Archbishop's Reflections on the 7th Building Bridges Seminar
Archbishop and ParticipantsFriday 9th May 2008
This is a unique annual series which brings together a range of internationally recognised Christian and Muslim scholars for an intensive study of relevant Biblical and Qur'anic texts.
This year's seminar, organised in partnership with Georgetown University and convened by the Archbishop, took place between 5 and 8 May at Villa Palazzola, an old Cistercian monastery south of Rome, and addressed the theme: 'Communicating the Word: Revelation, Translation and Interpretation in Christianity and Islam'.
The seminar builds on from similar events in London, Doha, Sarajevo, Washington DC and Singapore.
Building Bridges Seminar Video 2008
Read a transcript of the Archbishop's reflections on the 7th Building Bridges Seminar below, or click download on the right to listen [500kb]
I think this particular Building Bridges Seminar has taken us deeper than ever before, and it's partly because we've been addressing issues around how to handle scripture and what the limits are of interpretation. It's enabled us to talk very, very frankly about fundamental differences and deep convergences and I think there's been a strong air of spiritual intensity about this meeting, partly helped by the place which is a place of prayer, so I feel very, very grateful for these few days and I think the feeling in the group is that we have grown yet again in this particular occasion.