Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs
Encyclopedia
The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs is an academic research center at Georgetown University
in Washington, DC dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of religion
, ethics
, and politics
. Through research, teaching, and service, the Center explores global challenges of democracy
and human rights
, economic
and social development, international diplomacy, and interreligious understanding
. Two premises guide the Center’s work: that a deep examination of faith and values is critical to address these challenges, and that the open engagement of religious and cultural traditions with one another can promote peace
.http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/about Conceived as part of Georgetown's "Initiative on Religion, Politics, and Peace" in 2004, the Berkley Center emerged as an independent organization in 2006 under a gift from William R. Berkley, a member of Georgetown's Board of Directors. The center is headed by Thomas Banchoff, Associate Professor in the Department of Government at Georgetown.
scholar Tariq Ramadan
for a series of teleconference speeches on Islam-West relations. Additionally, the center hosts an annual conference on religious pluralism
, which has led to the publication of two compilations from Oxford University Press
: Democracy and the New Religious Pluralism (2007)http://www.us.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/ReligionTheology/SociologyofReligion/?view=usa&ci=9780195307290 and Religion and the Global Politics of Human Rights (2011).http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/ReligionTheology/SociologyofReligion/?view=usa&ci=9780195343380
, designed to promote tolerance and intellectual engagement with diversity in the curriculum and in co-curricular activities. The initiative is made possible through the support of William J. Doyle
, a member of the Georgetown University Board of Directors.
has offered a Certificate on Religion, Ethics, and World Affairs in collaboration with the Berkley Center. The certificate, the equivalent of a minor, gives students an opportunity to explore these issues across three thematic areas: Faith and Ethics in International Relations; Religion and Politics in Comparative Perspective; and Religion in History and Culture. The certificate program culminates in a capstone seminar organized around student research and an annual spring colloquium.
and education
. The project provides students with summer research fellowships to travel abroad and conduct in-depth examinations of innovative initiatives, with a focus on the work of Jesuit secondary and post-secondary institutions. Under faculty supervision, the students gather information through interviews, analyze best practices, and share their reports and conclusions with a wider global audience. In the program’s first year, three students were hosted by St. Aloysius Gonzaga School in Nairobi, Kenya; Ateneo de Manila University
in Manila, Philippines; and the Universidad Alberto Hurtado
in Santiago, Chile
. Their report brings together the main results of the field work, including background and analysis of each of the initiatives and excerpts from extended interviews with educators and activists in each country.
and Archbishop of Canterbury Lord George Carey
, the World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD) is an NGO based at the Berkley Center bridging the worlds of faith and secular development and supporting research and dialogue on global policy challenges. Katherine Marshall, who leads the Berkley Center’s Program on Religion and Global Development, serves as Executive Director.
around issues of faith, values, and the global agenda. In January 2010, the Center co-produced a report on the topic released at the Forum’s annual meeting in Davos
. In September 2011, Georgetown and the Forum convened a conference at Georgetown to explore efforts to close values deficits in business and government.
, Mustafa Ceric, Gus Dur, Mohammad Fadlallah and others. Non-Muslim participants include John Esposito
, Kofi Annan
, Jimmy Carter
, Paul Heck, Jon Meacham
, and Sally Quinn
.
and the resurgence of public religion. The Religion, Conflict, and Peace Program, led by Eric Patterson, examines the intersection of religion with other cultural, social, and political factors in the generation and resolution of conflict in order to produce critical case studies and develop knowledge resources for government professionals. The Program on The Church and Interreligious Dialogue, led by Chester Gillis
, examines the Catholic Church’s interaction with other religious traditions as well as the challenges posed by increasing cultural and religious pluralism worldwide. The Program in Law, Religion, and Values, led by Berkley Center Associate Director Michael Kessler, supports teaching, research, and scholarly conferences that explore how religion and values legitimate, shape, and conflict with global political, cultural, and legal systems in transnational and comparative perspective. The Religion and Global Development Program, led by Katherine Marshall, tracks the engagement of religious communities around global policy challenges and brings together stakeholders to examine best practices and advance collaboration. The Program in Religious and U.S. Foreign Policy, led by Thomas Farr, explores the role of religion in U.S. foreign policy, with special attention to issues of human rights and international religious freedom.
