09/27/21
Fostering understanding, cooperation and friendship
Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies
About the Jay Phillips Center
The Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies at the University of St. Thomas promotes critical, normative and civic approaches to interreligious encounter.
The center is dedicated to a scholar-practitioner approach to cultivating interfaith leadership that promotes basic (inter)religious literacy through lived encounter with people, communities and ideas, and provides opportunities to wrestle constructively with our growing religious diversity. The center recognizes that communities can be healthier when differences are engaged in a sophisticated manner by informed citizens, rather than ignored.
The center partners with the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning at Saint John's University. It shares the common mission to foster understanding, cooperation and friendship among people of diverse religious, spiritual, and secular identities, worldviews and lifeways through academic study and civic engagement.
Upcoming Public Events
Retracing Jewish Roots on the North Dakota Prairie
Stories and Lessons about Life, Family, and Faith with Rebecca Bender
Published in September 2021, this video features Rebecca Bender introducing her recently published book Still (North Dakota State University Press, 2019). View the video by clicking on the image. You may also click here to read more about this video and instructions to order a discounted copy through Oct 1, 2021.
Interreligious Encounter in a Virtual Covid-19 World
As the world migrated online in the spring of 2020, interreligious learning and encounter moved with it. For students completing their interreligious engagement experience for THEO468 in Summer and Fall 2020 at St. Thomas, this meant a pivot to encountering religious diversity across the globe in virtual spaces. Their experiences culminated in several short public narratives and stories with video, pictures, and audio published in a single online StoryMap that documents their insights gained. Visit the StoryMap at the link below to read their narratives about interfaith leadership and virtues, appreciative knowledge and (inter)religious literacy, and global dialogue.
Programs and Resources
Engagement
The Jay Phillips Center engages campus and community in many ways.
Public Events
We serve the campus community and the public by hosting events that promote the public understanding of religion and interreligious relations.
Conferences and Symposia
We host conferences and symposia organized around timely questions, relevant events, and innovative ideas in the area of interreligious studies, interfaith leadership and civic pluralism.
Bridge Building
The Jay Phillips Center promotes interfaith community relations by bringing together people of different religious, spiritual, and secular identities to learn from, and serve alongside, each other.
Seminars and Lecture Series
Our seminars and lecture series invite scholars, leaders, practitioners, and community members with various religious, spiritual, and secular identities together for conversation around important topics and issues. Past seminars and lectures have focused on topics such as Muslim identities in Minnesota and North America, Hindu-Christian encounters in India, and interfaith leadership in business education.
Interreligious Micro Grant for Guest Speakers in Classrooms
This program provides micro grants to faculty to enhance their courses with an interreligious component by inviting guest speakers to their class to offer views from religious minority traditions or on topics that relate to interreligious studies and interfaith relations. Click here to read more about the Interreligious Micro Grant program for Guest Speakers in Classrooms.
Engagement
The center sponsors programs and conversations, often focused on books, films or current events, among groups of students, faculty, and people from the wider community.
Research Resources
The Jay Phillips Center offers a variety of resources that support research and scholarship in the field of interreligious studies, including the Jan Phillips Database.
Engagement
The Jay Phillips Center engages campus and community in many ways.
Public Events
We serve the campus community and the public by hosting events that promote the public understanding of religion and interreligious relations.
Conferences and Symposia
We host conferences and symposia organized around timely questions, relevant events, and innovative ideas in the area of interreligious studies, interfaith leadership and civic pluralism.
Bridge Building
The Jay Phillips Center promotes interfaith community relations by bringing together people of different religious, spiritual, and secular identities to learn from, and serve alongside, each other.
Seminars and Lecture Series
Our seminars and lecture series invite scholars, leaders, practitioners, and community members with various religious, spiritual, and secular identities together for conversation around important topics and issues. Past seminars and lectures have focused on topics such as Muslim identities in Minnesota and North America, Hindu-Christian encounters in India, and interfaith leadership in business education.
Interreligious Micro Grant for Guest Speakers in Classrooms
This program provides micro grants to faculty to enhance their courses with an interreligious component by inviting guest speakers to their class to offer views from religious minority traditions or on topics that relate to interreligious studies and interfaith relations. Click here to read more about the Interreligious Micro Grant program for Guest Speakers in Classrooms.
Engagement
The center sponsors programs and conversations, often focused on books, films or current events, among groups of students, faculty, and people from the wider community.
Research Resources
The Jay Phillips Center offers a variety of resources that support research and scholarship in the field of interreligious studies, including the Jan Phillips Database.
Student Interreligious Research & Interfaith Leadership Programs
The Jay Phillips Center offers two robust programs for students to study interreligious relations and engage with religious diversity while building their skillset to lead in a world growing in religious diversity.
Contact Hans Gustafson for more information.
