BIOGRAPHY

Interfaith Consultant

In 1983 I accepted an invitation from the Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham, to set up a Centre for the Study of Judaism and Jewish-Christian Relations there in parallel with the existing Centre for the Study of Islam and Muslim-Christian Relations. At that time there was probably nowhere better in the UK to pursue interfaith relations. Birmingham had vigorous Muslim, Hindu and Sikh populations as well as a full range of Jewish and Christian denominations and smaller representations of other religions. Also, the University and the Selly Oak Colleges boasted a circle of scholars and theologians deeply committed to interfaith dialogue; many were disciples of the late John Hick, under whose influence I published my first book, Judaism and World Religion, in 1991. I was also able to participate in productive consultations of Jews with the United Reformed Church, from which I learned much about the nature of dialogue.

From this base I was privileged to take part, as a Jewish delegate, in high-level international interfaith dialogue. First came the Anglican-Jewish Consultations, of which I was co-convenor in 1987 and 1992, as well as Jewish Consultant to the drafting committee for the 1988 Lambeth Conference document on Jewish Christian relations. IJCIC (the International Jewish Committee for Interfaith Consultations – I was never actually a member) welcomed me aboard for consultations with the Vatican, the World Council of Churches, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of the Orthodox Churches, and the African Council of Churches. Colloquia of the International Council of Christians and Jews were held in several member countries (Dublin 1985, Salamanca 1986, Montreal 1988, Lille 1989, Prague 1990, Southampton 1991, Eisenach 1992, Kyiv 1999, Riga 2002). HRH Prince Philip, who had a talent for banging heads, joined with Crown Prince Hassan of Jordan and Sir Evelyn de Rothschild to convene The Interfaith Foundation, which brought Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders together at St. George’s, Windsor and in Amman, Jordan, focusing their minds and producing joint declarations on conservation and on business ethics. In 1989, as all this was going on, communist rule in Europe collapsed and the Berlin Wall came down, enabling us to work openly with colleagues from Eastern Europe.

I have served on the National Executive of the Council of Christians and Jews, as President of the Birmingham Inter-Faiths Council (1984/5), Vice-President of the World Congress of Faiths, and as Trustee of the Interfaith Dialogue Trust and of the International Interfaith Centre. In 2010 I participated in an International Interfaith Consultation on Pilgrimage at Santiago de Compostela, and in 2012 at an International Interfaith Conference in Bern, Switzerland. From 2013 to 2015 I served as a member of the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life: Community, Diversity and the Common Good (https://www.corab.org.uk/national.php).

Among the awards I have received are the Sir Sigmund Sternberg CCJ Award in Christian-Jewish Relations (1993) and the Distinguished Service Medal of the University of San Francisco (2000).