Scholar on Muslim-Christian Relations to Give Lecture at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – John L. Esposito, University Professor and founding director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University will give a lecture titled “Muslim-Christian Encounters in the 21st Century” on Thursday, April 24 at 4:30 p.m. in Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross.  The event, which is free and open to the public, is part of the Deitchman Family Lectures in Religion and Modernity series.

Esposito specializes in Islam, political Islam from North Africa to Southeast Asia, and religion and international affairs. He is the is the editor-in-chief of the four volume encyclopedia The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, The Oxford History of Islam, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam and The Islamic World: Past and Present.

Esposito has published over 30 books including the Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam (Oxford University Press, 2002), The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? (Oxford University Press, 1999) and Islam and Politics (Syracuse University Press, 1998). His expert commentary has been published in numerous media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC, CNN, as well as media outlets throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

A former president of the Middle East Studies Association of North America and the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies, Esposito was granted the American Academy of Religion’s 2005 Martin E. Marty Award for Public Understanding of Religion and Pakistan’s Quaid-i-Azzam Award for Outstanding Contributions in Islamic Studies.  He has consulted with the U.S. Department of State, as well as numerous corporations, media outlets and universities.  In 2003, Esposito was awarded the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University Award for Outstanding Teaching.

Sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, Deitchman Family Lectures explore "the place of religious and spiritual life in a world that is sometimes at odds with faith, other times in search of it, and always at work reshaping it."

About The Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture:

Established in 2001 and housed in Smith Hall, the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture provides resources for faculty and course development, sponsors conferences and college-wide teaching events, hosts visiting fellows, and coordinates a number of campus lecture series. Rooted in the College's commitment to invite conversation about basic human questions, the Center welcomes persons of all faiths and seeks to foster dialogue that acknowledges and respects differences, providing a forum for intellectual exchange that is interreligious, interdisciplinary, intercultural, and international in scope.  The Center also brings members of the Holy Cross community into conversation with the Greater Worcester community, the academic community, and the wider world to examine the role of faith and inquiry in higher education and in the larger culture.