Student Development Office

Interfaith Explorers

Interfaith Explorers is a collaborative of students dedicated to the sincere engagement of asking, reflecting upon, and answering questions-of-meaning. It is inter-faith in the broadest terms*. Participating students are involved in a variety of religious organizations and traditions; they are atheist or agnostic, or may consider themselves simply ‘spiritual’ (i.e., not aligned with any organized world tradition). In other words, students are invited to participate regardless of their religious/spiritual background or current location on their journey through meaning making.

The common link between all of the participants is a genuine and respectful interest in exploring their-Selves and others. This will be achieved through gatherings, retreats, programming, and service-work. If interested in participating, please contact Jonathan Kroll at 412 – 268 – 9510 or

*Inter-faith is defined as the sincere interaction between people of all faith perspectives characterized by learning, respect, and the celebration of similarities and difference.

*Faith is the overarching, all-inclusive term to describe one’s grounding. People of faith are those individuals whom are convicted to a system of belief that provides stability and encourages them to make meaning of their life-experiences. James Fowler, the pioneer of faith development wrote, “Faith has to do with the making, maintenance, and transformation of human meaning.”

*Sharon Daloz Parks, the most significant thinker and writer of the 21st century on faith development, writes, “Faith is often linked exclusively to belief, particularly religious belief. But faith goes far beyond religious belief…Faith is more adequately recognized as the activity of seeking and discovering meaning in the most comprehensive dimensions of our experience. Faith is a broad, generic human phenomenon. To be human is to dwell in faith, to dwell in the sense one makes out of life-what seems ultimately true and dependable about self, world, and cosmos (whether that meaning be strong, or fragile, expressed in religious or secular terms). This way of understanding the nature of faith has value for secular and religious folk alike.”