Breakthrough to Dialogue: The Story of Temple University Department of Religion

“The challenge of religious and political pluralism has become critical in the 21st Century as some warn and others promote a clash of civilization or cultures. Breakthrough to Dialogue will be welcomed by scholars, religious leaders, policymakers, and others who seek to train, develop, and implement an agenda for change. This volume chronicles the creation and history of Temple's Department of Religion (TUDOR) in which Bernard Phillips, its founding chair, and Swidler with other “star” professors and their students pioneered a unique and pathbreaking initiative: requiring a one-year introduction to World Religions and that students major in one religion and minor in two others. TUDOR under Swidler also introduced the Journal of Ecumenical Studies and later the creation of the Dialogue Institute which promoted interreligious dialogue globally.”John L. Esposito, Professor of Religion and International Affairs at Georgetown University This is the story of a group of pioneering professors who in 1966 brought their diverse traditions into Temple University’s Department of Religion and explored whether they could learn from and understand each other.Temple’s religion program was already breaking new ground as one of the first such departments in a public university. From the beginning, Temple hired scholars of different religious backgrounds and beliefs: Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and those who adhere to no organized religion. With the worldwide strife of that decade as a backdrop, they began to see whether they, as a microcosm of a troubled globe, could help people from different communities and beliefs learn to appreciate each other.Those first efforts have taken root and grown in significance over the years providing insight, practical steps forward, and a measure of hope. This growth has given us a path leading to greater understanding, respect, and acceptance of differences in our world. Read more