7:00 p.m., Monday, March 19, 2018

William Rory Dickson, University of Winnipeg.

Watch a video of the Islam and the Challenge of E Pluribus Unum lecture

The Latin phrase E Pluribus Unum, or “Out of many, One,” was the de facto American motto from 1782 until 1956. Rooted in ancient Greek philosophy, the motto is based upon the Pythagorean ideal of friendship, wherein the love of the other unifies the friends as one. The motto’s profound social meaning is the possibility of a genuine unity forged across the borders of identity. Many observers would argue that drawing together peoples of diverse religious, cultural, racial, economic, and ideological identities into a common solidarity, remains the great challenge of America, one felt perhaps more acutely in recent years. It is of course a pressing global issue as well. This talk is premised on the question, what might Islam have to contribute to this perpetual and timely challenge? How might Islam’s rich intellectual tradition provide us with conceptual tools to navigate the contemporary social issue of making one out of many?