Right image: Dominique Stewart ’21, Interreligious Research Fellow (2019-2020, 2020-2021), Interreligious Cohort Leader (2019-2020)
Jay Phillips Center News
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09/20/21
Retracing Jewish Roots on the North Dakota Prairie
Stories and Lessons about Life, Family, and Faith with Rebecca Bender Online video program with Rebecca Bender Click here to access the video published September 2021 Rebecca E. Bender, co-author of the award-winning book Still, will present the online video program jointly sponsored by the Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies at the University of St. Thomas and the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning at Saint John’s University (SJU). Still may be purchased for 25% off through Oct 1 from NDSU Press by clicking here and using the discount code “withfaith.” The video program, which was recorded at the Colman Barry Creativity Center at SJU, is available for online public viewing by clicking here. “‘Still’ is an inspiring account of five generations of a Jewish family, first as the Benderskys fleeing persecution in Russia and later as the Benders living and working as farmers and storekeepers on the Dakota prairie and, later still, in other locations and occupations,” said John Merkle, director of the Jay Phillips Center at SJU. “Throughout the book, readers encounter a family full of courage, grit and faith.” In her presentation, Bender shares stories and lessons she learned in the process of writing “Still,” which in 2020 won […]
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09/16/21
Interreligious Statement of Solidarity with the Jewish Community in Minnesota
As members of Minnesota’s diverse religious communities, we stand together in strong condemnation of threats of violence made against the Beth El Synagogue in St. Louis Park. We join our voices also to speak against the desecration of a cemetery of our Jewish sisters and brothers in St. Paul. This threat of violence and the desecration of a sacred place of burial are deplorable – and, especially so, when our Jewish communities are celebrating holy days. These threats and acts of violence are intended to arouse fear and to violate religious feelings. We refuse to be intimidated and to succumb to fear. We stand side-by-side with the Jewish community in courageous resistance to such unacceptable and shameful acts. We are committed to the ongoing work of building inclusive communities in Minnesota where members of all religious traditions feel safe and supported in their places of worship, and in public spaces, to affirm their religious identities and to practice their faiths without fear. Our freedom to profess our faiths without fear is fundamental to our human rights. Threats and acts of violence against any faith are a threat to us all. We stand in solidarity with, and extend our support to, […]
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05/28/21
“Call for Solidarity with Our Jewish Colleagues and Neighbors”
The Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies at the University of St. Thomas is a member organization of the Council of Centers on Jewish Christian Relations (CCJR). The Jay Phillips Center endorses and is a signatory on the recent CCJR statement, a “Call for Solidarity with Our Jewish Colleagues and Neighbors.” The Anti-Defamation League and the Pew Research Center document the recent disturbing increase in antisemitic incidents and hate crimes. We join the call to speak out and work against antisemitism and all forms of hatred and violence whenever we encounter them. You may read the CCJR statement in its entirety below or on the website by clicking here. *** A Call for Solidarity with Our Jewish Colleagues and Neighbors 28 May 2021 A Jewish man beaten by a mob of protesters in Times Square. A man yelling antisemitic slurs at a rabbi outside a synagogue telling the rabbi, “Jews should die”–and then leaving a bag of human feces in front of the building. A synagogue preschool getting a voicemail from a caller threatening to be “the next synagogue shooter.” These are only three of the incidents that occurred in the United States in a single month: May 2021. In 2020, the […]
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04/23/21
Twin Cities artists create Interfaith Prayer Wall, bridging divides across religions
Twin Cities artists create interfaith canvas to bridge divides and inspire calm. By Kelly Smith | Star Tribune | APRIL 23, 2021 — 6:05PM On a large canvas, 18 local artists’ pieces reflect multiple religions including Judaism, Christianity and Islamic faiths — illustrating the unity and connection across religions. The Interfaith Prayer Wall, a 6-by-9-foot canvas created last year by Twin Cities artists, was on display at a Jerusalem art gallery and at the University of St. Thomas until April 20 and will be showcased later this year at the University of Minnesota. It’s also viewable online, part of a virtual exhibit launched this year. In an increasingly polarizing, contentious time, the artists hope their art bridges divides and inspires calm. READ MORE
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Affiliations
The Jay Phillips Center is affiliated with the following external organizations to foster local, regional, and (inter)national engagement in the areas of interreligious studies and relations.
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News
Read the most recent news about the Jay Phillips Center.
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Our Staff
Dr. Gustafson is the Director of the Jay Phillips Center and teaches courses in (inter)religious studies and theology.
Hans Gustafson, Ph.D.
Contact Information
Please feel free to contact us if you have questions about the Jay Phillips Center.
Tel: (651) 962-5780
Email: jpc@stthomas.edu
Mailing Address
Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies
University of St. Thomas
2115 Summit Ave. MAIL 57P
St. Paul, MN 55105
Campus Location
Our address is 2057 Portland Avenue