The Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush is a longtime leader in the interfaith movement who has been working to protect an inclusive vision of religious freedom for people of all faiths and none.
An ordained Baptist minister, Raushenbush is president and CEO of Interfaith Alliance. He also has been working on a biography about his grandmother, economist Elizabeth Brandeis, who followed in the footsteps of her famous father, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, by becoming a leader in labor legislation and helping lay the groundwork for the New Deal.
On Tuesday, March 5, Raushenbush will present “Elizabeth Brandeis and the Radical Jewish Women that Influenced the Nation,” this year’s Abraham Joshua Heschel Lecture at Elmhurst University.
Before joining Interfaith Alliance, Raushenbush served as senior vice president of the Auburn Seminary, founding and executive editor of HuffPost Religion, and associate dean of religious life and the chapel at Princeton University. At Interfaith America, Raushenbush also hosts State of Belief Radio, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast. He is regularly invited to offer commentary on issues of religion and civil rights in national media outlets, including CNN, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, NPR, The New York Times, BBC and Religion News Service.
Named for prominent Jewish philosopher and theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel, this annual lecture focuses on the Jewish faith. A colleague of theologian and Elmhurst alumnus Reinhold Niebuhr in New York, Heschel played a significant role in both the civil rights movement and in Christian-Jewish dialogue.
The Abraham Joshua Heschel Lecture will begin at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5, in the Frick Center, Founders Lounge. Admission is free but reservations are encouraged, at elmhurst.edu/cultural. The intercultural lectures and other diverse cultural programming at Elmhurst University support community engagement and lifelong learning, and prepare students to thrive as adaptive leaders. For more information, email marketing@elmhurst.edu.