The event will include a panel discussion with James Carroll, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf of Cordoba Initiative; The Reverend Dr. Serene Jones, president of Union Theological Seminary; and Rabbi Burt Visotzky of The Jewish Theological Seminary. It will be moderated by Lisa Miller, Religion editor at Newsweek. The conversation will focus on how the city′s different faiths can create peace in a sacred site often marred by religious violence. The public is invited to attend this free educational event.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem is the single most important book at this moment on violence and nonviolence in the Middle East. “I dare you to read this book and see Jerusalem, or yourself, the same way,” says noted author Bernard Avishai. Carroll is especially good at illuminating Jerusalem′s role in the midst of the current Arab unrest. As he wrote in a Boston Globe op-ed, “If Jerusalem is the still quiet eye of the Arab hurricane, it is also an eye through which to view the great dilemma: Is tumultuous Mideast revolt to be seen with fear or hope?”

In Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Carroll traces the intertwined threads of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim history, to illuminate how the religious fervor surrounding the city began, the ways in which America was shaped by dreams of Jerusalem, and why Christian fervor is the deadly third party to the Israeli-Palestinian wars. It offers a richly layered story of how ancient-to-recent history illuminates the outcomes of violence in the Middle East, from ancient times right up to today′s headlines.

James Carroll′s books include the National Book Award-winning An American Requiem, House of War, which won the first PEN/Galbraith Award, and the New York Times bestseller Constantine′s Sword, now an acclaimed documentary.

For more information on this event, please call the Interfaith Center at 212-870-3510 or e-mail info@interfaithcenter.org.