interfaith dialogue

In this week's show our guest is Caleb Stewart Davis, a youth minister who has his own podcast. Caleb is an apologist for the modern evangelical Christian movement which is often associated with supporting Jews and Judaism. As many fringe Christian groups are involved in Antisemitic attacks on religious Jews in the U. S. we must look for answers among Christianity's scriptures which are often used as a justification for this hatred. Caleb's knowledge of the first century became a handy resource in our conversation as we tried to make sense of Jesus' tension with fellow Jews and try to solve some of the misunderstandings that have created a propensity among Christian circles to judge all Jews harshly. Caleb Steward Davis is the host of Simply Loving Jesus podcast.

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Mystic-Skeptic Radio produces programs such as Uncensored & Raiders of the Unknown. Some of the ongoing series are: Jesus The Israelite, Anti-Semitism Rising & Paul's Legacy (all available on our YouTube channels). In the past 8 years we have featured academics (Amy Jill Levine) , presidential candidates( Howie Hawkins), Commentators (Jay Michaelson) , Advocates (Vanessa Guillen), Scholars(John Dominic Crossan) and Holistic Healers (Rosemary Gladstar). We have taken deep dives on the topics of human trafficking, ancient civilizations, demonology and the occult, social movements, controversial topics and many of the current affairs affecting our society. Join us as as we explore the mystic-skeptic mind space…

The family of Abraham traditionally included the three faiths, but lately, many people see Islam as an illegitimate member of the family, unwelcome in the house of Abraham. Historically, for Christians, this role was relegated to the Jewish members as "disinherited" siblings. Jews, however, for most Christians at least, have become full members of the family in good standing. Is this a possibility for the Muslims, or does the Quranic verse "The Jews and the Christians will never be pleased with you until you follow their way," obviate that possibility?

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About Dr. Yusuf
Hamza Yusuf is president and senior faculty member of Zaytuna College (Berkeley, California), America's first accredited Muslim liberal arts college.

He is an advisor to the Center for Islamic Studies at Berkeley's Graduate Theological Union. Yusuf also serves as vice president for the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies (Abu Dhabi), which was founded and is currently presided over by Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, a world-renowned Muslim scholar and jurist. In addition, Yusuf has joined the Emirates Fatwa Council under the leadership of Shaykh Abdallah.

He is the author of several books and scholarly articles, while also translating major creedal Islamic texts into English, including Purification of the Heart, The Content of Character, The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi, Caesarean Moon Births, Prayer of the Oppressed, and Agenda to Change our Condition.

Recently, Hamza Yusuf was ranked as "the Western world's most influential Islamic scholar" by The Muslim 500, edited by John Esposito and Ibrahim Kalin.
Along with his extensive training in the Western liberal arts, Yusuf has studied Arabic and the Islamic sciences for over 40 years with leading scholars of the Muslim world.

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The Everding Distinguished Lectureship Program
Established through a gift from Prof. H. Edward and Lee Palmer Everding, this endowed lectureship is a project of the Iliff School of Theology and Saint John's Cathedral aimed at enhancing interfaith dialogue and interreligious learning throughout the community through annual lectures from outstanding visiting teachers.

The Everding Lectures
Presented by Dr. Hamza Yusuf, President and Senior Faculty Member, Zaytuna College 

Since 9/11 over two million Muslims have died in conflicts that in one way or another were related to the events in September 2001. Muslims have been the greatest victims of terror, with minority communities in the Middle East a distant second. In 1947, the historian, Prof. Arnold Toynbee, foretold of a militant version of Islam coupled with a nihilistic zealotry arising in the not too distant future. What did he know that we didn't, and how much of Islam has actually informed these zealots? Moreover, what can we do in the U.S. to mitigate the rise of anti-Muslim sentiment that demonizes the religion of a fifth of the world's population, heralding a possible race war that Toynbee also predicted was likely?

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About Dr. Yusuf
Hamza Yusuf is president and senior faculty member of Zaytuna College (Berkeley, California), America's first accredited Muslim liberal arts college.

He is an advisor to the Center for Islamic Studies at Berkeley's Graduate Theological Union. Yusuf also serves as vice president for the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies (Abu Dhabi), which was founded and is currently presided over by Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, a world-renowned Muslim scholar and jurist. In addition, Yusuf has joined the Emirates Fatwa Council under the leadership of Shaykh Abdallah.

He is the author of several books and scholarly articles, while also translating major creedal Islamic texts into English, including Purification of the Heart, The Content of Character, The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi, Caesarean Moon Births, Prayer of the Oppressed, and Agenda to Change our Condition.

Recently, Hamza Yusuf was ranked as "the Western world's most influential Islamic scholar" by The Muslim 500, edited by John Esposito and Ibrahim Kalin.
Along with his extensive training in the Western liberal arts, Yusuf has studied Arabic and the Islamic sciences for over 40 years with leading scholars of the Muslim world.

.......................

The Everding Distinguished Lectureship Program
Established through a gift from Prof. H. Edward and Lee Palmer Everding, this endowed lectureship is a project of the Iliff School of Theology and Saint John's Cathedral aimed at enhancing interfaith dialogue and interreligious learning throughout the community through annual lectures from outstanding visiting teachers.

I enjoyed this wonderful conversation as we explored the following profound and often perplexing questions: Why forgive? How does psychology define forgiveness and how do Judaism, Christianity and Islam see forgiveness? Does forgiving mean we are pardoning bad behavior? Do you need the offender to participate if you want to forgive? What steps can we take to forgive and how do we do it? Guests for this episode bring the perspectives of Judaism, Islam and Christianity to the topic. Rabbi Mendel Dubov serves as faculty at the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown, NJ, USA and as Director of Chabad in Sussex County, NJ. Saifulla Chaudahry serves as Propagation Secretary for Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of North Jersey. Pastor Michael Bos, Ph.D. serves as the Senior Minister of Marble Collegiate Church of New York City and is the President of the Collegiate Churches of New York. Dr. Bos established the first interfaith religious diplomacy center on the Arabian Peninsula, and received the U.S. Ambassador’s Award for Community Service. Psychology studies have found that when people forgive it decreases anxiety, depression and obsessive thinking about the offender. Multiple studies have also found that forgiveness improves mood, psychological health and the quality of one’s relationships overall. To read & explore further about forgiveness , may I suggest starting with a search of psychology studies by Robert Enright and Richard Fitzgibbons. I hope you will enjoy and learn from this very special episode! If you have enjoyed Psychology America with Dr. Alexandra, there are a few ways that you can show your support: 1) visit iTunes and leave us a 5-Star rating, 2) order a book from PsychologyAmerica.com where there is a selection of books I’ve personally chosen (your order will go seamlessly through to Amazon.com) or 3) press subscribe to continue to receive new episodes. Would you like to teach your child nine and under about how to have an optimistic outlook even when things go wrong? Consider purchasing my book entitled: “There’s Always Hope: a Story About Overcoming.” It can be found on The PsychologyAmerica.com website or at Amazon.com. The beautiful illustrations were painted by Philadelphia resident, Briana Giasullo, and the book also imparts empathy for the disabled. 

This show was created with love on my volunteer time. One small gift you can give me back is to take the time to leave the show a comment and rating on iTunes. You can also support the production costs of the show by buying me a $3 coffee at buymeacoffee.com/dralexandra. I will be encouraged by your support, and thank you!

Many books have been written about Jesus' heritage, but a few about his followers background. In this narration of Dr. Juan Marcos Bejarano Gutierrez' book Forgotten Origins: The Jewish history of Early Christianity, I lend my voice to produce an audiobook of the introduction and first chapter. This audiobook discusses important aspects of the search for the historical Jesus and different sources which describe his followers' membership in the Israelite community of that time.

Mystic-Skeptic Radio produces programs such as Uncensored & Raiders of the Unknown. Some of the ongoing series are: Jesus The Israelite, Anti-Semitism Rising & Paul's Legacy (all available on our YouTube channels). In the past 8 years we have featured academics (Amy Jill Levine) , presidential candidates( Howie Hawkins), Commentators (Jay Michaelson) , Advocates (Vanessa Guillen), Scholars(John Dominic Crossan) and Holistic Healers (Rosemary Gladstar). We have taken deep dives on the topics of human trafficking, ancient civilizations, demonology and the occult, social movements, controversial topics and many of the current affairs affecting our society. Join us as as we explore the mystic-skeptic mind space…

School students get into interfaith dialogue.