Glen Milstein, PhD, gmilstein@ccny.cuny.edu, APA Member, Mid-Career, Department of Psychology, City College of New York, NAC • 7/120, 160 Convent Avenue, New York, NY 10031
Interfaith alliances can be a valuable tool for psychologists. From the perspectives of the psychology of social issues (Division 9), community research and action (Division 27), the psychology of religion and spirituality (Division 36), and military psychology (Division 19), interfaith alliances can help psychologists conduct research in the community (27), take action on social issues (9 & 27), work with local religious and spiritual communities (36), and even prevent or deescalate military conflict (19). Nagda (2006) researched the Cambridge Inter-faith Programme, which teaches Scriptural Reasoning, where persons from different heritages use the texts of three religions to study contemporary issues. The City College of New York facilitated a program using Scriptural Reasoning to improve alliances among its students from 110 countries. Students of multiple ethnicities and religious heritages (Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu) were divided into groups of six, to read three selections of text about the life of Joseph, from the Quran (Ayah Yusuf 12:23-27), the Torah (Genesis 46:31-34 & 47:2-6), and the Gospels (Matthew 2:13-23). Each group first listened to the selection read in the original language (Arabic, Hebrew, Greek), and then studied the text in English. One realization was that each of the texts was composed before the English language even existed. Jewish and Christian participants did not expect Joseph to be present in both the Quran and Torah. One Muslim student was surprised that the name Joseph was carried forward through generations to the roots of Christianity. An alliance among the students came from recognizing the shared, lethal vulnerabilities of both Josephs’ families, revealed in the context of changing policies towards persons perceived as cultural “others.” By the end of the workgroup, students were using these texts to understand the continuities between their cultures in discussions of contemporary immigration policy.
