Launch of the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue™, One of a Kind Publication for Religious and Non-Profit Leaders

The Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue™ is pleased to announce the launch of its website, www.irdialogue.org. The Journal is a forum for academic, social, and timely issues affecting religious communities around the world. It is designed to increase the quality and frequency of interchanges between religious groups and their leaders through its free peer reviewed Journal and online forums.

With the understanding that members of the clergy and lay leadership substantially impact the dynamics within their congregations and religious movements, the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue™ offers a novel way to establish long-term dialogue and collaboration between religious communities. Its content will include articles on the theological underpinnings of inter-religious work, best practices of organizations on college campuses and in the non-profit sector, and direct engagement of the difficult issues that religious leaders face in their interactions with one another.

The Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue™ will be stewarded and peer reviewed by a multigenerational Staff of seminarians and religious scholars, and an illustrious Board of Scholars and Practitioners. This Board contains a broad representation of academic disciplines, non-profit work, and activism, including Swami Tyaganada, Hindu Chaplain at Harvard University, Edward Kessler, Director, Woolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths at Cambridge University, Burton Visotzky, Appleman Professor of Midrash and Interreligious Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Eboo Patel, Executive Director of the Interfaith Youth Core, and Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook, Academic Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School.

Stephanie Hughes, a graduate student at Union Theological Seminary, and Joshua Stanton, a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College, founded The Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue™ in June 2008. The two serve as co-Editors and feel that their work together mirrors the efforts they hope to promote within academe, religious movements, and the non-profit sector. As Stanton says of their partnership, "Our collaboration embodies the spirit of inter-religious dialogue and cooperation that we hope to promote through the Journal. It has been a real team effort."