A Multifaith Peace, Justice and Earthcare Program for Young Adults

 “Farm the Land, Grow the Spirit”:

 June 3 – July 7, 2013

Our Purpose

The Stony Point Summer Institute is seeking Jewish, Christian and Muslim young adults, ages 19-29, who are grounded in their tradition and who have a passion for multi-faith social activism and civic engagement. We are offering a rich opportunity to live in community with peers from different faiths. Together we will study the wisdom of the three Abrahamic traditions and develop practices for faith-based personal and social transformation as we strengthen our relationship to the earth.

In peace and justice work, appreciation of difference and the ability to engage with people of diverse backgrounds have become virtues of paramount importance. At the same time, environmental science has demonstrated that variety and interdependence are crucial to the survival of life on this planet. These two fields of endeavor offer complementary insights into the highly interrelated nature of all creation.

At their core, our world religions have long honored and nurtured this relational understanding of creation. These ancient wisdom traditions offer teachings and practices that grow positive relationship, respect and compassion. Unfortunately, all too often, world religions have been tools of disrespect, discord and even violence. The Institute at Stony Point is dedicated to mining the profound wisdom and spiritual practices of the three Abrahamic faiths and using these ancient teachings and practices to train young adults to work in multi-faith coalitions for the good of all.

Our Program

At Stony Point Institute we are dedicated to walking the road of social transformation by placing relationship and community at the center of our social justice program. The Stony Point Institute is a 5-week residential program dedicated to creating community based on listening, learning and living together. Students will live communally in a large residence with several separate bedrooms for women and men. Most weekday mornings, students will work together in the Stony Point vegetable gardens growing their relationship to the land.

Afternoons will be devoted to learning in three areas:

1. The study of Sacred Texts and Traditions

Judaism, Christianity and Islam each carry profound wisdom about how to connect to deep spiritual resources and how to live in a society for the benefit of all. We will enter into conversation with the sacred teachings of these three traditions in order to deepen our understanding of justice and peacebuilding work and to ground our social activism in the ancient wisdom of these three faith traditions.

2. Spiritual and Social Change Practices

We will work with spiritual practices of the three Abrahamic traditions that develop the attentiveness, sensitivity and resilience that help carry forward the work of social change.  These traditional practices include mindfulness, clarity of intention, gratitude, critical reflection on experience, presence in struggle, healing and communal celebration.
We will also explore social transformation practices, including how to analyze issues, build coalitions and allies, work with various forms of media, lobby, and make use of the arts. We will also explore the power of faith-based nonviolence in support of social change, including boycotts, direct action and civil disobedience.
 
3. Bringing Consciousness to the Practice of living in Community

Practices in this area focus on intrapersonal, interpersonal and intercultural skills and include: listening with compassion to challenging points of view, supporting the growth of others and approaches to conflict resolution. We will also practice collective leadership, asking questions, sustaining hope in struggle and community building.

Early evening sessions: Practicum

Each student will come to the Institute with a defined social action or civic engagement project that the student is currently developing or would like to develop. The practicum sessions will give students the opportunity to present their projects and to receive support and suggestions from the Institute faculty and fellow students.

Communal celebrations:

Friday, Saturday and Sunday each week, we will celebrate the Sabbath of each the three Abrahamic traditions. Some weeks we will celebrate on the Stony Point campus; other weeks we will celebrate with a Muslim, Christian or Jewish community in the region.

The program will also include full day and half-day field trips to learn from inspiring social activism projects in the area.

Leadership Team

Reginaldo Braga, (Regi, as he likes to be called) is a Freirean Educator, a Pastor and a sojourner, committed to social justice, non-violent movements and community building. Regi teaches Religion and Education at ITC (Interdenominational Theological Center) and Language and Literature at KSU (Kennesaw State University).Brazilian from Recife, PE, Reggie came to the USA in 1994 to Princeton Seminary and after to Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University. As an immigrant, his interest for multiculturalism and the creation of non- oppressive communities marked his journey in the USA. Married to Domitila Bicudo, they have two incredible dogs and currently live in Atlanta, GA.

Rabbi Nahum Ward-Lev is the Scholar-in-Residence at Temple Beth Shalom in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Rabbi Nahum is a co-founder of the Jewish and Christian Dialogue of Santa Fe, and has taught in multi-faith settings, including Jewish/Christian/Muslim settings, for many years. Nahum is a Fellow of the Rabbis Without Borders Initiative. He is also Adjunct Faculty at the Northern New Mexico Family Practice Residency Program where he teaches spirituality and medicine. He is a trained spiritual director. Rabbi Ward-Lev was faculty for the Stony Point Institute last summer.

Rabia Terri Harris, Founder of the Muslim Peace Fellowship, is a Freeman Fellow of theFellowship of Reconciliation and Scholar in Residence at Stony Point Center. As a theorist and investigator in Islamic nonviolence and multireligious solidarity for justice, Rabia has written extensively and lectured and offered workshops nationally and internationally for two decades. Her more than thirty years of experience in spirituality and community service led to her being chosen as the first president of the Association of Muslim Chaplains.

For more information and to apply

There is no cost to participating in the Summer Institute other than travel to attend. For those who who are selected to participate in the Institute, scholarships to help with that participation will be made available on the basis of need.

For further information, please contact Kitty at Kitty(at)stonypointcenter.org. You can fill out an application online here. There will be rolling admissions until Friday, April 26.

For a flyer, click here.

Testimonials

My understanding has expanded and I feel that this internship helped enhance my knowledge about living togehter and communicating with different people in addition to nonviolence, food justice and multifiath.  I enjoyed being here and I’m so thankful for being part of this amazing, lifechanging journey. – Huda Al-Sammarrai, 2012 Intern

Even though I have done extensive study on religion, nothing compares to living with people of various religious backgrounds–not only living with them but working with them, studying with them, cooking with them, and participating in their religious traditions and visiting houses of worship. The experience is priceless. – Eleanor Held, 2011 Intern

A majority of the activism work that I have done in my life has been very separate from my religion, learning how justice and Judaism are woven together is really encouraging. – Dara Wels-Hajjar, 2010 Intern