Rev. Dr. Joshua Hollmann has been accepted to the External PhD program of Radboud University in the Netherlands. Over the three-year program, Dr. Hollmann will research and write a book on Christian and Muslim relations. His acceptance into the program marks the culmination of two years of research involving five trips to Oman, and the resulting proposal "Ritualizing Trust: Theological Explorations of Practice for Christian and Muslim Relations." As he earns his second PhD, Dr. Hollmann will be working under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Quartier, OSB, and Dr. Inigo Bocken of the Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies of Radboud University.
The project will explore a theology of trust for contemporary Christian-Muslim relations by considering and comparing the concept of Abrahamic trust within Christianity and Islam, and engaging the context of the theology of trust by examining the history and work of the Al Amana Centre (House of Trust) in Muscat, Oman. In response to the lack of trust between Christians and Muslims past and present, the project seeks to elucidate the central role of trust in Christian-Muslim relations, and how the House of Trust in Oman offers lived religious experiences of building and sustaining trust as lessons for fostering trust and dialogue for Christians and Muslims.
Through the generosity of the Stephens Initiative for Service Learning, Dr. Hollmann led Concordia students on service learning trips to the Al Amana Centre in Oman in 2019 and 2020. He also teaches a course on Christian-Muslim relations at the College. This summer he began studying classical Arabic online, an endeavor he characterized as "difficult, but enjoyable - like a fun puzzle."
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Rev. Dr. Hollmann serves Concordia as Chair of the Theology Department and Associate Professor of Theology. He also serves as Director of the Stephens Initiative for Service Learning. He earned his PhD in Religious Studies at McGill University. His teaching and research interests are Christian thought and history, Christian-Muslim relations, philosophy of religion, and theology and pop culture. Dr. Hollmann has lectured and taught at universities and seminaries in India, Sudan, Canada, Turkey, Haiti, and the Philippines. He has led student-learning-service trips to Oman, Nicaragua, the Philippines, and Quebec. He also studied at Hangzhou University and the University of Cambridge. He is currently writing a second doctoral thesis on ‘Ritualizing Trust: Theological Explorations in Practice for Christian-Muslim Relations’ in the external PhD program at Radboud University in the Netherlands. He is author of The Religious Concordance: Nicholas of Cusa and Christian-Muslim Dialogue (Brill, 2017), editor of Nicholas of Cusa and the Making of the Early Modern World (Brill, 2019), and presently writing Theology and Wes Anderson for the Theology and Pop Culture Series with Lexington Books and Fortress Academic. In addition, he has published articles and chapters in books, and presented at numerous academic conferences. He is recipient of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s Doctoral Research Fellowship and other awards, notably, Concordia College New York’s Nehemiah Award for Service (2019). Rev. Dr. Hollmann was campus chaplain of Concordia College New York (2014-2017). He pastored a multicultural Lutheran congregation in Montreal (2005-2009), and since 2009 has served as pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in New York City (Woodside, Queens). He is also Vice President of the Atlantic District of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod for metro New York.
Degrees
PhD, McGill University; MDiv, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis; BA, Valparaiso University