Dinner & Discussion with the Rev. Doug Leonard

One of the most urgent fields of contemporary cultural, political, and religious concern is in our relationships with Middle Eastern nations, and one of the oldest continuing mission fields for the Reformed Church in America is the Middle East. The Rev. Doug Leonard, an RCA minister, is Executive Director of Al Amana Centre, an academy for the study of global Muslim-Christian relations and diplomacy based in the Sultanate of Oman.  He serves as an advisor to the Omani government; trains and advises UN negotiators working on cease fire agreements in North Africa and the Middle East about involving religious leaders in mediation processes, constitution-making, community reconciliation, and natural resource negotiations, and serves on a working group for religion and conflict mitigation for Secretary of State John Kerry.  He also co-organizes and lectures in Cambridge University’s summer school in religion and conflict transformation at the Faculty of Divinity, and serves as Secretary of the Gulf Churches Fellowship, an ecumenical council of all Christian denominations (Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant) in the six Gulf countries (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Oman and Bahrain). His scholarly work has appeared in numerous academic journals and books, and he serves as special editor of  The Muslim World journal.  An American, he currently makes his home in Muscat, Oman.

Doug Leonard will be with us for dinner and an informal discussion of the work of the Al Aman Centre and the RCA’s presence in Oman. Everyone is welcome to join us for this discussion.

The suggested donation for dinner will be $15.00, free for NBTS students, faculty, and staff. RSVP to jbrumm@nbts.edu by  Monday, October 5, 2015.