MEDIA RELEASES
ContactJessica Mackinnon
jmack@dom.edu
(708) 524-6289
Siena Center Lecture on Islamic Theologies
Dominican University’s Siena Center will present a lecture titled "Beyond Toleration: Emerging Islamic Theologies" by internationally renowned Muslim scholar Farid Esack on Thursday, September 7 at 7:30 p.m. The lecture, the first program in the Siena Center’s fall Matthew J. Lamb Dialogue Series, will be held in the auditorium of the university’s Priory Campus, 7200 W. Division Street.
Farid Esack, considered one of the world’s foremost scholars of Islamic studies, is a passionate advocate of religious plurality. He is the author of the pioneering Qur’an, Liberation and Pluralis (1996) as well as On Being a Muslim: Finding a Religious Path in the World Today and An Introduction to the Qur’an.
Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Esack is a veteran of the struggle against apartheid and was appointed by Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s Commissioner for Gender Equality. He has played leading roles in the United Democratic Front, the Call of Islam, the Organisation of People Against Sexism and the World Conference on Religion and Peace. He continues his activism through Positive Muslims, an organization working with South African Muslims who are HIV positive.
Esack received his undergraduate degree in Islamic law and theology in Pakistan and completed his doctorate in Qur’anic studies at the University of Birmingham (UK). He currently serves as the William Henry Bloomberg Fellow at Harvard Divinity School and recently completed a three-year term as the Besl Professor in Ethics, Religion and Society at Xavier University in Ohio. He has also served on the faculty of the University of Hamburg and has had visiting professorships at the College of William and Mary and Ohio State University.
Admission to this lecture is $10. The Siena Center’s Matthew J. Lamb Dialogue Series will continue on Thursday, September 21 with a lecture on theological challenges and opportunities of Muslim-Catholic dialogue. A third lecture titled "Transforming the Self, Transforming Society" will be held on Monday, October 30. The series will conclude on Wednesday, November 8 with an open meeting of the members of the Catholic-Muslim Dialogue, a Chicago based organization.
For more information on Dominican University’s Siena Center, please call (708) 714-9105 or visit the website at www.siena.dom.edu.
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