Ophir Yarden to Discuss the Peace Process in Jerusalem Nov. 9

Story posted November 04, 2009

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Ophir Yarden.

Ophir Yarden, director of the Center for Interreligious Encounter with Israel and director of Educational Initiatives at the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel, will speak about the peace process in Jerusalem at 7:30 p.m. Monday, November 9, 2009, in Conference Room West, Hubbard Hall.

Yarden's talk, titled "The Other Peace Process: Christians, Jews, and Muslims Living Together in Jerusalem," is open to the public and admission is free.

Ophir Yarden was born in the United States and immigrated to Israel in 1978. He was a founder of the Melitz Tour Educators School and is a specialist in non-formal Jewish education and the use of Israel as an educational resource.

He is professor of Jewish and Israel studies at Brigham Young University's Jerusalem center and lectures widely elsewhere. He has taught at several other Jerusalem institutions including Hebrew University and the Hebrew Union College.

Yarden conducts seminars in Israel for Jewish professionals from the Diaspora and teaches in Israel's national tour guides courses. He lectures regularly at Christian Seminaries including the Swedish Theological Institute, the Sisters of Sion's Biblical Studies Program at Ecce Homo, St. George's College and, previously, the Ratisbonne Pontifical Institute of Jewish Studies for Christians all in Jerusalem.

He earned his M.A. in Middle East studies and has pursued advanced Jewish studies at the Shalom Hartman Institute and the Schechter Institute of Judaic Studies, both in Jerusalem. His research interests center on Jewish identity and its changes over history, and he has published several articles on civil religion in Israel.

In January 2003 he founded the Israel-Palestine J.C.M. Conference, which seeks to be an ongoing framework for intensive indigenous interreligious dialogue between Jews, Christians and Muslims in Israel-Palestine at Nes Ammim. He continues to be active in interreligious, Israeli-Palestinian encounter program.

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