Search for a topic and join the conversation!
Faith Angle Europe convenes 16 leading European and US columnists, editors, and reporters together for three days of engaging discussions on today’s most critical issues. This 6th annual forum brings together 10 European journalists, 6 US journalists, and 8 scholars and clerics to Christianity, Islam, and the case for pluralism; new questions AI is posing for traditional religious life; far-right populist movements that are challenging European expectations; and early learning from papacy of Pope Leo XIV for the years ahead.
Shaykh Hamza Yusuf is the President and co-founder of Zaytuna College, the first accredited Muslim liberal arts college in the United States, where he also teaches across several disciplines in the Islamic curriculum. A leading Islamic scholar and public intellectual, he has played a pivotal role in advancing Islamic education in the West and fostering interreligious dialogue.
In addition to his teaching, Shaykh Hamza has authored numerous academic articles and encyclopedia entries. His published works include original writings and acclaimed translations, such as Purification of the Heart: Signs, Symptoms, and Cures of the Spiritual Diseases of the Heart; The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi; The Prayer of the Oppressed; The Content of Character: Ethical Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad; and Caesarean Moon Births: Calculations, Moon Sighting, and the Prophetic Way.
He is a member of the Supreme Fatwa Council, led by his mentor Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, and serves as Vice President of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies, a global initiative dedicated to countering extremism by addressing its intellectual and social roots.
Shaykh Hamza holds ijazat (traditional teaching licenses) in various Islamic sciences from renowned scholars around the world, as well as a Licentia Docendi in multiple Islamic disciplines. He earned a B.A. in Religious Studies and holds a Ph.D. in North and West African Intellectual History, with a focus on classical Islamic thought.
Joel Halldorf is a Swedish theologian, church historian, and public intellectual, known for his work on the role of religion in modern society and its intersections with politics, culture, and secularism. He is Professor of Church History at the University College Stockholm (Enskilda Högskolan Stockholm) and a regular columnist for the Swedish national newspaper Expressen. He is also affiliated with the Sigtuna Foundation and contributes frequently to public debates on religion and society in Sweden and beyond.
Halldorf’s scholarship explores the intellectual and spiritual traditions of Christianity, particularly within Pentecostal and free church movements, as well as the broader dynamics of faith in a secular age. He is a sought-after commentator on the place of religion in Scandinavian public life, and his work bridges academic theology with contemporary cultural critique.
He has authored and co-authored several books in Swedish, including, Gud: Jakten (2014), Kyrkan och den moderna världen (with Patrik Fridlund, 2016), Bokens folk: ett försvar för den religiösa människan (2021), and Längtan efter meningen: berättelsen om vår tids andlighet (2023).
Olivier Roy is Professor at the European University Institute in Florence. He holds the Chair in Mediterranean Studies at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at EUI. A leading political scientist and scholar of Islam and contemporary Middle Eastern affairs, Roy has played a prominent role in shaping academic and policy discourse on political Islam, secularism, and transnational religious movements.
Previously, he served as Senior Researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and was Director of the French Institute for Central Asian Studies (IFEAC) in Tashkent. He also acted as consultant for various international organizations, including the United Nations Office for Coordination in Afghanistan.
Roy is the author of numerous influential works, many of which have been translated into English. His key publications in English include The Failure of Political Islam (1994), Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah (2004), Secularism Confronts Islam (2007), Holy Ignorance: When Religion and Culture Part Ways (2010), Jihad and Death: The Global Appeal of Islamic State (2017), Is Europe Christian? (2020), and The Crisis of Culture (2024).
Roy is widely regarded for his nuanced and empirically grounded analyses of radicalization, religion, and the interplay between culture and politics in contemporary societies.
Tomáš Halík is a Czech philosopher, theologian, and Roman Catholic priest, internationally recognized for his contributions to interfaith dialogue, religious philosophy, and the role of faith in post-communist societies. He is Professor of Philosophy and Sociology of Religion at Charles University in Prague and serves as President of the Czech Christian Academy. He is also a former advisor to President Václav Havel and has been active in fostering dialogue between believers and non-believers.
