Seminars

The Ukrainian War: Challenge or Opportunity for the Global Ecumenical Movement?

The seminar took place on March 15 2023.

Abstract: The ongoing war in Ukraine, which is supported by the Russian Orthodox Church, has brought the global movement for Christian unity to a dilemma: to revise its relations with the Moscow Patriarchate or to continue the “ecumenical business” as usual. The World Council of Churches (WCC) could not solve this dilemma at its General Assembly in Karlsruhe in September 2022. Sooner or later, however, this question needs to be answered. Suppose the WCC chooses to face the Ukrainian war similarly to other international organizations. In that case, it could eventually find solutions to some of its internal problems, such as “ecumenical fatigue.” How is the World Council of Churches addressing the dilemma surrounding its relationship with the Moscow Patriarchate in light of the Ukrainian war? How is the ongoing war in Ukraine affecting the relationship between different Orthodox Christian denominations worldwide? Does the war in Ukraine challenge the ecumenical movement and what is the way forward for the World Council of Churches? The conversation between Professor Archimandrite Cyril Hovorun and Dr. Tornike Metreveli will address these and other questions.

Bios: Cyril Hovorun is a renowned theologian, Professor of Ecclesiology, International Relations and Ecumenism at Sankt Ignatius Theological Academy. 

Tornike Metreveli is a Research Fellow at Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute and Researcher (on leave) at Lund University. 

Theology, or Disciplined God Talk in the Contemporary University

The seminar took place on 12 October. It was chaired by Pamela Slotte (Åbo/Helsinki).

Christine Helmer (Northwestern) presented a paper, and Mattias Martinson (Uppsala) gave a response.

Abstract: One challenge for theology is its place in the contemporary university. Institutions in Europe and North America have been reconstituting theology departments in relation to religious studies or under wider umbrella terms, such as “Culture,” that connect theology with such disparate disciplines as anthropology and literary studies. Shifting institutional arrangements—also under economic pressures—are resulting in an increasing precarity for theology (as for the humanities in general). I address in this talk the implications of these developments for theology as a discipline, navigating between what the extremes of hostility to Christianity and theology in the “secular” academy and scome current philosophical discussions insisting on Christian God-talk of a distinctive analytic sort. The constructive question concerns how to configure theology as a discipline that reminds academic colleagues of responsible God-talk, its contributions to academic methodologies, and the necessity of disciplining God-talk. In short—how can one talk responsibly about God in the university today in the face of two pressing problems threatening human life and thought, namely climate change and authoritarianisms?  

Folk Church Ecclesiology and Plurality

The seminar took place 7 June 2022 and was chaired by Ragnar M. Bergem (MF).

Gyrid K. Gunnes (VID) presented a paper with the following abstract:

This paper critiques practices of representation in Scandinavian creation theology: Whose experiences and which voices are taken as representative of the «universal» in this theology, and whose experiences are deemed «contextual»? The paper compares Scandinavian creation theology with James Cone’s liberation theology and explores the differences in what «the people» means in these ecclesiologies. 

Bengt Kristensson Uggla (Åbo Akademi) gave a response.

God Hidden and Revealed: Political Theology and Metaphysics in Luther and Protestantism

The seminar took place 7 December 2021 and was chaired by Jeppe Bach Nikolajsen (MF).

The paper was presented by Marius Timmann Mjaaland, Professor of Philosophy of Religion, Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo.

Knut Alfsvåg (VID) gave a response.

I Will Shake All Nations’: Theological Perspectives on Nationalism and Universalism

The seminar took place 7 September 2021 and was chaired by Jayne Svenungsson. Mårten Björk (CTR, Lund University) and Ragnar Misje Bergem (MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society) presented papers on theology, nationalism and universalism.

The seminar was a cooperation with the Christianity and nationalism project at CTR, Lund University.

Antropocen: Den ensamma människans tidsalder

The seminar took place 11 May, 2021. Petra Carlsson (Enskilda högskolan Stockholm) presented a paper on ecotheology and the antropocene. Simone Kotva (Det teologiske fakultet, Oslo) gave a short response.