Miroslav is one of the world’s pre-eminent philosopher/theologians. He shaped and runs the Centre for Faith and Culture at Yale University where he is Professor of Systematic Theology. Miroslav is also the author of several influential books including Exclusion & Embrace, Allah: a Christian Response, and Flourishing: Why we need Religion in a Globalised world.
Miroslav has an expansive vision of the work of God in the world, and thus of the Lordship of Christ. He elegantly takes faith into the public space, without defensiveness but with easy confidence in a big God and a generous providence underwriting all human endeavour. He argues that Christianity needs to position itself as the greatest advocate of the ‘good life’ not as a religious enclave. Thus he has pioneered adventurous enterprises such as the “Common Word” manifesto of 2007 where over two hundred thought leaders from the Muslim and Christian faiths declared what they had in common, rather than what divided them. He also pioneered a multi-faculty education program for Yale students on pursuing the Meaning of Life with contributions from several religions—a program that is heavily oversubscribed. He sees the enemy of the good life in the modern era as nihilism, and he sees the modus operandi of faith as dialogue, not fundamentalism. This gentle openness is much more than intellectual but was forged by his direct experience of coercion in the days of communist repression in his native Croatia.
All of this can sound intimidatingly intellectual, but Miroslav also has the gift of sublime eloquence and a winsome manner which makes him very accessible to everybody, and very winsome to all, including to sceptics, in the post-modern era.
.png)