Interfaith Scholar Weekend

"The End of Time: Apocalyptic Visions in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam"
February 8-10, 2008
 

Each year Interfaith Scholar Weekend in Fresno, California offers the opportunity to spend a weekend with a lecturer who is a renowned scholar and an exceptional speaker.  The lecturers in that event from 1998 to 2007 were Dr. Alan Segal, Dr. Reuven Firestone, Dr. Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki, Dr. Walter Brueggemann, Dr. Amy-Jill Levine (who was our lecturer twice), Bishop John Shelby Spong, Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, Dr. Mary Boys, and Dr. Jay McDaniel.  We have been blessed with an array of brilliant teachers.  It is rare for most of us to have the opportunity to learn at the feet of a distinguished scholar and be able to pose questions for such a scholar, face to face.

College Community Congregational Church and Temple Beth Israel founded Interfaith Scholar Weekend in 1998.

 By 2008 the sponsors of the event included the two founding congregations, and the Division of Biblical and Religious Studies of Fresno Pacific University; First Congregational Church of Fresno; Hope Lutheran Church; the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno; Memorial United Methodist Church of Clovis; the St. Paul Newman Center; St. Patrick’s Community Church; the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fresno; and Wesley United Methodist Church.  The cosponsors of the event are the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization, the Department of Philosophy of California State University, Fresno, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, and the Oneness Center.

            Each year, Interfaith Scholar Weekend is a remarkable experience in adult religious education.  During that weekend we also gain spiritual enrichment from worshiping together with people from varied faith communities.

In 2008, for the first time, Interfaith Scholar Weekend will feature three speakers during one weekend.  The topic for the weekend will be “The End of Time: Apocalyptic Visions in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.”  The three scholars who will speak in that event are Dr. John Collins, Dr. Barbara Rossing, and Dr. Shahzad Bashir.

• Dr. John J. Collins is the Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation of Yale Divinity School.  He has published widely on the subjects of apocalypticism, wisdom literature, Hellenistic Judaism, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.  He has served as the president of the Society for Biblical Literature.
   

• Dr. Barbara R. Rossing is professor of New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago.  She has lectured and preached widely in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, including keynote addresses at Women of the ELCA theological conferences and synod assemblies.  She is the author of two books and numerous articles for journals and magazines.
   

• Dr. Shahzad Bashir recently joined the Department of Islamic Studies of Stanford University, after having been a member of the faculty of the Department of Religion at Carleton College.  He is the author of Messianic Hopes and Mystical Visions: The Nurbakhshiya between Medieval and Modern Islam and is completing a book entitled Bodies of God’s Friends: Corporeality and Sainthood in Sufi Islam.

Interfaith Scholar Weekend will begin at 7:15 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 8 at the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno, with opening presentations by our three speakers, followed by informal conversations over dessert.  On Saturday, Feb. 9 we will be at Temple Beth Israel for lectures and discussion from 9:00 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.  We will enjoy a continental breakfast before 9:00, and lunch will be served at 12:15.

Dr. John Collins will speak during a worship service at United Christian Church of Fresno that will start at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 9.  Dr. Barbara Rossing will speak in worship services that will start at 9:30 a.m. (at College Community Congregational Church) and at 11:00 a.m. (at Hope Lutheran Church), and Dr. Shahzad Bashir will speak in the worship service at Wesley United Methodist Church that will begin at 11:0 a.m., on Sunday, Feb. 10

Meals are included in the fee for registration for the Saturday lectures.  The registration fee for the Saturday lectures and meals is $50.00.  Registration for students is $5.00, and scholarships are available on request.  Attendance at the Friday evening lectures and the worship services is free of charge.

For further information on Interfaith Scholar Weekend, please call (559) 435- 2690 or 435-7439, or e-mail evansalca@comcast.net.

We look forward to seeing you at Interfaith Scholar Weekend in February.

Our speaker for Interfaith Scholar Weekend during Feb. 20-22, 2009 will be Dr. Carol Newsom, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Old Testament at the Candler School of Theology of Emory University.