Overview of the Work of Dr. Paul D. Numrich
at the Theological Consortium of Greater Columbus

Begun in 1973, the Theological Consortium of Greater Columbus is a collaborative effort of Methodist Theological School in Ohio (United Methodist Church), Pontifical College Josephinum (Roman Catholic Church), Trinity Lutheran Seminary (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), and affiliate member Bexley Hall Seminary (Episcopal Church in the USA).  The Consortium established a Program in World Religions and Inter-Religious Dialogue in 2004 with the hiring of Dr. Paul D. Numrich, who is trained in both theology and the academic study of religion.

The Teagle Foundation funded the Program in World Religions and Inter-Religious Dialogue from 2004-2007 in order to guide seminary students in thinking “creatively and responsibly about how to proclaim the Christian gospel in multicultural contexts with a sensitivity to interfaith perspectives.”  The Henry Luce Foundation awarded a grant in 2007-2008 to continue the Teagle initiative and provide time to secure institutional support.  Dr. Numrich’s position was made permanent in 2008 as Associate Professor in the Snowden Chair for the Study of Religion and Interreligious Relations, Methodist Theological School in Ohio; Associate Professor of World Religions and Interreligious Relations, Trinity Lutheran Seminary; and Adjunct Professor, Pontifical College Josephinum.

The Need for This Work

“Religious conviction motivates and inspires human behavior like few other forces.”  This truism from the 2005 Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom may be more evident today than at any time in history.  Religion plays an unprecedented role in contemporary global affairs, sometimes for good, sometimes for ill, but always significantly.  In the United States, religious discourse permeates both private and public realms, often with ambivalent tones and mixed messages.  Moreover, American religious diversity is at an all time high, as sociologist R. Stephen Warner describes in the book Gatherings in Diaspora: “Millions of adherents of other religions—Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and more—have joined Jews to expand the boundaries of American religious pluralism to an extent unimaginable only forty years ago.”  For some this is cause for celebration, for others concern.

What is true globally and nationally is found locally as well.  Religious discourse and diversity are not “out there” somewhere, but here also in metropolitan Columbus, the nation’s 15th-largest urban area.  Historically diverse in its Christian and Jewish populations, greater Columbus now includes significant representation of other religious traditions.  And religious dialogue, debate, and controversy are alive and well here in the heartland.

“What about the future?” asks Dr. Donald L. Huber, academic dean of Trinity Lutheran Seminary in his Introduction to the book, Religion in Ohio: Profiles of Faith Communities.  “Clearly, if present trends continue, Ohio will become more religiously diverse in the coming decades. . . .  Within our treasured, albeit imperfect, American tradition of religious freedom, we can hope that mutual understanding and appreciation between and among all religions will continue to grow, even as people of faith honestly and forthrightly express their deepest convictions about the meaning of life.”

“The present situation calls for a new and deepened level of understanding between peoples of a variety of backgrounds,” stated Dr. John Kampen, academic dean of Methodist Theological School in Ohio, in an interview with the local ThisWeek newspapers, “and religious identity is one of those very important formative characteristics of people’s identities that we feel a particular responsibility for educating people about.  There’s a very pressing need internationally and in our own communities to get past the surface impressions of other religions and to understand even more fundamentally the role of religion in people’s lives.”

“Maybe we expect so much of religion because it claims to represent the highest, the purest, the holy,” wrote Dr. Paul Numrich in an op ed piece for the Columbus Dispatch.  “When religious power is harnessed for good, we are inspired.  When it begets evil, we feel betrayed in the deepest sense.  When religions don’t get along, we realize that not getting along is unavoidably human.  But when religions do get along, we find hope in our human predicament.”

The Theological Consortium’s initiative has succeeded in expanding curriculum and preparing informed religious leadership for a complex and rapidly changing world.  Dr. Numrich’s courses cover a variety of religious topics, from world religions, to American religious history, to comparative religious studies, to theological perspectives on world religions.  We expect our seminarians—and all Christian leaders—to adopt reasoned positions informed by solid scholarship and profound faith commitments.

In addition, a remarkably wide range of educational and community groups have requested presentations on all things religious.  Topics have included major world religions (Islam and Buddhism are favorite requests), fundamentalism, religious competence in health care, Christian perspectives on other religions, and the implications of growing religious diversity in American society.

Dr. Numrich’s Webpage motto identifies the two major objectives of his work:

Understanding Religion and Interreligious Relations
and
Enhancing Religion’s Positive Contributions to Human Welfare

The first objective seeks to educate multiple audiences about the role of religion in the contemporary world—how religion motivates individual and group behaviors of various kinds, such as interfaith initiatives, missions, and religiously motivated conflict as well as reconciliation, and how religious dynamics impact civil society, domestic politics, international affairs, and other spheres of human activity.  The second objective seeks to enhance religion’s positive contributions to human welfare while respecting deeply held convictions of religious people, organizations, and movements.  These objectives are accomplished through the following activities:

    • Expand the curriculum at the member seminaries of the Theological Consortium of Greater Columbus.
    • Offer resources, presentations, and workshops for community groups, such as schools, religious organizations, and health care providers.
    • Organize conferences, lectureships, symposia, and other public events.
    • Participate in national and international activities, such as scholarly conferences and consultations.
    • Conduct research, including collaboration with academic centers, institutes, and scholars.
    • Disseminate information and analysis via the media and publications, such as a Web page, postings in other organizations’ newsletters, scholarly journal articles, contributions to edited volumes, and monographs.

Today’s Christian leaders must be both sophisticated in their own understandings and sensitive to the variety of perspectives around them, a variety represented in seminaries, congregations, and local communities.  Dr. Numrich holds to the following principles in training Christian leaders:

    • The need for a multidisciplinary approach.  Drawing upon insights from both theological studies and the academic study of religion provides a comprehensive understanding of the human phenomenon of “religion” as well as the historical and contemporary religions of the world.
    • The value of open inquiry about the variety of Christian perspectives on the world’s religions rather than indoctrination of a single perspective.
    • The importance of seminarians developing their own perspectives on the world’s religions while preparing for faithful participation in interreligious encounters and informed leadership among fellow Christians.
    • The recognition that ecumenical dialogue about shared Christian values is an important but often neglected preliminary to faithful participation in interreligious encounters.
    • The hope of making an enduring impact on the religious climate and institutions of the greater Columbus area by fostering interreligious understanding and good will.