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May 16, 2008|Volume 36, Number 29|Four-Week Issue


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Professor Miroslav Volf will co-teach class with former British prime minister Tony Blair

Miroslav Volf, the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, will co-teach a course on faith and globalization next year with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The course, announced earlier this spring, is a joint program of Yale’s Divinity School (YDS) and School of Management (SOM). Blair chose Volf to co-teach the course after meeting with a group of YDS and SOM faculty in London to discuss specifics of the course.

Volf is a prolific author, whose book “Exclusion and Embrace” received the Grawemeyer Award for religion writing in 2002. Another of his books, “Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace,” was selected as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s official Lenten study book for 2006.

In addition to teaching required courses in systematic theology, Volf teaches courses on the theology of Luther, on grace and forgiveness, and many others. A native of Croatia, he has forged a theology of forgiveness and non-violence in the face of the horrendous violence experienced in Croatia and Serbia in the 1990s. While he maintains active interest in many aspects of faith’s relation to culture, his work primarily has focused on theological understandings of work, the church, the Trinity, violence, reconciliation and memory.

On the Center for Faith and Culture website, Volf describes what he says are two “basic malfunctions” that frequently plague faith: a disconnect with daily life, and faith that “turns into a deadly poison.”

“The more serious problem is when faith’s medicine turns into a deadly poison,” Volf argues. “In this case, a person’s faith is no longer idle or lukewarm but is used for ill and leeches society. This malfunctioning of faith gives inspiration and seeming legitimacy to people’s unconscionable deeds —from acts of violence and terror to complacency and inaction before situations of abuse and injustice.”

The mission of the Center for Faith and Culture, explains Volf, is “to explore ways to counter these two distressingly widespread malfunctions of faith by helping people practice their faith responsibly in all spheres of life.”

One of the ongoing initiatives of the center is its Reconciliation Program, which aims to promote reconciliation between Christians and Muslims. The program, with leadership from Volf, was a primary force behind creation of the widely circulated document “Loving God and Neighbor Together: A Christian Response to a Common Word Between Us and You.” The statement was drafted by Volf and three other YDS scholars in response to a text published by Muslim leaders. It was published on Nov. 18 as a full-page ad in The New York Times with the signatures of scores of other Christian scholars and religious leaders.


T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Added sun does not lower breast cancer risk, warn experts

Yale affiliates are honored with election to prestigious societies

Strobel’s students rediscover sense of scientific ‘wonder’ . .

Yale to celebrate 307th graduation

Summertime at Yale

Scientist Joan Steitz wins nation’s largest prize in medicine

University names 18 future leaders as 2008 World Fellows

ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS

Architecture students helping to design Mideast Peace Park

China’s President Hu Jintao meets with participants in . . .

In Yale-led study, astronomers discover nine young galaxies . . .

Research on male mating behavior suggests brains may be unisex . . .

Paul Anastas honored as the founder of ‘green chemistry’

Town-gown partners honored with Elm-Ivy Awards

SCHOOL OF MEDICINE NEWS

Exhibits explore artist’s Liverpool years, British watercolors

Two student-curated shows focus on the medium of photography

Library creates digital archive of ‘oldest college daily’

Two seniors will study at the University of Cambridge as Gates Scholars

Campus leaders discuss strategies for increasing staff diversity

Former Bucknell chaplain is named new pastor of University Church

Professor Miroslav Volf will co-teach class with . . . Tony Blair

Council of Masters honors 10 juniors for their scholarship . . .

Conference focuses on ‘Women and Men in the Globalizing University’

The future of ‘Computers, Freedom and Privacy’ to be addressed . . .

Karyn Frick honored for contributions to women’s health

Campus Notes


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