Date:  February 20, 2011
Title: Dialogue of Civilizations: Building Bridges among Diverse Cultures the case of the Hizmet (Gulen) Movement
Location: Santa Clara University
Hosts& Speakers
  • Prof. Boo Riley, SCU (Host)
  • Prof. Gerald Grudzen, SJCC
  • Emer.  Prof Sami Ibrahim, SJCC
  • Ambassador  Hagar Islambouly
  • James C. Harrington, J.D, University of Texas
  • Dr. Muhammed Cetin, Institute of Interfaith Dialog, Texas
  • Prof. Gilbert  Hentschke, USC
  • Assoc. Prof. Scott Alexander, CTU, Chicago

Venue
Williman Room, Benson Memorial Center
RSVP
forum@pacificasv.org
Program
  • 1:30 – 2:00pm -> Introduction
  • 2:00 – 2:30pm -> Welcome Speech
Prof Gerald Grudzen and Prof Sami Ibrahim
“Intercultural and interfaith Dialogue in California and Egypt”
  • 2:30 – 3:30pm -> Session 1
Assoc. Prof. Scott Alexander –Hizmet as a Movement in Centrist Islam(20 min)
Prof. Gilbert Hentschke –Comparing secular schooling arguments with the educational philosophies of Fethullah Gulen(20 min)
Q&A moderated by Prof. Grudzen (20 min)
  • 3:30 – 3:50pm -> Break (Music/Coffee/Tea)
  • 3:50 – 4:50pm -> Session 2
Dr. Muhammed Cetin  –The Hizmet (Gulen) Movement: A Civic Service without Borders(20 min)
James Harrington, J.D. –Strengthening religious freedom, free speech and democracy in Turkey: the political trial of Fethullah Gulen(20 min)
Q&A moderated by Prof. Ibrahim (20 min)
  • 4:50 – 5:10pm -> Final Remarks
  • 5:10 – 5:40pm  -> General Q&A
  • 6:00pm-> Dinner
Speakers:
Prof Philip Boo Riley
A native of Des Moines, Iowa, Dr. Riley discovered his future career in the heady days of the late 1960s, when the study of theology was broadening to include methods from the social sciences, culture studies, and literary criticism. As an undergraduate at Regis College in Denver, Colorado, Riley earned his B.A. in Inter-disciplinary Studies (1973), and then moved up to Hamilton, Ontario for graduate work at McMaster University in Religious Studies (M.A., 1975; Ph.D., 1980). His dissertation on Bernard Lonergan’s method in theology informed the courses he developed in Catholic Theology and philosophy of religion, and led to collaborative research projects on Lonergan, including the founding of Santa Clara’s Lonergan Research Center with Timothy Fallon (Philosophy). Dr. Riley joined the faculty at Santa Clara University in 1978, and in 2003 returned to the Religious Studies Department after eleven years as Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Learning. His research interests are:  Bernard Lonergan, Religious Studies Methodology, Philosophy of Religion, Religion, immigration and civic identity
Prof Gerald Grudzen
“Intercultural and interfaith Dialogue in California and Egypt”
Gerald Grudzen, PhD, has earned multiple graduate degrees in Philosophy, History and Theology including the PhD in Middle East History from Columbia University.  He teaches Philosophy and World Religions for San Jose City College and the University of Phoenix. Doctor Grudzen also serves as President of Global Ministries University, a graduate degree program based in California and affiliated with Mahiold University in Thailand where he is a member of the doctoral religious studies faculty.
Grudzen is the author of Medical Theory about Body and Soul in the Middle Ages (Edwin Mellen Press: 2007), an analysis of the transfer of philosophical and scientific knowledge about body and soul within the medieval Islamic world to the first medical faculties in the West.
Grudzen has received a Templeton Foundation award for his study of Spirituality and Science within the medieval world of Islam and Christianity and published as Spirituality and Science in collaboration with Shamsur Rahman, PhD.  Doctor Grudzen has also recently co-chaired an interfaith dialogue project with Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt with faculty and students from colleges and universities in Northern California.
Prof Sami Ibrahim
“Intercultural and interfaith Dialogue in California and Egypt”
Sami A. Ibrahim completed his undergraduate education at the University of Ain Shams, in Cairo Egypt then, pursued his graduate work in chemistry and in soil science at the University of Alberta, Canada, University of California, Davis, and at San Jose State University.  He taught chemistry for over 30 years at San Jose City College, Evergreen Valley college and at San Jose State University.  He is currently an adjunct professor of chemistry at San Jose City College.Since 2001, Ibrahim Chaired the Middle Eastern Heritage Celebration Planning Group at San Jose City College, and he served on the Board of Directors of the Arab American Cultural Center in Silicon Valley. In January of 2010, Sami Ibrahim, coordinated a 16 -day educational journey to Egypt that included 48 faculty, students and friends from the San Jose area. He is a member of the American Chemical Society and serves on the Steering Committee of the Los Altos Voices for Peace.
Prof Scott Alexander

