Praxis Winter 2020

winter 2020

praxis

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CELEBRATING 15 YEARS OF THE INTERNATIONAL PEACEMAKING PROGRAM

PLUS AN EXCERPT FROM A HISTORY OF ISLAM IN 21 WOMEN THE DYNAMIC DUO BID FAREWELL TO HARTSEM ANNUAL REPORT

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PRAXIS is published annually by the Office of Communications for alumni and friends of Hartford Seminary

ron & rose say goodbye

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faculty publications

6 ALUMNI UPDATES 10 PROGRAM DONOR Q&A

18 AN EXCERPT FROM: A HISTORY OF ISLAM IN 21 WOMEN

12 WHERE ARE THEY FROM? THE 15TH ipp CLASS

29 THE HEIDI HADSELL SCHOLARSHIP FUND

14 15 YEARS OF IPP DONORS

30 TRUSTEES 31 STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES

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IPP at15

EDITOR Susan Schoenberger DESIGNER Steven Havira

Wow. Just wow.

I think one of the incredible gifts that Hartford Seminary offers everyone who enters its door is an invitation to an experience of questions, asking the deep ‘why’ questions of the world. The deep, centered spirituality that is offered allows a type of centeredness in it all, so I didn’t feel like I was being wrecked apart for the sake of being shaken, but there was always a deep sense of being called back to myself, and to God. I would wish this experience for everyone I love and care about.

Thus writes 2016 International Peacemaking Program (IPP) graduate Ayanda Nxusani of South Africa, who shares her story in this issue. If you’ve met any of our IPP students, you’ll know that Ayanda’s inspiring story is not unique, and this issue of Praxis gives you an opportunity to meet more. We are celebrating 15 years of the IPP, and it is indeed something to celebrate. It’s what makes Hartford Seminary the special place it is - like no other.

It started out as a heady idea by my able predecessor, Heidi Hadsell. What a vision. Fifteen years, 21 countries, and 60 participants later - we are only beginning. In fact, my hope is to grow the IPP into something even bigger and greater as part of our exciting strategic plan, which is almost complete. But we need your help.

In 2018, on the occasion of Heidi Hadsell’s retirement after 18 years of service, Hartford Seminary established an endowment fund for the Heidi Hadsell Scholarship for International Peacemaking.

It allows one IPP student to come to Hartford each year, fully funded including travel to and from the U.S., a full year of tuition, housing, a monthly stipend, health insurance, and books.

We are just over halfway to our goal of $500,000. Can you help us get there? I promise you won’t be disappointed. You can rest knowing that your gift really - really - is making a difference in our world, bringing healing, hope, understanding, and reconciliation.

I hope you enjoy this issue. Its pages are teeming with life, a reflection of what I get to experience each day with our students, faculty, and staff. What a blessing!

In your and God’s service, exploring differences, deepening faith.

Joel N. Lohr President

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IPP Then it was a funding proposal with some fairly lofty language. “The purpose of this fund will be to foster religious understanding, overcome differences, and encourage young leaders to build bridges of tolerance so that religious warfare will someday cease.”

That was the pitch in a 2004 letter to potential funders from Chief Development Officer Ronald Lundeen acting on behalf of President Heidi Hadsell, who had the heady idea.

It started out as a heady idea.

What if Hartford Seminary could provide scholarships for international students and bring them to Connecticut to nurture their ability to make peace in places with interreligious conflict?

Fifteen years after the first students arrived, where are we? Sixty students have received full scholarships and traveled to Hartford Seminary from places as remote as Myanmar and as close as New Jersey. They have gone on to work for nonprofits, to practice their skills within faith communities and governments, and to earn Ph.Ds. One thing unites them: their knowledge that conflict is a normal companion to diversity and that the energy generated by conflict can be used to work for justice.

What’s now known as the International Peacemaking Program (IPP) started out as the Congregational Relations Program (CRP) with the idea that scholarship recipients would be embedded in Connecticut congregations supporting their peacemaking work.

The first two peacemakers – Abraham Wilar of Indonesia and the Rev. Francis Acquah of Ghana – arrived

in Hartford for the 2005-06 academic year.

Over the next three years, CRP brought mainly Christian students from places such as Pakistan, Nigeria, Myanmar, Lebanon, and Bulgaria, with the first Muslim student – Sharareh Esfandyari Ghalati of Iran – arriving in 2008.

In 2009, the program was renamed IPP. More Muslim students participated, including those from Pakistan, Iraq, Egypt, and Iran. In 2015, IPP received funding to add Christian peacemakers from the United States to the mix, and in 2017, Jewish scholarships were added. As many as nine scholarships have been funded in one year.

In its current form, IPP is an opportunity for emerging leaders to spend a year doing academic work in interfaith dialogue while also learning practical peacebuilding skills through an intensive co-curriculum. Students live on campus in housing that is intentionally interfaith, and graduates often say they learned just as much from living in community as they did in the classroom.

Under the leadership of IPP Coordinator Phoebe Milliken, Hartford Seminary takes a conflict transformation approach to peacebuilding. The core of this work is teaching students to handle

conflict constructively by focusing on relationships. When relationships are strong, opportunities to work on areas of disagreement persist and are less likely to become violent.

The trick is measuring outcomes. IPP students do great work in ways that are very hard to spot.

This is exactly as it should be. When peacebuilders help others understand each other so that conflict does not escalate, it rarely gets noticed, and it’s impossible to quantify. IPP students typically go on to work for nonprofits, in education, and for congregations where they can practice their skills in helping diverse communities craft relationships that weather conflict well.

In the pages that follow, you’ll meet some of our inspiring graduates and current students, as well our passionate donors. We hope you’ll look for ways to help us sustain what has become the beating heart of Hartford Seminary, a group of courageous individuals living and working together, creating relationships that will last a lifetime. Once it was a heady idea, then a lofty proposal, then a reality. We are beyond proud to have so many graduates who strive “to build bridges of tolerance so that religious warfare will someday cease.”

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“The incredible experience I had in the IPP of learning from my classmates of different faiths and nationalities has certainly affected my interfaith work ever since for the better.” together Jewish rabbinical students and Christian seminarians to dialogue and learn from each other, so that our future faith leaders have a better understanding of those who believe otherwise than they do,” she says. “Our two dinners in Spring 2019 offered participants the opportunity to engage in a meaningful way, and hopefully exposed them to different perspectives. We will continue this work in 2020 with a mini interfaith conference for rabbinical students and seminarians in the Philadelphia area.”

2017-18

Allyson Zacharoff United States A whirlwind of energy named Allyson Zacharoff arrived at Hartford Seminary in 2017 with an “interfaith” mindset, having studied and worked in interfaith relations for several years.

Immediately before her IPP year, Allyson studied at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, a non-denominational yeshiva in Jerusalem where she delved into deeper Jewish text learning. During her year in Jerusalem, she was involved in a number of interfaith initiatives between Israelis and Palestinians. It was there, during a lunchtime lecture, that she met a Hartford Seminary professor, Dr. Yehezkel Landau, who later encouraged Allyson to apply to the IPP. Allyson’s cohort of peacemakers was the largest Hartford Seminary has 6

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had to date. The nine IPP students in 2017-18 were from Lebanon, India, South Africa, Haiti, Greece, and various places around the U.S. “The incredible experience I had in the IPP of learning from my classmates of different faiths and nationalities has certainly affected my interfaith work ever since for the better,” she says.

For a two-year stint before her time in Jerusalem, Allyson worked in New York City at a non profit coalition of different faith groups committed to helping those suffering as a result of the war in Syria. She also spent a year in Rome on a Russell Berrie Fellowship in Interreligious Studies, where she “had the amazing opportunity to study among priests and nuns learning more about Christianity and other faiths.”

Allyson now attends rabbinical school in Philadelphia, where she continues her interfaith work. “My latest initiative focused on bringing

Allyson hopes to become an ordained rabbi and envisions “serving both a Jewish community and the wider multifaith community,” either through organizations that already exist or establishing her own. No one would be surprised if it were the latter.

“I came to Hartford particularly because I wanted to learn more about the Qur’an and Islam, something I had not had the opportunity to study in depth before the IPP. The ability to study the Qur’an with sincere religious practitioners of Islam, who could share their perspectives on their scripture and how it is interpreted today, was invaluable for me as someone completely devoted to multifaith work.

“I also met a number of Christians who were generous to share of themselves in our classes, offering their perspectives on the different holy texts. The combination of such quality learning of different faiths, combined with so many classmates who were willing to be open and vulnerable on very intense topics, has stayed with me since then.”

“At Hartford Seminary, I found many ways that prove my view that friendship is an anchor for interfaith dialogue. The small campus environment provides enormous opportunities for people who are willing to understand and relate to each other equally.”

