International Director

Rev. Dr. Joseph Cumming is an expert in Islamic and Christian thought, known for his work with Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders and scholars around the world, promoting mutual understanding and reconciliation among Abrahamic faith communities. He serves as Research Faculty at Fuller Theological Seminary and as Director of the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Initiative between Fuller and Al-Azhar Al-Sharīf, in addition to his role as International Director of the Woodberry Institute. He is also known for his past work at Yale University. His work is rooted in his personal faith in Jesus Christ and in Jesus’ message of love. 

Cumming was born and raised in New York City where he interacted with a variety of people from diverse backgrounds including his many childhood friends who were Jewish. In 1984 he married his wife, Michele, who is a public-health nurse, a licensed Assemblies of God minister and a doctoral candidate at Fuller Seminary. writing her dissertation on the role of hospitality in Muslim-Christian relations. They are parents of twins, a son and a daughter, who have blessed them with multiple grandchildren.

He resides half-time in Dearborn, Michigan, and half-time in Cairo, Egypt, where he is working on a groundbreaking academic exchange program between Al-Azhar and the Woodberry Institute enabling Christian seminarians and PhD candidates to take courses on Islam at Al-Azhar and potentially enabling Al-Azhar scholars to visit the United States to learn about the Christian faith.