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
in Washington, DC dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
, and politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
. Through research, teaching, and service, the Center explores global challenges of democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
, economic
Economic development
Economic development generally refers to the sustained, concerted actions of policymakers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area...
and social development, international diplomacy, and interreligious understanding
Interfaith dialog
The term interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels...
. Two premises guide the Center’s work: that a deep examination of faith and values is critical to address these challenges, and that the open engagement of religious and cultural traditions with one another can promote peace
Peace
Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
.http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/about Conceived as part of Georgetown's "Initiative on Religion, Politics, and Peace" in 2004, the Berkley Center emerged as an independent organization in 2006 under a gift from William R. Berkley, a member of Georgetown's Board of Directors. The center is headed by Thomas Banchoff, Associate Professor in the Department of Government at Georgetown.
Activities
The Center has made headlines for a number of events, including hosting the controversial MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
scholar Tariq Ramadan
Tariq Ramadan
Tariq Ramadan is a Swiss academic, poet and writer. He is also a Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies in the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Oxford University...
for a series of teleconference speeches on Islam-West relations. Additionally, the center hosts an annual conference on religious pluralism
Religious pluralism
Religious pluralism is a loosely defined expression concerning acceptance of various religions, and is used in a number of related ways:* As the name of the worldview according to which one's religion is not the sole and exclusive source of truth, and thus that at least some truths and true values...
, which has led to the publication of two compilations from Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
: Democracy and the New Religious Pluralism (2007)http://www.us.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/ReligionTheology/SociologyofReligion/?view=usa&ci=9780195307290 and Religion and the Global Politics of Human Rights (2011).http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/ReligionTheology/SociologyofReligion/?view=usa&ci=9780195343380
Knowledge Resources
In addition to hosting live events, the Berkley Center has a Knowledge Resources website that acts as a digital resource on religion and world affairs.http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources The Knowledge Resources site serves as a destination for students, scholars, policymakers, and citizens who want to learn more about religion and world affairs. The fruit of collaboration between Center faculty and students, the Resources consist of:- Overviews of the world’s major religious traditionshttp://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/traditions
- Country resource pageshttp://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/countries
- Topic resource pageshttp://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/topics mapping organizations and people working at the intersection of religion, peace, and world affairs in the following areas: "American Values in Public Life", "Faith in the 2008 Election", "Faith in the 2012 Election", "Interreligious Dialogue", "Religion and Development Database", "Religion and International Affairs Networks", "Religion in China and the United States", and "The Archbishop of Canterbury's Building Bridges Seminar"
- Interviewshttp://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/interviews with key players in religion, development, and politics
- Classroom resourceshttp://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/classroom such as case studies, syllabi, and film guides
Student engagement
The Berkley Center also directs initiatives engaging Georgetown students on issues relating to the center's mission of studying the interplay of religion and politics. These initiatives have given the Berkley Center a diverse portfolio of opportunities for student engagement with religious-political issues, in addition to the scholarship contributed by the Center's faculty and fellows. Three of these initiatives — the Undergraduate Fellows Program, the Junior Year Abroad Network, and the Undergraduate Learning and Interreligious Understanding Survey — have been active since the Berkley Center's establishment in 2006 and have, since 2009, been part of the Doyle Engaging Difference Initiative, a campus-wide collaboration between the Berkley Center, the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS), and Georgetown CollegeGeorgetown College (Georgetown University)
Georgetown College, infrequently Georgetown College of Arts and Sciences, is the oldest school within Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The College is the largest undergraduate school at Georgetown, and until the founding of the Medical School in 1850, was the only higher education division...
, designed to promote tolerance and intellectual engagement with diversity in the curriculum and in co-curricular activities. The initiative is made possible through the support of William J. Doyle
William Doyle (businessman)
William "Bill" Doyle is the CEO of the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan , a Saskatchewan company that mines potash. In 2007 he was by far the highest earning CEO in Canada, earning over $320 million, and nearly doubling the next nearest earner, Jim Balsillie.Doyle is also the chairman of...
, a member of the Georgetown University Board of Directors.
