The Leader in Graduate Interfaith Education

Hartford Seminary faculty and staff will supply the content for this free AARP CT Virtual U series. AARP membership is not required for this event. It will not be recorded, so live attendance is expected. AARP CT will welcome attendees from around the country for this opportunity to develop your professional toolkit and to create livable communities right in your neighborhood and for those you serve in surrounding communities in Connecticut. This 3-part “Faith in the Neighborhood Series” runs from October 14th through November 9th of this year. 10/14/2021 @ 12PM ET (60min) Religious Manyness:  The US—especially in certain urban areas—is intensely religiously diverse. Agreement with that statement is easy to find. But finding agreement on what “religion” is? That is not so easy! Yet, however it is defined, everyone is oriented toward it somehow. In this session, we learn about the scope of religious diversity in the US and how it came to be. We learn methods for understanding what “religion” is; obstacles to and options for interreligious engagement; and wise policies for navigating the multi-faith neighborhood. Additional Sessions in this series. Registration required for each at www.aarp.org/ctevents Tuesday, 10/26/2021 @ 7PM ET Clothing, Cuisine, and Calendars: Complexities of the Multi-faith Neighborhood Tuesday, 11/9/2021 @ 7PM ET What Goes on In There? An Introduction to America’s Religious Diversity in Ten Buildings This session is live and not recorded. ALL 3 Sessions are pending approval for (1.0) Continuing Education Units by NASW/CT and meets the continuing education criteria for CT Social Work Licensure renewal.  This approval is also applicable for license renewals for CT LPCs, LMFTs, and licensed psychologists.

As climate change continues to increase in intensity, the economic and health disparities are being born by poor and marginalized communities, both globally and locally. Join us for a 90-minute webinar featuring the Rev. Dr. Gerald Durley, civil rights activist, former pastor, and current Chairperson for Interfaith Power & Light, and Jehann El-Bisi, a Black indigenous climate activist working to fight Line 3, an oil tar sands pipeline. Rev. Durley and Ms. El-Bisi will discuss the disparate impact and unique experiences of Black and indigenous communities in the climate crisis. This free webinar is co-sponsored by Interreligious Eco-Justice Network and Hartford Seminary.       About the Speakers REV. DR. GERALD DURLEY was born in Wichita, Kansas. He grew up in California and graduated from high school in Denver, Colorado. Being endowed with exceptional basketball skills and a deep interest in improving the civil and human rights of African Americans, Dr. Durley chose to leave the west and venture south to Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tennessee. While earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology, playing on a championship basketball team, and serving as student government president, he became very active in the civil rights movement. After graduating, Dr. Durley became one of the first Peace Corp volunteers to enter Nigeria, West Africa. From Africa he ventured to Switzerland where he enrolled in postgraduate studies at the University of Neuchantel. While there, he was invited to play for one of the Swiss National basketball teams. When he returned to the United States, Dr. Durley enrolled in Northern Illinois University where he again became intensely involved in the struggle for human dignity, and earned one of the first Master's Degrees in Community Mental Health. He earned a Doctorate in Urban Education and Psychology from University of Massachusetts and a Master of Divinity from Howard University. Dr. Durley is the former Pastor of Providence Missionary Baptist Church, where he served for 25 years. Currently the Chairperson of Interfaith Power & Light, Rev. Durley is a highly sought speaker on civil and human rights issues. He and his wife, Muriel, have 2 children and 4 grandchildren. JEHANN EL-BISI has an earned doctorate from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and an advanced graduate summer program certificate in the study of conflict zones, and transformation, from SIT Graduate School in Brattleboro, VT. She served on the faculty as an adjunct professor, teaching Multicultural Education at the Neag Graduate School of Education, at the University of Connecticut, at Storrs. Jehann completed her first 30 min documentary film, The River Cried, "Mni W'Coni!"- Service and Solidarity in Standing Rock, a personal reflection in 2017, and has been giving talks related to climate justice, from an indigenous perspective, using the film as an educational tool. Her second film, Reflections: An Interview with Lenny Foster, is currently airing on San Francisco public television.

Dr. Deena Grant, Associate Professor of Jewish Studies, and Dr. Hossein Kamaly, Associate Professor of Islamic Studies, will explore the role of Hagar within the Abraham narrative in this free webinar. The Prophet Abraham is an example of faith for Judaism, Christian and Islam. Hagar, the mother of Abraham's son, Ishmael, plays a closely related and pivotal role in the Hebrew Bible and the Islamic “Stories of the Prophets.” The webinar will be moderated by Dr. David D. Grafton, Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations. This event is part of a series related to Abraham: Out of One, Many, an exhibition cosponsored by Hartford Seminary and the Mandell JCC, in partnership with the Episcopal Church in Connecticut and First Church West Hartford/John P. Webster Library.

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Developing an interreligious mindset for any setting, whether at work or in our communities, enables us to view the world through other lenses.

There are reasons why praying with people of other religions is spiritually rewarding.