Welcoming the Stranger: Abrahamic Hospitality and Its Contemporary Implications

4 November, 2024

We are deeply honoured to welcome Professor Ori Z Soltes, Georgetown University, USA, to present ‘Welcoming the Stranger: Abrahamic Hospitality and Its Contemporary Implications‘.

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Here are more details about this fascinating event.

About the book: One of the signal moments in the biblical narrative about Abraham – ‘a father of many nations’ is his insistent and enthusiastic reception of three strangers, a starting point of inspiration for all three Abrahamic traditions as they evolve and develop the details of their respective teachings. Welcoming the stranger by remembering ‘that you were strangers in the land of Egypt’ is enjoined upon the ancient Israelites, and oppressing the stranger is condemned by their prophets throughout the Hebrew Bible. These sentiments are repeated in the New Testament and the Qur’an and elaborated in the interpretive literatures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Such notions resonate obliquely within the history of India and its Dharmic traditions. However, contrary to the scriptural commandments and ethical aspirations, marginalized religious and ethnic groups around the globe are deemed unwelcome and unwanted. Beginning with the story of Abraham’s hospitality to the three strangers described in Genesis 18, the essays in Welcoming the Stranger explore these issues from historical, theoretical, theological, and practical perspectives, offering an enlightening and compelling discussion of what the Abrahamic traditions teach us regarding the principle of ‘welcoming the stranger’, and its on-the-ground applications from India to Germany in the past to the present. Its contents could hardly be more relevant today.

Speaker’s Biography: Professor Ori Z Soltes is a Professor of Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University, USA. He teaches across a range of disciplines, from art history and theology to philosophy and political history. He is the former Director of the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum, and has curated more than 90 exhibitions across the country and overseas. He has authored or edited 25 books and several hundred articles and essays. Recent volumes include: Welcoming the Stranger: Abrahamic Hospitality and Its Contemporary Implications, with Rachel Stern, (Fordham University Press, 2024); The Problem of God and How Humans Have Tried to Solve it Across History (Generis, 2023); Between Thought & Action: An Intellectual Biography of Fethullah Gülen (Blue Dome, 2022); Tradition and Transformation: Three Millennia of Jewish Art & Architecture (Canal Street Studios, 2016, and second edition: Eshel Books, 2022); Growing Up Jewish in India: Synagogues, Ceremonies, and Customs from the Bene Israel to the art of Siona Benjamin (Niyogi Books, 2021); Magic and Religion in the Greco-Roman world: the Beginnings of Judaism and Christianity (Academia-West Press, 2017); Mysticism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam: Searching for Oneness (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2008); Our Sacred Signs: How Jewish, Christian and Muslim Art Draw from the Same Source (Westview Press, 2005). More information about Professor Soltes’ work is available on his website.

Chair: Professor Syed Atif Rizwan, Senior Fellow, Oxford Interfaith Forum, UK, and Assistant Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies, Director of The Catholic-Muslim Studies Program at the Catholic Theological Union, USA

Date: 4 November, 2024

Time: 18:00-19:00 GMT | 19:00-20:00 CET | 10:00-11:00 PT | 13:00-14:00 ET

Venue: online

PLEASE REGISTER HERE

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