In offices hidden away on High Street, the Campus Spiritual Life staff is currently introducing a new non-credit interfaith course called “Soul Matters,” with the intention of creating friendly discourse amongst believers and non-believers alike.

The campus chaplains hope to provide a more spiritual engagement with religious texts and teachings as opposed to the secular approach that is practiced in religious studies courses offered on campus.

“When religion courses are offered, they are always academic,” said Sister Marwa Aly, the Muslim Chaplain on campus.

“Soul Matters” meets on Monday afternoons from 4:15-5:15 pm in PAC 442. The group aims to focus the conversation on four topics the chaplains have chosen: the controversial texts of Judaism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Islam; the identity of women; loving thy neighbor; and the pursuit of happiness.

“Hopefully it will open them to be inspired to ask questions and be open to have further discussion,” said Pastor Joan Burnett, Protestant Chaplain. “We are going in being strategic, hoping the students will direct the discussion.”

Nineteen students attended the first class last week, which began with an overview of religious literacy. A questionnaire was offered to see what the students knew and recognized from different religious texts and traditions. From there, the class compared religious demographics from the United States to Wesleyan and the rest of the world.

The first major question posed during the class was how each student defined the word “soul” and what they did or did not do to care for their own. According to Rabbi David Teva, the Jewish Chaplain on campus and the Director for Spiritual Life, this prompted insightful and varied statements from the students present.

Then, the chaplains presented their own interpretations of a story that their four respective traditions hold in common: the story of the burning bush—when God first speaks to Moses through a bush that is on fire yet not burning down. They then used this narrative to spark a discussion relating to the themes each chaplain finds critical to their tradition’s understanding of the text.

The four campus chaplains have never worked on a collaborative project together.
The idea for the course came out of what the Office of Spiritual Life saw as the need for a safe space for thoughtful discussion on issues of faith, religious texts and practices.

“I often hear from students who would like to explore existential issues or issues of religious and spiritual identity outside of the classroom.” said Teva. “Some students are looking for a safe and non-graded environment to explore meaning, purpose and identity on campus.”

The second-class discussion, which took place Monday night, was titled “Controversial Texts in Islam, Christianity and Judaism.”

The chaplains stress that anyone, including those who were not present for the first class are welcome. Although they represent specific traditions themselves, they do not wish to limit participants to those with similar backgrounds.

“Those who don’t practice can get answers they might not get any other place,” said Burnett.

The Catholic chaplain on campus, Father Hal Weidner, points out that this kind of forum fits into Wesleyan students’ desire for social change, justice and peace. He sees inter-religious discussion as the first step to mutual understanding.

“We cannot have religious understanding without dialogue,” Weidner said. “We cannot have peace without religious understanding.”