This Fall the Ansari Institute is pleased to offer three book talks so that our growing community of learners can engage with scholars of depth and interest on a variety of topics. Each of these talks will be offered in the reading room on the second floor of the Hammes Notre Dame BookStore. There will be a brief introduction, a short reading or presentation, and then ample time for questions and conversations.
Blessed Are the Others: Jesus' Way in a Violent World will be presented on Wednesday, October 30 featuring the Rev. Dr. Andrew DeCort. He will discuss his time in Ethiopia and will emphasize the importance of confronting and processing grief while he also discusses the seven decisions or way-stations on Jesus' Beatitudinal Way, beginning from poverty and transitioning all the way to persecution. His book emphasizes the importance of vulnerability, compassion, and justice, and addresses the hurdles we may encounter on this path.
Andrew DeCort founded the Institute for Faith and Flourishing to nurture neighbor-love culture that honors faith and elevates human flourishing, especially for the poor, hated, and forgotten. He also serves as co-director of the Neighbor-Love Movement birthed in Ethiopia and spanning the globe with thousands of signatories committing to daily practices of nonviolence. DeCort holds a PhD in Religious and Political Ethics from the University of Chicago and has worked as a pastor, professor, and peace practitioner in the United States, Europe, and Africa. Blessed Are the Others is his third book and he currently lives in the Chicago area with his wife, Lily.
Andrew DeCort will be introduced by Fr. Emmanuel Katongole, an Ansari Institute faculty fellow and a Catholic priest who is an expert on politics and violence in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Sacred Snaps: Photovoice for Interfaith Engagement will be presented on Wednesday, November 13 by co-author and Interfaith Photovoice co-founder Roman R. Williams. He will discuss a new approach to interfaith engagement, inviting anyone and everyone with a smartphone to see and engage religion, diversity, and inclusion through its lens. Williams argues that to be more fully included in the cultural conversation about human flourishing, religion needs to be seen and heard in new ways. The old paradigm of interreligious dialogue is no longer adequate. This new paradigm focused on building relationships at the grass roots of daily life is emerging.
Roman Williams is the founder of Interfaith Photovoice, an organization that combines photography and sociology for intergroup and interfaith engagement. He holds a Ph.D. in the sociology of religion from Boston University and a Th.M. focused on global religions from Gordon-Conwell Seminary. He is a former professor at Calvin University and the author of Seeing Religion.
Roman Williams will be introduced by Dr. Chad Meister, an Ansari Institute faculty affiliate who is a scholar of global religion and is currently writing a volume on interfaith dialogue.
Southern Baptists and Muslims: A Path to Dialogue through Narrative Empathy will be presented on Wednesday, November 20th by author Dr. Charles W. Powell. Powell will be arguing that Southern Baptists would benefit from more personal encounters with Muslims. In fact, Powell’s research suggests that few Southern Baptist pastors or their congregants have had personal encounters with Muslims. As a result, they lack narrative empathy, making many Southern Baptists both underprepared and reluctant to engage with Muslims in the United States.
Charles W. Powell, serves as the Associate Director for Mission Engagement and Church Affairs (OMECA) at the University of Notre Dame. Powell joined OMECA in the fall of 2024. Prior to joining the team, he worked with the Ansari Institute where he headed multifaith engagement initiatives and taught the course “Evangelicals and Global Affairs.” Simultaneously, he was adjunct teaching faculty at Holy Cross College at Notre Dame; he taught courses in Christian-Muslim relations. Additionally, through Notre Dame Global he co-led the course “International Law and the Holocaust” in Poland for five years.
Charles Powell will be introduced by Daniel Phillpott, an Ansari Institute faculty fellow who is a professor of political science at Notre Dame who specializes in religion and global politics.
Each book talk will be followed by a brief reception and books will be available for purchase.