Ordained in secret during the communist regime, Halík played a significant role in the underground Church in Czechoslovakia and later contributed to the country’s democratic transition. He has been a visiting professor and lecturer at universities around the world, including Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, and the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.
In 2014, Halík was awarded the prestigious Templeton Prize for his work in advancing spiritual thought and dialogue across cultural and religious boundaries.
His works Patience with God: The Story of Zacchaeus Continuing in Us (2009), Night of the Confessor: Christian Faith in an Age of Uncertainty (2012), I Want You to Be: On the God of Love (2016), Touch the Wounds: On Suffering, Trust, and Transformation (2018), and The Afternoon of Christianity: The Courage to Change (2022).
Professor Beth Singler is the Assistant Professor in Digital Religion(s) at the University of Zurich (UZH). She is the Co-Director of the University Research Priority Programme (URPP) in Digital Religion(s), a Director of the Digital Society Initiative, and Co-Lead of the MEEET-Lab. Prior to joining UZH she was the Junior Research Fellow in Artificial Intelligence at Homerton College, University of Cambridge, after being the post-doctoral Research Associate on the “Human Identity in an age of Nearly-Human Machines” project at the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion.
Beth explores the social, ethical, philosophical and religious implications of advances in Artificial Intelligence and robotics. In 2024, she published two books on religion and AI, titled The Cambridge Companion to Religion and AI (co-edited with Fraser Watts) and Religion and AI: An Introduction.
She was also one of the Evening Standard’s Progress 1000 – the list of the most influential people in various fields – in both 2017 and 2018. In 2020 she was one of the 21 to Watch – the top 21 entrepreneurs, inventions, and thinkers in the East of England. In 2021 she won the Digital Religion Research Award and became a fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion.
Vivian Schiller joined the Aspen Institute in January 2020 as Executive Director of Aspen Digital, which empowers policymakers, civic organizations, companies, and the public to be responsible stewards of technology and media in the service of an informed, just, and equitable world.
A longtime executive at the intersection of journalism, media and technology, Schiller has held executive roles at some of the most respected media organizations in the world. Those include: President and CEO of NPR; Global Chair of News at Twitter; General Manager of NYTimes.com; Chief Digital Officer of NBC News; Chief of the Discovery Times Channel, a joint venture of The New York Times and Discovery Communications; and Head of CNN documentary and long form divisions. Documentaries and series produced under her auspices earned multiple honors, including three Peabody Awards, four Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Awards, and dozens of Emmys.
Schiller is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; and a Director of the Scott Trust, which owns The Guardian.
Christina Lamb is one of Britain’s leading foreign correspondents and a bestselling author. She has reported from most of the world’s hotspots starting with Afghanistan after an unexpected wedding invitation led her to Karachi in 1987 when she was just 22. She moved to Peshawar to cover the mujaheddin fighting the Soviet Union and within two years she had been named Young Journalist of the Year. Since then she has won 15 major awards including five times being named Foreign Correspondent of the Year and Europe’s top war reporting prize, the Prix Bayeux. She was made an OBE by the Queen in 2013 and is an honorary fellow of University College, Oxford.
Currently Chief Foreign Correspondent for The Sunday Times of London, her postings have included South Africa, Pakistan, Brazil and Washington, and she is particularly known for her writing highlighting how war affects women. She has written nine books including the bestselling The Africa House and I Am Malala, as well as Farewell Kabul and The Girl from Aleppo. Her latest book is Our Bodies, Their Battlefield: What War Does to Women (March 2020).
Katrin Bennhold is a senior writer on the international desk. She was formerly Berlin bureau chief for The Times. A native German who spent most of her life abroad, Ms. Bennhold has been particularly interested in exploring the rise of the far right. In 2021, she hosted “Day X,” an audio series on far-right infiltration of Germany’s security services that built on an award-winning print series and a 2019 podcast documentary on nationalism and populism in Europe, “The Battle for Europe.”
