Harry Hurwitz has a dream involving what he calls three rings: a concert series, a summer school and a conference center, all dedicated to building understanding and exchange.

He's two-thirds of the way there with the Lessing Institute (www.lessinginstitute.com). Following last year's jazz and classical concert series, the erudite Canadian educator has launched his summer school with top-flight seminars on comparative religion.

And it's no easy study abroad program for Americans who want college credit for a trip to Prague. "I want Czech students," says Hurwitz. "I want European students. I don't want only American students there. It misses the point."

New programs come online every year and there's no downturn in sight, as long as Prague remains affordable to Westerners. But unlike many of them, Lessing is committed to serious Czech involvement.

"It doesn't make sense to me to be in this country without a healthy Czech contribution."

Hurwitz has in mind field trips to a Roma, or gyspy, community or possibly to a former Nazi concentration camp.

Such excursions will add an important dimension that's central to a conducive study of different religions, he says: sensitivity toward others' beliefs.

The main thrust of the program, however, is the impact of the major religions on Western culture and political history.

With that in mind, Lessing will provide for-credit courses for undergraduates, graduates and adult learners.

Perhaps appropriately, it's also committed to "problem solving," according to the course literature: "Can our highly fractured and divided global community make the transition to a world of multicultural, diverse, civil societies?"

More traditional lectures will also fill out the program, which runs July 1–30 at the facilities of the New Anglo-American College in Prague on Maltežské náměstí in Prague's Malá Strana district.

History professor and local restaurateur Tracy Dove, for example, will be teaching a course on religious wars — and religion in film, which will feature screenings of movies dealing with the topic in unusual ways.

Dove sounds as intrigued as any student by Hurwitz's concept, and points out that the Czech Republic's lack of religious fervor — it's one of the most agnostic countries in the world — actually makes it the perfect venue for a summer study program on religion.

"Any institute of monotheistic religions is going to get good interest from a former Austro-Hungarian province," he says. " 'The Turks are at the door,' and all ... the place and the setting is actually quite proper."

Besides, says Dove, although there are few believers in the Czech Republic, the country has a long history of impassioned academic debate and interest in religion.

Some of the other dozen-odd courses will be led by some vaunted international figures, such as author James Conner, who will be teaching a course on science, magic and faith in the Renaissance and Reformation.

Lessing also has three Canadian universities cooperating and is committed to making itself accessible to students from all backgrounds. It's offering five scholarships worth $1,000–2,000 (23,700–47,400 Kč) each and is established as a charitable foundation. For information on qualifying and applying, check the institute's Web site.

It's also got backing — and board members — from all three of the major world religions, Muslim, Christian and Jewish.