2024 Events

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The Death of Democracy?

Christianity, Politics, and the Possibility of Hospitality


Matthew Kaemingk


Wednesday March 20, 2024

7pm at Court Square Theater, Harrisonburg


It feels like America is being torn apart by deep political and cultural differences. In this public lecture, Cafe Veritas will offer a surprising claim: our differences are not, in fact, a threat. The true threat is our response to those differences. Christianity can help us to honor the rights, dignity, and freedom of those with whom we disagree—even those we find dangerous. Our aim for this Cafe Veritas is to help our city become a more hospitable space for those who deeply disagree, a place where we can talk openly and honestly about their own concerns and questions.


Matthew Kaemingk

Dr. Matthew Kaemingk is a Christian ethicist and public theologian; Richard John Mouw Associate Professor of Faith and Public Life at Fuller Theological Seminary; Research Fellow at the Center for Public Justice in Washington, DC; Scholar-in-Residence at De Pree Center for Christian Leadership. Kaemingk is an award-winning author and frequent public speaker for universities, think tanks, and organizations interested in exploring the intersection between faith and public life. His research and public speaking focus on a variety of issues including: marketplace theology, political ethics, Muslim-Christian relations, and Reformed public theology. He is the author and editor of several books including Christian Hospitality and Muslim Immigration in an Age of Fear (Eerdmans, 2018). He holds a doctoral degree in Systematic Theology from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and Christian Ethics from Fuller Theological Seminary. In 2011, serving as a Fulbright Scholar in the Netherlands, Kaemingk researched the European conflict over Muslim immigration and developed Christian ethical response to the issue.


Learn more about Kaemingk's work at https://www.matthewkaemingk.com/

Bridging Our Divides:

Pluralism, Religion, and the Challenges of Polarization in American Democracy


MATTHEW KAEMINGK & SHADI HAMID


Thursday March 21, 2024

2:30pm

Wilson Hall at James Madison University


We’re excited to present this conversation at JMU, a partnership between Café Veritas, the Philosophy and Religion Department, and the Madison Center for Civic Engagement. The event will include presentations and a moderated discussion between Matthew Kaemingk and his friend Shadi Hamid, with Christie Kilby and David Kirkpatrick (professors of religion at JMU). Kaemingk, an evangelical Christian teaching at Fuller Theological Seminary, and Hamid, a committed Muslim writing for The Washington Post and The Atlantic, received a grant from the Templeton Foundation to research Christian and Muslim approaches to deep political and religious difference. The discussion will first highlight American political polarization and the ensuing crisis of American democracy. Then Kaemingk and Hamid will contend that a deeply rooted faith is one of the best resources for addressing our current challenges. This event is open to the public.


Parking is available in the Mason Street parking deck on levels 3 - 5.


Shadi Hamid

Shadi Hamid is a columnist and member of the Editorial Board at The Washington Post and a research professor of Islamic studies at Fuller Theological Seminary. Previously, he was a longtime senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a contributing writer at The Atlantic. Hamid is the author of several books, including most recently The Problem of Democracy: America, the Middle East, and the Rise and Fall of an Idea (Oxford, 2023). In 2019, Hamid was named one of the world’s top 50 thinkers by Prospect magazine. Hamid received his B.S. and M.A. from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and his Ph.D. in political science from Oxford University.