Engaging Manchester’s Muslim, Jewish and Christian Communities in Interfaith Scriptural Dialogue.
Since 2020 we have hosted a great variety of Scriptural Encounters from across the spectrum of beliefs, faith communities and political standpoints.
This page is a list of our events prior to 2025, we are in the process of uploading, updating and editing our vast video and audio archives, where appropriate we will also include the relevant link. All events during and after 2025 can be found in our Events blog archive.
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Date: 28th November 2024
Webinar 3: Scriptural Encounter: Faith responses to peace-making in the Israel-Palestine conflict A Jewish Response
Rabbi Dr. Daniel Roth
Zoom Webinar
As the war has passed its anniversary amidst escalation into Lebanon and even Iran, the prospects for an end, let alone for peace, seem more remote than ever.
This series of Scriptural Encounter addresses the question, “What might be the role of the faith traditions in encouraging measured reconciling solutions?’
We are exploring ways to deal with tensions that arise from our respective Scriptural traditions. The presenters for each faith, speak from both their academic and confessional standpoints.
The Video of Rabbi Daniel Roth’s Webinar:
Date: 5th November 2024
Webinar 2: Scriptural Encounter: Exploring Faith responses to peace-making in the Israel-Palestine conflict
Dr. Salim Munayer 
The second webinar will be presented by Dr Salim Munayer, who is director and founder of Musalaha Ministry of Reconciliation, which has been bringing Israelis and Palestinian together since 1990. Salim is a Palestinian-Israeli born in Lod as one of six children and received his BA from Tel Aviv University in History and Geography, his MA from Fuller Theological Seminary, graduate studies in New Testament from Pepperdine University and his PhD from the Oxford Center of Mission Studies in the UK. His doctoral dissertation was written on “The Ethnic Identity of Palestinian Arab Christian Adolescents in Israel.
Date: 10th October
Webinar 1: Scriptural Encounter: Exploring Faith responses to peace-making in the Israel-Palestine conflict
Dr. Kerim Balci
Zoom Webinar
As the war approaches its anniversary the prospects for an end, let alone for peace, seem more remote than ever.
People of all Abrahamic faiths, for whom this battleground is a Holy Land, feel they have a stake in the conflict wherever they live. This series of Scriptural Encounter addresses the question, ‘What might be the role of the faith traditions in encouraging measured reconciling solutions?’
Our purpose will be to explore ways to deal with tensions that arise from our respective Scriptural traditions. The presenters for each faith, speak from both their academic and confessional standpoints. They are people who are actively involved in peace-making efforts, and will discuss the foundational Scriptural texts that inspire and guide their work.
RELIGIOUS TRADITION AND THE PROBLEM OF WAR
Our next series of Scriptural Encounters will address this subject of “Religious Tradition and the Problem of War”, beginning with a focus on the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. “The degree to which religion has been co-opted by both sides to support the war has been startling, and has put the question of the role of religion in war back on the agenda of public debate in the West.” – Prof. Philip Alexander.
As usual, our approach will be through the perspectives of the Abrahamic faiths. Supplementing the territorial, economic and political issues stressed in the media, we will examine the theologico-political forces behind the conflict, to gain insights into how people on both sides engage with it from their own faith positions.Our presenters will speak from both their academic and confessional standpoints:
Webinar 1
Tuesday March 21st 2023, 4-5:45 pm GMT
Video of the Webinar:
PROF. ANDREW LOUTH, Professor Emeritus of Durham University and a Russian Orthodox Priest: An overview of the history of the split between the Russian and the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches over the current conflict.
PROF. CYRIL HOVORUN of Stockholm School of Theology and Archimandrite of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church: How speakers for the Russian church refer to the biblical texts.
Webinar 2
Tuesday April 25th 2023, 4-5:45 pm GMT
DR TARAS KHOMYCH of Liverpool Hope University, a Ukrainian Catholic Priest: Reflections on the leadership of the Ukrainian Catholic Church through scriptural passages.
Co -presenter: REV PROF. EMERITUS REIMUND BIERINGER of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven , Belgium.
Events Before 2023
Gender Diversity in Christianity, Islam and Judaism
3 March 2022.
The theme of the current series is Gender Diversity. Will be on Islamic texts. Dr Shanon Shah who is currently Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College.
November 2021.
Prof. Susannah Cornwall of Exeter University will be the presenter with Christian texts.
8 October 2021
Rabbi Ariel Abel will be the presenter with Jewish texts. 1200-13:30 hybrid event, on campus.
27 May 2021.
Dr Shuruq Naguib, lecturer in Islamic Studies at Lancaster University will be our presenter on Gender Diversity from an Islamic perspective. ‘The Woman Disputant: Gender and Hermeneutics in Praxis’. Zoom meeting.
15 Apr 2021
Rabbi Lee Wax of New North London Masorti Synagogue and Jewish Women’s Aid will be our presenter on the Domestic Abuse and Violence with Jewish texts. Zoom meeting.
18 Mar 2021.
Dr Rachel Starr of the Queen’s Foundation Birmingham will be our presenter on the Domestic Abuse and Violence with Christian texts. Zoom meeting.
Interpersonal Relationships in Judaism, Islam and Christianity
18 Feb 2021.
The theme for this year is interpersonal relationships in the Abrahamic Faiths. We will be beginning with Domestic Abuse and Violence, then moving on to Gender Diversity and ending with Mixed Faith relationships. The first session in the series will be led by Mahmoud Afifi who is writing his PhD at Lancaster University on Domestic Violence from an Islamic perspective. Zoom meeting.
Women’s leadership in Christianity, Islam and Judaism
16th July 2020.
The theme will be Jewish perspectives on women’s leadership, Progressive and Orthodox respectively. Presenters Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen and Rabba Dina Brawer. The meeting will be hosted online through Zoom.
25th June 2020.
The theme will be Christian perspective on leadership women Presenters Rev. Dr. Caroline Wickens and Jasmine Devadason. The meeting will be hosted online through Zoom.
28 May 2020.
The theme will be Islam and Women, looking mainly at issues of witnessing, leadership, and modesty. Presenter Dr Shuruq Naguib, lecturer in Islamic Studies at Lancaster University. Dr Naguib will be presenting a text from Qur’an Surah 33 Al-Ahzab on the wives of the Prophet based upon her research into the subject. The meeting will be hosted online through Zoom.
The Binding / Sacrifice of Ishmael / Isaac in Islam, Christianity and Judaism
The Scriptural Encounter Group had three conversations in early 2019 on the story of the Binding/Sacrifice of Isaac/Ishmael in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, chaired by Professor Philip Alexander with the collaboration of members of the three faiths. The first conversation was on the story in the Tanakh/Old Testament and in Judaism. The second and third conversations were on the story in Christianity and Islam. What we try to do is not to judge or critique, but to enter imaginatively and sympathetically into to the way in which each faith uses creatively a story which is important for all three.
Exclusivism and Supercessionism
29 Nov 2018, Scriptural Encounter meeting ‘Exclusivism and Supersessionism from a Qur’an Perspective’, Mohammed Ullah, Honorary Muslim Chaplain to the Manchester Universities.
15 Nov 2018, Scriptural Encounter meeting ‘Exclusivism and Supersessionism’, Dr. Dwight Swanson, Co-Director and Senior Lecturer Manchester Centre for the Study of Christianity and Islam, Nazarene College.
18 Oct 2018, Scriptural Encounter meeting ‘Exclusivism and Supersessionism’, Rabbi Ariel Abel of Princes Road Synagogue, Liverpool.