Religious Freedom Annual Review

06/02/23 • 15 min

Join BYU Law online or in person on June 15 for interfaith discussions. We are excited for senior producer Heather and host Steve to lead a panel featuring guests from the American-ish Show, Mommying While Muslim, and the Three Black Men Podcast. You can find the Religious Freedom Conference online at religiousfreedom.byu.edu to attend either in person or watch plenary sessions. The event is free for BYU faculty, staff, and students.

Previous Episode

Ep. 153 Book Club: Richard Rohr's The Universal Christ

In this book club episode, Steve talks with guests Steven Nordstrom and Sydney Ballif about Richard Rohr's book, "The Universal Christ." The book explores Christ's influence across time. Rohr implores readers to see Christ in their everyday lives, including the mundane. Steven Nordstrom is a fellow pilgrim on the Way, a student of the vast expanse of human experience who strives to build up communities centered upon love and care. He works as a financial analyst supporting hospitals in Utah County, but previously spent seven years as a librarian. Steven has made his spiritual home with the congregation of St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Provo for the past 10 years. Sydney is a native Southern Californian, a graduate from BYU in interdisciplinary humanities, and number five of the children. Currently, she hopes to get a PhD in philosophy, with a special emphasis on the philosophy of love and forgiveness.

Next Episode

Ep. 154 Maeera Y. Schreiber and Thomas Albert Howard: The History and Poetry of Interfaith Relations

Steve speaks with professor Maeera Y Schreiber about her personal history and how that influences her work in poetry and interfaith literature. Dr. Schreiber is Associate Professor English and former Director of Religion Studies at the University Utah, where she teaches and writes about poetry, Jewish-American literature, ethnic American studies, religious studies, and interfaith relations. Her book "Holy Envy: Writing in the Jewish Christian Borderzone" is what caught our attention recently. Heather discusses the history of interfaith relations with Thomas Albert (Tal) Howard, drawn from his book "The Faiths of Others A History of Interreligious Dialogue," published by Yale UP. Dr. Howard is Professor of Humanities and History and holder of the Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Chair in Christian Ethics. He also serves as a Senior Fellow for the Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts. He is currently working on two projects: "Modern Christian Theology: An Intellectual History" (Princeton University Press) and "Unholy Wars: Secularist Violence in Modern History."