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Mary McAleese served as the eighth president of Ireland from 1997 to 2011 and serves as the current President of the Advisory Board for the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion. …

Read More about Mary McAleese: Politics of the Sacred and the Necessity for Respectful Discourse

Matt Graybill, South Bend City Church's Executive Pastor Matt Graybill is the Executive…

Read More about Matt Graybill: Peacebuilding in the Holy Land Leads to Peacebuilding at Home

In a special way, practicing Muslims show fidelity to things like modesty, regular prayer, how to eat, what to eat, not drinking alcohol, and what to wear. Christians have our own teachings, so the way that we work through things will look different - I'm not saying we should just imitate Muslims. But Islam can be a gift for Christians just by the faithfulness that we see in Muslims and the way they manage to be religious in America.

Read More about Gabriel Reynolds: Islam Can Be a Real Gift to Christians

There is maybe a naive kind of faith that I have in the human mind or the human heart to be capacious and compassionate enough to engage different perspectives without resorting to epistemic violence, or worse. But I think that this capacity, where it is not inherent in a person’s disposition, can come about through training and acculturation. The capacity to engage differences productively is born out of experience and encounters across differences that are positive and life-giving. That's what I'm trying to teach when I do interreligious work or when I write in the field of interreligious studies.

Read More about Celene Ibrahim: Islam's Internal Diversity and the Value of a Diverse Body Politic

Sarah Shortall is an associate professor of history at the University of Notre Dame and a faculty fellow with the Ansari Institute. She specializes as an intellectual and cultural historian of modern Europe, with a particular interest…

Read More about Sarah Shortall: French History, Human Rights Discourse, and the Underappreciated Influence of Catholic Theology

Liang Cai is an associate professor of history at the University of Notre Dame and a faculty fellow with the Ansari Institute. She specializes in Chinese political and intellectual history, focusing on the Qin-Han dynasties (221 BCE - 23 CE). Professor Cai’s first book Witchcraft and the Rise of the First Confucian Empire contests long-standing claims that Confucianism came to prominence with the promotion of Emperor Wu in the Han dynasty. It was a witchcraft scandal in 91–87 BCE, she argues, that created a political vacuum and permitted Confucians to rise to power and transform China into a Confucian regime. Over zoom, Professor Cai sat down with Rebekah Go, the Ansari Institute’s Program and Communication Manager, to talk about her research and scholarship. The following has been edited and abridged for clarity.

Read More about Liang Cai: Confucianism, Digital Humanities, and Changing History

Olivia Wilkinson is an independent research consultant and sociologist, working at the intersection of the sociology of religion and humanitarian/development studies. She was also a contributor to Faith in the Story: Trialogues for Enhancing Religious Literacy, a multi-year series of workshops at the Ansari Institute that brought together media professionals, faith leaders, and scholars of religion to improve the conversation about religion in the public sphere. Wilkinson sat down with Rebekah Go, the Ansari Institute’s Program and Communication Manager, over zoom to talk about her research and scholarship. The following has been edited and abridged for clarity and length.

Read More about Olivia Wilkinson: Faith in Development, There is Still a Lot of Research to Be Done

Karrie Koesel is an associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame and a faculty fellow with the Ansari Institute. She specializes in the study of contemporary Chinese and Russian politics, authoritarianism, and religion and politics. Professor Koesel published her first book Religion and Authoritarianism: Cooperation, Conflict, and the Consequences in 2014 and was co-editor of a second book, Citizens & the State in Authoritarian Regimes: Comparing China & Russia in 2021. She is currently working on a third book, Learning to be Loyal: Political Education and Authoritarian Regimes. Over Zoom, Professor Koesel sat down with Rebekah Go, the Ansari Institute’s Program and Communication Manager, to talk about her research and scholarship. The following has been edited and abridged for clarity.

Read More about Karrie Koesel: Authoritarianism, Electoral Autocracies, and Democratic Backsliding

Natalie Avalos is an assistant professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies in the Ethnic Studies department at University of Colorado Boulder. She was also a contributor to Faith in the Story: Trialogues for Enhancing Religious Literacy, a multi-year series of workshops at the Ansari Institute that brought together media professionals, faith leaders, and scholars of religion to work together and identify solutions for enhancing diversity and improve the conversation about religion in the public sphere. Professor Avalos is an ethnographer of religion whose teaching and research examines Indigenous religious life, land-based ethics, healing, and decolonization. Professor Avalos sat down over zoom with Rebekah Go, the Ansari Institute’s Program and Communication Manager, to talk about her research and scholarship. The following has been edited and abridged for clarity.

Read More about Natalie Avalos: Indigenous Religious Traditions Deserve to be Known and Valued