In under a month, Hartford Seminary President Heidi Hadsell will have traveled to both Korea and Austria, spreading the word about the seminary’s unique approach to interfaith education.
In early November, Prof. Hadsell attended the 10th Assembly of the World Conference of Churches in Busan, Korea, an event that attracts nearly 3,000 church leaders and participants from every Christian tradition and happens only once every seven years. She participated in the Global Ecumenical Theological Institute, which draws faculty and students from all over the world.
“The attempt is to bring students to the World Council meeting and also to have an intense educational experience on top of it,” she said.
Prof. Hadsell participated along with recent seminary graduates Hans Harmakaputra, an International Peacemaking Student who also received a master’s degree at the seminary, and Namduk Hwang (pictured above), who received his doctorate through the seminary’s joint program with the University of Exeter.
In Austria, where Prof. Hadsell heads in mid-November, she will participate in the KAICIID Global Forum on “The Image of the Other”: Interreligious and Intercultural Education. It’s program that brings together 500 experts, policy makers and religious leaders from 90 countries to talk about “the global challenges of finding ways to responsibly educate people so they are better able to understand and relate to those of other religions and cultures.”
Prof. Hadsell will speak at a panel titled: “Understanding and Engaging ‘the Other’ in Interreligious Education and Seminary Training.”
“I’m talking about what we do at Hartford Seminary,” she said. “This invitation relates to our leadership in this field.”
A little closer to home, Prof. Hadsell will also speak at the Stamford Men’s Club in November on the topic of Interfaith Relations.