit" Strategic Plan. She served as Chair of the Religion Department from 2000-2007. She is currently at work completing a book on women and the study of Sanskrit in India, and another on the public role of the scholar of religion in the 21st century.
(http://www.religion.emory.edu/faculty/patton.html)

Initiative in Religion Conflict and Peacebuilding

Emory University’s Initiative in Religion Conflict and Peacebuilding will foster research, teaching, and engaged service in an emerging and important sub-field in the study of religion. The individuals involved in the Initiative aim to deepen the understanding of religions’ roles in fostering and sustaining violence and conflict, as well as religions' ability to build peace and understanding. We also aim to cultivate, in ourselves and in our students, the skills necessary to negotiate public conversations within the various communities in which we are involved. We will accomplish these goals by drawing on Emory University’s strengths and distinctiveness as an ethically engaged university, with a broad humanistic perspective in the study of religion, significant ties to the Atlanta community, and an active and productive commitment to international education and service.

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