Undergraduate Fellows Program
The Undergraduate Fellows Program combines a four-credit seminar with a collaborative research project that addresses issues at the intersection of religion, culture, society, and politics. Along with the in-depth reading, writing, and dialogue typical of an upper-level seminar, student fellows conduct original research and formulate policy recommendations culminating in a written report. Undergraduate Fellows Reports have included: Transcending Traditional U.S. Foreign Policy: Track-Two Diplomacy and the Challenge of Global Religious Diversity (2011), Bridging Babel: New Social Media and Intercultural and Interreligious Understanding (2010), When Diversity Meets the Global Market: Forging a New Generation of Business Leaders (2010), A Leap of Faith: Interreligious Marriage in America (2008), Religious Advocates: A Force in U.S. Politics? (2008), and Secular and Religious Approaches to Global Development (2006).Junior Year Abroad Network
In 2006, the Berkley Center created the Junior Year Abroad Network to take advantage of the large number of Georgetown students who study abroad during their junior year. Through the network, students post letters online with their observations about the intersection of religion, culture, society, and politics in their host countries. On their return, they get together to share their experiences and publish a report on their findings. So far, more than 240 students in more than 50 countries have participated in JYAN. In 2011, the Berkley Center introduced a new web-based feature facilitating student and faculty comments on student letters in order to help advance student-faculty dialogue on critical issues in today’s world.Undergraduate Learning and Interreligious Understanding Survey
The Berkley Center and Georgetown’s Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS) conducted a five-year longitudinal study to track student attitudes towards religious diversity and their evolution in response to experiences at Georgetown in and outside the classroom. The project aims to help educators at Georgetown, throughout the United States, and around the world identify best practices in building tolerance. In 2010-11, final interviews and a comprehensive senior survey were administered to the students who were graduating. Insights from their four years at Georgetown will be analyzed and then outlined in a project report to be prepared for publication in 2012.Religion, Ethics, and World Affairs Certificate
Beginning in Fall 2011, the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign ServiceEdmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service is a school within Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., United States. Jesuit priest Edmund A...
has offered a Certificate on Religion, Ethics, and World Affairs in collaboration with the Berkley Center. The certificate, the equivalent of a minor, gives students an opportunity to explore these issues across three thematic areas: Faith and Ethics in International Relations; Religion and Politics in Comparative Perspective; and Religion in History and Culture. The certificate program culminates in a capstone seminar organized around student research and an annual spring colloquium.
Education and Social Justice Project
In early 2010, the Berkley Center collaborated with the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service, and with Rodney Jacob, a member of the Georgetown University Board of Regents, to create the Education and Social Justice Project to engage students and build knowledge about the deep connections between global challenges of povertyPoverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
and education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
. The project provides students with summer research fellowships to travel abroad and conduct in-depth examinations of innovative initiatives, with a focus on the work of Jesuit secondary and post-secondary institutions. Under faculty supervision, the students gather information through interviews, analyze best practices, and share their reports and conclusions with a wider global audience. In the program’s first year, three students were hosted by St. Aloysius Gonzaga School in Nairobi, Kenya; Ateneo de Manila University
Ateneo de Manila University
The Ateneo de Manila University is a private teaching and research university run by the Society of Jesus in the Philippines. It began in 1859 when the City of Manila handed control of the Escuela Municipal de Manila in Intramuros, Manila, to the Jesuits...
in Manila, Philippines; and the Universidad Alberto Hurtado
Universidad Alberto Hurtado
Alberto Hurtado University is a Jesuit university located in downtown Santiago. Established in 1997, the university was created from the merger of three separate institutes,Instituto Latinoamericano de Doctrina y Estudios Sociales , the Centro de Investigación, Desarrollo de la Educación , and the...
in Santiago, Chile
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
. Their report brings together the main results of the field work, including background and analysis of each of the initiatives and excerpts from extended interviews with educators and activists in each country.
Strategic partners
The Berkley Center has partnered with numerous other organizations to pursue its work in different areas related to the interplay of religion, politics, culture, development, and the economy.World Faiths Development Dialogue
Established in 1998 by World Bank President James WolfensohnJames Wolfensohn
Sir James David Wolfensohn AO KBE FKC was the ninth president of the World Bank Group.-Early life:James Wolfensohn was born in Sydney, Australia, on 1 December 1933...
and Archbishop of Canterbury Lord George Carey
George Carey
George Leonard Carey, Baron Carey of Clifton PC, FKC is a former Archbishop of Canterbury, holding the office from 1991 to 2002. He was the first modern holder of the office not to have attended Oxford or Cambridge University...
, the World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD) is an NGO based at the Berkley Center bridging the worlds of faith and secular development and supporting research and dialogue on global policy challenges. Katherine Marshall, who leads the Berkley Center’s Program on Religion and Global Development, serves as Executive Director.
