Global Shemin Trialogue Seminar: Jewish, Christian, Muslim Trialogue in a Time of Rapid Change

Florida Atlantic University presents the 12th annual Global Shemin Trialogue Seminar titled “Jewish, Christian, Muslim Trialogue in a Time of Rapid Change.” The event will take place on Sunday, March 18 at 4 p.m. in the Performing Arts Building, room 101, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton campus. It is free and open to the public and tickets are not required.

Founded to encourage communication and understanding between the three Abrahamic faiths, this year’s trialogue will be moderated by Alan Berger, the Raddock Family Eminent Scholar Chair in Holocaust Studies in FAU’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, and includes:

• Rabbi Noam Marans is the American Jewish Committee’s director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations, heading the agency’s national interfaith outreach and advocacy. A recognized leader of Catholic-Jewish dialogue, he played a central role in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the transformational Nostra Aetate document, delivering a keynote address at the official U.S. Catholic commemoration and participating in multiple audiences with Pope Francis. He has also expanded AJC’s engagement with Muslims, Latino Evangelicals, and Mormons, and leads efforts to turn back anti-Israel initiatives within Mainline Protestant denominations.
• Chaplain Tahera Ahmad is a dynamic Muslim “scholar-practitioner” who serves as the director of interfaith engagement, associate university chaplain and associate chair of the women’s residential college at Northwestern University. She was recognized at the White House as a leading Muslim woman, and in 2014 she became the first woman to represent the United States at the International Quran Competition in Indonesia where she placed sixth in the world. Ahmad has been featured widely in various media networks; most notably in the national PBS documentary, “The Calling,” which portrays the struggle of faith in the 21st century for leaders from the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths.
• John K. Roth is the Edward J. Sexton Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and the founding director of the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights (now the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights) at Claremont McKenna College. Roth has published hundreds of articles and reviews and authored, co-authored or edited more than 50 books. 
• Rabbi David Steinhardt is the senior rabbi at B’nai Torah Congregation. He has served the Boca Raton community for more than 20 years in that position and in many other areas. At B’nai Torah, he has lead synagogue growth witnessed by a large membership and a Shabbat attendance that rivals any congregation in the world.
• Rev. Andrew James Sherman was born in New York City and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from American University. He also received a master’s degree in English literature from the University of Virginia and completed theological training at Virginia Theological Seminary, where he earned his Master of Divinity degree. In 2005, Sherman began his ministry as rector of St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church in Boca Raton.

“The Shemin Trialogue is an invaluable asset for those wishing to participate meaningfully in conversation about interfaith relations,” said Berger. “These conversations are increasingly important in our time. Carried out by informed people of good will, such discussion can make an enormous contribution in our search for a peaceful world.”

The Shemin Trialogue is the creation of Rhoda and Emanuel (Manny) Shemin, local residents who have taken a special interest in opening lines of communication on the subject of Christian, Islamic and Jewish relations. Manny passed away on Jan. 30, 2009. His wife is dedicated to continuing the trialogue and bringing together internationally-known religious leaders to further dialogue and education. The event is cosponsored by the Raddock Family Eminent Scholar Chair in Holocaust Studies and the Center for the Study of Values and Violence after Auschwitz in FAU’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, along with the Boca Raton Interfaith Clergy Association.