During the five-week NJSP program, we explored the topic Jerusalem and the Middle East: Historical Crossroads, Religious Roots,Contemporary Perspectives from an interdisciplinary point of view. My seminars and lectures covered a major portion of the program, which was designed to create an atmosphere in which students studied the history of Middle Eastern art and architecture through informative conversations and readings. This included the architecture that was Religious, commemorative, residential, military, palatial, commercial, and urban. We surveyed early settlements in Jerusalem and Mesopotamia, as well as those from the beginning of Islam in seventh century Arabia, to the twentieth century and recent times. Throughout the course, selected examples of religious and secular buildings were analyzed, as we examined Middle Eastern art and architectural history. My lectures covered topics ranging from the architecture of the Mosque, the spatial arrangement of the Jewish neighborhoods (14^th-16^th centuries) under Christian and Muslim rule, issues of gender in public and private spaces to the arts and political propaganda in twentieth-century Middle East and much more. During the seminars students had the opportunity to discuss the readings and the images, and to raise questions, generate debates, and exchange ideas with fellow students. Most scholars had the ability to learn and to be open to ideas that were new to them. They did not solely contribute in the classroom. They were energetic and were present in every aspect of 2005 NJSP including the arts festival, soccer, and other group activities. We also had a scheduled visit to Islamic Cultural Center of New York City as well as the Manhattan’s Central Synagogue. Thanks to the New Jersey Scholars Program that created a rich and varied educational environment for the study of Middle Eastern architecture and art.

Larry Arbuthnott: The Blending of Christian themes into Islamic Art and Architecture During the Early Muslim Expansion

Delia Gorman: The Iranian Revolution and its Aftermath Through the Eyes of the Camera

Brandon Hedvat: The Exploration of Early Modern Persian Carpets as Historical Documents

Alison Hodgson: The Architecture of Jewish Quarters under Christian and Muslim Rule: A Comparative Analysis (14^th-16^th centuries)

Tara LalovicCox: Modernizing Turkey: The Effect of the Rise of Nationalism and Kemalism on Ottoman Architecture

Michael Locke: Iconological Representations of Christianity and Islam in Hagia Sophia (From the Early Byzantium to the Late 15^th Century)

Jeffrey Moll: Orientalist Tendencies in French Romanticist Painting: Eugene Delacroix, Jean-Léon Gérôme, and Osman Hamdi

Anne Washburn: The Orientalist School and Osman Hamdi: Representations of the Women of the Ottoman Imperial Harem

Jessica Zhou: Representations of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount in Jewish, Christian and Muslim Art: A Comparative Analysis

The objective of the history program was to review the region’s history along chronological as well as thematic lines. Thus, we began by covering the history of the various Islamic polities from the 7^th century to collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1919. In addition, we put strong emphasis on the history of Zionism and the emergence of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Alongside the chronological aspect we examined a series of topics such as interfaith relationship and religious tolerance, global trade and economics, the rise of the Nation-State, Imperialism and Colonialism, Islamic Fundamentalism and the Peace Process. While we did not focus exclusively on the history of Jerusalem, naturally, it was the place that brought many of our discussions to focus. Over the course of the program the students had the opportunity to discuss and research some of the most crucial historical factors that shaped the Middle East as we know it today.

Ben Arad - How did the Israeli Settler Movement on the early 1970s, Managed to Establish Settlements in the Occupied Territories Again Government Will

Kayshuv Bangalore - The Survival Tactics of the Saudi Monarchy

Jenny Baraz - The Cause of Jesus of Nazareth’s Death

Laura Brienza - How al-Qaida Justifies Acts of Terror with Islam

Ronald Krock - Modernization of Ottoman/Turkish States

Ben Loya - Interpreting and Defining the Causes of the Armenian Genocide

Rania Salem Manganaro - Hizbulah and Lebanon: A Complex Relationship

Jeff Reger - Infiltration and Israel, 1948-1956

Madeleine Rosenberg - The formation of Israel National Identity and its Limitations

Tom Smejkal - Nasserism and the Rise of Fundamentalist Islam

As a new faculty on the team for the New Jersey Scholars Program this year I was honored to encounter this special group of stellar students and colleagues who taught me many lessons in both academic and personal realms. As the literature faculty these five challenging weeks, my students and I journeyed through the world of Egypt, Israel, Bosnia, and Palestine wandering through the imagination of writers who took us to local Middle Eastern cafes, homes and alleys. We dissected our identities, we became "other", we were exiled, we suffered, we loomed over the religious domes of identities, and finally we became poets and writers who echoed the themes of home, exile, identity, pain and peace. We ruminated on the contextual and textual voices of the displaced and exiled but various identities that intersected with the historical and native narratives of the lands of the Middle East. Literatures of the others inspired by internal and external transformations resulted in the beauty of language, writing and melodic poems.

My students exerted their intellectual insights in ways that inspired me to learn and research my subject more intensely. The Scholars in this program are a unique example of the optimism I will leave with when I go home and take their motivation and inspiration as the way forward for future generations. As an adult we are so easily seduced by the tragic and dark reality that surrounds our political world however, what I learnt from this group is that there is indeed hope and rising young stars in the world. As I reflect on this program, I imagine many corridors of thinking and writing that we sauntered through and at times clumsily we walked into walls but this journey is what a Pakistani poet calls "A multiple awareness of the streams of literary consciousness offers us all a lens of humanity."

