“Remember that words have usage, not meaning.” This off-the-cuff remark from Dr. Frank Stagg in a seminary classroom more than thirty years ago has repeatedly helped to clarify my thinking. I might modify the statement, saying that “words have usage, not inherent meaning” or “the meaning of a word is shaped by usage and context.” But the point is, nonetheless, well-taken. Words have usage, not meaning.
The Struggle for Interfaith Funding, and Interfaith Career Opportunities
The Interfaith Movement Growing Exponentially
From Bozeman, Montana, to the World
Teaching World Religions for 40 Years
The first class of a new semester is always magical for me: a clean slate, tabula rasa, and new beginning. As I gaze at the students filling the large lecture hall in the Science Math Building at Saddleback Community College, Mission Viejo, in southern California, my stomach rumbles with nervous energy: my 40th year of teaching, but it seems like I am just beginning.
Learning to Build Interfaith Community
Early last June, while most students were packing their books and looking forward to a summer respite from papers and tests, twenty-three women and men, affiliated with Boston Theological Institute’s network of seminaries, participated in an intensive two-week seminar focused on developing interfaith leadership and community-building skills.
New “Interfaith Infrastructure” Website Documents U.S. Interfaith Movement
Cambridge, MA – Harvard University’s Pluralism Project last month launched America’s Interfaith Infrastructure: An Emerging Landscape, a website documenting and resourcing the interfaith movement in the United States. Dr. Diana Eck, a professor at Harvard University and director of the Pluralism Project explains, “While interfaith organizations play a vital role in cities and towns across America, their critical contributions to our multireligious society are often overlooked.”
An Interview With Diana Eck
Dr. Diana L. Eck, Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies at Harvard University, is a leader in interreligious studies and interfaith bridge-building. Her A New Religious America (2001) unveiled the diversity that has changed forever America's religious makeup.