2007-08

Jacky Manuputty Indonesia Hot porridge. Ask the Rev. Jacky Manuputty how to approach a heated conflict, and he will tell you to work around the edges first, where it’s cool. And he would know.

When Jacky arrived at Hartford Seminary in 2007, he already had a national reputation in Indonesia as a peace activist following violent clashes between Muslims and Christians that killed 10,000 people and displaced 500,000 between 1999 and 2003. It was a difficult time during which Jacky experienced death threats and arson that destroyed his home before a peace agreement ended the violence.

“This tragedy was the most significant inter-religious conflict since Indonesia’s independence,” he says.

“After the conflict, I felt the need to expand my knowledge on interfaith dialogue, and Hartford Seminary was a place that I felt was suitable for achieving what I wanted.”

Once he was here, Jacky says, he realized that the relationships he would form were the key to sustaining him and his work.

“At Hartford Seminary, I found many ways that prove my view that friendship is an anchor for interfaith dialogue,” he says. “The small campus environment provides enormous opportunities for people who are willing to understand and relate to each other equally.”

As the co-founder of several groups that advocate for peace and interreligious understanding, Jacky has put many of his Hartford Seminary skills to good use. Not that they always worked the first time. He once introduced the idea of reading Scriptures together during a training

session for students from different faiths. Without his help, they decided to continue on their own, then called him to help them resolve their arguments over how the Bible, Torah, and Qur’an told the same stories in different ways. He invited a Muslim cleric friend to join him in mentoring the students and helping them to learn “good intentions are good, but not enough.” Knowledge, he says, is needed as well.

Today, Jacky is a rising star in Indonesia’s interfaith circles. He works as an assistant to the President of Indonesia’s Special Envoy for Interreligious Dialogue, and he was recently elected General Secretary of the Council of Churches in Indonesia. Both are important jobs that he does in addition to serving a church and working with people from different religious and ethnic backgrounds in a grassroots effort to better interfaith relations.

Jacky says he plans to continue as a pastor “who pays serious attention to environmental advocacy issues” and who “continues to serve his church and humanity for the glory of God.”

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“I think one of the incredible gifts that Hartford Seminary offers everyone who enters its door is an invitation to an experience of questions, asking the deep ‘why’ questions of the world...”

I would wish this experience for everyone I love and care about.”

2015-16

Ayanda Nxusani South Africa Ayanda Nxusani has a smile like sunshine, and all of Hartford Seminary felt the strength of its glow during her year in the International Peacemaking Program.

But it was only by chance that Ayanda found her way to the IPP. In 2014, she had finished her undergraduate studies at the University of Cape Town with a Bachelor of Social Science in Politics, International Relations, and Economic History.

Weighty stuff, and yet she was at a crossroads, unsure of what to do next. Then a mentor recommended IPP, and she was soon on her way to Connecticut.

Ayanda was part of a lively group of seven peacemakers, including students from Ethiopia, India, two from Egypt, and the first two American

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peacemakers, one from Arkansas and one from New York. “In simple terms, my experience at Hartford Seminary wrecked my world apart in ways that I never expected,” Ayanda says. “I had moments where I was affirmed in who I am, what I believe, and how I believed it. But it also asked me questions that moved beyond just Ayanda Nxusani, a Christian girl from Cape Town, South Africa.”

Those questions were the key to her IPP experience.

“I think one of the incredible gifts that Hartford Seminary offers everyone who enters its door is an invitation to an experience of questions, asking the deep ‘why’ questions of the world. The deep, centered spirituality that is offered allows a type of centeredness in it all, so I didn’t feel like I was being wrecked apart for the sake of being shaken, but there was always a deep sense of being called back to myself, and to God.

After her year at Hartford Seminary, Ayanda says she felt a bit “scatterbrained” when returning to Cape Town in search of jobs. Then she was connected with the Justice Conference South Africa, which has a vision “to see individuals and communities, compelled by a Kingdom-vision based on robust theological frameworks and deep critical social consciousness, released to prophetic imagination and equipped for a lifelong commitment for living justice together.”

She says, “I felt incredibly equipped to enter that space and to make meaningful contributions. Peacemaking and conflict resolution workshops coupled with the theology course I took at Hartford allowed me to see my faith and myself as active participants in a moving story in South Africa.”

Ayanda is now in the final stages of a Master’s in History focusing on intergenerational trauma and South African youth. She is applying for Ph.D. programs around the world toward the goal of becoming an academic in Africa history and memory.

“I see myself being an influential thinker in shaping how history and memory allow individuals in the present to self-actualize in an ever-shifting world.”

“It is Hartford Seminary that has given me the reason to love what I do. Living and studying at Hartford Seminary has significantly reformed my faith, my belief into a more embracing, loving [attitude] towards the other.”

2008-09

Acmad Macarimbang Philippines

Acmad Macarimbang was already an experienced peacemaker before coming to Hartford Seminary’s IPP in 2009, but it was here that he fell in love with the work.

“It is Hartford Seminary that has given me the reason to love what I do,” he says. “Living and studying at Hartford Seminary has significantly reformed my faith, my belief into a more embracing, loving [attitude] towards the other.”

After IPP, Acmad moved to Singapore in 2010 and became a research associate focusing on intercultural and inter-religious affairs. Then he volunteered as the first Muslim ecumenical accompanier with the World Council of Churches, accompanying Palestinians in the West Bank.

“I was able to relate well with Palestinians who were in a difficult living situation because of the conflict,” he says. “At the same time, I was able to start a conversation with the other side - Israeli soldiers and settlers. I realized that listening is peacemaking. And showing respect to what the other side would want to say is peacemaking.”

Now Acmad works in the Philippines, serving as Chief of Staff for a deputy majority leader of the newly created Bangsamoro Parliament of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

“The Parliament is the result of four decades of negotiation between the Philippine government and the Islamic Liberation group in the

“... I was able to start a conversation with the other side - Israeli soldiers and settlers. I realized that listening is peacemaking. And showing respect to what the other side would want to say is peacemaking.”

Philippines.” In five years, Acmad wants to be someone who has made a significant contribution to peace and development in his own community and to give back to the youth who want to “see themselves as an instrument of good in their own little way.”

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IPP DONOR Bob and Alice Evans Bob and Alice Evans founded the Plowshares Institute to build an organization that worked as an agent of change around the world, conducting workshops in mediation, leading travel seminars, and training national, community, and religious leaders in creative ways to intervene in conflict.

In 2015 the Evanses wrapped up their wonderful work with Plowshares, continuing their legacy through several substantial gifts to Hartford Seminary’s International Peacemaking Program. We lost a great man when Bob passed away in 2018, but his peacemaking spirit lives on. The gifts Hartford Seminary continues to receive from the Plowshares community have sustained an Endowed Enrichment Program for our IPP fellows and scholarship support.

trudie Prior

joe Colletti

The Prior Family Foundation has been funding a full scholarship for a Jewish Student in the IPP cohort for many years. What do you find to be particularly important about supporting a student in this program ?

You have volunteered your expertise and substantial time over 6 years for the IPP, leading a workshop on public speaking. What feedback do you receive from the IPP Fellows about the value of this training ?

The world is woefully short on peace these days, and much of the conflict derives from a lack of appreciation for and acceptance of religious differences. I think supporting a student in the IPP is important to increasing awareness of how to relate to people of other faiths in our multi-faith society. As a Jew, it was especially important to me that the Jewish perspective be part of any dialogue.

The feedback has all been positive with special emphasis on the impact both the tools and the presentation techniques they learned in the program will have on their future work as peacemakers.

Students in the IPP often say that their fellow students are as much a part of the learning as the curriculum itself.

What do you hope a Jewish student experiences while earning their graduate certificate ?

My hope is that Jewish students who participate in the IPP will gain a deeper understanding of other faiths as well as their own by studying and living with Christians and Muslims in an intimate setting where stereotypes are set aside and converting the other is not the goal.

What do you see as the value of Hartford Seminary’s mission in the world today ?

During my 15 years on the Board, I found that that Hartford Seminary provided a unique environment in which students of different faiths could safely explore differences through dialogue rather than debate and hopefully return to their communities to share their newfound awareness.

You work with IPP Fellows multiple times during the academic year. What growth do you see in them as they develop their skills in peacemaking and interfaith dialogue ?

The major focus of the presentation skills program is to improve the IPP participants’ self confidence in making public presentations. The growth that I have seen primarily has been an increase in their comfort levels in making presentations, their use of effective tools and presentation techniques, and their ability to respond positively to “surprise” requests to make public comments and statements.

