Summary: Speaking on the topic, “Jesus, Son of God and Isa, Son of Mary and Prophet of God: Listening Together to the Divine Word,” Dr. Mahmoud Ayoub compares and contrasts broad aspects of Christian and Muslim Christologies. Dr. Ayoub, Faculty Associate in Shi‘ite Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford (Conn) Seminary, is a leading authority in both the scholarship and comparative study of Islam and Muslim-Christian relations, as well as inter-religious dialogue. His special areas of interest are Shi’ite Islam, comparative religions, interfaith dialogue, and Christian-Muslim relations. Born in South Lebanon, Dr. Ayoub earned a BA in Philosophy at the American University of Beirut, an M.A. in Religious Thought from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in History of Religion from Harvard University. Speaking on his decades long career in education, Dr. Ayoub said: My intellectual and spiritual life has been a religious odyssey from Islam – the faith of my birth – to Fundamentalist Protestant Christianity, to Quakerism and back to Islam. Yet in a way I still live this long spiritual journey in my daily life. From Islam I continue to be guided by the Qur’an and the lives of some Sufi saints. Academically and intellectually my thinking has been profoundly influenced by my esteemed mentor, the late Wilfred Cantwell Smith. His books and ideas, but above all, my years under his tutelage have helped me to return to my Islamic heritage, but with a new appreciation and a new critical mind. Smith made me a historian of religion, and the historian of religion lives a life of inner struggle with all reified absolutes. But it is a life that is more precious than all the precious stones of the world. For more information, contact EMU’s Center for Interfaith Engagement: 540-432-5674 , interfaith@emu.edu
