A Christian’s perspective on the Islamic notion of Service: Australian Intercultural Society

The Australian Intercultural Society & Trinity College invite you to:

Conversation : A Christian’s perspective on the Islamic notion of Service & Book Launch

Date: Tuesday 3 September 2019      Time: 6:30pm to 8pm
Location: Old Warden’s Lodge, Trinity College, 100 Royal Parade, Parkville, 3052

The conversation provides a Christian’s perspective on a notion that both Christianity and Islam encourage – Service. Just like in Christianity, Islam places enormous emphasis on personal and collective development through education, welfare, social enterprise & dialogue. It effuses a principle to offer service to anyone irrespective of an individual’s faith, ethnicity or ideology. However, in an era where negative news headlines dominate the image of Muslims, how is service understood and practiced by Muslims ? Do Muslims truly have an innate desire to help another human being, without expectations of conversion, that’s comparable to the Christian understanding of service ? Is there a difference in the understanding of altruism between the faith traditions ? What are the key ingredients for faith inspired movements to be effective in serving humanity in today’s secular and pluralist settings like Australia ?

More about the speakers:

• Dr. Jon Pahl is a historian of American religions and the history of Christianity, a public theologian, and an award-winning teacher, musician, and community activist. He received his B.A. from Valparaiso University, M.T.S. from Trinity Lutheran Seminary, and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School. Dr. Pahl has spoken with audiences at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, Stanford, Yale, Princeton and many other academic venues around the globe, in addition to his work as a youth minister, lay preacher, administrator, Board member, and teacher in many diverse congregations and agency settings. He also enjoys gardening, spending time with his family and friends, and sitting in on the sax with jazz, gospel, and rhythm n’ blues bands.  He has recently written a biography of the Turkish Muslim preacher Fethullah Gülen titled "Fethullah Gülen: A Life of Hizmet", this book will be launched following the discussion on the evening.
• Barney Zwartz worked for The Age for more than thirty-two years until the end of 2013. His roles included chief sub-editor, letters editor, opinion editor and, for the last twelve years, religion editor. He now works as a media adviser, as a senior fellow for the Centre for Public Christianity and as a freelance journalist.

Cost: Free