Lecture to Offer Historical Perspective on Muslim-Christian Relations

WORCESTER, Mass. – Sidney Griffith, professor and chair of the department of Semitic and Egyptian languages and literature at the Catholic University of America, will give a lecture titled “Christians and Muslims Together: Lessons from Yesterday for Today” on Monday, Feb. 22 at 4:30 p.m. in the Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. The lecture, sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, is free and open to the public.

Griffith will speak as part of a series of events exploring both the historical and contemporary dynamics of Muslim-Christian relations.

“For more than 400 years, half of the world's Christians lived and worshipped under Muslim rule,” says Thomas M. Landy, director of the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture. “That encounter has shaped the Christian tradition in ways we often forget.”

Griffith has spent more than 30 years researching Muslim-Christian relations. His book, The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque (Princeton University Press, 2007), explores the cultural and intellectual life of Christians indigenous to the Islamic world. He will focus his talk on Christians in the Qur’an and Christian-Muslim interaction in early Islamic times, especially in Baghdad and its environs.

Other events in the series include:

• Monday, March 22; 4:30 p.m., Rehm Library “Christians in a Muslim World: Christianity in Contemporary Middle East and North Africa” — Kamal Feriali is an anthropologist, a Moroccan native, and instructor of Arabic language and culture at the University of Florida.

• Thursday, April 8; 4:30 p.m., Rehm Library “The Place of Revelation in Christian-Muslim Dialogue” — Mahmoud Ayoub is professor of Islamic studies and Christian-Muslim relations at the Hartford Seminary and professor emeritus at Temple University.

To learn more about this program and other Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture events, visit holycross.edu/crec.

About The Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture:

Established in 2001 and housed in Smith Hall, the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture provides resources for faculty and course development, sponsors conferences and college-wide teaching events, hosts visiting fellows, and coordinates a number of campus lecture series. Rooted in the College's commitment to invite conversation about basic human questions, the Center welcomes persons of all faiths and seeks to foster dialogue that acknowledges and respects differences, providing a forum for intellectual exchange that is interreligious, interdisciplinary, intercultural, and international in scope.  The Center also brings members of the Holy Cross community into conversation with the Greater Worcester community, the academic community, and the wider world to examine the role of faith and inquiry in higher education and in the larger culture.