In your role as a Hartford Seminary Corporator you have chosen volunteer work as one way of giving to the Seminary. How do you see this as an opportunity to support this community ?

I view my role as a Hartford Seminary Corporator as one who contributes my time, talents, and treasure to the Seminary community. My offer of experience and skills to the Seminary community is as important as my financial support. It enables me to participate in the life of the Seminary and, hopefully, be part of the creation of a more peaceful world.

E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation

John and Lynn Fulkerson

david Carson

You have been funding a full scholarship for many years and contributed generously to the Heidi Hadsell Scholarship. What do you find to be particularly important about supporting a student in this program ?

You were one of the founding donors for the International Peacemaking Program. How do you see the program living out the vison that it began with ?

We love that Hartford Seminary provides an environment for interfaith dialogue where all traditions are honored. This can only lead to greater understanding across differences, the coming together on common ground, and the building of peace in an often conflicted and divided world.

IPP Fellows are taught practical skills in conflict resolution and interfaith dialogue. What do you believe is an important skill gained through their education ?

Leadership training is essential to bring about meaningful engagement in this process of peacemaking.

What do you see as the value of Hartford Seminary’s mission in the world today ?

The world would be a better place if more institutions provided this opportunity and training in peacemaking. Hartford Seminary’s IPP offers a great model.

The IPP continues to be an innovative program that has real growth potential as people understand better the impact that can be made in educating peacemakers around the world.

What would you say is the most important reason for supporting IPP scholarships ?

It is increasingly vital that we find the means to facilitate conversation and build peaceful communities. Hartford Seminary’s one-of-a-kind learning environment prepares IPP scholarship recipients with the practical tools and experiences that they can take back to their home communities and advance the essential work of peacebuilding.

The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation has been a generous partner of the International Peacemaking Program through annual grant support of scholarships. The most recent scholarships have been for students who identify as LGBTQ+, which has brought a critical perspective to the program and affirms the importance of broad diversity. Scholarship recipient Jason Fredlund, 2019-2020, reflected on his expectations and experiences: “I have lots of experience navigating non-affirming communities within the Christian church, but I was a bit apprehensive about being the ‘token queer’ person within a multi-faith setting. My fears were alleviated as soon as I met the other students in the IPP. I felt immediately welcomed and met with a sense of genuine love, openness, and curiosity – this feeling extended to each staff and faculty person I’ve encountered as well. Hartford Seminary has provided the unique opportunity to explore and deepen my faith, free from the limitations and distractions of homophobia and closed-mindedness.”

It is with deep gratitude that we thank our generous donors for their vision and investment in peace.

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IPP ’s 15TH CLASS We are proud to introduce the 2019-20 class of International Peacemakers.

These six students are spending the academic year developing leadership skills, mediation techniques, interfaith dialogue strategies, and much more.

Learn about what draws them to peacemaking in their own words.

Imna Jamir of India I grew up in India, which is diverse religiously and culturally. Peace is eroded by social stigmas, marginal living, and the general insecurity of day-to-day life. As a participant in the International Peacemaking Program, I have belief and confidence that Hartford Seminary will help me develop the leadership to navigate this complex situation in India.

Jason Fredlund of Connecticut Hartford Seminary’s IPP offers an international and multifaith community, which is helping me to identify my own gaps, misunderstandings, and opportunities for growth. I feel deeply connected to my understandings of truth and beauty, many of which have their roots in Christianity. I value opportunities to share that with others, while creating space to gracefully sit in the tension of our differences.

Gilana Levavi of New Jersey I am passionate about pluralism. I was and continue to be excited by the opportunity to be part of an international pluralistic community, to study religion in an intellectually rigorous environment, and to learn practical skills for positive social change toward peace.

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Njehntengazoka Danladi of Nigeria I grew up in an interfaith community. My friends and I couldn’t differentiate any faith lines because our relationships had no religious borders. ... Life was good. I want to restore the religious unity we once had, bring people back to the “united shelter.” I want the future generation to sit like we sat before, to relate like we related before, to have us as parents who will tell the story at moonlight of how we conquered the religious crisis in northern Nigeria.

ipp student faiths

Nanik Yuliyanti of Indonesia Mutual understanding and respect, which are two of the essential qualities for peace building, can be learned not only in classes but also through experiences. And that is what Hartford Seminary provides. It gives me a huge mirror to reflect on myself and everything around me.

Christian 43

jewish 4

muslim 13

ipp student home countries

albania 1

bulgaria 1

egypt 3

ethiopia 1

ghana 1

greece 1

haiti 1

india 6

indonesia 10

iran 3

iraq 1

italy 1

Hkawn Ja Aung of Myanmar

lebanon 3

myanmar 3

nigeria 4

Many are not aware of what is going on in [Myanmar], why the religious groups are in conflict with each other, and how it results in our communities being backward in many ways. I chose to apply for IPP at Hartford Seminary to take more valuable courses that produce a meaningful, long-term impact in my community and country.

pakistan 3

philippines 1

south africa 2

thailand 1

tunisia 1

usa 12

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INDIVIDUALS Samsiah Abdul Majid Ralph and Beverly Ahlberg Abubaker Al Shingieti Patsy Allen Betty S. Allen Anne S. Alvord Kathleen and Sherwood Anderson Evelyn M. Andre Barbara A. Bacewicz Karen Bailey-Francois Shawnee C. Baldwin Elisabeth K. Bazin John and Laura Berman Mary R. Bischoff James C. and Jane F. Bledsoe Courtney B. and Anne Lundberg Bourns Anthony and Theodora Brown Lorraine Browne Clarice R. Brunson Harold and Joyce Buckingham Martin and Aviva Budd Nausherwan and Wendy Burki Suzanne K. Carnes Margaret and James Carroll David E. A. and Sara Carson Carolyn H. Cary Polly U. Champ Shannon Clarkson Sanford and Diane Cloud Davida F. Crabtree Paul and Alice Cruikshank Marjorie H. Davis Kim and Gary DeMichele Tina Demo William and Eileen Dorosz Nancy P. Dubrovsky Shirley S. Dudley Joseph Edelson Vernon and Doris Edward Donarell B. Elder Lisa M. Eleck Alice F. and Robert* Evans David and Janet Ezekiel Clare and Barry Feldman Lowell and Julie Fewster Catherine Field Joy M. Floyd Arlene Friedman Lynn and John Fulkerson Sydney and Sue Fuller Harriet and Phillip Gardner Kenneth L. Gentili Walter and May-Wo Giger Michael F. Gilligan Wendy Grammas Peter and Jeanne Grandy Arnold and Beverly Greenberg Sheila H. Guillaume Heidi Hadsell David C. Hall Donald and Debbie Hamer Anne Hardy James and Gerry Harvey Angela and Frank Hauzeur Mike Hawbecker Imam Yahya Hendi Mary and Kenneth Hendrickson Katherine S. Hennessy Karen and Joseph Hewes Raymond W. Holland and Elizabeth T. Augustine

Alice Hollingsworth Katharine Houk Georgette Huie Molly and Reade James Glendon C. Jantzi Christine Joyner Shirley Kiefer Jeannette E. King Stillman and Mary Knight David Koehler Joseph G. M. Kurnath Yehezkel Landau Gary and Elizabeth Lewis John B. Lindner Priscilla and Deacon F. Linehan Robert K. Loesch Joel and Teresa Lohr Candace J. Low Edward Luisi Janice Macferran* Raymond and Anita Marchant Ian and Lesley Markham Steven J. Mason Alejandro Maynegre-Torra Linda Mayo-Perez and James E. Williams Hugh and Kate McLean Philip and Rose Marie McLoughlin Catharina and Mahmoud Melehy Larry Menefee and Laurie Dill Carolyn O. Mikels William and Rosalind Moldwin Gary and Lori Mongillo Linda Mosley Fred F. B. Mudawwar Salahuddin and Fonda Muhammad Robert E. Muller Victoria T. Murphy Henrietta J. Near Mark and Judith Nelson Roger and Helen Nicholson Douglas R. Norell Rebecca Otterbein Betty Pagett Carmen and Harry Pak Erline and Alphonso Patrick Hugh and Lois Penney Rose and Daniel Petronella Alexis and William Popik Kenneth and Mary Poppe Gwendolynn Purushotham Larry and Nyla Rasmussen Stephen G. Ray, Jr. Frank and Judith Resnick Catherine Reynolds Bruce and Mary Rigdon Mary and Theodore Robbins Nancy and Stephen Roberts James K. Robertson, Jr. Amy* and Lewis Robinson Nelson Rodriguez Victoria and Patrick Rogers Wayne and Donnalou Rollins David and Suzanne Roozen Peter and Pamela Rosa Anthony and Deborah Ruger Barbara Salinger Valiyaveetil and Susie Samuel Jennifer L. Sanborn and Matthew Burch Michael Sandner Christine and Paul Lohr Sapp Susan Schoenberger Kimberly Schwarting Ted and Ellen See

