RESEARCH: Book now to attend CIP's Research Seminar in Inter-religious Relations in February 2021

For Lent term 2021, we are continuing the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme (CIP) Research Seminar series online. Chaired by Dr Giles Waller, these 40 minute talks will explore a wide range of inter-faith topics from from multi-disciplinary perspectives. There will be an opportunity for attendees to ask questions after each talk.

Join us by registering your interest through Eventbrite and we will send you a Zoom webinar link the day before the event.

Friday, 12 Feb 2021 at 13:30 GMT

'The Abrahamic Stranger: Jews, Muslims and the Question of Europe’

Dr Elisabeth Becker, Assistant Professor of Sociology at University College Dublin

To book your free ticket, click here.

Dr Elisabeth Becker is a cultural sociologist interested in questions of inclusion and exclusion. Her research centers specifically on the experiences of Muslims and Jews in Europe and the United States. She centers on how difference is framed through religion, race, ethnicity, and culture, as well as how agency is expressed under the constraints of power. Her first book, Mosques in the Metropolis: Incivility, Caste and Contention in Europe argues that Muslim positionality in contemporary Europe can be best understood through the concept of undercaste, rooted in notions of Muslims as uncivil. Through over 2.5 years of ethnographic research in two of Europe's largest mosques, this book brings to bear the collective visions and resistance of Muslim communities on their associations with incivility. It also brings 20th century Jewish thinkers to bear on so-called "Muslim question," at once echoing the once-dominant "Jewish question" and turning towards the pressing question of Europe in an unsettled post-colonial age. She is currently exploring the race-religion nexus in relation to Muslims and Jews in Europe and the United States.

Dr Becker has published in such venues as: the Journal of European Sociology, Ethnic & Racial Studies, the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Social Science & Medicine, the Journal of Islamic Architecture, and the Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion. She also very much identifies as a public scholar, and has written for leading publications like the Washington Post and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Dr Becker's academic profile page: https://people.ucd.ie/elisabeth.becker

Friday, 26 Feb 2021 at 14:00 GMT

‘Curating an Interfaith Pilgrimage: Visual Strategies for Interreligious Studies’

Dr Aaron Rosen, Professor of Religion and Visual Culture, Director, Henry Luce III Center for the Arts & Religion, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC

To book your free ticket, click here.

Dr Aaron Rosen is Professor of Religion & Visual Culture and Director of the Henry Luce III Center for the Arts & Religion at Wesley Theological Seminary. As director of the Luce Center, he overseas research, teaching, and outreach, as well as exhibitions at the seminary's Dadian Gallery. He is also Visiting Professor at King’s College London, where he was previously Senior Lecturer in Sacred Traditions & the Arts and Deputy Director of the Center for the Arts and the Sacred. Dr Rosen began his career at Yale, Oxford, and Columbia Universities, after receiving his doctorate from the University of Cambridge. He has lectured widely around the world, and held various honorary posts, including visiting professor at University College Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Dr Rosen is the author of several books: Brushes with Faith (Cascade, 2019); Art and Religion in the 21st Century(Thames & Hudson, 2015; pbk 2016), named one of the best books of the year by The Times; and Imagining Jewish Art(Legenda, 2009). His edited books include: Religion and Sight (Equinox, 2020); Encounters: The Art of Interfaith Dialogue (Brepols, 2018); Visualising a Sacred City: London, Art and Religion (I.B. Tauris, 2016); and Religion and Art in the Heart of Modern Manhattan (Ashgate/Routledge, 2015; pbk 2018). He is currently working on a monograph entitled The Hospitality of Images: Modern Art and Interfaith Dialogue for Cambridge University Press. 

For further details, please check out Dr Rosen's academic profile: https://www.luceartsandreligion.org/aaron-rosen