(RNS) — The Rev. Uriah Kim remembers his childhood fondly. He did not grow up in a religious family, though his Buddhist mother did share her practices with him. Instead he explored being nonreligious, saying he fancied himself an atheist, especially in his teen years.

Then he came across Christianity, and found a new sense of “coherence,” he said. His discovery compelled him beyond what he referred to as “the vanity of vanity (that) everything is nothing” and toward a sense of higher purpose. He felt emotionally and spiritually called to accept Christianity and had what he describes as a conversion experience. 

Even so, said Kim, “I always felt uncomfortable (with the) brand of Christianity that tried to proselytize and tried to claim that this is the only way.” Instead, he was moved by Christian justice issues and an approach in which he was called as a Christian to do everything he could to address injustice.

This call to serve drew him to seminary to become a pastor, where he found himself moved by the Hebrew Bible. He wanted to study it in depth, to “create a sort of theological voice for my generation of Korean Americans.” Eventually, he pursued his Ph.D. at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California — a consortium of theological schools from major religions — a place that transformed his outlook and which he is now in the process of transforming as its president.

In 1962, Christian seminary leaders inspired by the Second Vatican Council and its positive transformation of ecumenical relations between Catholics and Protestants sought to build a community of learning that would transcend barriers between Christian streams. Five Protestant seminaries founded the Graduate Theological Union, and more Christian seminaries joined the union within a couple of years. In 1968, GTU incorporated a center for Jewish study that became the Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies.

This laid the groundwork for what is now a renowned Jewish studies program and, within the past 15 years, the addition of centers for Islamic and Dharmic studies, as well as schools and initiatives focused on Buddhist, Mormon, Baha’i and Swedenborgian traditions. Today, GTU has eight member schools and five academic centers, with seven additional affiliates. It is also home to a Center for the Arts and Religion as well as a Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences.

For Kim, this pluralistic space provides a new vantage point for all — including Christians.

“In the United States, and maybe in general, when we talk about interreligious engagement … or dialogue, Christianity is (often) at the center. …That’s the paradigm,” Kim said.

But it’s a limited view of dialogue, he added. While Christians still comprise the majority of students at the GTU, the school aims to facilitate an active dialogue between Muslims and Jews, Hindus and Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs. As Kim knows firsthand, Christians who come to GTU learn to step “out of the center” and see themselves as part of a bigger conversation. To Kim, this shift “is a life-changing experience.”

Uriah Kim. Photo by Paul Kirchner, courtesy of GTU

It is equally life-changing for the rising leaders of the many traditions represented at GTU, to have the opportunity to directly encounter and learn from one another. Intentionally interreligious, these dialogues can delve more deeply into questions of history and text because they assume significant difference between traditions and approaches, described Kim, while also utilizing the shared learning community to deepen relationships.

To Kim, part of what makes GTU a place unlike any other is the commitment across religions and denominations — among students, faculty and institutions — to “stay together,” embracing differences and being bettered by them.

Kim suggests that this dialogue is only possible because of the “hybrid space” that GTU creates for each individual community.

“At the GTU, we work to create an environment where each interlocutor can really be authentic to themselves and to their tradition, while sharing a common space,” Kim says. “This is a brave space where we all agree to come into conversation, following certain principles.” Among those is not proselytizing to one another.

So long as people have a place to which they can retreat and find solace in common religious approaches, they can summon the bravery to go beyond what is familiar and delve into challenging, important conversations about difference, said Kim. These conversations often lead to secondary discussions about power, privilege, voice and representation, all of which come to the fore.

One critical example of this dynamic in action at GTU is the Madrasa-Midrasha program, which is a collaborative, interreligious effort between the centers for Jewish and Islamic studies to explore the richness, diversity, differences and commonalities of the two traditions. The program, supported by a grant from the Hellman Foundation, regularly hosts events that bring the two faith traditions into comparative dialogue, such as the recent Mystical Readings in Islamic and Jewish Traditions event and a calligraphy workshop, which explored the similarities and differences between Hebrew and Persian calligraphy.

The program annually offers student research grants, funded by the Walter & Elise Haas Fund, for students working on interreligious projects related to Judaism and/or Islam.

GTU’s Interreligious Chaplaincy Program is another example. The certificate program was launched in 2019 to equip leaders to practice spiritual care among diverse populations. Currently, there are both Jewish studies and Hindu studies fellowship opportunities available for chaplaincy students.

In addition to interreligious dialogue, GTU offers interdisciplinary courses and degrees through the Center for the Arts and Religion and the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences.

Kim theorizes that conversations with more than three religious traditions represented are often the most fruitful. The differences are evident from the outset, he notes, and without any one group at the center, everyone is more prepared for a constructive dialogue.

A growing number of theological consortiums are following in GTU’s footsteps. Two of note are the Boston Theological Interreligious Consortium and the New York Theological Consortium, which have brought into active collaboration seminaries, divinity schools, rabbinical schools and institutes of religious study in the same geographic areas.

Yet Kim believes even more can be done in today’s era of technological change and amid the transformations to online teaching and higher education. He is working to bring GTU’s model for interreligious dialogue beyond the 1,000 people who learn and grow spiritually together on the “Holy Hill.”

A year and a half ago, GTU launched an online platform called GTUx, offering exclusive programs, as well as recordings of lectures and events, providing access to the “treasure of materials in our system that no one outside of our very small community (otherwise) gets to see,” Kim says.

The platform’s more than 80 offerings focus on the intersections of religion with today’s cultural issues, from interreligious perspectives on environmentalism, to the role that religion plays in the use and proliferation of psychedelics, to faith communities and activism.

So far, more than 12,000 people from around the world have subscribed to GTUx, and Kim envisions these numbers growing exponentially: “I could imagine, in like 10 years from now, having over a million subscribers being part of this learning community.”

To Kim, these interlocutors are the “future religious and ethical leaders” of the world. He believes that expanding the reach of the unique model of interreligious dialogue that’s found at GTU could reformulate dialogue internationally, allowing all people to come to the table together around issues of shared interest, concern or hope. He also knows it could test the boundaries of dialogue — and hopefully provide helpful feedback for a school cultivating religious leaders from communities that increasingly transcend geographic bounds.

“When we talk about pluralistic work of this nature, there is commonly a sense from some — usually the ‘majority’ group — that they are being threatened in some way; that by decentering their view, their seat at the table will disappear,” Kim said. “But that is not the goal, nor will that happen. Instead, we are creating the beloved community of Dr. Martin Luther King and practicing true inclusion — of everyone. And that repeated practice is what is going to change the world.”