DownloadJune 21 issue
EMU hosts Iranian scholar at forum
By Eastern Mennonite University staffHARRISONBURG, Va. — A scholar from Iran was the featured speaker at a forum June 10 sponsored by Abraham’s Tent, Eastern Mennonite University’s new Center for Interfaith Engagement.
Mohammad A. Shomali, left, and Roman J. Miller discuss areas of commonality and points of difference in how they interpret bioethical decisions in light of their Muslim and Christian faiths. — Photo by Jim Bishop/EMU
The scholar, Mohammad A. Shomali, said he chose “An Islamic Perspective on Peace” as his topic because he recognizes the centrality of peace to both the Muslim and Mennonite faiths.
Shomali chairs the department of religions at the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute in Qom, Iran.
Shomali’s special interests are interfaith dialogue, philosophy of religion and bioethics. He met the next morning with Roman J. Miller of EMU’s biology department. Shomali said he believes inviting God to direct one’s life will lead to personal, internal peace. His work in the area of bioethics springs from this orientation. Miller has written widely on bioethics.
Participants at the event “welcomed the interaction with a scholar whose work is deeply imprinted with his faith understandings,” said N. Gerald Shenk of Eastern Mennonite Seminary and director for [Abraham’s Tent](http://www.emu.edu/abraham/_.
Ed Martin, formerly of Mennonite Central Committee, facilitated Shomali’s visit.
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