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On Monday 9 October, two dozen people gathered at the Faculty of Divinity to spend an afternoon thinking about materiality and religious education. Organised and co-convened by Dr Anastasia Badder (Divinity) and Dr Daniel Moulin-Stozek (Education), the event brought together researchers and practitioners, and a healthy quotient of PGCE students—who…

In September 2023, four representatives of the Cambridge Interfaith Programme contributed to a four-day conference at the Von Hügel Institute for Critical Catholic Inquiry. The theme was Conflict resolution and interreligious encounter.Based at St Edmund’s College, Cambridge, the VHI supports advanced study with a particular commitment to dialogue,…

Dr Daniel Weiss is now the longest-standing member of the CIP team, arriving in 2010 as the first Polonsky-Coexist Lecturer in Jewish Studies (now Senior Lecturer). Over the past two years, he has had three terms of research leave, spending time at the University of Tübingen as a visiting scholar, supported by a Humboldt Research Fellowship.As Dani…

Over two days in September 2023, the Faculty of Divinity and Cambridge Interfaith Programme hosted the conference “Materiality and the Future of Inter-Religious Encounters”—convened by Dr Anastasia Badder (Cambridge) and Dr Lea Taragin-Zeller (HUJI). They reflect on the event: Our aim was to examine the vital role of materiality in inter-religious …

Co-organized by Dr Daniel H. Weiss (Divinity Faculty, Cambridge), and Prof Napoleon Katsos (Linguistics Department, Cambridge), this 8 September workshop was “a resounding success”.The workshop stemmed from a Templeton Foundation-funded pilot grant, led by Dr Joanna Leidenhag at the University of Leeds, which brings together pairs of theologians an…

Tilak Parekh is a postgraduate research student in the Faculty of Divinity. His doctoral thesis focuses on the purpose, creation and impact of the Neasden Temple in northwest London—the first traditional Hindu temple built in the western world. Visiting another famous religious site this summer, he was drawn to reflect:“Earlier this month [August],…

What’s the logic behind biblical eating prohibitions? Are commandments intended to promote the consumption of vegetarian animals? How come ducks—devourers of fish, insects, and frogs—can be part of a kosher diet?Dr Daniel Weiss explores these and related questions in a new article for TheTorah.com.The article adapts, summarises, and builds upon fin…

Last Thursday (June 15, 2023), CIP was pleased to host a one-day student symposium on the theme Religion Conflict Dialogue. Devised by three first-year PhD students with the Cambridge Interfaith Programme's support, the schedule was bursting at the seams with fresh research and creativity.Media and dialogueThe opening session took media as its comm…

Responding to questions at her inaugural lecture, Professor Esra Özyürek referred briefly to the work of Dr Irit Dekel (Assistant Professor of Germanic Studies and Jewish Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington). The two academics are well-acquainted with each other’s work. In recent times, they have begun to document their scholarly dialogue in…

We are delighted that Hina Khalid, a third-year PhD student and highly-committed researcher in the domain of inter-religious researchers has been recognised by the Faculty of Divinity. Hina is one of three students to be awarded the 2023 Don Stebbings Prize, as recognition of her outstanding contribution to the Faculty community.A vital mediatorHin…

On 3 May 2023, the Faculty of Divinity hosted the inaugural lecture of Professor Esra Özyürek, Sultan Qaboos Professor of Abrahamic Faiths and Shared Values and the Academic Director of Cambridge Interfaith Programme.Introducing the lecture, Professor Richard Rex (a historian of the English Reformation) characterised Özyürek's work as 'table-turnin…

Awarded by the University of Tübingen’s Faculty of Protestant Theology, the Leopold Lucas Prize honours the memory of the Jewish rabbi and scholar Dr Leopold Lucas, who died at Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1943. Professor Peter Ochs has been recognised for his role in the development and dissemination of Scriptural Reasoning [SR]. Preparing…

In April 2023, Dr Ankur Barua and Hina Khalid convened an online series on the topic of Inter-religious relations in South Asia, together with Dr Pranav Prakash (Christ Church, Oxford). Zoom recordings from four sessions are now available to watch again on the Faculty of Divinity YouTube channel.Learn more about each paper, and watch them below, or…

Spring 2023 takes musicologist Dr Vanessa Paloma Elbaz on tour with visits to Centre College (a small Protestant-foundation liberal arts college in Danville, KY) and a two-day residency at Carleton College, Minnesota. Accompanying her are musicians Mostafa Benhmad and Abdallah Hachami, travelling from France and Morocco for this purpose. Each has a…

Is commitment to God compatible with modern citizenship? Daniel Weiss provides new readings of four modern Jewish philosophers – Moses Mendelssohn, Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, and Walter Benjamin – in light of classical rabbinic accounts of God's sovereignty, divine and human violence, and the embodied human being as the image of God. In Moder…