Ari Goldman and Greg Khalil co-teach a course on religion in Israel/Palestine at the Graduate School of Journalism. Ari is Jewish and has a life-long connection to Israel. Greg is of Christian Palestinian descent, and is a former adviser to Palestinian negotiators. They have divergent views on Zionism. Over the years, they have taught students from dozens of different countries and faith traditions, employing a technique called "empathetic objectivity" to build community and drive pedagogical ends. In this faculty professional development session, they will share how they (sometimes) successfully navigate these differences in and out of the classroom, as part of the Dialogue Across Difference initiative.
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About the speakers
Ari L. Goldman has taught at the journalism school since 1993. He is the director of the school’s Scripps Howard Program in Religion, Journalism and the Spiritual Life. The Scripps Program has enabled Professor Goldman to take students in his “Covering Religion” seminars on funded study-tours abroad during spring break. In the past, his class has visited India, Russia, Ukraine, Ireland, Italy, Israel, Jordan and the West Bank. Before coming to Columbia, Goldman spent 20 years at The New York Times, most of it as a religion writer. In addition, he covered New York State politics, transportation and education. He was educated at Yeshiva University, Harvard and Columbia. Goldman was a Visiting Fulbright Professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem; a Skirball Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies in England, and a scholar-in-residence for a semester at Yeshiva’s Stern College for Women.
Gregory Khalil is the co-founder and President of Telos, a Washington D.C.-based non-profit that equips American leaders and their communities to better engage seemingly intractable conflict. Much of Telos’ work has centered on the role of faith leaders and culture shapers in America’s relationship to Israel/Palestine and the broader Middle East. Prior to founding Telos, Greg was a legal and communications adviser to Palestinian leaders on peace negotiations with Israel. Greg is also a founding member and chair of the board of directors of Narrative 4, a global non-profit that seeks to use story and media to cultivate empathy across divides. He has lectured internationally and his writing has appeared in The New York Times and The Review of Faith & International Affairs. Greg is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles and Yale Law School.
