On December 9, 2025, the Faculty of Theology and the Center for the Study of Religion and Christian-Muslim Relations (CSR-CMR) hosted Dr. Nader Hashemi, Director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU) at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., United States. Dr. Hashemi, who is also a professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, also delivered a public lecture (hosted by the Faculty of Theology’s Sociology of Religion Doctorate Program) on “Islam and Human Rights: A 50 Year Retrospective.”
Dr. Hashemi, who is also a member of CSR-CMR’s International Academic Council), is the author or co-editor of several academic books, including Islam, Secularism and Liberal Democracy: Toward a Democratic Theory for Muslim Societies (Oxford University Press, 2009), The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran’s Future (Melville House, 2011), The Syria Dilemma (MIT Press, 2013), Sectarianization: Mapping the New Politics of the Middle East (Oxford University Press, 2017), and a four-volume study on Islam and Human Rights: Critical Concepts in Islamic Studies (Routledge, 2023).
From right to left: Dr. Sumanto Al Qurtuby (CSR-CMR’s Chairman), Dr. Jessy Ismoyo (CSR-CMR’s Deputy Chairman), Jonathan Stupple (ACMCU’s Assistant Director), and Dr. Nader Hashemi (ACMCU’s Director)
During the meeting, we shared several important ideas for possible collaboration between CSR-CMR and ACMCU. These included the following:
- A conference at Georgetown University (GU) in Jakarta, USA, or UKSW, with a focus on journal output.
- Funding under Templeton includes support for student exchanges.
- Collaboration can also take place through the Visiting Professor Program, which will feature several public lectures with GU.
- GU is currently researching Religious Pluralism in the US, with potential for comparative research involving Indonesia.
- A key collaboration point involves important figures in the history of public intellectuals and the development of Indonesian history and Muslim-Christian relations, which will receive large funding.
- The 2026 American Academy of Religion (AAR) conference in Denver, Colorado, involves organizing a panel or roundtable, with outputs published in special issues of the Notre Dame journal.
- An exchange program for visiting scholars through the Fulbright is also planned, which can be utilized.
At the end of the meeting, CSR-CMR and ACMCU signed a Memorandum of Agreement for future guidelines and references of cooperation between the two research institutions.