Naseem Shaikh Ali Shakibai Alwi and Ashraf Shihab Phyllis Shikora Kent and Marian Smith Jane I. Smith Andrew and Kate Smith Linda M. Spiers Marie and Kenneth Spivey Bruce Stewart William J. Suffich Jr. Philip Susag* Laura J. Sweeney Paul and Corinna Tamburini Ken* and JoAnne T. Taylor Allan and Sally Taylor Jonathan Tetherly Margaret and Kenneth Thomas Donald A. Toussaint, Sr. Karen Trepp Abigail Turner Catherine L. Ufford-Chase Matthew and Barbara Valenti Ann Van Cleef Kittie Vangunten Joanne and Paul Varga David and Donna Wadstrup Gregory and Amy Welin Charles West Erin Wheeler Mary Williams Eliot and Susan Williams Robert and Florence Wright William and Janet Zito *Deceased

FOUNDATIONS Cuesta Foundation El-Hibri Foundation E. Rhodes and Leone B. Carpenter Foundation Pax Educare Inc. Plowshares Institute Prior Family Foundation The Arthur Vining Davis Foundation The Hassenfeld Family Foundation The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc.

CONGREGATIONS Westminster Presbyterian Church West Hartford, CT Universalist Church of West Hartford West Hartford, CT United Methodist Church of Hartford Hartford, CT Trinity Episcopal Church Tariffville, CT

The First Church of Christ, Congregational Redding Center, CT The Congregational Church of South Glastonbury South Glastonbury, CT St. John’s Episcopal Church West Hartford, CT Immanuel Congregational Church Hartford, CT Gilead Congregational Church Hebron, CT First Presbyterian Chruch Hartford, CT First Congregational Church of Litchfield Litchfield, CT The First Congregational Church of Guilford Guilford, CT The First Congregational Church of Greenwich Old Greenwich, CT First Congregational Church of Granby Granby, CT First Congregational Church of East Hartford East Hartford, CT First Church of Christ, Congregational Glastonbury, CT First Church of Christ, Congregational Middletown, CT The First Church of Christ, Congregational Suffield, CT First Church of Christ, Congregational Farmington, CT First Church of Christ & Ecclesiastical Society Simsbury, CT First Church of Christ Unionville, CT Ellington Congregational Church Ellington, CT Crossroads Presbyterian Church Waterford, CT Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church New York, NY The Church of St. Timothy West Hartford, CT

INVEST IN PEACE WAYS TO GIVE ONLINE GIVING

Go to this secure link: www.hartsem.edu/donate Give a one-time gift or a monthly recurring donation.

GIFTS IN KIND Hartford Seminary welcomes gifts in kind including goods and services that meet the programmatic needs of the organization.

PLANNED GIVING Gifts made through estate planning provide for the future growth of Hartford Seminary. The Mackenzie Heritage Society honors those who have made provisions for Hartford Seminary in their estate plans.

MATCHING GIFTS Many companies offer their employees a benefit of increasing their charitable donations to select organizations by matching those gifts either dollar for dollar or by a percentage. Please check with your employer about their matching gift program.

SECURITIES AND PROPERTY Gifts of stock, other securities or property benefit Hartford Seminary and you, the donor, with a deduction at the fair market value of the gift when it is made. Additionally, in most cases the donor does not pay capital gains tax on the appreciated value of the stock or property.

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS Go out to the individuals and organizations supporting the International Peacemaking Program.

Because of you, our peacemakers are working in their communities and using their Hartford Seminary education to further interreligious dialogue around the world.

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2018-19

A Personal Reflection by Amy Langston United States When I accepted the offer of a place in the International Peacemaking Program (IPP), I was taking a leap of faith. I was excited for the chance to explore peacemaking, in theory and practice, but I didn’t have my own background in the topic.

I knew that several of our students would be coming from countries that faced imminent and critical peace crises, and even though everywhere is in need of peacemaking, including the U.S., I presumed that my own context couldn’t be comparable to that of my colleagues, putting me behind in my understanding.

I entered Hartford Seminary without a clear sense of direction for my future and employment. I got the impression from the IPP that I needed to have a concrete vision, but instead I was entering the program with the goal of the program itself shaping and guiding me toward creating my vision. My intention with attending Hartford Seminary was for academic, professional, and personal growth.

I felt that as I matured and grew personally, I’d understand what it was I wanted to do professionally and as an advocate. I was hoping that the IPP would impact me holistically. Now over a year away from IPP, I look back on it like boot camp: an intensive training period that you will only know the importance of once you are out there using the skills you learned.

To start, I benefited greatly from the exploration of what peacemaking is.

Many of us might default to peace as absence of conflict, or even viewing peace as passive. But I believe that peace, properly understood, is active.

It is a commitment to navigating differences to not unnecessarily spiral into violence and division.

The conflict mediation workshops took conflict as a fact of life and not a negative; it’s how we respond to conflict that is important. The constructive response to conflict namely being

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conflict transformation over conflict prevention or resolution. The peacemaking, or peacebuilding as I prefer to call it, as implemented by my colleagues will look very different from how I do it at home. But that doesn’t make it less important, because each of us is in need of sharpening our peacebuilding skills as they apply to individual, interpersonal, group, national, and global situations.

At its core, peacebuilding is enhancing well-being. I believe the values and goals of the peacebuilding outlook will fit well with my vision for autism inclusion. Besides the professional context, it affects relationships with others -- those I have disagreements with, my implicit biases, and those in need.

When you approach interactions with a posture of empathy, listening, and respect, it begins to permeate all facets of your life. As a Hartford Seminary program, the IPP is tied with growth in personal faith. For me, this helped solidify my journey toward Quakerism, which posits peace as one of its central values.

For me, a peace outlook is inseparable from being a person of faith who lives that faith conscientiously and methodically. The multireligious community of the Seminary reinforced that other religions have the same principles: the Tikkun Olam of Judaism and Islam’s commitment to a just and humane world.

One of my favorite components of the IPP was the community we experienced among the cohort and the integration into the wider living-and-learning community at the Seminary. Living together while sharing much of our program together enabled us to learn from each other more intimately. The Seminary was a living laboratory for our peacebuilding curriculum. We saw how peacebuilding isn’t easy; we needed to overcome our own hurdles and challenges and differences with each other. We saw how clashes of personality, religion, and culture can impact our relationships. But I believe the Seminary as a whole stands as an example of how a multireligious, multiethnic and diverse community is not only possible, but greatly needed for our world today.

Saying Goodbye to Ron & Rose

Three months apart, in the fall of 2019, colleagues, family, and friends paid emotional tributes to two longtime employees who worked a combined 55 years for Hartford Seminary: Roseann Lezak, Director of Administration and Facilities, who retired after a marathon 38-year career, and Facilities Maintainer Ron Malcolm, who retired after 17 years.

The two were an inseparable team for many of those years.

Ron famously guarded electronic equipment in a flooded Hartford Seminary basement overnight on several occasions and answered emergency calls at all hours of the day. At Ron’s retirement party in September, administrators, Trustees, and a number of Ron’s 10 children spoke movingly about him and his dedication to Hartford Seminary.

“As chair and a member of the Building and Grounds Committee for more than a decade, I know what your challenges were and what you accomplished,” Trustee Frank Resnick wrote in a card that was read aloud at the gathering. “I will always be grateful because you made it all look so easy.”

The

Roseann Lezak Years of Service Award Fund was moving into its modern, Richard Meier-designed building at 77 Sherman Street. She raised her two children on campus and worked in several different departments, including as Director of Human Resources, and finally as Director of Administration and Facilities.

In that role, Roseann was responsible for the management and upkeep of 17 buildings, including housing for students. Both she and Ron answered calls any time of the day or night about compressors, backed-up plumbing, outages, and faulty sump pumps.

President Joel N. Lohr, who arrived at Hartford Seminary in July 2018, called Roseann a friend and a model employee who has “made thousands of calls to make sure snow was plowed, the doors were open, or messes were cleaned up. … When I traveled recently to Indonesia and Singapore people would ask about you as if you are a member of their family, a mom. You are a giving, generous, selfless person, and we can all learn from you.”

Roseann describes Hartford Seminary as “the oasis of the world” and knows first-hand that the hard work and caring nature of our dedicated staff support our worldwide peacebuilding mission.

When asked how we could honor her years of service, she quickly responded, “Please, make it about our staff!” This fund will support an annual luncheon to recognize staff for their years of service to Hartford Seminary.

