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Director's Welcome
The world is a shrinking place. The internet, global media, world commerce, and travel have all made information and other kinds of human contact so much easier on the one hand, and so much riskier on the other. The ease is apparent to anyone who has ever opened web browser. The risk might seem more indistinct, except when we think about the errors of assumption we make of one another, both locally and abroad. For example, in a poll ABC News conducted in 2003, respondents ranked themselves on two scales: their familiarity with Islam, and their perception of whether or not Islam is a peaceful religion. The poll showed that only one-third of Americans felt they had a “good basic understanding” of Islam; of those who said they understood it, 59 percent called it peaceful. In contrast, of the two thirds of Americans who said they were “basically unfamiliar” with Islam, only 40 percent called it peaceful. Even fewer of those people thought that Islam teaches respect for others’ beliefs. This is but one set of misunderstandings that are all too common in our society. Our hope in the Institute is that our teaching, creative work, and research can help remedy this situation in some small way. An examination of ways that cultures define themselves or transform themselves in new contexts is but one approach that you will encounter in this issue of Colloquium. We have been inspired and encouraged to assemble this group of thinkers by an already abundant set of initiatives at Yale to think globally, from Yale Divinity School’s historic and longstanding commitment to the study of the Christian missionary movement, to the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, and the World Fellows Program (our near neighbors located in the Betts House next door), all in keeping with President Levin’s overarching vision of Yale as a global university. The world may be shrinking, but knowledge is expanding exponentially. Understanding needs to expand, too—and so we reach out to understand religions and cultures that are not our own. We hope that you will find insight and information within these pages that will enlighten your own interpretations of our world. Martin D. Jean Director,Yale Institute of Sacred Music Professor of Organ
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