“Who is my Neighbour? Interfaith Dialogue and Theological Formation” (Responses)

Cory Andrew Labrecque; Lisa J. Grushcow

doi:10.26443/jcreor.v4i2.89

Authors

Cory Andrew Labrecque Université Laval
Lisa J. Grushcow Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26443/jcreor.v4i2.89

Keywords:

interfaith dialogue and engagement, public square, Theological bioethics, interfaith-interdisciplinary dialogue

Abstract

The following are three response papers that were presented at the “Who is My Neighbour? Interfaith Dialogue and Theological Formation Conference,” held on October 19, 2022, and are indirectly responding to Ingrid Mattson's discussion of interfaith engagement and the public square.

The first response paper by Cory Andrew Labrecque, entitled "Theological Bioethics and Interfaith-Interdisciplinary Dialogue," uses Mattson's discussion of the challenges and rewards of principled interfaith engagement in the public square as a starting place for his own reflections on the challenges and rewards of interfaith-interdiscplinary dialogue in healthcare. While interdisciplinary discussions around healthcare often take place in secular terms – and indeed, we are often told that this is the way things ought to be – Labrecque offers a powerful account, not only of what is lost when we allow the theological perspective to become muted in such discussions, but also of what can be gained when we insist upon including it.

The second response paper by Lisa J. Grushcow, entitled "Interfaith Dialogue and the Public Square: One Rabbi's Response," returns directly to the notion of the public square, using the memory and words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel to do so. While Rabbi Heschel "affirm[ed] the princple of separation of church and state," he "reject[ed] the separation of religion and the human situation," a sentiment Rabbi Grushcow shares and uses as a starting point for her own critical reflections on what interfaith dialogue and engagement wants to build, and how it can be done together.

Author Biographies

Cory Andrew Labrecque, Université Laval

After defending his doctoral dissertation at McGill University's Faculty of Religious Studies on transhumanist and Catholic approaches to the radical extension of human life, Professor Labrecque was appointed as the Raymond F. Schinazi Scholar in Bioethics and Religious Thought at Emory University's Center for Ethics, School of Medicine and Department of Religious Studies in Atlanta, Georgia.

During his five years at Emory he was co-director of the Catholic Studies program in the College of Arts and Sciences, as well as director of the graduate programs in bioethics in the Faculty of Graduate Studies. He returned to Quebec in 2016, to the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at Université Laval, where he is Vice-Dean of Studies, Director of the Graduate Programs in Theology, Full Professor of Bioethics and Theological Ethics, as well as holder of the Teaching Leadership Chair (TLC) in Ethics of Life.

Much of his teaching and research focuses on how the Abrahamic religions (with particular attention to the Catholic moral tradition) address contemporary ethical issues in medicine, biotechnology and the environment. He is particularly interested in the context of aging, the end of life, the concepts of "person" and "dignity," and the impact of emerging technologies on theological perspectives on human nature and the relationship between God, the human being, and the environment.

He is also the President-Elect of the Canadian Bioethics Society, Vice-President of the National Ethics Committee on Aging (CNEV), and a corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Lisa J. Grushcow, Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom

Rabbi Lisa Grushcow received her BA from McGill University in 1996. She was then named a Rhodes Scholar and spent three years at Oxford University, where she earned a master’s degree in Judaism and Christianity in the Greco-Roman World, and then a doctorate. She was ordained a rabbi in 2003 at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City, where she studied as a Wexner Graduate Fellow.

Upon graduation, Rabbi Grushcow joined Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City, where she served as associate rabbi. She held this position until July 1, 2012, when she assumed the role of senior rabbi at Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in Montreal. Rabbi Grushcow is the author of Writing the Wayward Wife, and the editor of The Sacred Encounter: Jewish Perspectives on Sexuality. She is also a contributor to The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, The Mussar Torah Commentary, and other publications in print and online.

Beginning with the Jewish-Christian-Muslim conference in Bendorf, Germany, Rabbi Grushcow has a long history of interfaith bridge-building. As a Hartman Senior Rabbinic Fellow and past president of the Montreal Board of Rabbis, she is also actively engaged in Jewish pluralism and intradenominational dialogue. In 2015, The Jewish Daily Forward nominated Rabbi Grushcow as one of the 33 America’s Most Inspiring Rabbis.

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“Who is my Neighbour? Interfaith Dialogue and Theological Formation” (Responses)

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DOI:

Keywords:

Abstract

Author Biographies

Cory Andrew Labrecque, Université Laval

Lisa J. Grushcow, Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom

References

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