[uua_l@uua.org: [UUA-L] UUA's Melcher Book Award Goes to Gustav Niebuhr]
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Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2009 18:30:37 -0400
Thread-Topic: UUA's Melcher Book Award Goes to Gustav Niebuhr
Thread-Index: Acmwvfu2Lm3viSEISfmbFFFYHajoQg==
From: Unitarian Universalist Association <uu...@uua.org>
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The Unitarian Universalist Association's 2008 Melcher Book Award will be
given to Gustav Niebuhr for his book Beyond Tolerance: Searching for
Interfaith Understanding in America. This work explores how Americans of
different faiths are finding common ground.
Niebuhr will be presented with the award on Saturday, June 27,
3:30pm-4:45pm, at the UUA General Assembly 2009, in Salt Lake City,
Utah. The award ceremony will be followed by a book signing by the
author. Additional details will be released in advance of the event.
"This book is important," said Phyllis O'Connell, chair of the Melcher
Book Award Committee, "because it tells a post-9/11 story that has been
ignored by the media, a story about the profound interfaith work
happening in neighborhoods throughout America. This spiritual work is
going on all around us, as Niebuhr says, 'beneath the public radar'."
Niebuhr spent four years researching the book. Beyond Tolerance explores
communities where interreligious cooperation exceeds mere tolerance. He
describes Hindus and Quakers in Queens, New York.; Catholics and Jews in
Baltimore, Maryland; Baptists and Catholics in Louisville, Kentucky; and
Catholics and Buddhists in Los Angeles, California.
Gustav Niebuhr is associate professor of religion and the media at
Syracuse University and a former New York Times religion reporter. His
great-uncle was renowned religious thinker Reinhold Niebuhr and his
grandfather was leading theologian H. Richard Niebuhr.
"I am thrilled to be the recipient of the Melcher Award," Niebuhr
remarked. "It holds a special meaning for me for two reasons. First, the
award honors the vital tradition of liberal religion, a profoundly
formative current in American thought and culture. Second, it comes from
the Unitarian Universalist Association, with which I feel an enduring
family connection through my father, Richard R. Niebuhr, who taught many
future UUA ministers while a professor of theology at Harvard Divinity
School between 1956 and 1999." For a copy of the press release
announcing the selection of Niebuhr for the award, see
http://www.uua.org/pressroom/pressreleases/130324.shtml .
Established in 1964, the Frederic G. Melcher Book Award is given
annually by the UUA to a work published in the United States during the
past calendar year judged to be the most significant contribution to
religious liberalism. Previous recipients include James Carroll,
Richard Rodriguez, Toni Morrison, Dorothy Day, and Joseph Campbell (see
http://www.uua.org/giving/awardsscholarships/fredericg./8231.shtml ).
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