Recent Videos

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  Hannah Rosenthal on Current Trends in Anti-Semitism

  December 5, 2012 / Faith Complex

  How do you differentiate between legitimate criticisms of the Israeli state and anti-Semitic sentiment? And how do you promote freedoms of expression while still curtailing anti-Semitic hate speech? Hannah Rosenthal, State Department Special Envoy to Combat and Monitor Semitism, joins Jacques Berlinerblau on Faith Complex to explain how her office deals with these and other difficult questions. Created by a 2004 Congressional mandate, the Office of the Special Envoy aims to monitor the status of anti-Semitism and Jewish communities in [...]

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  Asra Nomani Analyzes the Egyptian Blue Bra Revolution

  December 5, 2012 / Faith Complex

  During the Tahrir Square uprisings in Cairo, onlookers captured this extremely disturbing video of Egyptian military police brutalizing a female protester, dragging her along the street so that her blue bra becomes visible in the course of the beating. The incident sparked a wave of solidarity across Egypt and the unnamed “blue bra girl” has become an icon and rallying cry. Crucially, the Blue Bra Revolution also turns the spotlight on what the role of women will be in the [...]

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  Septime Webre Discusses Male Ballet Dancers

  September 16, 2011 / Faith Complex

  In May 2011, PJC Director Jacques Berlinerblau wrote a piece for The Chronicle of Higher Education about his younger son’s infatuation with ballet–and the schoolyard bullying that ensued. Professor Berlinerblau’s dissection of our gendered view of dance came to the attention of Septime Webre, talented artistic director of the Washington Ballet, who appears in this week’s Faith Complex. Webre joined the Washington Ballet in 1999 and has choreographed works that feature in the repertoires of prominent ballet companies around the [...]

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  Allison Hoffman on the Museum of the History of Polish Jews

  May 24, 2013 / Faith Complex

  Later this year, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews is slated to open in Warsaw, on the former site of the famed Warsaw Ghetto. Jews have had a long history of peaceful and prosperous existence in Poland, dating back for nearly a millennium. It is the juxtaposition of this thousand years with the Polish Jewish population’s horrific treatment during the Holocaust that makes the location of the museum particularly important and compelling. In this interview, the Program for [...]

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  What We Talk about When We Talk about Philip Roth

  March 26, 2013 / Lectures Live

  Philip Roth is a titan of American literature with a remarkable oeuvre of more than thirty novels and countless literary accolades under his belt. On March 19th, 2013, Roth celebrated his eightieth birthday, a milestone marked by celebrations in his native Newark, New Jersey, as well as around the country. At the Program for Jewish Civilization, Director Jacques Berlinerblau, who teaches a course on the secular Jewish fiction of Philip Roth, interviewed one of the country’s foremost Roth experts, Dr. [...]

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  Summer 2013 Certificate in Holocaust and Genocide Studies Announced

  March 18, 2013 / Lectures Live

  The Certificate in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, designed for high school teachers, is a rigorous, non-degree program geared to the specific curricular and pedagogical needs of educators. The seven day summer course is held on the campus of Georgetown University and will be taught by Georgetown faculty. Guest lecturers from think tanks, government and non-governmental agencies, authors, independent scholars, and clergy will enhance the learning experience. Participants will have access to Georgetown University’s libraries, as well as the numerous museums [...]

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  Secular America: Nones, Atheists, the Unaffiliated

  March 5, 2013 / Lectures Live

  Lately, the American media has written extensively about the so-called “nones,” following an influential Pew survey in October 2012 that found religiously unaffiliated Americans to be at an all-time high. But who are these atheists, agnostics, non-believers, and other secular folk? What are their lifestyles and belief systems? Here to answer this question is Professor Phil Zuckerman of Pitzer College, founder of the first Secular Studies program in the nation. Professor Zuckerman is an ethnographer whose books include Society without [...]

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  French Laïcité: What Does It Stand for?

  March 5, 2013 / Lectures Live

  The French notion of laïcité, which regulates ostentatious public displays or expressions of religion, is one of the classical models. Even so, it is misunderstood both in France and outside of it. In this interview, two of the preeminent architects of modern laïcité, Jean Baubérot and Henri Peña-Ruiz, discuss how they understand this complex concept with Dr. Sarah Fainberg as part of the February 2013 “Secularism on the Edge” conference. Their conversation ranges from explorations of the theoretical to practical, [...]

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  America: A Christian Nation or a Secular Nation?

  March 5, 2013 / Lectures Live

  On February 20-22, 2013, the Program for Jewish Civilization held an international conference on secularism in the United States, France, and Israel. In the opening event of the “Secularism on the Edge” conference, Professor John Fea of Messiah College discusses his historical research on the development of church-state relations in the United States. By examining documents such as the Declaration of Independence, Treaty of Tripoli, and Constitution of the Confederate States of America, Dr. Fea and Jacques Berlinerblau of Georgetown [...]

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  Fr. Thomas Reese, SJ on the Obama Administration and the USCCB

  March 5, 2013 / Faith Complex

  Throughout 2012, the question of healthcare reform has dominated national news. A central point of contention? Insurance coverage for female employees’ contraceptives. Several religious groups, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, vocally opposed to the Obama administration’s healthcare mandate efforts, arguing that they contravened freedom of religion and forced employers to act contrary to their consciences. In this video, Fr. Thomas Reese, SJ of Georgetown University addresses several key issues relating to Catholics, the Obama Administration, and the [...]

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  Israel’s 2013 Election: At a Political Crossroad

  January 17, 2013 / Lectures Live

  On January 14, 2013, the Program for Jewish Civilization convened a day-long conference on the legislative elections that will be held on January 22 in Israel. The conference comprised three spectacular panels, bringing together scholars, policy practitioners, and journalists from all over Washington, DC and the Middle East. Moran Stern, who teaches for the PJC at Georgetown University, moderated a panel on domestic Israeli politics, made up of Natasha Mozgovaya of Haaretz and Natan Sachs of the Saban Center at [...]

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  Robert Lieber on Why America Is Great

  December 5, 2012 / Faith Complex

  The world financial crisis and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has led commentators to conclude that the United States is slipping from its position as global hegemon. In today’s Faith Complex, Robert J. Lieber, Professor of Government and International Affairs at Georgetown University, joins new host Mitchel Hochberg to discuss why America is not destined to decline. In his just-released book, Power and Willpower in the American Future: Why the United States Is Not Destined to Decline, Dr. Lieber argues [...]

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