March 4, 2009

Although he originally envisioned a more traditional theological route, Fr. Daniel Madigan, S.J. found himself working with the poor in Pakistan, where he began to study Islam and the Quran.  With the Vatican's blessing, especially after 9/11, he focused his studies on interreligious dialogue between Christians and Muslims, earning a doctorate from Columbia in Islamic religion.  He served as a consultor of the Vatican's Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims, and he is now a senior fellow at the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown.  As the Jeanette W. and Otto J. Ruesch Family Associate Professor of Theology, he lives out the reality of Georgetown's commitment to interreligious understanding.  In this interview he discusses how his core commitment as a Jesuit and a Christian intersect with his intellectual engagement with scholars of other faiths.