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Cardinal Francis George John Esposito Martin E. Marty Alparslan Acikgenc Ted Peters Zeki Saritoprak Paul F. Knitter Richard W. Bulliet Eileen Barker John McCarthy Ellen Bernstein William Johnson Everett Mehmet Saglam David Wellman Omer Caha Kemal K. Oksuz Stanley L. Davis, Jr. Ahmed Rehab Scott Paeth Scott Alexander Tamara Gurtueva Safei-Eldin Hamed Asma Afsaruddin Thomas Michel, S.J. Eboo Patel Marcia Hermansen Cardinal Francis George His Eminence Francis Eugene Cardinal George, O.M.I., eighth Archbishop of Chicago, was born in Chicago to Francis J. and Julia R. McCarthy George on January 16, 1937. He is the first native Chicagoan to serve as Archbishop of Chicago. Cardinal George earned a master’s degree in philosophy at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. in 1965 and a doctorate in American philosophy at Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1970. In 1971, he received a master’s degree in theology from the University of Ottawa in Canada. During those years, he also taught philosophy at the Oblate Seminary, Pass Christian, Mississippi (1964-69), Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana (1968) and at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska (1969-1973). He is Vice-President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Liturgy, and a member of the USCCB ad hoc Committee on Shrines and the Subcommittee on Campus Ministry. He also serves as consultant to the USCCB Committees on Doctrine and Pro-Life Activities and the Subcommittee on Lay Ministry. Previously, he served on the USCCB Committees on Doctrine, on Latin America, on Missions, on Religious Life, the American Board of Catholic Missions, on World Missions, and on the ad hoc Committee to Oversee the Use of the Catechism. John Esposito Understanding the politics and culture of the Islamic world has become an imperative for America. No one is better equipped to foster this understanding than John Esposito, recognized authority on Islam and Islamic culture, University Professor of Religion and International Affairs, Professor of Islamic Studies and Founding Director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. Esposito is the author of more than thirty books on Islam and is the editor-in-chief of the four-volume Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam and The Islamic World: Past and Present. His monographs, translated into Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Japanese, Chinese, and European languages, include What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam, Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam, The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?, Islam and Politics, and many others. A former president of the Middle East Studies Association of North America Esposito founded the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in 1993 to foster a better understanding of Islam and of Muslim-Christian relations in the West. He is also a consultant to the U.S. Department of State and to corporations, universities, and the media worldwide. Esposito is widely interviewed or quoted in the media, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and network news stations, NPR, BBC, and in media throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Martin E. Marty • The Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago, where he taught chiefly in the Divinity School for 35 years and where the Martin Marty Center has since been founded to promote “public religion” endeavors. • Columnist for the Christian Century, on whose staff he has served since 1956 and in which his “M.E.M.O” column appears. • Editor of the semimonthly Context, a newsletter on religion and culture, since 1969. • Weekly contributor to Sightings, a biweekly, electronic editorial published by the Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School • Author of more than 50 books. Among the books Marty has written are Righteous Empire, for which he won the National Book Award; the three-volume Modern American Religion; The One and the Many: America’s Search for the Common Good; and, with photographer Micah Marty, Places Along the Way; Our Hope for Years to Come; The Promise of Winter; and When True Simplicity Is Gained. His Martin Luther in the “Penguin Lives” series was published in February 2004. • Author of numerous essays, articles, papers, chapters, and forewords. Marty has authored more than 5,000 articles; for specific listings, see the annual volumes of Readers Guide to Periodical Literature, where hundreds of Marty’s articles are indexed; others are accessible on the web. (For a list of writings since 1998, see Recent Writings.) Alparslan Acikgenc Education • PhD, The University of Chicago, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations/Philosophy-1983, Chicago/USA • MA, University of Wisconsin, Philosophy-1977, Milwaukee, Wisconsin/USA • BA, Ankara University, History of Philosophy-1974, Ankara/TURKEY Experience • Dekan/Dean Fatih University, Apr. 2001- Apr. 2004 • Prof. Dr. Fatih University, Aug. 1999- Jan. 2003 • Prof. Dr. International Inst. of Islamic Thought and Civ., Jan. 1995- Aug. 1999 • Prof. Dr. Gaziosmanpasa University, Apr. 1994- Dec. 1994 • Assoc. Prof. Middle East Technical University, May. 1988- Apr. 1994 • Assist. Prof. Middle East Technical University, Apr. 1985- May. 1988 • Lecturer Middle East Technical University, Dec. 1983- Apr. 1985 Research Interests • History of Philosophy • Early Islamic Philosophy, Greek Philosophy, Modern Western Philosophy, German Idealism and Existentialism • Epistemology, ontology, philosophy of science Teaching Interests • Greek philosophy, ethics, logic, philosophy of science, history of Islamic philosophy Books • Alparslan AÇIKGENÇ ve M. Hayri KIRBASOGLU, "Ibn Sina Risaleler", Kitabiyat • Alparslan AÇIKGENÇ, "Bilgi Felsefesi", Insan Yayinlari, 2002 • Alparslan AÇIKGENÇ, "Scientific Thought and its Burdens", Fatih University, 2000 • Alparslan AÇIKGENÇ, "Islamic Science: Towards a Definition", International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, 1996 • Alparslan AÇIKGENÇ, "Being and Existence in Sadra and Heidegger: A Comparative Ontology", International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, 1993 • Alparslan AÇIKGENÇ, "Bilgi Felsefesi", Insan Yayinlari, 1992 Ted Peters Professor of Systematic Theology at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. Fredrik Schiotz Distinguished Presidential Fellowship, 1984; Editor, dialog; Member, GTU Core Doctoral Faculty; Principal investigator for a research project with the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences on theological and ethical implications of the human genome initiative; Author, Cosmos as Creation, 1989; The Cosmic Self, 1990; God — The World’s Future, 1992, 2000; God as Trinity, 1993; Sin, 1994; For the Love of Children, 1996; Playing God?, 1997, 2002; Editor and Contributor, Science and Theology: The New Consonance, 1998; Genetics: Issues of Social Justice, 1998; Co-Editor, Resurrection, 2002; Co-Editor, God, Life, and the Cosmos: Christian and Islamic Perspectives, 2002; Co-Editor, Bridging Science and Religion, 2002; Author, Science, Theology, and Ethics, 2003. Zeki Saritoprak Dr. Zeki Saritoprak holds the Nursi Chair in Islamic Studies at John Carroll University. Professor Saritoprak holds a Ph.D. in Islamic Theology from the University of Marmara, Turkey, where he also earned his B.A. in Divinity and master’s degree in Islamic Theology and Philosophy. Additionally, Saritoprak attended Al-Azhar University in Cairo for several years while conducting research for his dissertation. He is the founder and honorary president of the Rumi Forum for Interfaith Dialogue in Washington, D.C. Saritoprak has conducted research and taught courses at Harran University Turkey, Georgetown University, the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and Berry College in Rome, Georgia. Some of the subjects he has taught include the Science of Kalam, Introduction to Islam, World Religions, Biblical Elements in the Qur’an, Sufism, Islamic Sects, Contemporary Islamic Movements and Interfaith Dialogue. Currently, he is teaching Islamic Studies at John Carroll University. Paul F. Knitter Emeritus Professor of Theology at Xavier University, Cincinnati, Paul Knitter received a Licentiate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome (1966) and a doctorate from the University of Marburg, Germany (1972) Most of his research and publications have dealt with religious pluralism and interreligious dialogue. Since his ground-breaking 1985 book, No Other Name?, he has been exploring how the religious communities of the world can cooperate in promoting human and ecological well-being. This is the topic of: One Earth Many Religions: Multifaith Dialogue and Global Responsibility (1995) and Jesus and the Other Names: Christian Mission and Global Responsibility (1996) He has recently published a critical survey of Christian approaches to other religions: Introducing Theologies of Religions (2002). He is also General Editor of Orbis Books' series "Faith Meets Faith." From 1986-2004, Knitter was on the Board of Directors for CRISPAZ (Christians for Peace in El Salvador). He is also on the Board of Trustees for the International, Interreligious Peace Council, formed after the 1993 World Parliament of Religions, to promote interreligious peace-making projects. Richard W. Bulliet Professor of History, Middle East Institute Columbia University Editorship Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East, co-editor, Macmillan 1996, 4v. Columbia Encyclopedia, chief consultant on history for fifth edition Encyclopedia of Asian History, Associate Editor for Iran and Central Asia Iranian Studies, Editor, 1987-91 PUBLICATIONS BOOKS Non-fiction: