International Sister Centres

 The vision of SAT is to catalyze the formation of contextually appropriate centres for the study of Christian-Muslim relations in different parts of the world. These centres function independently and are not accountable to or resourced by SAT.

So far there are four ‘sister’ centres in the network with the potential for others.

A Family of Centres

In all the years’ experience from our base in Oxford, UK, we have regularly engaged with those working at the frontline of Muslim-Christian relations across the globe – in countries such as Ghana, South Korea, Kenya, South Africa, UAE and the US. As a result of our international collaborations, two collegial centres have been set up in West Africa and the USA.

Our previous academic advisor, Dr. John Azumah, developed his vision for a centre that would share the ethos of CMCS Oxford in Ghana. Inspired and mentored by the late Prof. Lamin Sanneh, Dr. Azumah brought this vision to fruition in February 2020 with the inauguration of The Sanneh Institute in Accra, Ghana. Academic staff of CMCS Oxford was instrumental in organising the conference, securing the two keynote speakers for the event and arranging financial assistance for majority world scholars.

Similarly, in May 2020, The Center for Muslim & Christian Studies Houston was set up as an independent research and study centre serving the Texas region’s universities, churches and mosques. The US-based centre was particularly proactive in responding to the Covid pandemic through inventive online courses that brought Christian and Muslim students together from across the globe in virtual learning spaces.

We are currently working with existing and new links in Asia to represent the region and its people through our Asian Voices Project.

Conferences and Symposia

Through the project of Reading the Bible in the Context of Islam, we have brought together Muslim and Christian scholars at our conference in 2015 which was themed ‘Qur`anic Conversations.’ The resulting publication features writing by authors as far afield as Turkey, Iran, Singapore, Nigeria and the United States, among others. The next chapter of this project was a conference in September 2020 on The Gospels and Islam. This conference took place under pandemic conditions, innovating a hybrid format of in-person and online presentation. The conference, once again, brought scholars together from across the globe who will feature in the second volume of the Routledge publication.

It is alliances such as these that will enable the future of a developing international network of scholarship to transform the Muslim-Christian interface.

Enquiries

We would like to work with others who have an interest in making library resources available and welcome suggestions to make this possible. Are you interested in developing international links that will foster deeper learning between Muslims and Christians? Do you have any suggestions to enable access to research resources? If so, Georgina at g.jardim@cmcsoxford.org.uk would like to hear from you.