Vincent Balzano - The Clash of Gods and God-Kings: the figure of Moses in Monotheistic literature and the Journey of Ibn Fattouma.

Katherine Bernot - Mystical Poetry of Jalal-al-Din Rumi and Henry David Thoreau: Journeying to discover the divine role in nature within Literature.

Thu-Huong Ha - The balance of religion and science within Egyptian Identity: An analysis of the writings of Naguib Mahfouz

Michael Levy - Persopolis: a close reading of Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel and the story of the Islamic revolution in Iran.

Justin Lo - Majnun and Layla: The Tropes of Islamic Literature and the making of Modern identity through symbolism of love, loss and recovery.

Anna Mathew - The educational and social impact of Egyptian Feminist literature: a Reading of Nadwa El-Saadwi, and Leila Ahmed in issues of family, veiling, and identity.

Jessica Mawhirt - Tracing Egyptian Feminist Movements from the 19^th century to modern day Egypt, reactions to the West and transformation of women through rejecting the orientalist view of Islam.

Daniel Nowicki - Orientalist Literature and the Demonization of Egyptian Culture: A re-reading of Edward Said’s analysis of literature and images in identity formation.

Kaitlin Roberts - Arab Feminism and Modern Egypt: The Role of Women Transforming Egyptian Education, Journalism and Religion.

Nathaniel Robinson - Egyptian Intellectuals and the emergence of Secularity and Rational Sciences: A reading of Jamal Al-Afghani, Mohammed Abduh, and Naguib Mahfouz.

What is Religion? As each of these scholars can tell you, Professor Jonathan Z. Smith at the University of Chicago, defines it "as a system of beliefs and practices that connect us to superhuman beings or powers". Yet, in our five weeks together, I believe we have come to see that Religion is this and much, much more. Difficult to encapsulate in a perfect definition, deeply informing the disciplines of history, art and architecture, and literature, and able to cut close to the bone of our identity as an atheist, Baptist, or Conservative Jew, Religion is as old as art and as intriguing as modern scientific musings such as "What is the universe expanding into?"

Sitting together and diving into the study of Religion over the past five weeks was a highlight of my July days. We began our study by first exploring various methods scholars use when approaching the subject. Are Religious symbols the product of our collective unconscious as Carl Jung argued? Is there a loving Creator who reveals to prophets wisdom of the ages? Are we better defined as "homo religiosus" as Karen Armstrong noted? Armstrong, in the final Chapter of "A History of God", noted that a committed atheism was more religious than a weak theism. Do religions have to be theistic? Can Smith’s "superhuman power" be reflected in the work of brave women and men striving for social justice or in our capacity to rise above our human ego’s box of preconceptions and misunderstandings? If so, than this has been quite a religious program. From the functionalist, theological, historical, psychological, and who can forget the pluralistic insights of perennial philosophy, we considered the lens through which we encountered Religion.

Then, we dived into content. What is the basic history of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam? What of their philosophical insights? From the Muslim assertion of Tawhid, or God’s "Oneness" to Rabbi Prager’s reminder that "God is not God’s name" to the Gospel of Mark’s "Messianic Secret", students dived into the religious history that has informed, occasionally deformed, and transformed life in the city of Jerusalem and the Middle East at large. In closing, I am reminded of American-born Israeli Yossi Klein Halevi’s assertion that "religious people have a special responsibility to make sure that God’s name is not abused or used for hatred". Certainly, sitting here together on this July day as adults and teenagers, brothers and sisters, believers and atheists, we can affirm the wisdom of his words.

Hiram Arnaud: "One God, Two Heavens, Two Afterlives?: How Exclusivists, Inclusivists, and Pluralists approach the Biblical and Qur’anic descriptions of Paradise"

Kyle Bahnsen: "Is There a Solution?: A Pluralist’s Approach to the Conflict over Jerusalem’s Haram al-Sharif or Temple Mount."

Chantal Berman: "Humans, Teachers, Politics, and God: The Gnostic Gospel of Thomas and its Relationship with the Tenets of Christianity"

Rhys Bufford: "The Muslim Brotherhood: An Exploration of its History and Transformation into a Peaceful Jihad"

James Genovese: "Angelology, Eschatology, and the Messianic Ideal: Zorastrianism and Its Effects on Judaism and Christianity"

Alice Hodgkins: "The Disappearance of the Arab Christian Community from Bethlehem and Palestine"

Andrea Jaramillo: "Jungian Psychology and Baruch Goldstein: How would Psychologist Carl Jung Explain the Tragic Events in February 1994?"

AJ Sedgewick: "The Sunni-Shi’ite Split: A Political, Social, and Religious Division"

Dayne Seiden: "Iblis and the Jinn: An Exploration of the Islamic Teachings on the Supernatural Jinn and the Qur’anic Story of Iblis"

Sara Steele: "Gender, the Gnostic Gospels, and the Selection of the New Testament"