CIP Summer School

The CIP Summer School gathers emerging religious leaders from around the world to study, discover, and dine together in a stunning University of Cambridge location.

Applications for the 2013 CIP Summer School are now closed. To find out about the 2014 Summer School, you can sign up to our newsletter on our home page. 

Each summer, the Cambridge Inter-faith Programme brings together an international group of students from Islamic, Christian and Jewish backgrounds, for three-weeks of immersion in inter-faith education and encounter.  Students benefit from a series of lectures delivered by specialist academics and peacemakers from around the world; they are given training in the practice of inter-faith Scriptural Reasoning, and are facilitated through a process of teaching one another about aspects of their traditions. The Summer School also includes visits to religious communities around the UK. Most importantly, participants benefit from opportunities to get to know and learn from their fellow participants, who come from a wide variety of countries; relationships which last well beyond the Summer School itself.

The Summer School will be an opportunity for inter-faith engagement that adheres to CIP's ethos. We will explore the resources that each tradition offers for peaceful and serious engagement with the others, and look for the forms of coexistence and friendship that are possible between traditions that remain distinct and different. Coming to agreement on theology, politics or any other subject is not our aim, nor is the creation of some neutral middle ground; rather the aim is to learn to live well with disagreement, and to disagree more fruitfully and intelligently.

View a 5 minute documentary film about the CIP Summer School.

What past students say:

"As a Muslim chaplain, I was eager to participate in the CIP Summer School as I felt that I needed to learn more about different faiths as well as present a true picture of my own religion in a diverse and academic environment.  The summer school has exceeded all my expectations.  Lectures are informative and stimulating.  Scriptural Reasoning sessions have shown me how much common ground as well as subtle differences there lies between Abrahamic faiths.  Tours to places of worship, evening lectures on a variety of subjects, the friendliness of the staff and the gorgeous setting of Madingley Hall have made this experience one which I will cherish for a long time to come.  I am immensely grateful to the organisers at CIP and Madingley Hall and look forward to creating bridges with the wonderful individuals of all faiths who I have had the privilege of meeting here.  I would strongly recommend the course to everyone."

“I found CIP's Summer School to be a wonderful experience. I had never spent any sustained time studying and engaging with such a diverse group
of religious people, and it really broadened my understanding of the
similarities between our religions, which are so seldom the focus of any discussion in the public sphere. I really valued the opportunity to build a network of emerging religious leaders that I can tap into at any time in my future as a Jewish professional, teacher, and/or leader.” 

"The Cambridge Inter-faith Programme Summer School changed my vision on inter-faith experiences. I had never before encountered an inter-faith program quite like it. The ability to live, dine, converse, become friends, and network with a global connection of people from the three monotheistic religions in such a fantastic, peaceful environment is not something that can be easily replicated. The program is a success. I personally formed four close relationships last summer. These newfound friends will be that way for the rest of my life, of that I am sure. If I were an Imam and facing a problem in my community, I would first turn to these friends to seek their advice before turning to other Imams, because they have a different view and are a resource that is trusted and invaluable. This alone is tribute to the success of the program: the fact that people of different backgrounds and faiths can genuinely form friendships and care about one another and trust them enough to seek their advice."