“Hizmet as a Movement in Centrist Islam”
Scott Alexander is Associate Professor of Islam at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and Chair of the Department of Intercultural Studies and Ministry and director of the school’s Catholic-Muslim Studies Program, where he is working to expand outreach to similar programs in Nigeria, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. He is a regular consultant on Catholic-Muslim relations for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and for Centro Internazionale di Studi e Ricerche Oasis at the Marcianum in Venice, Italy, and he sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Islamic Law and Culture. Scott holds a Ph.D. in the history of religions, with a concentration in Islamic studies, from Columbia University and has taught there as well as at Indiana University, Fordham, and Princeton University. He is co-editor of A Dictionary of Christian—Muslim Relations (Cambridge University Press, anticipated 2011), and in March of 2007, Scott was one of five U.S. scholars to be awarded an Association of Theological Schools Lilly Faculty Fellowship in support of his research and writing.
Prof Gilbert Hentschke
“Comparing secular schooling arguments with the educational philosophies of Fethullah Gulen”
Gilbert Hentschke is the Richard T. Cooper and Mary Catherine Cooper Chair in Public School Administration at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education, where he served as dean from 1988 to 2000. Currently he serves as faculty advisor in programs that join business and education at USC, teaches courses on the economics of education in the Rossier School’s Ed.D. program and on globalization in its Ph.D. program, and serves as senior advisor to the National Resource Center for Charter School Finance and Governance.His research and writing focus on the finance and governance of public, non-profit, and for-profit education organizations. His most recent book is New Players, Different Game: Understanding the Rise of For-Profit Colleges and Universities (with Tierney).


James C. Harrington, J.D.
“Strengthening religious freedom, free speech and democracy in Turkey: the political trial of Fethullah Gulen”
James C. Harrington is Director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, which he founded in 1990, and an adjunct Professor at the University of Texas Law School. A native of Michigan , Harrington graduated from the Pontifical College Josephinum in 1968, earned a Master’s degree in philosophy in 1969 from the University of Detroit, from where he also received his law degree  in 1973. After law school, Harrington worked ten years as Director the South Texas Project in the Rio Grande Valley, serving poor and low-income people along the border with Mexico, before moving to Austin. Harrington has spent his career as a lawyer in civil rights work, handling landmark cases involving grand jury discrimination, police misconduct, privacy rights, immigration abuse, free speech and assembly protection, voting rights, farm worker organizing, and the rights of persons with disabilities. He is the author of The Texas Bill of Rights: A  Commentary and Litigation Manual and numerous law review  articles and commentaries. Harrington served on human rights delegations to Honduras and Nicaragua (1984), Chile (1987), Israel and Palestine territories (1998), and Mexico (Chiapas 1999) and authored “Alta a la Impunidad! Is there  Legal Relief for the Murders of Women in Ciudad Juarez” (2010)
Dr. Muhammed Cetin
The Hizmet (Gulen) Movement: A Civic Service without Borders
Muhammed Çetin received his master’s degree from the University of Leicester and his PhD in  Sociology from the University of Derby, UK. He has worked as lecturer, Vice Rector and  Ministerial Adviser in Turkmenistan. He was a Visiting Scholar in the Religious Studies  Department of the University of Houston and also in the Sociology Department of UT-Austin  from 2003–2008. He worked in a voluntary capacity as the President of the Institute of Interfaith  Dialog, USA from 2002–2008 and has served as organizer and speaker for a number of  Interfaith Conferences and cultural activities. He is currently the publications coordinator of the  Institute of Interfaith Dialog, USA and a columnist for the international daily Today’s Zaman in  Turkey. He is the author and producer of the DVD documentaries ‘Rumi and Universal Love and  Dialogue’ and ‘Call to prayer’. His latest book is The Gülen Movement: Civic service without  borders (2009), Blue Dome, New York.