DePaul University’s Islamic World Studies program will host an Oct. 30 town hall meeting that will examine the impact of Christian, Hebrew and Islamic scripture on how contemporary religious women incorporate faith into their day-to-day lives.

“Women and Interpretations of Religious Texts” will feature presentations by noted female scholars in the three main branches of the Abrahamic faiths that will be followed by a question and answer session.  The program, which begins with a reception and buffet dinner at 6 p.m. followed by a 7 p.m. discussion, is free and open to the public. It will be held in Room 220 of the DePaul Student Center, 2250 N. Sheffield Ave., Chicago.

“We are looking to have a lively discussion on how women today interpret the sacred scriptures of their faiths and how they use them,” said Aminah McCloud, director of DePaul’s Islamic World Studies program and professor of religious studies. The panel will be moderated by Phyllis Steward-Sorrell from the office of DePaul’s president.

The program’s speakers are:

• Frida Furman, DePaul professor of religious studies specializing in feminist studies in religion;
• Marcia Hermansen, director of Loyola University Chicago’s Islamic World Studies program and professor of theology;
• Debra Mubashir Majeed, associate professor and chair of the philosophy and religious studies programs at Beloit College, who has studied Islamic practices among African-American Muslims;
• Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, the Krister Stendahl Professor of Divinity, Harvard University, a pioneer in biblical interpretation and feminist theology;
• Karen Scott, director of DePaul’s Catholic Studies program and assistant professor of history, who has studied women’s roles through history; and
• Naomi Steinberg, DePaul associate professor of religious studies specializing in women in the Hebrew Bible.

For more information, please contact the Islamic World Studies program at (773) 325-4905 or at iws@depaul.edu.