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Mormon Engagement with the World Religions: Perspectives and Possibilities with the Abrahamic Religions
The Mormon Chapter of the Foundation for Interreligious Diplomacy
Held at the University of Southern California
June 11-12

Schedule of Events
All sessions will take place at the Salvatori Computer Science Building, Room 101

9:30 a.m. – Welcome and Introductions

10:00 a.m. – Latter-day Saints and Interreligious Engagement: The Current Situation
Gregory A. Prince, author of David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism
Elder Bruce D. Porter, First Quorum of Seventy, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Judy and Steve Gilliland, Southern California Public Affairs Council, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Robert L. Millet, Abraham Smoot University Professor, Brigham Young University

12:00 p.m. – Lunch

1:30 p.m. – Judaism
Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations, American Jewish Committee
Jana Riess, acquisitions editor, Westminster John Knox Press and former religion editor, Publishers Weekly

3:30 p.m. ? ?The Grand Fundamental Principle?: The Theological Question of Religious Diversity
Charles Randall Paul, President, Foundation for Interreligious Diplomacy
Sheila Taylor, program in Systematic and Philosophical Theology, Graduate Theological Union
Brian D. Birch, director, Religious Studies Program, Utah Valley University

Saturday, June 12th

9:00 p.m. – The Mormon Voice in a Pluralistic Society: The Challenges of Secularism and Religious Indifference
Frederick Mark Gedicks, Guy Anderson Chair and Professor of Law, Brigham Young University
Kristine Haglund, editor, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought
James Burklo, Associate Dean for Religious Life, University of Southern California

11:00 p.m. – Catholic and Orthodox Christianity
Father James Massa, Executive Director of the U.S. Episcopal Conference?s Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs
Richard Sherlock, Professor of Philosophy, Utah State University
James Faulconer, Richard L. Evans Professor of Religious Understanding, Brigham Young University

1:00 p.m. – Lunch

2:00 p.m. ? Protestant Christianity
David McAllister-Wilson, president, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC
Frances S. Adney, William A. Benfield Jr. Professor of Global Mission and World Evangelism, Louisville Seminary
Terry C. Muck, Dean of the E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism, Asbury Theological Seminary
J. Spencer Fluhman, Department of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University
Diedre Green, Women?s Studies in Religion program, Claremont Graduate University

4:00 p.m. – Islam
Maher Hathout, senior advisor, Muslim Public Affairs Council
Daniel Peterson, professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic, Brigham Young University
Bradley J. Cook, provost, Southern Utah University, former president of Abu Dhabi Women?s College
J. Bonner Ritchie, scholar in residence, Utah Valley University and professor emeritus of International Organization Behavior at Brigham Young University

General Information and Registration
This conference is designed to explore various perspectives and methods for thinking about Latter-day Saints among the great traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Its aim will be to connect theology with practice in allowing space for Mormons to think more carefully about the activity of interreligious exchange and the possibility of mutual transformation.

The Mormon Chapter is an independent group of Latter-day Saints with expertise in religious studies, diplomacy, public administration, legal studies, organizational behavior, etc. who are committed to developing deeper and more civil forms of interreligious exchange.

Sponsors include the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at USC, the Richard L. Evans Chair for Religious Understanding at Brigham Young University and the Religious Studies Program at Utah Valley University, and the Howard W. Hunter Chair for Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University.

Registration is limited and a timely reply is warmly appreciated. If interested, contact Brian Birch at brian DOT birch AT uvu DOT edu.