We have received generous gifts toward our $25,000 goal. Join us in honoring Rose by making a generous gift on our website. Look under Program Designations for The Roseann Lezak Years of Service Award.

www.hartsem.edu/giving

Congratulations and happy retirement to Rose and Ron!

A dry eye was just as rare at Roseann’s retirement party in December.

As a young single mother, Roseann (also known as Rose and Ro) took a job as a secretary at Hartford Seminary in 1982, just as the Seminary

Watch the videos of Ron and Rose’s retirement parties on our YouTube page.

While you’re there, why not click and subscribe!

We upload most events to keep you connected no matter where you are!

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1

Please enjoy this excerpt from a new book

by Dr. Hossein Kamaly, Associate Professor of Islamic Studies, who was inspired to look at Islam through the lens of 21 vital women.

We thank Oneworld Publications for permission to reprint this chapter.

A HISTORY OF ISLAM IN 21 WOMEN

11 NUR JAHAN (1577–1645) LIGHT OF THE WORLD

At the end of October 1577 a comet appeared in the night sky.

Known as the Great Comet, this astronomical phenomenon stirred strong mixed feelings across the globe. In India its blood-red light and fiery course conjured up fears of impending upheaval. People believed it augured calamity such as war, fire, pestilence and a change of dynasty. Nur Jahan was born a few months earlier, in February, that same year. Writing a couple of generations later, Mughal chroniclers took the comet as heralding her extraordinarily eventful life.

Nur Jahan (1577–1645) was unbreakable. As an infant, her parents abandoned her to die by a roadside outside the city of Kandahar, now in Afghanistan. She survived. Decades later, the ruling emperor, Jahangir (r. 1605–1627), executed her beloved elder brother. In the same year, 1607, the emperor also had her husband hacked into pieces. After a lucky second marriage and almost twenty years of good fortune, the tide turned against her again. Jahangir’s successor had her son-in-law murdered, fearing possible competition from him.

Despite all the odds, Nur Jahan walked through life with dignified resolve.

During her brightest years, 1608–1627, Nur Jahan ruled over the Mughal Empire – one of the most glorious empires in human history. At its peak, it included much of what is now India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Nur Jahan, “Light of the World,” is her imperial title, which overshadows her given name at birth.

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India’s Mughal dynasty (1526–1857) traced its lineage to the Mongolian warlord Timur (ca. 1336–1405), better known in English as Tamerlane. Timur’s great-grandson inherited his world-conquering ambitions more than a century later (ca. 1483–1530), taking on the nom de guerre of Babur, which means “tiger.” With a combination of military might and diplomatic skill, Babur marched into India and soon prevailed. He made pacts with those local Hindu and Muslim rulers who accepted his suzerainty; he uprooted those who did not.

Within decades, Babur’s most capable descendent, the Emperor Akbar, tripled the size of his realm, expanding Mughal power across the Indian subcontinent. Akbar’s long reign, 1556–1605, stands out as an era of growth, prosperity and cultural flowering in the long and rich history of India.

Nur Jahan entered the Mughal realm as an outsider, the infant daughter of a migrant. She was a few months old when her parents brought her to India in 1578. Nobody could foresee at the time that decades later she would reign alongside the ruling emperor’s son, with the title of Nur Jahan, “Light of the World.” The future queen’s father had fled from the Safavid-ruled city of Herat, where chaos ruled after Shah Tahmasp’s death in 1576. On her father’s side, Nur Jahan’s clan belonged to a faction that had supported the losing candidate in the bloody wars of succession to the Safavid throne in Iran.

India seemed like an obvious destination, partly because the Mughal and Safavid courts shared a common language, Persian. Before Nur Jahan’s father, hundreds, not to say thousands, of Persian-speaking administrators, secretaries, accountants, scribes, poets and others had found patronage in and outside the fabulously rich courts of the Mughals and their regional allies.

However, the journey to the heart of India was proverbially arduous.

In a moment of despair, baby Nur Jahan had been abandoned on the roadside, only to be rescued and reunited with her parents within hours. Finally, the family made it to Akbar’s court, held in the reddish fortress of Fatehpur Sikri in northern India. Within months of their arrival, family connections helped her father get an audience with the emperor and find employment there. Well-schooled in courtly etiquette and administrative know-how, the man quickly rose in the courtly ranks.

Akbar readily appointed capable men to high office, almost regardless of their ethnic, regional or religious background. Nur Jahan’s parents were Shia Muslims, unlike Akbar who professed Sunni Islam. In the words of a contemporary chronicler, “Followers of various religions had a place in the broad scope of [this] peerless empire – unlike other countries of the world, like Iran, where there is room for only Shiites, and Rum, Turan, and Hindustan, where there is room only for Sunnis.”

Growing up in her father’s haveli, a sprawling family home, Nur Jahan had two older brothers, an older sister, and two younger siblings.

She took lessons at home in basic rhetoric, logic and arithmetic.

She memorized passages from the Quran, some hadith, and scores of lines of verse, mostly in Persian. By the age of fourteen, she had developed a taste for good food, fine poetry and exacting calligraphy.

She also learned how to ride, shoot and hunt. When she reached seventeen, in 1594, her parents married her off to a suitable husband.

He was a warrior, who had once fought and killed a tiger or lion barehanded. For that, they called him Sher-Afgan, “Lion-Slayer.” He belonged to the same extended clan as his new wife and was a Shia Muslim. Like the bride’s father and elder brothers, he, too, was a Mughal official, and like the rest of the family probably spoke Persian at home.

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As the wife of a Mughal official, Nur Jahan accompanied her husband to the province of Bengal, 1,200 kilometers away from her parents. Shrines, temples and ashrams dotted the beautiful landscape, with Sufi’s sadhus, yogis and other holy men passing through. Her husband had to spend long periods of time away from home, overseeing the collection of taxes and fighting off bandits. The birth of their only child, a girl, in 1600 or 1601, marked a high point in the couple’s married life. They named her Ladli, an affectionate word meaning “beloved” in the Bengali language. As a wife and mother, Nur Jahan kept active. She had a keen eye for detail and a sharp analytical mind. The couple’s stay in Bengal ended soon after Akbar died in 1605.

For the most part, Akbar’s 36-year-old son, who succeeded him to the Mughal throne in 1605, continued his policies.

He took on the title of Jahangir – “Conqueror of the World”.

Nur Jahan’s family continued to thrive under the new ruler’s patronage.Her father and brothers had influence at the imperial court. Jahangir knew the family well and had betrothed one of Nur Jahan’s nieces to his eldest son. Some say that he himself may have had an interest in her, but this may well have been a contemporary rumor or a fabrication of later chroniclers. Yet relations between Nur Jahan’s politically influential family and the new emperor became fragile. A couple of years after Jahangir’s accession to the Mughal throne, a conspiracy against him came to light, and in the summer or fall of 1607 he had Nur Jahan’s older brother Mohammad executed on suspicion of complicity.

Her father was demoted in rank, forced to pay a penalty and spent some time in prison. Similarly accused, Nur Jahan’s husband, too, was killed within a few months.

Taking the forfeited property of defeated enemies into the emperor’s treasury and taking their wives, daughters, sisters and sometimes mothers into the harem was a matter of routine. Thus, Nur Jahan found herself and Ladli in the imperial harem. This was at once a gesture of reconciliation towards her family and a warning: the welfare of their daughter and granddaughter now depended on their continued loyalty to Jahangir.

Women of the imperial household spent most of their time sequestered in the harem. Although co-wives often plotted against one another, vying for attention from their shared husband, they sometimes formed bonds of camaraderie. Almost instantly Nur Jahan came to the attention of powerful elders. She was thirty-four, widowed and had a daughter from her marriage. Impressed by her intelligence and competence, women of the harem took her under their wing, taking their cue from none other than Jahangir’s own mother. Frequently, senior women of the harem provided counsel to the ruler and his courtiers. When the chance presented itself, they vouched for Nur Jahan in Jahangir’s presence, and the emperor took her hand. Ironically, the turning point in Nur Jahan’s life resulted from a combination of unlikely events that brought her under the direct gaze of the killer of her brother and her husband. As a later chronicler put it.

The days of misfortune drew to a close, and the stars of her good fortune commenced to shine, and to wake as from a deep sleep . . . [On] a certain New Year’s festival, she at-

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tracted the love and the affection of the king. She was soon made the favorite wife of his majesty.

The wedding took place on May 11, 1611. By one count, the king had taken nineteen wives before that because his alliance-building initiatives hinged on political marriage.