The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization, Columbia University Press, 2004 The Columbia History of the Twentieth Century, editor, New York: Columbia University Press, 1998 (translations into Chinese, Croatian, and Polish) The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History, co-author, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997; third edition 2004 The Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East, co-editor, New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1996 Under Siege: Islam and Democracy, editor, The Middle East Institute, Columbia University, Occasional Papers 1, 1994 Islam: The View from the Edge, Columbia University Press, 1993 Crisis in the Middle East, supplementary high school current events book, Grolier, Inc., 1992 Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period: An Essay in Quantitative History, Harvard University Press, 1979; Persian translation, Tehran: Nashr-e Tarikh-e Iran, 1987 The Camel and the Wheel, Harvard University Press, 1975; Morninside Edition with new preface, Columbia University Press, 1990 The Patricians of Nishapur: A Study in Medieval Islamic Social History, Harvard University Press, 1972 John McCarthy Associate Professor of Loyola University Chicago. Specialty: Fundamental Theology and Hermeneutics Research Interests: Philosophy and Theology, especially modern and contemporary; Literary Theory Eileen Barker Eileen Barker, PhD, PhD h.c., OBE, FBA, is Professor Emeritus of Sociology with Special Reference to the Study of Religion at the London School of Economics. Her main research interest is ‘cults’, ‘sects’ and new religious movements, and the social reactions to which they give rise; but since 1989 she has also been investigating changes in the religious situation in post-communist countries. She has over 230 publications (translated into 24 different languages), which include the award-winning The Making of a Moonie: Brainwashing or Choice? and New Religious Movements: A Practical Introduction. In the late 1980s, with the support of the British Government and mainstream Churches, she founded INFORM, a charity based at the LSE which provides information about the new religions that is as accurate, objective and up-to-date as possible. She is a frequent advisor to governments, other official bodies and law-enforcement agencies around the world; and is the only non-American to have been elected President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. In 2000 she was the recipient of the American Academy of Religion’s prestigious Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion. Asma Afsaruddin Dr. Asma Afsaruddin (afsaruddin@islam-democracy.org) received her Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University in 1993 and is currently associate professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. She previously taught at the Johns Hopkins and Harvard universities. Her fields of specialization are the religious and political thought of Islam, Qur'an and hadith studies, and Islamic intellectual history. Professor Afsaruddin is the author of Excellence and Precedence: Medieval Islamic Discourse on Legitimate Leadership (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2002); the editor of Hermeneutics and Honor :Negotiation of Female "Public" Space in Islamic/ate Societies (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University, 1999); and co-editor of Humanism, Culture, and Language in the Near East: Studies in Honor of Georg Krotkoff (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1997). Her articles and reviews have been published in numerous scholarly journals and she has lectured widely in this country and abroad on various aspects of Islamic thought. Afsaruddin is the recipient of a research grant from the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation for 2003-04. She is currently serving on the editorial boards of the Encyclopedia of Medieval Islamic Civilization (Routledge Press, forthcoming), and the Bulletin of the Middle East Studies Association and is a member of the advisory board of Karamah, a women’s and human rights organization based in Washington, D.C. Ellen Bernstein Writer and Activist Hebrew College, Newton, MA Ellen Bernstein is an independent scholar and writer whose work focuses on the the relationship of Judaism and ecology. She is the founder of the first Jewish organization dedicated to ecological issues, Shomreh Adamah, Keepers of the Earth. Her book Ecology and the Jewish Spirit (Pelican, 2000) explores the implications of sacred space, sacred time, and sacred community for a Jewish ecological consciousness. William Johnson Everett William Johnson Everett Herbert J. Gezork Professor of Christian Social Ethics, Emeritus Andover Newton Theological School William Johnson Everett’s professional work revolves around an exploration of the way faith images shape our