Calling in Today’s World: Multifaith Perspectives

What does a Muslim think about calling? Does a Buddhist or Jew have a similar sense of vocation as a Christian? Do people besides Christians have a sense of calling? While most religious traditions do not share the same notion of calling as Christians, they do, in fact, have surprisingly similar concepts and practices. In a new book, Calling in Today’s World: Voices from Eight Faith Perspectives,experts representing Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian, Daoist, secular humanist, and Catholic and Protestant Christian traditions explore how callings are experienced and lived within their communities of faith. This ground-breaking volume offers key texts, stories, persons, concepts, and discernment practices that exemplify each tradition’s view of vocation as well as how modern life poses both difficulties and opportunities for living out a sense of calling. As the United States becomes more religiously diverse, members of faith communities meet every day in college classes, work places, neighborhoods, volunteer organizations, and efforts for social change. If people of faith want to live and work together for the common good, understanding each other’s values and beliefs is imperative. Learning how others experience a sense of calling and live with meaning and purpose can enliven and deepen connections across communities. The three panelists for this program represent the Daoist and Confucian, Jewish, and Islamic traditions. Panelists: Mark Berkson is professor and chair in the Department of Religion at Hamline University. His work on Confucian and Daoist thought has appeared in numerous books and journals. His lecture series for the Great Courses, Cultivating Literacy for Religion, was released in 2012. His current project is Death, Immortality and the Afterlife: A Comparative Perspective. Rabbi Amy Eilberg, the first woman ordained a rabbi in Judaism’s Conservative Movement, teaches and practices inter-religious and intra-Jewish dialogue. Deeply involved in the work of peace and reconciliation, she is the author of From Enemy to Friend: Jewish Wisdom and the Pursuit of Peace (Orbis Books, 2014). Fardosa Hassan is Muslim Student Program Associate at Augsburg College. She also works as the Interfaith Youth Connection Program Coordinator at Interfaith Action of Greater Saint Paul. Moderator: Martha Stortz is theBernhard M. Christensen Professor of Religion and Vocation at Augsburg College. She is the author of A World According to God: Practices for Putting Faith at the Center of Your Life and Blessed to Follow: The Beatitudes As a Compass for Discipleship. Sponsored by the Collegeville Institute, Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning, Saint John’s School of Theology, Bernhard Christensen Center for Vocation at Augsburg College, and Hamline University Department of Religion. Alternative sessions of this event with varied speakers took place on September 29, 2016, at Saint John\u27s University and September 30, 2016, at St. Olaf Colleg