John Templeton Symposium with Rabbi Lord Sacks at King's

In the last couple of days, King’s College London has been delighted to host for the John Templeton Foundation Humble Approach Initiative (HIA) a symposium on ‘Redeeming the Past and Building the Future: Confronting Religious Violence with a Counter Narrative’, with conversations building on and exploring themes presented by Rabbi Lord Sacks FKC in his book Not in God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence (Hodder & Stoughton, 2015), and the lecture which he gave in 2016 to mark his acceptance of the Templeton Prize (http://www.kcl.ac.uk/newsevents/news/newsrecords/2016/03%20March/Rabbi-Sacks-Awarded-2016-Templeton-Prize-.aspx).  We are always pleased to welcome Lord Sacks back to King’s as one of our most distinguished alumni, and we have been very happy to work with the John Templeton Foundation to provide space for the symposium to take place.  This follows a public HAI event in 2013, when Archbishop Desmond Tutu FKC received the Templeton Prize. 

With contributors attending from the UK, USA, Israel, Europe, and Pakistan, the symposium has provided opportunities for academics, philosophers, scientists, religious leaders, and those involved in inter-faith work at grassroots level across the Middle East and Africa, to share their experiences, and to explore ways in which working together on these and related issues may make the world a better place.   Observers were also present from Clarence House, 10 Downing Street, and Lambeth Palace.

 Photo credit: Dan Sacker

(from left to right:)

• Dr Marc Gopin, Director of the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy, and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University, Virginia, USA
• Dr Scott Atran, Directeur de Recherche, CNRS, Institut Jean Nicod, Paris, France
• Dr David Sloan Wilson, President of the Evolution Institute, Binghamton University, New York, USA
• Dr Amineh Ahmed Hoti, Executive Director of the Centre for Dialogue and Action, Islamabad, Pakistan
• Dr Robert P George, Founding Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, Princeton University, New Jersey, USA
• Ms Mary Ann Meyers, Senior Fellow of the John Templeton Foundation, Pennsylvania, USA
• Rabbi Lord (Jonathan) Sacks FKC, Emeritus Professor of Law, Ethics & the Bible, King’s College London
• Professor Edward Byrne, President & Principal, King’s College London
• The Revd Canon Professor Richard A Burridge FKC, Dean of King’s College London & Professor of Biblical Interpretation, King’s College London
• The Revd Dr William Storrar, Director of the Center for Theological Inquiry, Henry R Luce Hall, New Jersey, USA

Also contributing, but not pictured, were:

• Ms Eliza T Griswold, Berggruen Fellow at Harvard Divinity School, Massachusetts, USA
• Dr Guy G Stroumsa, Martin Buber Professor Emeritus of Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
• Dr Miroslav Volf, Founding Director of the Center for Faith and Culture, Yale University, Connecticut, USA
• The Revd Dr Michael Welker, Director of the Research Centre for International and Interdisciplinary Theology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany