Luther Professor Guy Nave selected for a faculty seminar on the teaching of interfaith understanding

Luther College professor of religion, Guy Nave, has been selected from a national pool of nominees to participate in a week-long faculty seminar on the teaching of interfaith understanding. The seminar will take place June 16-20 at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois.

Twenty-five faculty members will participate in a seminar offered by the Council of Independent Colleges and the Interfaith Youth Corps, with support from the Henry Luce Foundation. The seminar will be led by two leading scholars: Eboo Patel, founder and president of the Interfaith Youth Corps, a Chicago-based organization building the interfaith movement on college campuses, and Laurie Patton, president of Middlebury College and former dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and the Robert F. Durden professor of religion at Duke University.

The program aims to broaden faculty members’ knowledge and strengthen their teaching of interfaith understanding through the development of new courses and resources. CIC president Richard Eckman said, “Interfaith dialogue, although challenging, is essential for students who will live and work in an increasingly diverse nation. Democratic participation is strengthened by mutual understanding among the many faith traditions shaping America today. The faculty members who will participate in this seminar are up to that challenge.”

Nave has taught in the Luther College religion department since 2001, focusing on the topics of Christianity, the New Testament, religious meaning, and race. His teaching and research interests include biblical studies, religion, and social justice, the social construction of religious meaning, and race, religion and politics. Nave is currently researching the power, politics, and meaning behind the rhetoric of “change,” as well as the role of Christianity in bringing about social change. Nave earned his bachelor’s degree from Oral Roberts University and graduate degrees from both Princeton Theological Seminary and Yale University.

A national liberal arts college with an enrollment of 2,005, Luther offers an academic curriculum that leads to the Bachelor of Arts degree in more than 60 majors and pre-professional programs. For more information about Luther visit the college’s website: http://www.luther.edu.