In October 2007, the Dialogue Institute made history by hosting a four-day intensive seminar at its home at Temple University for a group of visiting international Fulbright scholars. Participants – Christian, Muslim, and Baha’i – came from nine different countries and were the first ever recipients of such a fellowship focused specifically on training and leadership in interreligious dialogue. From their placements at universities throughout the U.S., from Santa Barbara to Hartford, CT, the scholars came together at Temple mid-way through their three-month program. The seminar featured interactive presentations by Dr. Racelle Weiman and Prof. Leonard Swidler, offering theoretical, methodological and experiential approaches to interreligious work in both the academy and the wider society. Classroom sessions were complemented by visits to sites of religious and historical significance in Center City Philadelphia, and a gathering with interreligious community leaders at the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Mosque.

Fulbright Scholar Prof. Nahide Bozkurt of Ankara University had the following to say about her experience at the Dialogue Institute: “It is essential to ground practice in theory. The Dialogue Institute has provided this all-important grounding which my training in the US had so far been lacking.” Saheed Timehim from Nigeria commented, “The experience of the staff is rooted in dialogue. I want to thank Drs. Swidler and Weiman. It’s one thing to be a scholar and an entirely different thing to articulate dialogic matters with clarity and concision. They do that profoundly well!”   

This seminar is part of an ongoing initiative by the Dialogue Institute to train scholars and community activists in interreligous dialogue, and to provide consultation for those already active in the field.

2007 ICAP Fulbright Participants included the following: