Multifaith Studies and Initiatives

RRC has always been a pioneer in educating Jewish leaders for a multifaith world. Thanks to two consecutive three-year grants from the Henry Luce Foundation, the College created a unique initiative to train rabbis who can foster understanding among people of all faiths. Programs place a special emphasis on Jewish-Muslim engagement. Offerings include student internships in the community, interfaith text study with Jewish and Christian seminarians and Muslim graduate students; scholarly guest lecturers; and an evening salon with faith-based social activists. The department also hosts groundbreaking summer retreats for emerging Jewish and Muslim leaders.

Students acquire information and skills crucial for Jewish leaders in pluralistic communities, in order to:

• educate Jews intelligently about other faiths
• represent Judaism and the Jewish community to others
• engage in interfaith dialogue, and build partnerships with other faith communities for social change.
   

Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer, '82, Ph.D., created and heads the program; Rabbi Melissa Heller, '08 provides additional faculty support. Interns in multifaith studies receive supervision from Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, '85, director of RRC's Social Justice Organizing Program.

Read a profile of the department published in the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue in its DivInnovations series.


FALL 2011 CLASSES

Hevrutah: Jewish-Christian Encounter Through Text
Rabbi Melissa Heller co-teachesthis course with associate professor Emmanuel Itapson of Palmer Theological Seminary, an Evangelical institution.

Hands-On Christianity
Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer created this new, half-credit option for students to continue their class-based hevrutah learning in a community-based, service-learning experience. This program will include praying and working with members of an intentional Christian community in North Philadelphia, The Simple Way, and studying the Gospels in a program of The Alternative Seminary held at Project H.O.M.E.

SPRING 2012

Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer will co-teach an innovative new half-credit course utilizing the case study method, with Reverend Katie Day at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Each week, students from both schools will explore a real situation in which a clergy person faced a challenge related to religious pluralism. Some of the studies were researched and written by the Harvard Pluralism Project and some by RRC students in an independent study.

View a list of co-curricular programs as a PDF.

Read blog posts from Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer, Ph.D., at Multifaithworld.org and The Huffington Post.