Seminar :: Contributions of Dialogue to Global Peace
Past Event : 05-01-2008
Women in Dialogue, Sierra Foundation and UNR Graduate Student Association organized a seminar "Contributions of Dialogue to Global Peace" on May 1, 2008 at University of Nevada, Reno Balroom A, JCSU
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Fr. Thomas Michel, S.J.
(Woodstock International Fellow, Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.)
Father Thomas Michel, S.J. was born in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, in 1941. After completing his studies in philosophy and theology in St. Louis, Missouri, he was ordained as a priest in 1967. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1969. Following his studies on Arabic and Islam in Egypt and Lebanon, he completed his doctoral dissertation on the thought of Muslim scholar Ibn Taymiyya and received a Ph.D. degree in Islamic thought from University of Chicago in 1978. In 1981, he was appointed to the Asia Desk of the Vatican Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and in 1988, became the director of Islamic Office of the Vatican's Council for Interreligious Dialogue where he acted for 13 years. Since 1994, he has served as Executive Secretary of the Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC-OEIA), in Bangkok, Thailand. Since 1996, he is the Director of the Jesuit Secretariat for Interreligious Dialogue in Rome, Italy, and Ecumenical Secretary for the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences.
He has active teaching experience in various parts of the world including
Northwestern and Columbia Universities in USA;
Sanata Dharma University and Driyarkara Institute of Philosophy in Indonesia;
St. Paul's Major Seminary, Dansalan College, and Euntes Asian Center in the Philippines;
Ankara, Dokuz Eylul, Selcuk, and Harran Universities in Turkey;
Pontifical Institute for Arabic/Islamic Studies in Rome;
St. Peter's College, in Malaysia;
St. Paul's Seminary in Schkoder, Albania;
University of Birmingham, England.
In 2000, he delivered the D'Arcy Lectures at Oxford University on Christian-Muslim relations. Father Michel is on the Academic Council of the "Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding" of Georgetown University, Washington, USA. He is on the International Advisory Board of the Khalidi Library, Jerusalem and the Editorial Board of the journal Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations in Birmingham, UK. He is also on the International Advisory Panel of the International Movement for a Just World in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the International Advisory Committee of the Center for World Thanksgiving, Dallas, Texas and the Advisory Board of the Center for Civilizational Dialogue at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
