Rabbi Sharon Brous, named by Newsweek as America’s most influential woman rabbi, will present the lecture “God and Politics: A Spiritual State of the Union” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 13, in the auditorium of O’Shaughnessy Educational Center on the St. Paul campus of the University of St. Thomas.
Rabbi Sharon Brous
The lecture, free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning.
Brous will reflect on how different views of God serve to foster different types of public discourse, action and culture.
“Recent years have witnessed a dangerous resurfacing of racial tension, religious intolerance and political divisiveness in American life,” Brous said. “Outbursts of venomous anger, often expressed in the name of God, have produced an ugly new standard in public discourse.
“At the same time, Americans, often inspired by their faith in God, have seen through racial, religious and national fault lines and have responded courageously and contributed generously to others in the wake of disasters at home and abroad.”
Brous is the founding rabbi of IKAR, a vibrant Jewish spiritual community in Los Angeles known for its soulful prayer services and energetic social justice work. A graduate of Columbia University with a B.A. in history and an M.A. in human rights and conflict resolution, she was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
Named to The Jewish Daily Forward's list of the 50 most influential American Jews, Brous is a frequent contributor to The Washington Post's "On Faith." She serves on the board of Rabbis for Human Rights and as a member of the Task Force to Advance Multireligious Collaboration on Global Poverty.
The Jay Phillips Center is a joint enterprise of the University of St. Thomas and St. John’s University in Collegeville. More information can be found on the center’s website.
The presentation is part of the center's Rabbis-in-Residence program supported by a grant from the Brenden-Mann Foundation.