relationships and organizational life. Using key organizing images such as that of the oikos (the ancient household), covenant, and public to look at issues in church organization, the relation of religion to key social institutions, ethical issues in ecology, and in ritual life, both in the church and in society. A lay leader in both Baptist and Methodist churches as well as been a consultant to Lutheran, Roman Catholic and various ecumenical bodies Everett has written extensively on church and society issues involving family, economics, ecology, politics, symbolism, and law. He is the author of God's Federal Republic: Reconstructing our Governing Symbol (Paulist Press, 1988), Religion, Federalism, and the Struggle for Public Life: Cases from Germany, India, and America (Oxford University Press) and The Politics of Worship (United Church Press, 1999). He currently works in the areas of worship, symbolism, and ethics; ecological ethics; and restorative justice. David Wellman Assistant Professor of Religious Studies DePaul University David Wellman is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York City and Columbia University. He works on the intersection of issues of sustainable development, interfaith dialogue, and diplomacy. He has worked extensively with the World Council of Churches on issues of sustainability. His publications include Sustainable Diplomacy : Ecology, Religion and Ethics in Muslim-Christian Relations (Palgrave, 2004) and Sustainable Communities (World Council of Churches, 2001). Mehmet Saglam Bio Coming soon... Omer Caha Dean and Professor of Department of Economics & Administrative Sciences at Fatih University, Istanbul. Research Interests: • Political Behaviors (Political Parties, party systems, electoral systems, electoral behaviors, Turkish party systems, Turkish electoral behaviors, interest groups, social movements, Turkish social movements) • Turkish Politics (Turkish political institutions, Turkish democracy, state and society in Turkey, consolidation of Turkih democracy, politics of social groups, Turkish political culture) • Religion and Politics (Islam and politics, Islam and democracy, religious movements, religion and politics in Turkey, religion and politics in USA, Islam and women, religion and politcs in the Middle East, history of civilizations, humanity, secularism) • Turkish Literature (Searching about Turkish poetry, novel and story; and writing poetry) • Women and politcs (feminist theory, women's movement in general, Turkish women's movement, women and Islam, women in the Middle East) • Political Theory (civil society, democracy, liberalism, modernism and postmodernism, multiculturalism and identity, citizenship and nationalism) • Political Thought (Classical Western political thought, Modern Western political thought, Postmodern political thought, Classical Islamic political thought, Contemporary Islamic political thought) Tamara Gurtueva Professor of Russian Language and Literature Fatih University, Istanbul. Research Interests: • Russian and European Culture, Contemporary Russian Literature, Comparative Literature,Cultural Aspects of Russian Mass Media,Turkology Stanley L. Davis, Jr. Rev. Stanley L. Davis, Jr. is the President & CEO of Interfaith Connections, a civic, not for profit organization that seeks to promote interfaith understanding. He is the National NCCJ liaison to the International Council of Christians and Jews (ICCJ); as well as Executive Director Emeritus of the Chicago and Northern Illinois Region of The National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ); Associate Director of the Council of Religious Leaders Of Metropolitan Chicago; and a consultant to The Chicago Dwellings Association. Rev. Davis was the Executive Director of the Chicago and Northern Illinois Region of The National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) from February 1984 through December 2003. NCCJ, founded in 1927 as The National Conference of Christians and Jews, is a civic non-profit human relation's organization dedicated to fighting bias, bigotry, and racism in America. Throughout his career, Rev. Davis has participated in the struggle for civil and human rights. In the 1960's, Rev. Davis was involved in the many activities that revolved around the formation of the Chicago Freedom Movement and the ministry of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Rev. Davis played a key role in easing tensions between civil rights activists and residents of the Northwest Side during the open housing marches in the summer of 1966. Rev. Davis also was instrumental in the struggle to make Oak Park the racially integrated community it is today. For 25 years, Rev. Davis worked on behalf of young people. He pioneered services for troubled adolescents at local, state, and national levels as an executive of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago. Kemal K. Oksuz Kemal K. Oksuz is the