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Home / Newsroom / JCU Professor Selected for National Seminar on the Teaching of Interfaith Understanding
Sheila E. McGinn, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at John Carroll University, has been selected from a nationwide pool of nominees to participate in a faculty seminar on the teaching of interfaith understanding. Twenty-five faculty members have been invited to the Teaching Interfaith Understanding seminar, August 3–7, 2014, at DePaul University in Chicago. The seminar is offered by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), with support from the Henry Luce Foundation. “Strengthening the teaching of interfaith understanding at colleges and universities is a high priority at a time when college enrollment is becoming more diverse—by religion, as well as socioeconomic factors—just as American society is becoming more diverse,” said CIC President Richard Ekman. “Strengthening participation in American life with greater understanding of the distinctive contributions of different faiths is key to America’s future success. The number of institutions that nominated faculty members to participate in the new interfaith understanding seminar is most impressive.” Dr. McGinn has served on the JCU faculty since 1992. She holds a Ph.D. in religious and theological studies from Northwestern University. Dr. McGinn teaches a wide array of undergraduate and graduate courses, and her research focuses on the New Testament and early Christianity. Dr. McGinn serves as general editor of the annual journal, Conversations with the Biblical World: Proceedings of the Eastern Great Lakes Biblical Society & Midwest Region Society of Biblical Literature. Her two most recent books, which appeared this year, are “The Jesus Movement and the World of the Early Church” (Anselm Academic, 2014) and “By Bread Alone: The Bible Through the Eyes of the Hungry” (co-editors Ahida Calderón Pilarski and Lai Ling Elizabeth Ngan; Fortress, 2014).