The Pluralism Project at Harvard UniversityReligious Pluralism and Civil Society: Interfaculty Working Group at Harvard University
Proposal for an Interfaculty Working Group
Diana L. Eck
We have received a renewal of our Interfaculty Collaboration grant for the coming academic year. We have followed through with our focus on "Immigration, Religious Pluralism, and American Civil Society" and are continuing to develop and expand our collaborations in this area of "Religious Pluralism and American Civil Society."
Over the past few years, funds from the Harvard Provosts' Grant for Interfaculty Collaborations have enabled us to convene a series of lunch discussions with faculty across the university who are interested in Immigration, Religious Pluralism, and American Civil Society. The Interfaculty group includes professors from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Faculty of Divinity, the Kennedy School of Government, the Graduate School of Education, and the Harvard Law School. The Pluralism Project plays an important role in being able to draw professors and researchers from a wide range of Harvard's schools and programs into discussion about critical issues.
In 2003, we generated a new series of lunchtime colloquia that has steered into practical issues of "Religious Pluralism and American Civil Society." We have experimented with outreach beyond the original Interfaculty group and have involved new people whose scholarly work offers opportunities for collaboration. It is distinctive to the work of the Pluralism Project that our contact with scholars is amplified by our contact with women and men who are leaders in their respective religious communities. We have had presentations from and have included members of diverse religious communities, particularly those with acute concerns about current policy issues. This interface between religious communities and the academy is unique to our work, and the reservoir of trust and relationships we have enables us to convene just this kind of program.
The Spring 2003 series included the following topics:
1. Challenges Facing Muslim Communities
2. Challenges Facing Sikh Communities
3. Religious Diversity in the Workplace
4. Christian-Muslim Relations in Europe, the Middle East, and the United States
This academic year we are continuing collaborations and further expansion of our network in this new direction of "Religious Pluralism and Civil Society." The Fall 2003 and Spring 2004 schedules are available online.
To review the original Interfaculty grant, see this webpage.