Half-brothers

"Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah." ~ Genesis 25:8-10

"Half-brothers who did not get along, come together in peace to bury their father. It’s an amazing story of forgiveness that says a lot to us today. Isaac and Ishmael fought as brothers, but Isaac’s mother Sarah was having none of it and ordered her husband to cast Ishmael and his mother out to the desert. Abraham knew that God would keep them safe, but it was a terrible hardship for the pair and they both nearly died before they were rescued by an angel. Isaac, on the other hand, was nearly sacrificed by his father a chapter later, so it was a very stressful time.

But after all that hardship, the brothers came together to bury their father. Through their common grief, they found something uncommon: forgiveness and even a joint sense of purpose. This is remarkable when you consider just how challenging it is to be siblings in the Torah: Cain’s rivalry with Abel led to the first murder, Jacob’s and Esau’s will nearly lead to war, and Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery. Of all the prominent brothers, only Moses and Aaron were successful together, and look what they accomplished!..

Where Jews and Christians embraced Isaac as one of their patriarchs, Muslims tie their history to Ishmael. In the Quran, it is Ishmael that is nearly sacrificed on the mountain, not Isaac. Like siblings in Genesis, the three Abrahamic faiths bicker and even come to violence, but there is so much more than connects them than separates them. Isaac and Ishmael, in the bible at least, came to a peace together. They saw in their father, Abraham, their shared history and perhaps even their shared joy...

I hope for a day when the familial bickering and violence between the faiths–  especially with respect to Islam– subsides and we see these three faiths in the light of what they have in common instead of what they have different... this is why I hold this passage and this message so close to me..." ~ Joe Pranevich

"At a critical juncture in the postwar order that has prevailed in Europe since 1945, this symposium begins with the premise that violence committed in God’s name is always an act of desecration. Hope of redress must start, we believe, in re-imagining the intended relationship amongst the Abrahamic faiths. Participants come together to consider how a re-reading of the hallowed texts of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam might mitigate the militancy whereby group identity can lead to deadly conflict. Particular questions to be pondered include:

• Can a reexamination of biblical stories about sibling rivalry     that appear to be at the heart of the problem of ‘them’ vs. ‘us’ enmity point to a solution?
• Is it possible to apply scriptural reasoning (in which members of different religious traditions discuss their sacred literatures in ways that engender trust) to social issues on a large scale?
• Can shared acknowledgements of and connections to God as creator, sustainer, and judge of the universe, discovered through such a process, be used to resist religious persecution and foster tolerance, justice, and peace?
• How do such deeply theoretical issues as changing views of supersessionism and differing approaches to hermeneutics impact our search for answers?
• Are there practical imperatives related to theological education and public policy stemming from a commitment to using theology to combat religiously-motivated violence?
From a psychological perspective, the key matters to probe are:
• Can empathy inspire altruism? If so, how can it best be fostered?
• Or is “fellow feeling,” as Adam Smith argued in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, a limited emotion? If so, can reason succeed in overriding selfish instinct?

Specifically, as we face collapsed states in parts of the Middle East and the rise of violent extremist non-state actors that have led to vast migrations of people fleeing war and seeking sanctuary:

• How can we facilitate the extension of care beyond the boundaries of family, tribe, ethnicity, and nation?
• What research questions do we need most urgently to pursue in understanding cultural adaptation for prosociality and cooperation amongst groups?"

~ "The symposium is part of the John Templeton Foundation’s Humble Approach Initiative...It assumes an openness to new ideas and a willingness to experiment. Placing high value upon patience and perseverance, it retains a sense of wondering expectation because it recognizes, in Loren Eiseley’s haunting phrase, “a constant emergent novelty in nature that does not lie totally behind us, or we would not be where we are.”...The humble approach is intended as a corrective to parochialism. It encourages discovery and seeks to accelerate its pace."

~ Jonathan Sacks, (philosopher and a scholar of Judaism, served as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth for twenty-two years), Chair of the Symposium

~ Amineh Ahmed Hoti is the founder and executive director of Markaz-e-Ilm, the Center for Dialogue and Action (CDA), in Islamabad, Pakistan, Participant

~ Eliza Griswold has written extensively about the war on terror, Participant

Scott Atran, Richard Alan Burridge, Robert P. George, Mark Gopin,
William Storrar, Guy G. Stroumsa, Miroslav Volf, Michael Welker,
David Sloan Wilson, Participants

Image ~ Figures de la Bible. 1728