His nuptial ties reflected the political connections that he fostered. Most of the women in Jahangir’s harem, his wives and others, were there as part of political negotiations. In this, he followed the example set by his imperial ancestors, especially Babur and Akbar. His women came from the families of Muslim potentates, Rajput chieftains, Kashmiri Sufis, Tibetan rajas and others. After Jahangir too, the Mughal harem continued to embody the unity of the diversely scattered ruling elite of the realm. Naturally, taking Nur Jahan’s hand in marriage brought benefits for her family.

Her father received a promotion in rank and a substantial increase in his imperial stipend. The road opened for the advancement of her surviving older brother.

Soon, Nur Jahan became Jahangir’s queen and co-sovereign. Her advance was groundbreaking. Within years, she wielded more power than any other woman in India, and maybe the world at that time. She embodied and projected authority like no other woman in Mughal history. Before her, Mughal women had established precedent in issuing official decrees, signing as “mother of,” “daughter of,” “sister of ” or “wife of ” the ruler. Nur Jahan broke new ground by signing decrees as sovereign. One biographer, Ruby Lal, observes, “that signature speaks volumes.” Even though her name was not mentioned in congregational Friday prayers, she did wield the two other official signs of sovereignty: she issued edicts and had coins struck in her name. Within a few years after Nur Jahan’s marriage to Jahangir, gold and silver coins bearing her name began to circulate. Some had Jahangir’s name on the obverse and hers on the reverse; some coins only had hers. A half-ounce gold coin, measuring nearly an inch in diameter, which is now kept at a museum in Lucknow, Pakistan, reads:

By the order of King Jahangir, Gold gained a hundred glories Bearing the name of Queen Nur-Jahan.

Members of the court and people on the street alike noticed the tokens and the palpable effects of Nur Jahan’s ascendancy. She exercised a direct and visible kind of power. In effect, she ruled jointly with her husband. Some, like Thomas Roe (1581–1644), who served as Britain’s envoy in India during the 1620s, viewed her as the true power in the realm. Writing disdainfully about the relations between Jahangir and Nur Jahan, Roe observes, “[She] governs him, and wynds him up at her pleasure.”

How did she amass so much power and influence? First, by her wit and charm. Even more important was her gritty loyalty and protective devotion toward Jahangir. Last but not

least was her family’s prolonged record of high-level service to the Mughal court.

Two anecdotes illustrate her charisma. Setting out on elephant back, together with a full hunting retinue, on a spring day in 1617, she spotted stripes in the distance, fired six musket shots, and bagged four tigers in the wild. In sheer delight, Jahangir showered her with coins. In another episode, almost ten years later, when a rebellious warlord kidnapped Jahangir for ransom in 1626, Nur Jahan personally led the imperial troops to his rescue.

The many vicissitudes of her life had equipped Nur Jahan with an ability to be both kind and firm in the same breath.

That rare combination enabled her to keep Jahangir on the throne far longer than he could have survived without her by his side.

Notwithstanding his imperial title of Jahangir, The World-conqueror, the fourth Mughal emperor was focused more on pleasure than the pursuit of power. Ruby Lal, Nur Jahan’s biographer, characterizes him as “an aesthete.”

Jahangir kept a journal and recorded how everything and everyone he encountered stirred a sense of wonderment in him: a conversation with an ascetic, rubies and sapphires, seedless grapes. He traveled with a pair of domesticated lovebirds, which he named Layla and Majnun after a pair of famous lovers in folk literature. Every day he would go out to observe the birds and make detailed notes. He was curious about plants, poems, paintings and philosophical questions. He loved to learn.

Jahangir had a connoisseur’s eye for the arts. Nur Jahan was his match and they received architects, musicians, poets, and painters at the court. Among other forms of artistic work, they encouraged the replication and adaptation of European works brought by Jesuit missionaries.

The emperor’s predilection for beauty and pleasure would not have mattered so much to the imperial household had he not been an addict. But he was. He had taken to drinking wine when he was eighteen. Soon, wine failed to soothe him, and so he turned to stronger spirits. He would take twenty cups of doubly distilled spirits, fourteen during the daytime and the rest at night. The habit of drink ran in the family, and two of Jahangir’s brothers died of alcoholism. Although Islamic law forbids it, the use and abuse of intoxicants abounded among the Mughals, from the court to the street. Jahangir’s hand shook so much that he could not drink from his own cup. Later, to induce the thrill he no longer experienced from alcohol, he added opium and other sedatives to his daily regimen.

Nur Jahan made a decisive intervention. Finding her husband emotionally fragile and dependent on intoxicants grieved her. She resolved to stop his suffering from shaking limbs, chronic respiratory troubles and other ailments that addiction had caused or worsened. As Jahangir recorded in his personal journal, the queen “lessened my wine by degrees, and kept me from things that did not suit me.”

Keeping a powerful man from things that may not suit him is a hazardous undertaking that few have the courage to enact. Fights may have erupted, but both parties knew the stakes were high. Her effective intervention helped prolong Jahangir’s hold on power for at least a decade longer than it would have lasted otherwise.

And Jahangir loved Nur Jahan for that and more. She had his faith, trust and love. He relied on her. The king’s journal reflects a general lack of interest in writing about any wives except her. The self-absorbed and megalomaniac king hailed his favorite wife as “the one most fond of him.” Walking in the garden on a sunny day, he placed himself before her in such a way that the shadow of his body reached the queen’s feet. With one step, he humbled himself for his queen while keeping up appearances for those with him. In his own inimitable imperial way, he threw himself at her feet. Mughal sources are normally taciturn, but these episodes give a sense of the real flesh and blood royals.

When Jahangir died in 1627, Nur Jahan’s fall from grace came all too suddenly. His third son and successor, Shah Jahan, who had been born to a Rajput woman, eyed his mother’s co-wife with resentment. He feared that the formidable Nur Jahan would mobilize the court against him and in favor of a rival Mughal prince. Within a few weeks of taking power, the arrogant 35-year-old emperor killed his half-brother from a different mother. The boy he killed had married Ladli and so was Nur Jahan’s son-inlaw. Shah Jahan had himself married Nur Jahan’s niece, Mihrunissa. Still, his love for his wife did not lessen his animosity toward her aunt. Obviously afraid of his father’s once all-powerful consort, Shah Jahan dashed any hopes that the queen may have had for reconciliation. He sent her into exile, along with her now-widowed daughter.

When Shah Jahan’s beloved young wife, Mihrunissa, died in 1631, he built a worthy tribute to her: the mausoleum called the Taj Mahal. This magnificent structure stands as one of the wonders of the world to this day. Ironically, the Taj Mahal reflects the vision of Nur Jahan. A decade earlier, she had designed a memorial garden in honor of her parents. Inside the spectacular garden stood a rectangular building made entirely of white marble inlaid with semi-precious gems, colored mosaic tiles and stone latticework. This was the earthly paradise on the banks of the Yamuna River where she had the bodies of her parents interred, in ochre cenotaphs under an ornamental vault. Years later, the Taj Mahal was built right across from it, on the other side of the river. On a larger scale, the same template was followed, down to the details of the red lilies and rose petals in the paintings and inlays.

Nur Jahan’s spirit haunts the greatest legacy of her tormenter.

Jahangir, The Jahangirnama: Memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India (1999), p. 40.

Cited in Ruby Lal, Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan (2018), p. 103.

M. K. Hussain, Catalogue of Coins of the Mughal Emperors (1968), p. 10.

Cited from Lal, Empress.

Cited in Lal, Empress, ch. 9, text to footnote 22.

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NEW

FACULTY PUBLICATIONS

touched FOR SURVIVORS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT LIKE ME WHO HAVE BEEN HURT BY CHURCH FOLK AND FOR THOSE WHO WILL CARE Shanell T. Smith, Associate Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins and Director of the Cooperative Master of Divinity Program, has written a new book that is available for pre-order. It tells the story of Professor Smith’s own personal traumatic experience with sexual violence by a church leader. Fortress Press says the book “focuses on the responses that [Smith] received from people in the church (clergy and lay folk) once she ‘sounded the alarm.’ These responses either justified, ignored, or denied that the horrific act occurred. As a survivor of sexual violence, an ordained minister, and a professor, [Professor] Smith has heard many stories from other survivors. The circumstances of the sexual assault may differ, but a common thread among them all is the fact that these stories, in one way or another, have often been ignored.” The book is scheduled for publication in March 2020.

