John D. Copenhaver's Page

Religion / Faith

United Methodist/Progressive Christian,

I have attended the Parliament of Religions:

Cape Town 1999

Local Religious Community / Interfaith Affiliation:

Valley Interfaith Council

I have come to PeaceNext looking for:

networking, interreligious advocacy, interreligious exploration, intrareligious reflection, friendship

I am inspired by:

moral courage, kindness, the beauty and complexity of nature, scholarship, art

My favorite spiritual places:

Washington National Cathedral, any place sacred to a religious community, any park set aside for public enjoyment.

Interreligious causes I care about:

justice for poor, caring for the earth and its creatures, working for peace

Changes I am working toward in my community:

We are trying to develop mutual understanding and respect among the religous communities of the northern Shenandoah Valley

About Me:

In the Spring of 2011 I will serve as the religious studies faculty for the Semester at Sea. We will travel around the world stopping at 12 ports. I am hoping to meet with people working on interfaith concerns during these visits.

Below is a link to the Semester at Sea, the cities will be visiting, and the bio I submitted to the Semester at Sea. Please contact me if you have interfaith contacts in these cities.

Godspeed, John

http://www.semesteratsea.org/

Here is our itinerary.

* Nassau, Bahamas
* Rosseau, Dominica
* Salvador, Brazil
* Tema (Accra), Ghana
* Cape Town, South Africa
* Port Louis, Mauritius
* Chennai, India
* Singapore
* Ho Chi Minh, City, Viet Nam
* Hong Kong/Shanghai, China
* Kobe/Yokohama, Japan
* Hilo, Hawaii
* San Diego, CA USA

John D. Copenhaver is a full professor of religion and philosophy at Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in religion and culture from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and the Master of Divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. His undergraduate education was at Washington and Lee University where he graduated with a degree in European history. He is the author of Prayerful Responsibility: The Relation of Prayer and Social Responsibility in the Religious Thought of Douglas Steere and recently contributed a chapter entitled “Contemplative Practices that Animate the Study of Religion” to the book Meditation in the Classroom. He is a member of the American Academy of Religion and the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality. He has served on the National Council of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an interfaith peacemaking organization, and the National Board of Theta Alpha Kappa, the national honor society for religious studies and theology. In December of 1999 he made a presentation on interfaith peacemaking at the Parliament of the World’s Religions meeting in Cape Town, South Africa. In the fall of 2009, he served as the Faculty Leader of the Shenandoah EcoVenture, a joint project of The Downstream Project and Shenandoah University. This 170 mile outdoor educational trek on the Appalachian Trail and Shenandoah River celebrated the natural beauty of region as well as drew attention to its environmental problems.