Professor launches project to advance scientific and theological literacy among madrasa graduates in India | News | Notre Dame News | University of Notre Dame Skip To Content Skip To Navigation Skip To Search University of Notre Dame Notre Dame News Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Home Contact Search Menu Home › News › Professor launches project to advance scientific and theological literacy among madrasa graduates in India Professor launches project to advance scientific and theological literacy among madrasa graduates in India Published: April 25, 2016 Author: Joan Fallon Ebrahim Moosa With a $1.2 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation, Ebrahim Moosa, professor of Islamic studies at the University of Notre Dame, has launched a three-year project to enrich scientific and theological literacy among recent graduates of Islamic seminaries in India. Working with scholars and teachers at Notre Dame and in India, Moosa will develop a curriculum and online learning program that integrates modern and classical knowledge traditions for young orthodox seminarians in India. The teaching team will recruit and train 100 recent madrasa graduates who are eager to acquire scientific knowledge that is indigenous to the Muslim tradition and interested in exposure to comparative theologies and modern humanities and social sciences. “Equipped with these knowledge resources,” Moosa said, “madrasa graduates can discover new ways to transform their lives and advance human dignity and the public good.” The project is expected to have a multiplier effect throughout the subcontinent of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. “Graduates of madrasas are very influential in shaping the religious thinking, values and practice of mainstream Muslims,” Moosa said. “They are well-placed to play a transformative role as disseminators of ideas and agents of change.” Moosa joined the Notre Dame faculty in fall 2014 after spending 13 years in the Department of Religious Studies at Duke University. He holds appointments in the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and the Department of History. He is co-director of Contending Modernities, a global research project focused on Catholic, Muslim and secular forces in the modern world. His 2015 book, “What Is a Madrasa?” draws on his extensive scholarship on Islamic seminaries in South Asia as well as his own years as a madrasa student in India. “Professor Moosa’s vision recognizes that reform in the Muslim world — as within many religious communities — begins with the education and formation of local religious leaders,” said Scott Appleby, dean of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs. “This innovative project holds tremendous promise as a model for how local and global religious thinkers and scholars can work together as agents of change.” The John Templeton Foundation serves as a philanthropic catalyst for “discoveries relating to the Big Questions of human purpose and ultimate reality.” Contact: Ebrahim Moosa, 574-631-1204, emoosa1@nd.edu Posted In: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion International Research Home Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Related September 12, 2022 Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street … in different countries? May 03, 2022 Pulte Institute launches Central America Research Alliance April 06, 2022 Rise in trust of institutions led to boost in entrepreneurial intent, especially among STEM undergraduates August 25, 2021 Japanese far-right hate group helped popularize anti-Korean sentiment May 13, 2021 Tending its Own Garden: Notre Dame undergrads research European view of US elections For the Media Contact Office of Public Affairs and Communications Notre Dame News 500 Grace Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Pinterest © 2022 University of Notre Dame Search Mobile App News Events Visit Accessibility Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube LinkedIn