In Our Time: Interreligious Relations in a Divided World

A two-day conference to mark the 40th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s “Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions”

March 16 and 17, 2006

On October 28, 1965, the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church issued a revolutionary “Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions,” better known by its Latin title, Nostra Aetate (“In Our Time”). While Nostra Aetate revolutionized the Catholic Church’s understanding of Jews and Judaism, overturning a centuries-long history of Christian theological denigration, it also offered a positive regard of and a new direction to the Catholic Church’s understanding of Islam and other religions. Additionally, it influenced similar initiatives in other Christian churches.

In a celebration of interreligious collaboration, Brandeis University and Boston College, through its Center for Christian-Jewish Learning, will co-sponsor a two-day conference to mark the 40th anniversary of Nostra Aetate and explore the nature of interreligious dialogue. The conference will provide an exceptional opportunity to explore these topics with a distinguished group of speakers and panelists representing different faiths and traditions.

The keynote speaker, Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, is president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and a highly regarded specialist in Islam. His expertise will lend a global perspective to the discussion of Islam and other world religions. This conference will mark his first visit to Boston.

>> See biography of Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald