SAN JOSE, Calif. (PRWEB) February 02, 2023
Following their time in Nairobi to take part in a major interfaith program, Gerald Grudzen and his wife also met Judy Walter, his wife’s life-long friend who is a Maryknoll Lay Missioner working in the largest slum of Mombasa (aka Bangladesh). While they were there, they learned of the interfaith conflict resulting from the incursion of Al Shabab terrorists infiltrating the coastal region of Kenya. Grudzen was asked to give a talk to the Coast Interfaith Council of Clerics on the importance of interfaith dialogue between Christians and Muslims. The chairman of the council asked him to raise money for interfaith education programs in the Mombasa region and he was able to raise funds to start what became a decade long series of education program in Kenya.
Set for a new marketing campaign, “Burying the Sword” (published by AuthorHouse in February 2017) analyzes the historical and political context in which various forms of violent extremism (jihadism) have emerged in the Middle East, Europe, and in Africa since the 911 attacks. Grudzen believes the growth of the jihadism can be attributed in part to the oppressive regimes of the Middle East, which have curtailed the democratic impulses of their youth. For him, alternative youth movements can serve as a source of inspiration and model for renewal of these regions.
This book also analyzes the role that technology can play in organizing future youth movements and serve as part of an interfaith educational program that has already been initiated in Kenya. Furthermore, Grudzen stresses the need for new models of interfaith education in public and private school throughout Africa to counteract the growth of extremist ideologies among the youth of this region.
“There is no other book of which I am aware that provides the historical background to conflicts between the two largest monotheistic religions and provides and provides a path forward to improving relations between through interfaith education. This book shares a possible solution to religious and political fundamentalism,” Grudzen says. When asked what he wants readers to take away from the book, he answered, “Christians and Muslims can collaborate to build a harmonious society in diverse parts of the world.”
The international interfaith conference titled "Walking Together in the Light of Fratelli Tutti and Laudato Si” co-sponsored by Global Ministries University(GMU), The Institute for Interreligious Dialogue and Islamic Studies at Tangaza University (IRDIS) and the Harmony Institute of Kenya in alliance with the UN World Interfaith Harmony week will be held on Feb. 2-4, 2023. Grudzen is the president of Global Ministries University, which established the interfaith education program in Kenya featured in this book. Visit globalministriesuniversity.org/.
For more details about the book, please visit https://www.authorhouse.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/755655-Burying-the-Sword
“Burying the Sword”
By Gerald Grudzen
Softcover | 6 x 9in | 194 pages | ISBN 9781524668433
E-Book | 194 pages | ISBN 9781524668426
Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
About the Author
Gerald Grudzen teaches Philosophy, History and Religious Studies for San Jose City College and The University of Phoenix. He has earned three graduate degrees in History and Philosophy from Columbia University in New York. He also has earned Master of Divinity and Master of Theology degrees from Maryknoll School of Theology, Maryknoll, New York. He is author or co-author of three books on interfaith issues since 2007. He also serves as president of Global Ministries University which is a graduate studies program affiliated with the Federation of Christian Ministries and the Buddhist Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand. He received a Templeton Foundation award for research that he did at Oxford University’s Ian Ramsey Centre for Religion and Science. This research focused on the transfer of Arabic philosophy and science into the early medieval curriculum of the major intellectual centers in Europe during the 11th and 12th centuries. Grudzen did this research in conjunction with a Bangladeshi scholar, Dr. Shamsur Rahman. It was published as “Spirituality and Science: Greek, Judeo Christian and Islamic Perspectives (Author House: 2007; Revised Edition: 2014).
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