Catherine Cornille (born 1961) is a professor of comparative theology and specializes in theology of religions and interreligious dialogue. She presently holds the Newton College Alumnae Chair of Western Culture in the department of theology at Boston College. [1]
With a previous B.A. from the KU Leuven and an M.A. from the University of Hawaii, Cornille returned to KU Leuven to complete her PhD in 1989. [2] She taught comparative religions at the KU Leuven and was the first woman professor in the history of the University. [3] She joined the department of theology at Boston College in 2005 and teaches comparative theology, theology of religions, and interreligious dialogue. [4]
Interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels. It is distinct from syncretism or alternative religion, in that dialogue often involves promoting understanding between different religions or beliefs to increase acceptance of others, rather than to synthesize new beliefs.
The Graduate Theological Union (GTU) is a consortium of eight private independent American theological schools and eleven centers and affiliates. Seven of the theological schools are located in Berkeley, California. The GTU was founded in 1962 and their students can take courses at the University of California, Berkeley. Additionally, some of the GTU consortial schools are part of other California universities such as Santa Clara University and California Lutheran University. Most of the GTU consortial schools are located in Berkeley area with the majority north of the campus in a neighborhood known as "Holy Hill" due to the cluster of GTU seminaries and centers located there.
Keith Ward is an English Anglican priest, philosopher, and theologian. He is a fellow of the British Academy and a priest of the Church of England. He was a canon of Christ Church, Oxford, until 2003. Comparative theology and the relationship between science and religion are two of his main topics of interest. He was Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford from 1991 to 2004.
Comparative theology is a relatively new discipline within theology, which holds together "comparative" and "theology" in creative tension. It represents a particular type of theological practice committed to deep interreligious learning ("comparative") while staying rooted in a particular religious tradition ("theology"). Moreover, while many of its proponents come from the Christian religious tradition, it can have as a starting point the theology of any religious tradition.
Paul Francis Knitter is an American theologian. He is currently an emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary, where he has served as the Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture since 2007. He is also Emeritus Professor of Theology at Xavier University in Cincinnati, where he taught for 28 years before moving to Union. Knitter is known for his work on religious pluralism and multiple religious belonging, particularly regarding Buddhism and Christianity.
Jane Dammen McAuliffe is a prominent American educator, scholar of Islam and the inaugural Director of National and International Outreach at the Library of Congress. She is a President Emeritus of Bryn Mawr College and former Dean of Georgetown College at Georgetown University. As a specialist in the Qur'an and its interpretation, McAuliffe has edited the six-volume Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān and continues to lead the editorial team for the online edition of the work. She held previous appointments at Emory University as professor and associate dean and at the University of Toronto as Chair of the Department for the Study of Religion and Professor of Islamic Studies in the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations. She received her BA in Philosophy and Classics from Trinity Washington University and her MA in religious studies and PhD in Islamic studies from the University of Toronto.
Anantanand Rambachan is a professor of religion at St. Olaf College.
Chester L. Gillis is the former Dean of Georgetown College, Professor in the Department of Theology, and the founding Director of the Program on the Church and Interreligious Dialogue in the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University. In 2017, Gillis concluded as Dean of Georgetown College and returned to the faculty. In January 2019, he assumed the position of interim provost at Saint Louis University.
Rev. Fr. Duraiswami Simon Amalorpavadass was a Catholic South-Indian theologian who played a vital role in the renewal of life and mission of the Roman Catholic Church in India, particularly after Vatican II. He was fluent in Tamil, French and English. He was the younger brother of Cardinal Lourdusamy.
Francis Xavier Clooney is an American Jesuit priest and scholar in the teachings of Hinduism. He is currently a professor at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Peter C. Phan is a Vietnamese-born American Catholic theologian and the inaugural holder of the Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought at Georgetown University.
Alon Goshen-Gottstein is a scholar of Jewish studies and a theoretician and activist in the domain of interfaith dialogue. He is founder and director of the Elijah Interfaith Institute since 1997. He specializes in bridging the theological and academic dimension with a variety of practical initiatives, especially involving world religious leadership.
Didier Pollefeyt is a Belgian catholic theologian, full professor at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies and vice rector for education policy at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
Lieven Boeve [‘li:vən ‘bu:və] is a Belgian Catholic theologian, and is full professor of Systematic Theology at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, where he currently also serves as Dean of the Faculty. Since 2012 he is also the chair of the Centre for Academic Teacher’s Training, KU Leuven. On 1 August 2014 he became the Director General of the Flemish Secretary for Catholic Education (VSKO).
Joseph Stephen O’Leary is an Irish Roman Catholic theologian. Born in Cork, 1949, he studied literature and theology at Maynooth College. He also studied at the Gregorian University, Rome (1972-3) and in Paris (1977–79). Ordained for the Diocese of Cork and Ross in 1973, he was a chaplain at University College Cork (1980–81). He taught theology at the University of Notre Dame (1981–82) and Duquesne University (1982–83) before moving to Japan in August, 1983. He worked as a researcher at the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, Nanzan University, Nagoya (1985–86), where he later held the Roche Chair for Interreligious Research (2015–16). He taught in the Faculty of Letters at Sophia University, Tokyo, from 1988 to 2015.
Multiple religious belonging, also known as double belonging, refers to the idea that individuals can belong to more than one religious tradition. While this is often seen as a common reality in regions such as Asia with its many religions, religious scholars have begun to discuss multiple religion belonging with respect to religious traditions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Mary C. Boys, is an American scholar specializing in religious studies. A Dean of Academic Affairs and McAlpin Professor of Practical Theology at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. She was formerly Professor of Religious Education at Boston College, where she served for 17 years.
Christine Schirrmacher is a German academic who specialises in Islamic Studies. She is Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Bonn and at the Evangelical Theological Faculty (ETF), Leuven.
Waleed El-Ansary is an Egyptian-American scholar of comparative religion, Islam and Islamic economics and the Helal, Hisham and Laila Edris El-Swedey University Chair in Islamic studies at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Gerard Mannion was an Irish theologian. He published extensively in the fields of ecclesiology, ethics, and public theology, as well as on other subjects in the area of systematic theology and philosophy.