Rationale

Religious exchange between Europe and the Middle East has taken place on many occasions over the centuries. This is mostly due to migration, either for political or religious reasons. In light of the recent migration movements from the Middle East, especially from Syria, Iraq, and Turkey, Europe is now facing the new challenge of integrating religious and political minorities into their cultural systems. Our conference aims to explore the broad variety of reasons for migration movements as seen currently and in the past, particularly focussing on Christian minorities and their experiences of religious fragmentation and suffering.

Main Topics

Our conference will examine several topics related to the ethnic and religious conflicts currently observed including research, analysis and conflict resolution. The agenda also includes debates on multi-cultural and multi-ethnic societies as well as newly emerging threats such as the influence of the global Covid-19 pandemic.

The session on Christian communities from the Middle East will provide the participants with an in-depth analysis of the current situation of Christian migrant communities in Europe. A special emphasis will be put on flexibility in adapting the new cultural systems including difficulties and benefits for both parties. The research reports will explore the representation of migrant communities in politics, education and media. The discussion will delve deeper into the questions of how Christian minorities and their experiences of war and trauma can be integrated into their refuge country and how religious fragmentation can be overcome.

The agenda also includes:

— insights on the current situation of Christians in Europe by Heleen Murre-van den Berg, Professor for Comparative religious studies from the Radboud University, Nijmegen
— Markus Meckel, former foreign minister of the GDR, as a key-note speaker
— Presentation of the the Coptic-Orthodox Monastery at Brenkhausen and direct insights into Christian minority life in Germany by Bishop Damian

Call for papers

We invite papers that examine one or more aspects of the conference theme and related areas. We will collect the scientific articles before the conference for the publication of a book together with the articles from the workshop 2019.

Key dates

• ■ A registration form and the paper titles with short abstracts (max. 500 words) and key words (max. 5) due by 1st June 2021.
• ■ More information on the conference and logistics will be circulated by June 2021.
• ■ Collection of scientific articles for publication due by 1 August 2021.
• ■ Conference will take place — 27 – 29 September 2021.

For any questions, please contact Lorenz Garbe (german, english), lorenz.garbe@theologie.uni-goettingen.de

The agenda structure can be seen in details —
http://powers-network.vsu.ru/UserFiles/files/events/2021/UGOE/Final_agenda_conference_Goettingen_Sept21_1509.pdf