Untapped Potential: Interfaith Leadership in the Field

How does the investment in interfaith leadership cultivate an interreligious society? Our presentation illustrates how a fellowship model integrates different ways of applying interfaith learning and leadership within diverse fields of practice in the world. Our work as program directors at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies prioritizes the development of interreligious leadership in three sectors that lie outside of the university classroom: religious communities, secondary school classrooms, and nonprofit/civic organizations. Across our fellowships, we focus on learning and relationship-building as key components of an interreligious society. Our work demonstrates that people of different religious and professional backgrounds hold untapped potential to pave the way for pluralistic understanding at multiple levels in order to build an interreligious society.