Hartford Seminary: International Peacemaking Program

With long-established expertise in interfaith dialogue, Islamic studies, and Christian-Muslim relations, Hartford Seminary is at the forefront of training leaders for peacemaking between religions, especially where there is conflict and the potential for tension and violence.

The groundbreaking International Peacemaking Program was initiated in 2004, and has since brought more than 34 young leaders from countries where there is interreligious conflict for a year of study and peacemaking practice.  Graduates of the IPP have returned home and are making a real difference in places like Nigeria, Indonesia, Iraq, Pakistan, the Philippines, Iran and India.  Through grants from private foundations, communities of faith, and individuals committed to peace, the Seminary offers a limited number of annual IPP scholarships to Christian, Muslims and Jews, which attract qualified, committed candidates from around the world.

In 2014, recognizing both the growing religious diversity and potential for conflict within the United States, and the need for Christian leadership in interfaith engagement in American cities, the Seminary launched, with the generous support of the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, an opportunity for American students to participate in the IPP.  Hartford Seminary Peacemaking Fellows are seminary students, denominational leaders, and NGO employees with a commitment to peaceful religious coexistence in the American context.  In 2015, the Seminary received scholarship funding from the Plowshares Institute, which for more than 30 years has cultivated global peacemaking through mediation, conflict resolution training and travel seminars.  Plowshares Peacemaking Fellows participate in the International Peacemaking Program and are selected from candidates who embody the values of Plowshares, including a deep commitment to apply their new skills and insights to their country or region upon their return.  Candidates from South Africa, China and northern India, areas of particular interest to Plowshares, are especially encouraged to apply.

Please note: the International Peacemaking Program, Hartford Seminary Peacemaking Fellows and Plowshares Peacemaking Fellows scholarship applications are distinct, and funded from different sources.  All peacemaking program scholarships require academic admission to the Graduate Certificate program for scholarship consideration.  Ms. Tina Demo, Director of Recruitment and Admission (tdemo@hartsem.edu), should be consulted first in regard to completion of the academic application to the Graduate Certificate program.  For more information about the scholarship application process, contact Coordinator Phoebe Milliken at pmilliken@hartsem.edu or 860-509-9552.

The application deadline for all peacemaking programs is March 15.

Participants in the International Peacemaking Program, along with Hartford Seminary Peacemaking Fellows and Plowshares Peacemaking Fellows, spend an academic year studying interfaith dialogue, conflict transformation, and leadership skills.  They live in intentionally interfaith housing on campus, spend time in local faith communities, and receive training in public speaking and engagement.

Upon completion of the required 18-credits (6 full courses), all scholarship recipients receive a Graduate Certificate in either Interfaith Dialogue or Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations.  Fellows additionally conceive and implement a leadership project as part of their program requirements.  These peacemaking programs are designed to be completed within one academic year of full-time study, and it is expected that upon completion, participants return home to put new skills and knowledge into practice.  The Seminary continues to provide support to and promotion of graduates’ peacemaking efforts after the experience concludes.

Hartford Seminary’s peacemaking scholarships include tuition, books, travel and housing.

The following is a sampling of courses students might take during their year at the Seminary:

• Dialogue in a World of Difference
• Building Abrahamic Partnerships
• Religion, Conflict and Peacemaking
• Comparative Religious Ethics
• Global Ethics
• Introduction to World Religions
• Religion and Modernity: Christianity and Islam
• Interfaith Leadership Seminar

Information regarding academic application to ALL peacemaking programs

IPP Scholarship Application