Archbishop Williams Drives Christian-Muslim Initiative to Sarajevo

The fourth Christian-Muslim initiative ‘Building Bridges’ conference will be convened in Sarajevo by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. The seminar will be held 16-18 May and be chaired by Dr Williams.

Co-hosting the event will be Rais al-Ulama Dr Mustafa Ceri, Metropolitan Nikolaj, and Cardinal Vinko Puljic.

Scholars worldwide from both Christian and Muslim faiths will hold detailed discussions over the period of three days.

Speakers will focus on Christians, Muslims and the Common Good and seek to understand how their traditions and beliefs represent their approach to public life.

Dr Williams, leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion expressed hope that the conference would be built on the work of the previous three gatherings.

He said, "Muslims and Christians share space with each other, literally and in the more extended sense that they seek to understand the world in the context of God’s purpose."

The Archbishop continued, "We need to share with each other how we approach this challenge, so that we can find what our shared hopes and goals might be."

The first Building Bridges seminar was hosted at Lambeth Palace by Dr George Carey when he was the Archbishop of Canterbury in January 2002.

The second seminar was convened by Dr Rowan Williams and hosted by the Amir of Qatar and held in Doha in April 2003.

The third seminar in the series took place last March in Washington DC, convened by Dr Williams and hosted by Dr John J DeGioia, the President of Georgetown University.