About
For more than 20 years, the Building Bridges Seminar has brought together a range of internationally recognized Christian and Muslim scholars for intensive study. These annual convenings, each lasting three or four days, have explored many of the most significant themes in the interface between Islam and Christianity—among them, scripture; prophecy; the common good; justice and rights; human nature; interpretation; science and religion; tradition and modernity; prayer; death, resurrection, and human destiny; community; God’s creativity and human action; monotheism and its complexities; and divine and human power. Proceedings of most convenings have been published, with others in production. Texts from the Christian and Islamic scriptures plus theological reflections and significant documents from both traditions become the basis for discussion in a program that includes public lectures and private sessions.
History of the Seminar
In January 2002, not long after the events of September 11, 2001 had underlined the need for sustained efforts in developing better Christian-Muslim relations, the first Building Bridges Seminar for Muslim and Christian scholars was hosted at Lambeth Palace in London by the then archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. George Carey. One of the first overseas visits made by Dr. Rowan Williams, who succeeded Dr. Carey in 2003, was to chair the second Building Bridges Seminar in Qatar. Dr. Williams made a priority of continuing this initiative, chairing further convenings in Washington, DC, Sarajevo, Singapore, Rome, and Istanbul. In 2012, the initiative went to London and Canterbury for its final meeting under the leadership of Dr. Williams.
In 2012, President John J. DeGioia of Georgetown University accepted Dr. Williams’ invitation to assume stewardship of Building Bridges, hence to continue to support and develop this unique approach to Christian-Muslim dialogue. In fact, Building Bridges had a deep involvement with the university already, having first come to Georgetown for the third convening in 2004. Subsequently, the Building Bridges Seminar convened at the university’s Washington, DC, campus and in nearby northern Virginia in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2016, and 2017; and at Georgetown’s Qatar campus in 2011, 2013, and 2015. In 2018 and 2019, collaboration between Georgetown and host institutions allowed the initiative to convene in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Geneva, Switzerland, respectively. Several of Georgetown’s faculty members have been participants—as has Dr. DeGioia himself out of his desire to support this initiative as part of a wider vision for the role Georgetown can play in promoting dialogue in many forms.
Daniel Madigan, S.J., Ruesch Family Associate Professor in Georgetown's Department of Theology and a leading Christian scholar of Islam, has taken on the role of chair of the Building Bridges Seminar. Professor Madigan has participated in nearly all the convenings to date and has a wealth of experience in Christian-Muslim dialogue. He works closely with the academic director of Building Bridges, the Rev’d. Dr. David Marshall, a research fellow of Georgetown's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, who has been involved in the initiative since it began in 2002. Dr. Lucinda Mosher, faculty associate for interreligious studies at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, is the initiative's rapporteur. She participated in the 2011 seminar, then joined the Building Bridges staff in July 2012. Since 2012, Mr. Samuel Wagner, Georgetown University’s director of dialogue and Catholic identity, has served as the initiative's coordinator, working closely with the chair and academic director in planning the annual convenings.
Acknowledgments
The Building Bridges Seminar is an initiative of Georgetown University’s Office of the President, with additional support from the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, notably in facilitating the development and maintenance of its online presence.
This Website
The Building Bridges website provides a synopsis of the themes of each seminar, access to the published proceedings of each seminar as they become available, video of some public lectures, and information about participants.
