|
|
|
Founder of Conflict Resolution Group Joins Faculty
|
|
|
Aaron Hahn Tapper, founder and co-executive director of Abraham's Vision, has joined the theology and religious studies faculty.
|
|
|
As the recently appointed Swig Chair of Judaic Studies, Aaron Hahn Tapper brings a wealth of knowledge about Judaism to the University of San Francisco. Not only has he studied the religion in private schools, summer camps, and countless Jewish seminaries, but he is also the founder and co-executive director of Abraham's Vision, an educational organization that works to resolve conflict between the Jewish, Muslim, Israeli, and Palestinian communities.
Hahn Tapper's background and beliefs fit well with USF's mission.
"Education for the sake of social transformation, education for the sake of justice, lies at the core of my own beliefs," said Hahn Tapper, an assistant professor of theology and religious studies.
This semester, he is teaching an introduction to Judaism course and planning for a spring course on religious nonviolence and the politics of interpretation that will focus on the case of Israel and Palestine. Hahn Tapper is also working on creating a Judaic studies minor that he hopes to launch in the spring.
"I hope to expand the course offerings and program activities of the Swig program in Judaic studies while also integrating social justice into the program, putting it front and center," he said.
Hahn Tapper, who earned his bachelor's degree from The Johns Hopkins University, holds a master's degree in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School. He received his doctorate in comparative religions from UC Santa Barbara. Prior to joining USF, Hahn Tapper was on the faculty at CSU Northridge. He was drawn to the USF because of its mission of educating minds and hearts to change the world.
In addition to teaching, Hahn Tapper will continue his research, which focuses on the interplay of violence, nonviolence, Judaism, and Islam, and the interpretation of religious texts in the Israel and Palestine regions.
"In particular, I am interested in how power plays a role in the exegesis of religious texts, how socio-political contexts shape the ways that religious authorities orient towards sacred texts such as the Torah and Koran," he said.
Through his work with Abraham's Vision, Hahn Tapper is also passionate about educational models that work with groups in conflict. Abraham's Vision currently works with the Jewish, Muslim, Israeli, and Palestinian communities to help students deepen their self-understanding as individuals and as members of larger communities. The hope is that this will help in resolving conflict between those groups.
Hahn Tapper founded Abraham's Vision in 2003 as a way to "be part of something much larger than my individual self." He acknowledges that his background -- a Jewish American male from an upper middle class background -- has afforded him opportunities most others in the world do not have, such as attending top educational institutions and living and studying in the Middle East for about five years. Because of this background, he said, he has chosen to work with communities that are often carrying out acts of violence against one another.
"As a member of the Jewish community, I feel it incumbent upon me to work in the field of social justice and help move these communities in general, and my Jewish community in particular, forward towards a time when they are no longer perceived as groups in conflict," he said. 
 Back to Top
|
|
