Born and raised in New York City, Joseph has lived most of his adult life in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, where he continues to oversee a substantial humanitarian program. During his 15 years in Mauritania — one of the poorest nations on earth — he served as Director of Doulos Community, a Christian humanitarian organization working in nutrition, public health, agriculture, microcredit and emergency relief. Their largest program provides food and health education to 30,000 malnourished children and mothers. He also served as president of the national Federation of NGOs in Mauritania (Fédération des ONG en Mauritanie).

Joseph also teaches courses in Islamic Studies as visiting faculty at Fuller Theological Seminary, and he is completing his Ph.D. in Islamic Studies and Christian Theology at Yale University. He speaks fluent Arabic, as well as several other languages. He is also an ordained Christian minister (Assemblies of God).

In recent years Joseph has been involved in Muslim-Christian dialogue in several nations around the world. This has included, for example, lecturing in Arabic at al-Azhar University in Cairo (the chief seat of Sunni Islamic learning worldwide), as well as meeting with the chief Shi‘ite Ayatollah in Lebanon and numerous other interfaith dialogue events in Turkey, India, Mauritania, Egypt, Lebanon, the Philippines and the U.S. Recently he participated in a small meeting on peacemaking which brought together the President and Vice-President of al-Azhar University, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Islamic Court of Jordan, the President of the International Islamic Forum for Dialogue, and other prominent Muslim leaders, with a select group of leaders from all major branches of Judaism and from the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, conciliar Protestant and evangelical branches of Christianity. He has also participated in a small meeting which brought together Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa with prominent American Jewish, Roman Catholic and Evangelical Christian religious leaders.

Joseph’s bachelor’s degree (in Religion) is from Princeton University; his M.Div. (concentration: Cross-Cultural Studies) is from Fuller Theological Seminary; and he has M.A. and M.Phil. degrees (in Religious Studies) from Yale University. Joseph and his wife Michele, a registered nurse, are parents of boy-girl twins born in June 1992.

Joseph Cumming on the Pope’s remarks
about Islam (MSNBC’s The Most)

Joseph Cumming on the Pope’s public statement of regret (WICC)

For more information on Joseph Cumming, including photos, visit his personal website.