CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Some of the world’s most prominent scholars of Islam will convene at the University of Illinois’ Urbana campus April 16-17 for an international symposium that will explore Islamic views on salvation.
Presenters at the symposium, titled “Islam, Salvation and the Fate of Others,” will include William Chittick, a faculty member at the State University of New York Stony Brook and leading translator and scholar of Islamic thought, Sufism and Shi-ism; and South African Muslim theologian and human rights activist Farid Esack, a faculty member at the University of Johannesburg who served as a commissioner for gender equality under South African President Nelson Mandela and has published widely on Islam, gender issues, interfaith relations and religion and identity.
Another speaker, Bruce Lawrence, a faculty member at Duke University who studies religious movements and religious masks of violence, will be a guest on WILL-AM’s “Focus 580” at 11 a.m. on April 15.
All lectures, free and open to the public, will be at the I Hotel and Conference Center, 1900 S. First St., Champaign.
The department of religion is sponsoring the symposium; co-sponsors include the Office of the Provost, the International Council and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
A schedule of speakers is available on the Web.