Executive Director for the Niagara Foundation in Chicago and the coordinator of “The Chicago Interfaith Gathering Symposium”. He graduated from the 'English Language Teaching' Department of the School of Education at Selcuk University, Konya in Turkey in 1993. Mr. Oksuz holds the following credentials: • Graduate of the 2004 Citizen’s Academy • Citizen’s Academy Alumni Association • Member of the Chicago Police Department’s Multi-Cultural Forum • Member of the Executive Board of Niagara Educational Services (NES) • Member of the Advisory Board of the Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice at The Lutheran School of Theology • Member of the Advisory Board of Mendota Educational & Consulting Services, LLC Scott Alexander Scott C. Alexander is an Associate Professor of Islam and Director of the Catholic-Muslim Studies Program. He holds an A.B. from Harvard University and an M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Columbia University, NY. Scott Alexander's academic career has been dedicated to the study of Islam in the context of his broader training as an historian of religions. His teaching and research interests range from medieval Muslim sectarianism, and the mystical traditions of Muslim spirituality, to Quranic studies, as well as both the history and future of Muslim-Christian relations and interfaith dialogue. Scott Paeth Scott R. Paeth is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at DePaul University. His work deals with the intersection of religion and public life in a modern, pluralist society. He is the co-editor (with Max Stackhouse and Tim Dearborn) of "The Local Church in a Global Era" (Eerdmans, 2000), and the forthcoming "Religious Perspectives on Business Ethics (Sheed & Ward, 2006) and "Who Do You Say That I Am: Christology and Identity in the United Church of Christ" (Pilgrim Press, 2006). He has written on Christian ethics, public theology and the importance of civil society. Ahmed Rehab Chicago Muslim Community Activist Ahmed Rehab is consultant for the Niagara Foundation. He is the Director of Communications at CAIR-Chicago, a local chapter of the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group located in downtown Chicago. He is board member and secretary of the Egyptian American Society as well as a board member of CAIR-Chicago. Rehab has been active in interfaith dialogue for many years. He represented the Muslim perspective in an international seminar on Refugees held in Kericho, Kenya. He is editor of the upcoming FaithCore Online Journal. Rehab speaks regulary at universities, mosques, churches, and synagogues and writes profusely on Muslim-American issues. He hosts a Radio show that discusses Muslim-related issues on 1450AM Chicago every Saturday from 6-7pm. Rehab is founder and president of Amrex Media and founder of Ibex Computers Inc. He is a sofware engineer by trade. Safei-Eldin Hamed Safei-Eldin Hamed, ASLA is an associate professor of environmental planning and management at the department of landscape architecture at Texas Tech University. He practices as an environmental specialist and as an international development consultant. From 1994 to 1997, he worked as an environmental assessment specialist at the World Bank in Washington, DC. Dr. Hamed has served as a consultant for several organizations including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Harvard University, the State Department, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, the Smithsonian Institute, the Arab Development Institute inLybia, Parks Canada, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the Council for Environmental Affairs of Yemen, and the Ministry of Tourism in Egypt. He has authored Landscape Planning Objectives for the Arid middle East: An approach to setting environmental objectives, which was published by The Edwin Mellen Press: Lewiston, New York in 2002, and co-authored five other books and well over 60 chapters, articles, papers, and special reports. His work has encompassed various topics including environmentally and socially sustainable development, environmental strategies and policies, environmental impacts analysis, historical gardens of the Middle East, Islamic art and architecture in the United States, and Arab-Muslim cities and their cross-cultural issues. Dr Hamed holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Planning from Virginia Tech, a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Georgia, and a Bachelor of Architecture from Cairo University. Before joining Texas Tech, he has taught at the University of Guelph and The University of Nova Scotia in Canada; King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia; the University of Georgia, Virginia Tech, and the University of Maryland in the United States. Thomas Michel, S.J. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A., in 1941. After completing his studies in philosophy and theology in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A., he was ordained a priest in 1967. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1969. After Arabic and Islamic studies in Egypt and Lebanon, he completed a doctoral dissertation on the thought of the Muslim scholar Ibn Taymiyya and received a Ph.D. in Islamic thought from the University of Chicago in 1978. In 1981, he was appointed to the Asia Desk of the Vatican Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and in 1988, he became Head of the Office for Islam in the same Vatican department. Since 1994, he has served as Executive Secretary of the Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC-OEIA), in Bangkok, Thailand. Since 1996, he is Director of the Jesuit Secretariat for Interreligious Dialogue in Rome, Italy, and Ecumenical Secretary for the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences. Teaching experience: Northwestern and Columbia Universities in the U.S.A; Sanata Dharma University and Driyarkara Institute of Philosophy in Indonesia; St. Paul’s Major Seminary, Dansalan College, and Euntes Asian Center in the Philippines; Ankara, Dokuz Eylül, Selcuk, and Harran Universities in Turkey; Pontifical Institute for Arabic/Islamic Studies in Rome; St. Peter's College, in Malaysia; St. Paul’s Seminary in Schköder, Albania; University of Birmingham, England; In 2000, he delivered the D’Arcy Lectures at Oxford University in Oxford, England, on Christian-Muslim relations. Fr. Michel is on the Academic Council of the "Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding" of Georgetown University, Washington, USA. He is on the International Advisory Board of the Khalidi Library, Jerusalem and the Editorial Board of the journal Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations in Birmingham, UK. He is on the International Advisory Panel of the International Movement for a Just World in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the International Advisory Committee of the Center for World Thanksgiving, Dallas, Texas, USA and on the Advisory Board of the Centre for Civilizational Dialogue at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Eboo Patel Eboo Patel is the Founder and Executive Director of the Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based international nonprofit organization that brings young people from diverse religious communities together in programs that build understanding between religious communities and encourage cooperative service to others. Eboo earned his doctorate in the Sociology of Religion from the University of Oxford, where he studied on a Rhodes Scholarship. He serves on the Board of Directors of the International Interfaith Centre and the Advisory Board of the International Interfaith Centre at Duke University’s Islamic Studies Center and is President of the Board of CrossCurrents Magazine. Eboo’s essays have been published in The Sunday Chicago Tribune, The Harvard Divinity School Bulletin and Utne Magazine, and he is the co-editor of the forthcoming Building the Interfaith Youth Movement (AltaMira Press). Eboo has lectured all over the world, including giving the keynote address at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum, the sermon at Rockefeller Chapel’s Thanksgiving Service and the Baccalaureate Service Address at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been profiled by The Sunday Chicago Tribune, Conscious Choice Magazine and Utne Magazine, which named him one of “thirty social visionaries under thirty changing the world”. Eboo is an Ashoka Fellow, selected as part of an elite international network of “social entrepreneurs” implementing ideas with the potential to change the pattern of our society. He is currently writing a book called Bridges or Bombs: The Role of Religious Youth In the 21st Century with Beacon Press. Marcia Hermansen Dr. Marcia Hermansen is a Professor of Theology at Loyola University Chicago where she teaches courses in Islamic Studies and World Religions. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Arabic and Islamic Studies. In the course of her research and language training she live for extended periods in Egypt, Jordan, India, Iran and Pakistan. She conducts research in Arabic, Persian and Urdu as well as the major European languages. Her book, The Conclusive Argument from God, a study and translation from the Arabic of Shah Wali Allah of Delhi's, Hujjat Allah al-Baligha, was published in 1996. Dr. Hermansen has also contributed numerous academic articles in the fields of Islamic thought, Islam and Muslims in South Asia, Muslims in America and Women in Islam. . . . . . . . Other Conferences   | About CIG | Sponsor | Co-sponsors | Program | | Speakers Bios | Contact us | Links | All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2005 © Niagara Foundation Questions or Comments, Email ahmed@niagarafoundation.org Site Designed by AmrexMedia.com