BANGOR – “Faith Meets Faith” this week when Bangor Theological Seminary brings together some of the nation’s leading religious thinkers in its 99th annual convocation, including a scholar who studies the Christian New Testament from a Jewish perspective.

The convocation, which runs Monday through Wednesday, was designed to explore the increased religious diversity of the United States and the role religious differences are playing in world politics, according to seminary President William Imes.

“We believe that the relationship of Christianity to other religions is one of the central questions of the day, both theologically – how do we understand the uniqueness of Christianity and its claim to truth? – and practically – how America is becoming an increasingly pluralistic society and how do we help people function in that society as people of faith,” Imes said.

“These are really wise and experienced people who can help us address these issues,” Imes said of the four key speakers scheduled this week. Most events will be at Hammond Street Congregational Church, near the seminary campus.

Deborah Saunders of the Religious Society of Friends – the Quakers – will address the challenges inherent in sustaining a dialogue that promotes interfaith understanding in her two sermons – “What Canst Thou Say?” and “Does My Faith Meet God’s Faith?” – and a lecture – “A Journey of Faith.”

She is the founder and president of the Fihankra Project Inc., which promotes cultural awareness of Africa through cultural exchange. Saunders became a Quaker in 1987 after many years in both the Episcopal and Pentecostal traditions. She is clerk of the Fellowship of Friends of African Descent and is a member of Cropwell Friends Meeting in Marlton, N.J.

Academy Award- and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and writer Peter Davis of Castine will speak about his trip to Iraq in July and how religion is influencing politics in the region. His stories about that trip have been published in The Nation and Hope magazines.

Davis produced and directed the 1975 Academy Award-winning “Hearts and Minds,” a documentary about the war in Vietnam. His film depicting the life of President John F. Kennedy, “JACK,” won an Emmy.

John B. Cobb Jr., a retired professor at Claremont School of Theology in California, will lecture on “Deep Pluralism” and “The Complementarity of Buddhism and Christianity.”

Cobb is recognized for his work in process theology, which is the idea that the human-God relationship is never complete or static but always “in process.”

Cobb, an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, is the author of various books and articles and has devoted his life to interfaith understanding, according to Imes.

Amy-Jill Levine, professor of New Testament studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville, Tenn., is noted for her work on Christian origins, formative Judaism and the historical Jesus.

Her lectures are titled “Agreeing to Disagree: Biblical Perspective on Jewish-Christian Dialogue” and “The Legacy of Jesus for Jews and Christians.”

Levine studies the New Testament from a Jewish perspective. She is director of the Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender and Sexuality and editor of a series of books titled, “Feminist Companion to the New Testament and Early Christian Literature.”

If you go

Convocation 2004 at Bangor Theological Seminary is titled “Faith Meets Faith.” Events will be at the seminary campus, 300 Union St., or at Hammond Street Congregational Church, at the intersection of High and Hammond streets. The fee for the convocation is $75 in advance, or $85 at the door. Additional fees are charged for luncheons and dinners. Reservations are required for meals. Call the seminary at 942-6781.