POWER DIVINE AND HUMAN: CHRISTIAN AND MUSLIM PERSPECTIVES HINDU APPROACHES TO SPIRITUAL CARE Lucinda Mosher, Faculty Associate in Interfaith Studies, has a new volume in the Building Bridges Seminar series called Power: Divine and Human: Christian and Muslim Perspectives. This is the seventh book Professor Mosher has co-edited with the Rev. Dr. David Marshall, programme executive in interreligious dialogue and co-operation at the World Council of Churches in Geneva. The books are based on the proceedings of the Building Bridges Seminar’s 16th convening, which took place in Washington, D.C., and Warrenton, VA, in May 2017. Professor Mosher has also co-edited a book called Hindu Approaches to Spiritual Care. The book contains 30 essays by chaplains, scholars and others. It aims to offer “a comprehensive theoretical and practical approach to the relationship of Hinduism and chaplaincy.” Dr. Mosher’s co-editor is Vineet Chander, Coordinator for Hindu Life at Princeton University.

Chander, who took several courses at Hartford Seminary with Dr. Mosher, specializes in the Bhakti movement, models of pastoral counseling, and the Hindu-American diaspora community.

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AN AMERICAN BIBLICAL ORIENTALISM David D. Grafton, Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations, has released a new book, An American Biblical Orientalism:

The Construction of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Nineteenth-Century American Evangelical Piety. The book “examines the life and work of Eli Smith, William McClure Thomson, and Edward Robinson and their descriptions of the ‘Bible Lands.’ While there has been a great deal written about American travelogues to the Holy Lands, this book focuses on how these three prominent American Protestants described the indigenous peoples, and how those images were consumed by American Christians who had little direct experience with the ‘Bible Lands.’”

DR. HOSSEIN KAMALY ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ISLAMIC STUDIES HOLDER OF THE IMAM ALI CHAIR FOR SHI’I STUDIES AND DIALOGUE AMONG ISLAMIC LEGAL SCHOOLS Dr. Hossein Kamaly joined the faculty in July 2019 after teaching in New York City for many years at Barnard College, Columbia University, the City University of New York, Hunter College, and Brooklyn College. He is the author of two books, God & Man in Tehran (Columbia University Press, 2018) and A History of Islam in 21 Women (Oneworld Publications, 2019, excerpted in this issue), as well as many journal articles in both English and Persian. Dr. Kamaly is the third scholar to hold the Imam Ali Chair, which was established in 2015 and is the first chair dedicated to Shi’i Studies in North America. Its mission is to provide a voice in the academy for Shi’i Islam, as well as encouraging dialogue among Islamic schools of thought and practice, including Shi’i and Sunni law.

ANDY TAYLOR FACILITIES MAINTAINER Andy Taylor, who started in September 2019, as Facilities Maintainer, has ties to Hartford Seminary that go way back. Andy’s parents, the Rev. Dr. Kenneth W. Taylor and Joanne Taylor, are both graduates of the Seminary.

The late Rev. Dr. Taylor received his Doctor of Ministry in 1978 and was a Seminary Trustee from 1980 to 1983, later serving on the President’s Council. JoAnne Taylor received her Master of Arts in Religious Studies in 1990. Andy is a master carpenter, project manager, and self-described “problem solver.” He has experience in all kinds of building projects and will be responsible for maintaining the Seminary’s 17-building campus.“I feel blessed and grateful to be here at Hartford Seminary,” he said.

DAVID FIGLIUZZI ADMISSIONS RECRUITER David Figliuzzi, a Seminary student, joined the Recruitment and Admissions team as a part-time recruiter in November 2019. He brings a wealth of leadership, programming, and public speaking experience to the role, which he is juggling with his studies and his roles as Vice Moderator at Asylum Hill Congregational Church and consultant to the National Conference for Community and Justice for social justice training. Through his corporate work with not-for-profits, David is highly skilled at building relationships and developing partnerships, both essential to his position in the Recruitment and Admissions office. He is looking forward to assisting prospective students in “exploring their call.”

DR. BILAL W. ANSARI ’11 CO-DIRECTOR OF THE ISLAMIC CHAPLAINCY PROGRAM After an international search, Hartford Seminary found the new Co-Director of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program among its alumni. Dr. Bilal W. Ansari ’11 brings his considerable experience as a chaplain to the program, the first of its kind in the United States and the continued leader in a growing field. Dr. Ansari has also been appointed Faculty Associate in Muslim Pastoral Theology, a field in which he has been in the forefront.

As Islamic Chaplaincy Program co-director, Dr. Ansari joins Dr. Timur Yuskaev, Associate Professor of Contemporary Islam and Co-Editor of The Muslim World journal, in running the premiere program in the country for training Muslim chaplains. Dr. Ansari currently serves as Assistant Vice President for Campus Engagement for the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity at Williams College in Williamstown, MA. He will continue in that role through a joint agreement with Williams.

DR. SUHEIL LAHER FACULTY ASSOCIATE IN QUR’ANIC STUDIES Dr. Suheil Laher was named Faculty Associate in Qur’anic Studies in 2019. In addition to degrees from MIT and Marshall University, he has an M.A. in Religious Studies from Boston University and a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from Harvard University. Dr. Laher conducts research in Islamic theology, law, Qur’an and Hadith studies, and has published academic articles, book chapters, encyclopedia articles, and scholarly translations, including two articles in a collected volume published as a concerned Muslim response to and condemnation of terrorism. He has taught at a number of universities and other educational institutes in the United States, including a leading role at Fawakih Institute for Classical Arabic, and he has presented at academic conferences in the U.S. and abroad.

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HONOR ROLL OF DONORS JULY 1, 2018 - JUNE 30, 2019 PRESIDENT’S CIRCLE ($5,000+) Martin and Aviva Budd David E. A. and Sara Carson Betty and Melvin Ludwig Hugh and Kate McLean Martha and Samuel Trull Anonymous Francis Asbury Palmer Fund C. Richard and Olive J. Brose Hie Hill Foundation Lilly Endowment, Inc. Prior Family Foundation The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. Webster Bank

LEADERSHIP CIRCLE ($2,500 - $4,999) Shakeeb Alam David and Janet Ezekiel Joel and Teresa Lohr Ted and Ellen See Beverly D. Tatum Eliot and Susan Williams Tull Charitable Foundation (matching gift)

VISIONARY ($1,000 - $2,499) Ralph and Beverly Ahlberg Harold and Joyce Buckingham Sanford and Diane Cloud William and Ann Cronin Christine Joyner Peter and Susan Kelly Ann Marino Bill and Linda McKinney Nancy and Stephen Roberts James K. and Joann Robertson Evelyn Sealand Naseem Shaikh Ali Shakibai Barbara and Joseph Zikmund First Church of Christ Congregational of Redding

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THANK YOU TO THE GENEROUS ALUMNI/AE, FRIENDS, COMMUNITY PARTNERS, FAITH COMMUNITIES, AND ORGANIZATIONS WHO HELP HARTFORD SEMINARY PREPARE STUDENTS TO BE EFFECTIVE LEADERS IN A RELIGIOUSLY DIVERSE WORLD.

PACESETTER ($500 - $999) Ali and Fatma Antar Courtney B. and Anne L. Bourns Thomas and Marilyn Breckenridge Debra Cantor and James Beede Ann Carlson Allison Chisolm and Peter Hansen Edward and Lynne Duffy Alice F. Evans Clare and Barry Feldman Rashid Hamid and Ester Sanches-Naek Samira Hussain Robert C. Knox III Charles M. Kuchenbrod and Rebecca A. Sielman Louise Loomis Ian and Lesley Markham Evan and Leah Odden Steven J. Peterson Frank and Judith Resnick Scott Schooley and Giuliana Musilli Linda M. Spiers The Congregational Church of South Glastonbury National Association of Congregational Christian Churches

INVESTOR ($250 - $499) Dean and Jennifer Ahlberg John and Laura Berman Wendy Grammas Charles and Kathleen Gross Ernest and Millie Harris Ilona W. Kwiecien John M. Ramsay Ezra and Christina Ripple Amy and Lewis Robinson June C. Roy Charles West Edward and Brooke Whittemore Columbia Congregational Church Somers Congregational Church South Congregational Church Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity Alpha PSI

PARTNER ($100 - $249) Jonathan and Nancy Albright Elizabeth and Kenneth Allen

Evelyn M. Andre Ray and Barbara Andrews Najib G. Awad Charles and Sandra Baboian Martha M. Baker Karen Bailey-Francois Thomas and Melanie Barnes David and Jill Barrett Elisabeth K. Bazin Barbara J. Beeching Judith and Robert Benton Leora Berns Shirlee M. Bromley Parvez Bukhari Carole Bull Stephen and Patricia Camp M. Dosia Carlson Margaret and James Carroll Richard and Thelma Chun Michael Cobb Ann Crawford Maribel and Nafi Donat Shirley S. Dudley Robert and Jean Ertl Lowell and Julie Fewster Catherine Field Karl A. Fransson Sydney and Sue Fuller Arthur and Alfreda Gaither Kenneth L. Gentili Peter and Jeanne Grandy Arnold and Beverly Greenberg David C. Hall Paul J. Hartung Mary N. Hawkes Karen and Joseph Hewes Alyce and David Hild David Hill Shareda Hosein Miriam Hostetter James and Faye Humphrey Jean Isteero Molly and Reade James Edward and Michael Jeter James R. Johnson and Marlene S. Quinlan Zubair M. Kareem Tukyul and Sookyoung Kimm

