ROME — When Lay Centre scholar Amanda Achtman planned her Christmas break in Turkey, little did she know that she would meet up with Lay Centre alumna Dr. Betül Avci, associate professor of religious studies at Ibn Haldun University near Istanbul. 

The Canadian scholar received a very warm “Lay Centre” welcome from Dr. Avci, who showed her some significant landmarks, including a rooftop view of the 16th-century Süleymaniye Mosque, where the longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Suleiman I, and his wife are buried. It was the largest mosque in Istanbul until 2019, when a larger mosque was completed.

Dr. Avci also shared stories over lunch of her time in Rome, including her meetings with St. John Paul II.

She is the first Muslim to complete her doctorate in missiology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 2012, where she also completed a licentiate in interreligious studies. She earned a master’s in Islamic studies from the University of Chicago Divinity School.

Her academic work is in comparative theology, Muslim-Christian relations, cultural-religious translation and alternative contemporary spiritualities. She is currently compiling an oral history on her family between the Late Ottoman and Early Republican eras, and she is editing a book on alternative spiritualities in contemporary Turkey.

Achtman is currently studying in the licentiate program in Judaic Studies and Jewish-Christian relations at the Gregorian’s Cardinal Bea Centre for Judaic Studies. Prior to her studies in Rome, she worked as senior advisor in the office of Canadian Member of Parliament Garnett Genuis, shadow minister for international development and human rights. She earned a master’s degree in John Paul II Philosophical Studies from the Catholic University of Lublin.

The Lay Centre welcomes scholars from around the world each year. For more information, please contact: info@laycentre.org