Ideas worth
gathering around.

Moses is one of the great prophetic figures shared by Judaism and Islam, yet his life is also shaped by the love, courage, and moral agency of women. This lecture considers his mother, Miriam, Asiya—or Pharaoh’s daughter in Jewish interpretations—and Zipporah. Their stories reveal faith, protection, justice, and steadfast love across both traditions.

During the Fifth Crusade, St. Francis crossed battle lines to meet Sultan al-Kamil. This lecture explores that encounter through the divine names Al-Wadud, the Loving, and Al-Salam, the Source of Peace, tracing its continuing significance for Christian–Muslim dialogue.

This lecture places Sufi spiritual formation in conversation with Japanese culture, comparing the maqamat with Wabi-Sabi, the tea ceremony, Mevlevi culinary training, and Zen approaches to selflessness. Shared disciplines of humility, purification, service, simplicity, and interconnectedness emerge.

Moving among philia, rahma, and agape, this lecture explores collective empathy, justice, and community in Greek, Islamic, and Christian thought. Readings from Rumi and Meister Eckhart illuminate how social love can address division and help repair public life.

Why does suffering exist in a world created by a merciful God? This dialogue approaches evil through Islamic concepts of qadar, rahma, hikma, and sabr, alongside the prophetic stories of Job and Joseph. Comparative reflection invites empathy, intellectual humility, and deeper interfaith understanding.

This lecture follows the translation of love from Greek philosophy into Muslim thought. Plato and Aristotle meet falsafa, adab, akhlaq, and fiqh; al-Farabi and al-Ghazali reveal love as a force in ethical, civic, and spiritual formation.

Sufi writers present love not merely as an emotion but as a demanding path of ethical and spiritual transformation. Through Ibn al-Arabi, Attar, and poetic imagination, this lecture explores the movement between human and divine love.

Drawing on neuroscience, psychology, and culture, this lecture examines how fear, group dynamics, social identity, and brain activity can intensify hatred. Empathy training and narrative reframing offer ways to interrupt destructive habits and reduce conflict.

This lecture brings mental health, spirituality, gratitude, and love into a single conversation. It explores how a God-centered perspective, prayer, mindfulness, and reflection can cultivate resilience and well-being.

Fard Muhammad, Howard Thurman, Martin Luther King Jr., and Elijah Muhammad each reshaped American religious culture amid racism and upheaval. This lecture joins mysticism, nonviolence, and Black Muslim empowerment to examine renewal, resilience, and beloved community.

This lecture asks what moves people to give, comparing Christian love of neighbor, Buddhist karuna, Jewish tzedakah, and Islamic zakat. Across traditions, love, mercy, and justice become practical motivations for generosity and public responsibility.

A Catholic scholar reflects on sustained engagement with Islam and Muslim communities. The lecture considers how another faith can deepen one’s own identity and how interreligious love can make room for disagreement while practicing reverence and friendship.

After September 11, Pastor Bob Roberts began building relationships with Muslim communities locally, nationally, and in Afghanistan. This lecture explores service, hospitality, courage, humility, and mutual respect as practices of bridge-building during times of war and fear.