WORCESTER, Mass. – Rev. Paolo Gamberini, S.J., International Visiting Jesuit Fellow in the religious studies department, will give a talk titled “Christology at the Crossroad: in Dialogue with Judaism and Islam,” on Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 4 p.m. in Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. The talk, which is free and open to the public, will be followed by a welcome reception for Fr. Gamberini at the Moran Lounge in Smith Hall.
In his talk, Fr. Gamberini will highlight new perspectives in Jewish-Christian and Islam-Christian dialogue, particularly in light of Pope Benedict XVI’s controversial talk at the University of Regensburg in September 2006. Fr. Gamberini will address Christology, a field of study within Christian theology which explores how the divine and human are related in Jesus’ person, and how it enhances interreligous dialogue between Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
Fr. Gamberini comes to Holy Cross from the Pontifical Theological Faculty in Naples. He received a doctorate in philosophy from Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, and a doctorate in theology from the Philosophisch-theologische Hochschule Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt. Since 1985, he has worked on ecumenism with Anglicans and Lutherans, and recently attended his third Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, England, which takes place every 10 years and is the one occasion when all bishops can meet for worship, study and conversation. In 2001, he was appointed by the superior general of the Jesuits as Southern European assistant for interreligious dialogue.
He is currently teaching a course titled “Mystical dimension of religions: a way of encounter between East and West” and performing research on Christology in a postmodern and interreligious context.