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NEH Religious Worlds of New York: Itinerary

NEH Religious Worlds of New York: Itinerary

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!!!

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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.

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Week 1

Monday

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

Saturday

  • DAY OFF from the Institute so Will & I explored Brooklyn

Sunday

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Week 2

Monday

Tuesday

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

Sunday

  • FREE MORNING – back to Brooklyn for me
  • Institute BBQ at Henry Goldschmidt’s house

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Week 3

Monday

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


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.

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