Rebecca Alpert Jim Biechler Marcus Braybrooke Ellen T. Charry Leobard D'Souza David Efroymson Gabriele Feyler Stefan Feyler Eugene Fisher Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer Krystina Gorniak-Kocikowska Yitz Greenberg Wan-Li Ho Sanaullah Kirmani Reinhard Kirste Hans Küng Lihua Liu Jack Malinowski Patricia Martinez Sergio Mazza Alan Mittleman Ronald Modras Paul Mojzes Malcolm Nazareth Angelika Quade Ida Raming Virginia Kaib Ratigan John Sahadat Simone Schaupp Ingrid Shafer Shu-hsien Liu Thomas Thompson Catherine Berry Stidsen

Rebecca Alpert On how Len Swidler changed my life Students so rarely let teachers know how what transpired in their classrooms changed their lives, so I appreciate this opportunity to pay homage to Len and Arlene Swidler and to thank Len in particular for the difference his class made to me as budding scholar of religion. I took a course with Len on Inter religious Dialogue at Temple University in 1974. That was a long time ago, and, in truth, I don't remember much about what went on. I know I met many people from very different backgrounds, and I know we talked about and around our similarities and differences, and I know that I learned the meaning and rules of dialogue as Len was in the process of inventing them. That all stayed with me, to be sure, and I saw the world in different ways as a result of studying with Len. But of course that was what Len intended to happen. That's all to the good, but often teachers are responsible for things they might not have intended, and in some ways, that's more exciting. What Len may not have intended for me was to become the way he really changed my life. As a young graduate student, I never imagined that I could write a paper for class that would be published. But the paper I wrote for Len, "Jewish Participation in the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions" became my first published work and encouraged me to continue writing. Maybe he indeed planned for my writing career to begin in his classroom, but whether he did or not, Len gets the credit. As a teacher, he has a unique vision. He inspires his students to do their best by his openness to their ideas and imaginings. His incredible generosity of spirit, and his willingness to see the potential in every student makes Leonard Swidler a great teacher and a great model for those of us who have followed in his footsteps in the study of religion.

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