Wagner's Recent Book, Opening the Qur'an, receives Bronze Award

Adjunct faculty member, Walter Wagner’s, recent book, Opening the Qur'an, was recognized with a Bronze Award in the Religion category by ForeWord Magazine.

Winners of ForeWord's 2008 Book of the Year Awards were announced at a ceremony at the BookExpo America in New York City on Friday, May 29, 2009. The event honored the 220 Book of the Year Award winners in 61 categories. These books, representing the best independently published books from 2008 were selected by a panel of librarian and bookseller judges.

ForeWord’s founder and publisher, Victoria Sutherland, spoke at the awards ceremony and announced the winners. “Programs like the Book of the Year Awards help level the playing field,” she said. “It sounds almost cliché, but what does it really mean? Simply look around at the other national awards programs. There seems to be a prejudice against anything that isn’t from a larger house. ForeWord honors only those books coming from independent community, giving them the value they deserve.”

For more information about ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Awards or to see the winners in the various categories, click here http://www.forewordmagazine.com/botya/

Wagner's book has been called a masterful work that offers a comprehensive and extraordinarily readable, step-by-step introduction to the Qur’an, making it accessible to students, teachers, clergy, and general readers. A retired Lutheran pastor, he credits much of his deep appreciation of Islam and the Qur'an to his experiences teaching at Moravian Seminary, to his relationship with leaders of the Lehigh Valley Sunni and Shi’a communities, and his to his work with the Lehigh Interfaith Dialogue Center in Bethlehem.

Coincidentally, the day after Dr Wagner's book received the award he was one of two presenters at a Christian/Muslim Dialogue held at Moravian Seminary. Wagner, along with Seminary student, Fatih Harpci, shared the podium as each spoke about the role of Jesus/isa in their Muslim and Christian traditions. For more information about the event cosponsored by the Lehigh Interfaith Dialogue, Moravian Seminary and the Golden Generation Retreat Center click here.