Academic Centers and Conferences

The Center on Religion, Culture & Conflict (CRCC) at Drew focuses critical attention on the complex ways in which cultures and religions interact, and how both difference and similarity can serve as a resource for building peace. To achieve its ambitious objective of combining study and praxis, the CRCC supports a number of projects and initiatives, including: hosting distinguished visiting scholars; sponsoring lectures, symposia, and roundtable discussions; making research grants to promote scholarship; and supporting promising model projects to enhance inter-religious and cross-cultural understanding. The mission of the CRCC is to educate a next generation of leaders in interfaith and intercultural understanding and peace.

The Religion and Global Health Forum (RGHF) is inspired by one of the ancient prophet’s questions: “Is there no Balm in Gilead? Is there no doctor there?” (Jer. 8:24). The Forum dreams to build a world where peoples of all socio-economic, racial, religious, gendered, geographical, cultural, and differently abled backgrounds and bodies, especially the historically marginalized, have access to consistent, quality healthcare and dignity. The Forum partners with scientists, researchers, religious leaders, writers, poets, educators, counselors, etc. in the fields of medical, social, political, and environmental sciences, to host panel discussions, presentations, and partnership building platforms that will improve individual and public health outcomes across the world. The Forum brings the expertise of different health-related disciplines to share knowledge, strategies, challenges, and processes associated with examining religion as a health asset and a catalyst for health.

Transdisciplinary Theological Colloquium: a signature Drew annual scholarly conference that fosters a fresh style of theological discourse that is at once self-deconstructive in its pluralism and constructive in its affirmations. Committed to the long-range transformation of religio-cultural symbolism, these colloquia continue Drew’s deep history of engaging historical, biblical and cultural hermeneutics, current philosophy, practices of social justice and experiments in theopoetics. Past conferences have focused on themes such as decolonizing epistemologies, a theology of eros, divine multiplicity, Africana Studies and Religion, and political theology.