The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, will present this Monday, September 7, Within Your Gates, a new interdisciplinary research forum that will bring together scholars and professionals from different confessions and disciplines to study the universal vocation of Jerusalem and seek answers to the conflicts affecting the Holy Land.
The initiative, developed in collaboration with the academic center of the University of Notre Dame in Jerusalem, stems from more than three years of cooperation and aims to address both the religious dimension of the Holy City and specific issues related to the coexistence of its inhabitants.
“The mission of earthly Jerusalem is to become an image and mirror of heavenly Jerusalem, a prophecy and promise of that universal reconciliation and peace that God desires for the entire human family,” Pizzaballa has stated, who will chair the Council of Promoters of the new forum. “It is to this mission that we must return,” he added.
According to the presentation of the initiative, the Patriarch believes that the forum can serve to confront the “harsh realities” of the Holy Land following the events that continue to affect the region and, from them, try to jointly imagine a better future for all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
The universal vocation of Jerusalem
The project will develop interdisciplinary research linked to the concrete reality of the city, but also oriented toward issues that transcend Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Among the planned areas are the theological meaning of Jerusalem, its universal vocation, the language used in situations of conflict and reconciliation, and the capacity for action in contexts of strong constraints.
The forum will bring together researchers and professionals from different religious traditions, disciplines, and communities. Its promoters start from the conviction that the complexity of Jerusalem does not necessarily constitute an obstacle to its mission, but rather a condition that can allow the city to become a source of inspiration beyond its own borders.
Within Your Gates will be directed by Dr. Daniel Schwake and is sponsored by Pizzaballa. Its launch is the result of more than three years of collaboration with the academic center of Notre Dame in Jerusalem and with other members of this American Catholic university.
The official launch will take place this September 7 in Jerusalem, where Pizzaballa will personally present his vision of the project. Academics and professionals from different fields who are part of the Council of Promoters or the Advisory Committee of the forum will also participate in the event.
The initiative is born at a particularly delicate moment for the Holy Land. In the face of this reality, Pizzaballa proposes recovering the proper dimension of Jerusalem as a city called to be, in his words, “prophecy and promise” of reconciliation and peace for all humanity.