Henry Luce Foundation
Since 2006, the Berkley Center and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) have worked closely with the Henry Luce Foundation. The Luce/SFS Program on Religion and International Affairs has supported two program areas — Religion and U.S. Foreign Policy and Religion and Global Development — as well as the Center’s outreach to government and other academic centers and institutes around the world.World Economic Forum
In 2007, the Berkley Center began a collaboration with the Geneva-based World Economic ForumWorld Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
around issues of faith, values, and the global agenda. In January 2010, the Center co-produced a report on the topic released at the Forum’s annual meeting in Davos
Davos
Davos is a municipality in the district of Prättigau/Davos in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of 11,248 . Davos is located on the Landwasser River, in the Swiss Alps, between the Plessur and Albula Range...
. In September 2011, Georgetown and the Forum convened a conference at Georgetown to explore efforts to close values deficits in business and government.
John Templeton Foundation
In January 2011, the Berkley Center received a grant from the Templeton Foundation to create a Religious Freedom Project. Led by the Center’s Thomas Farr and Timothy Shah, the project seeks to advance the study of religious freedom as an interdisciplinary field. A series of conferences and publications will examine its significance for efforts to advance human rights, democracy, and economic and social development.Washington Post
Georgetown/On Faith is an online partnership between the Berkley Center and the Washington Post designed to provide knowledge and inform debate at the intersection of religion, politics, and society. It features faculty blogs as well as links to the Center’s online Knowledge Resources. In July 2007, the Berkley Center partnered with On Faith to provide the Muslims Speak Out Forum, featuring some of the Islamic world's most influential leaders, including Ali GomaaAli Gomaa
Sheikh Ali Goma'a is the Grand Mufti of Egypt through Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah succeeding Ahmad El-Tayeb. He has been called "one of the most widely respected jurists in the Sunni Muslim world," and described as "a highly promoted champion of moderate Islam," gender equality, and an "object of...
, Mustafa Ceric, Gus Dur, Mohammad Fadlallah and others. Non-Muslim participants include John Esposito
John Esposito
John Louis Esposito is a professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University...
, Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
, Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, Paul Heck, Jon Meacham
Jon Meacham
Jon Meacham is executive editor and executive vice president at Random House. A former editor of Newsweek and a Pulitzer Prize winning bestselling author and a commentator on politics, history, and religious faith in America, he is a contributing editor to Time magazine and editor-at-large of WNET...
, and Sally Quinn
Sally Quinn
Sally Sterling Quinn is an American author and journalist, who writes about religion for a blog at The Washington Post.-Personal:...
.
Programs
The Berkley Center has seven major areas of academic research, each led by a member of the Berkley Center's faculty. The http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/programs/religion-and-ethics-in-world-politics Religion and Ethics in World Politics Program], led by Berkley Center Director Thomas Banchoff, examines the political and policy significance of religion and ethics, with an emphasis on democratic institutions and value conflict. The Program in Globalization, Religions, and the Secular, led by José Casanova, brings together leading scholars across disciplines to explore questions related to the intersection between globalizationGlobalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
and the resurgence of public religion. The Religion, Conflict, and Peace Program, led by Eric Patterson, examines the intersection of religion with other cultural, social, and political factors in the generation and resolution of conflict in order to produce critical case studies and develop knowledge resources for government professionals. The Program on The Church and Interreligious Dialogue, led by Chester Gillis
Chester Gillis
Chester L. Gillis, Ph.D, is Dean of Georgetown College, Professor in the Department of Theology, and the founding Director of the Program on the Church and Interreligious Dialogue in the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University.- Research and Publication...
, examines the Catholic Church’s interaction with other religious traditions as well as the challenges posed by increasing cultural and religious pluralism worldwide. The Program in Law, Religion, and Values, led by Berkley Center Associate Director Michael Kessler, supports teaching, research, and scholarly conferences that explore how religion and values legitimate, shape, and conflict with global political, cultural, and legal systems in transnational and comparative perspective. The Religion and Global Development Program, led by Katherine Marshall, tracks the engagement of religious communities around global policy challenges and brings together stakeholders to examine best practices and advance collaboration. The Program in Religious and U.S. Foreign Policy, led by Thomas Farr, explores the role of religion in U.S. foreign policy, with special attention to issues of human rights and international religious freedom.