Interreligious Studies and Secondary Education: Teaching Interreligiously and Faith-Based Partnerships

 This episode features a conversation between Dr. Celene Ibrahim and Dr. Irvin Scott with host Bernie Wagenblast concerning the topics of interreligious education, faith-based partnerships with public schools, faith-based community organizing, and religion and civic engagement. Each comes to these topics from different perspectives, experiences, and professions; they underscore the importance of interfaith/interreligious education and partnerships at the secondary education level. Dr. Celene Ibrahim, a teacher in the Groton School’s Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy (High School), has taught at colleges, universities, and theological schools across New England, co-directed an institute on interreligious studies and religious leadership, and served as a chaplain at Tufts University. Dr. Ibrahim has authored numerous publications in the fields of women’s and gender studies, religion in America, and Islamic studies. She has studied at Princeton (B.A.), Harvard (M.Div), and Brandeis (Ph.D). Dr. Irvin Scott is a faculty member at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He has worked as a teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, and chief academic officer in the public school system before coming to Harvard. In addition, he served five years as the deputy director for K-12 education at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he led the investment of $300 million in initiatives focused on transforming how teachers are recruited, developed, and rewarded. In an effort to address educational inequities in the U.S., Scott also led an effort at the Foundation to build strong partnerships and deeper engagement between faith-based organizations that serve underrepresented students, families, and communities.