Seton Hall University’s Institute for Communication and Religion announced on Apr. 21 the relaunch of its podcast, Inter/Sections, in partnership with the Journal of Interreligious Studies and Interreligious Studies Media. The collaboration aims to further conversations about religion, ethics, and interreligious engagement through digital media.
The new episode titled “Blessed Be the Strangers: Islamic Ethics and the Anthropocene” features Aseel Azab, a doctoral student at Brown University. Azab discusses her recent article of the same name. The episode is available on ICR’s PodBean channel as well as Seton Hall’s YouTube page.
Axel Takacs, Th.D., assistant professor of Comparative Theology and Interreligious Studies at Seton Hall University and editor-in-chief of JIRS, said that there is strong alignment between the organizations involved in this partnership. “As an assistant professor in the department of religion at Seton Hall and a member of the ICR steering committee, I thought a partnership would make sense on many levels,” said Takacs. “The vision and mission around interreligious/interfaith dialogue is shared by both ISM and Seton Hall.”
The Journal of Interreligious Studies was founded in 2009 as an open-access academic journal with double-blind peer review. It began at Andover Newton Theological School before becoming jointly sponsored by Hebrew College and Boston University School of Theology in 2016; Hartford International University for Religion and Peace joined as an equal partner in 2019. To support its expanded publishing efforts—including webinars and podcasts—Interreligious Studies Media was established as a nonprofit organization.
Founding partners include Hebrew College, Boston University School of Theology, Institute for Islamic, Jewish and Christian Studies, Hartford International University for Religion and Peace; Seton Hall became ISM’s first Full Partner in 2025.
The Institute for Communication and Religion operates within Seton Hall’s College of Human Development, Culture and Media. Since its launch with THRUST funding in Fall 2017, it has served as an interdisciplinary center focused on communication scholarship at the intersection of religion and society.