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Daniel R. Kingman Gail Kinney Gary and Elizabeth Lewis Molly and William Louden Jean A. Lys Stephen and Lynn Marino Daniel and Ruth Martin J. Alan and Joan McLean Gail A. McNair John McNamara Robert and Joanne McWaid Rosalind and William Moldwin Pamela Morrison-Wolf Michael J. Motta Fred F. B. Mudawwar Victoria T. Murphy Henrietta J. Near

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PRAXIS | WINTER 2020

Ann Gail B. Nichols Elizabeth Norman Deane and Judith Olson Joseph L. Pace Justin L. Peyton Winona Lotz Ramsay Michael and Nancy Rion Tom Ritter Sherie Roberts Robert and Anne Schmalz Betsy Snider Bevan and Alinda Stanley Robert and Elizabeth Sweet Alvin W. Thompson and Lesley A. Morgan-Thompson Charlotte B. Thompson William C. Tubbs

Ann Van Cleef Betsy and Peter Van Loon Janice Wade Jon and Marilyn Webber Gregory and Amy Welin Patricia and Cecil Yates Jean and Robert Young Jon Zappulla William and Janet Zito Union Baptist Church St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Noank Baptist Church

Every effort has been made to list names and categories correctly. If yours is missing or in error, please contact Steven Havira at shavira@ hartsem.edu, and we will make corrections on our website.

LET’S GET IT FUNDED! The HHS will be the first fully endowed International Peacemaking Program Scholarship, and we need our community to make this happen.

Over the course of her 18-year tenure, President Emeritus Heidi Hadsell led Hartford Seminary to become one of the world’s preeminent centers for graduate interfaith education.

This endowed IPP scholarship is tribute to her—as a leader, friend, and colleague who transformed the lives of our students and the mission of Hartford Seminary.

HEIDI HADSELL SCHOLARSHIP ENDOWMENT FUND DO YOU KNOW WHAT AN IPP SCHOLARSHIP SUPPORTS? FULL TUITION IPP fellows complete a Graduate Certificate with classes such as Dialogue in a World of Difference, Psychology of Trauma, and Religion and Social Movements.

We’re halfway Goal $500k there

HOUSING IPP Fellows live in intentionally interfaith housing on campus. Their education includes the immersive experience of shared living space.

TRAVEL A majority of IPP Fellows travel a great distance from their homes in countries such as Indonesia, South Africa, and Iran.

This would be impossible for them to do if their scholarships did not cover the cost of airfare, transportation, and visas.

And much more - activities, living stipends, health insurance…

Sixty Fellows have participated in the International Peacemaking Program, and all of them have had a full scholarship.

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Dean Ahlberg

Pastor, First Church of Christ Congregational, Redding Center, CT

Shakeeb Alam

Co-Founder and President of East Bridge Capital Management, L.P.

Karen Bailey-Francois

Noora Brown

Martin L. Budd

Stephen Camp

Debra Cantor

Minister, Second Congregational Church, Cohasset, MA

Officer, Farmington Valley American Muslim Center

Retired Partner, Day Pitney, Stamford, CT

Senior Pastor, Faith Congregational Church, Hartford, CT

Rabbi, Congregation B’nai Tikvoh-Sholom, Bloomfield, CT

Allison Chisolm

Principal, Choice Words/Chisolm & Co.

John Cordani Attorney, Robinson & Cole

Imran Eba Partner, Action Potential Venture Capital

Clare Feldman Retired SVP of Citizens Bank

Julie Grace Alumni Council Vice Chair

Deena Grant Associate Professor of Jewish Studies

Yahya Hendi Muslim Chaplain, Georgetown University

Thomas C. Hofstetter Managing Director, Wells Fargo Advisors

Peter Kelly Senior Principal, Updike, Kelly & Spellacy, PC

Joel N. Lohr President

Jean Amos Lys Alumni Council Chair

Frank Resnick Former CFO, Mandell Greater Hartford Jewish Community Center

Nancy P. Roberts Former President, Connecticut Council for Philanthropy

James K. Robertson Senior Partner, Carmody & Torrance, Waterbury, CT; Chair, Board Of Trustees

Ojas Sampat Managing Director, Cigna

Edmund (Ted) See Former Partner, Day Pitney LLP

Naseem Shaikh Former Vice President and CFO at UTAS, a division of UTC

Ali Shakibai Cardiologist

Timur Yuskaev Associate Professor of Contemporary Islam

CLASS OF CORPORATORS 2015 - 2020

Thomas Carr Judith Borus Harold Buckingham Arnold Greenberg Walter Harrison Kathleen Kellogg Patrick Madden Edward Jeter Kimat Khatak Marian Cox-Chapman Sulayman Nyang

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PRAXIS | WINTER 2020

2016 - 2021

Sohaib Sultan Molly James John Berman Nelson Griebel James Friedman Molly Louden Jonathan Rosenbaum Bridget Fidler Mark Steiner Christine Joyner

2017 - 2022

Kate McLean Ritu Zazzaro Kamal Ali Rashid Hamid Marc Reich James Boucher Courtney Bourns Nitza Nieves LeRoy Bailey Karl Fransson G. Scott Cady Ezra Ripple Donna Berman Carole Fay Katherine Heichler Samsiah Abdul Majid Hugh McLean

2018 - 2023

John Selders Jerry Franklin Merritt McDonough Pilar Schmidt Colleen Keyes Shelley Best Sajjad Chowdhry Shawn Fisher Harriet Gardner Erline Patrick Lowell Fewster Saud Anwar Syed Raza James Fleming

2019 - 2024

Robert Hoffman Joseph Colletti Edward Charlebois Joseph Tobin Alyce Hild

2019 - 2020

Alice Cruikshank Peter Cruikshank

STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES Operating Revenue Student Revenues Investment Return Utilized for Operations Private Gifts, Bequests, and Grants Research and Grants Auxiliary Activities

2019

2018

995,220

1,081,809

2,665,343

2,777,590

402,833

487,969

1,077,855

179,993

114,302

115,884

Other Revenue

142,459

183,622

Investment Income, Beneficial Interest in Perpetual Trusts

590,033

274,997

$5,998,045

$5,101,864

Educational & Institutional Support

2,621,468

2,859,621

Management & General

1,865,947

1,762,397

348,018

382,539

$4,835,433

$5,004,557

1,152,612

97,307

Total Operating Revenue

Operating Expenses

Fundraising

Total Operating Expenses Change in Net Assets, Operations

Other Changes Private Gifts and Pledges Contributions Split Interest Agreement Investment Return, Net Investment Return Utilized for Operations Change in Value of Split Interest Agreement Depreciation Other Expenses (Income) Total Other Changes

Change in Net Assets Net Assets, Beginning of Year Net Assets, End of Year

10,895

286,759

-

5,479,811

2,935,162

4,199,241

(2,665,343)

(2,777,590)

(146.808)

457,462

(165.185)

(156,844)

(7,597)

45,615

(38,576)

7,534,454

$1,113,736

$7,631,761

$60,513,060

$52,881,299

$61,626,796

$60,513,060

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Dear HartSem Community, Did you ever wonder what happens when the International Peacemaking Program students gather for coffee hour each Monday?

In a recent coffee hour I had students generate a list of things they associate with activism; each one went on a green Post-it. They generated another list associated with peacebuilding, and each item went on a blue Post-it. Then they arranged the Post-its into the Venn diagram you see below. This process involved lots of discussion, disagreement, re-positioning of notes, clarifying of ideas, recognition of difference in interpretation, and noting of examples from different countries. It was fascinating.

A concern for justice is something that unites every IPP student who has walked through our door. Many of them see themselves as peace activists but haven’t previously had an opportunity to discuss the relationship between peacebuilding and activism. Through this exercise they uncover that the pursuit of justice is where activism and peacebuilding overlap.

The chance to work together on ideas like this is one of the strengths of IPP. This issue of Praxis is an exciting milestone for us as we reach 15 years of this flagship program.

77 SHERMAN STREET HARTFORD, CT USA 06105-2260 WWW.HARTSEM.EDU ADDRESS SERVICE REQUIRED

ways to give

online

monthly planned giving

Peace, Phoebe Milliken International Peacemaking Program Coordinator