This past summer I had the incredible and life-changing opportunity to spend 3 weeks in New York City at the Union Theological Seminary with the Interfaith Center of New York as part of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant (whew that was a mouthful!).
I had never done something like this (apart from an AP Summer Institute) and now I’ve got the bug! And the best part is that you don’t have to outright teach a religion course to apply; we had people from all grades and all subjects (except math & the sciences to be honest). To apply, you just have to have a way to incorporate the study of religion with your students. So start those applications!!!
This post is more of an insight to our overall three-week schedule. This is a simple overview and the links will take you to more in-depth blog posts or outside links (tons of YouTube videos of our discussions & lectures for your viewing pleasure). Get ready because we accomplished a lot.
Week 1
Monday
- Lecture: Religious Liberty in American History and Ideals, Charles Haynes
- Discussion: Teaching About Religion in Public and Private Schools, Charles Haynes
By the way Charles Haynes has also published a new guidelines about teaching religion and he is part of the First Amendment Center in Washington, D.C. and they just began offering some great online and in-person classes on teaching religion. A few are on my to-do list for upcoming years!
Tuesday
- Lecture: The Critical, Comparative Analysis of Religion, Henry Goldschmidt
- Discussion: The Study of Everyday Religious Life, Henry Goldschmidt
- Site Visit: The Bronx Lourdes
Wednesday
- Discussion: Debrief of Site Visit to “Bronx Lourdes” Grotto
- Lecture & Workshop: Classroom Strategies for Teaching about Religion
- Lecture: Introduction to Curriculum Projects, Henry Goldschmidt
Thursday
- Lecture: Introduction to Christianity and Christian Communities, Morrey Davis
- Panel Discussion: New York Christian Clergy and Lay Leaders
- Lecture: Introduction to Burke Library Research Sources, and Web-Based Resources for the Study of Religion, Matthew Baker & Elizabeth Call
- Site Visit: Burke Library at the Union Theological Seminary
- Site Visit: Zhikr service at Dergah al-Farah
Friday
- Lecture: Introduction to Islam and Muslim Communities, Ali Asani
- Panel Discussion: New York Muslim Clergy and Lay Leaders
- Site Visit: Jumma Service at the Islamic Cultural Center of New York
Saturday
- DAY OFF from the Institute so Will & I explored Brooklyn
Sunday
- Site Visit: Convent Avenue Baptist Church
- AFTERNOON OFF so I went to the Cloisters Museum with a group from the institute
Week 2
Monday
- Discussion: Debrief of Site Visits to Islamic Cultural Center of New York and Convent Avenue Baptist Church
- Lecture: Exploring Religious Worlds (and specifically Harlem churches) Through Literature, Josef Sorett & Henry Goldschmidt
- Workshop: Curriculum Development Group Meetings with Mentors
Tuesday
- Lecture: Introduction to Hinduism and Hindu Communities, John Thatamanil
- Panel Discussion: New York Hindu Clergy and Lay Leaders
- Site Visit: Hindu Temple Society of North America & a video of our Temple Discussion
Wednesday
- Lecture: Introduction to Buddhism and Buddhist Communities, Robban Toleno
- Panel Discussion: New York Buddhist Clergy and Lay Leaders
- Site Visit: Chogyesa Zen Temple of New York
Thursday
- Discussion: Debrief of Site Visits to the Hindu and Buddhist Temples
- Workshop: Exploring the Ties and Tensions among Religious Worlds, with The Pluralism Project’s Case Study Method, Alexis Salomone
- Lecture: Exploring Religious Worlds Worldwide with Generation Global, Henry Goldschmidt
- Movie Night: The Chosen
Friday
- Lecture: Introduction to Judaism and Jewish Communities, Hasia Diner
- Panel Discussion: New York Jewish Clergy and Lay Leaders
- Site Visit: Kabbalat Shabbat service at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun
- A small group of us spent Shabbat dinner with one of our fellow participant’s house and it was incredibly lovely
Saturday
- DAY OFF so I spend literally opening to close at the Metropolitan Museum like a maniac
Sunday
- FREE MORNING – back to Brooklyn for me
- Institute BBQ at Henry Goldschmidt’s house
Week 3
Monday
- Lecture: Introduction to African Diaspora Religious Traditions and Communities, Elizabeth McAlister
- Panel Discussion: Africa Diaspora Clergy and Lay Leaders
- Workshop: Exploring Religious Worlds (and specifically Haitian-American Voodou) through the Arts – Sacred Arts and Music Workshop with Houngan Oneza Lafontant and Houngan Gran Bwa (P.S. you can see the back of my curly head in this video!)
Tuesday
- Lecture: Introduction to Sacred Gotham: Problematizing the Concepts of “Religion” “Sacred,” and “Secular,” Henry Goldschmidt
- Site Visit & Field Research: St. John the Divine
- Workshop: Curriculum Development Group Meetings with Mentors
Wednesday
- Field Research: Locating “Religion” on the Streets of the Upper West Side
Thursday
- Presentations: The Meaning of “Religion” on the Upper West Side
- Discussion: Concluding Remarks
Friday
- Presentations: Curriculum Development Projects
My mom and Aba flew in on Friday and we spent the weekend hauling butt back to Orlando so I could be at work Monday. Exhausting but so incredibly worth it!
JMF
P.S. Here is a huge list of our reading for this program. I did not include the days the readings went to on this list because that would be excessive.
