Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The Eastern European Institute of Theology has launched a series of theological methodological seminars under the umbrella title "Public Theology in the Context of Overcoming the Totalitarian Past."The aim of the seminars is to analyze the experience of the totalitarian and colonial past in Eastern and Central Europe, to study its consequences for contemporary social and political processes in the region, and to outline a public theology that can contribute to the deconstruction of the totalitarian and post-totalitarian experience and to the building of sustainable democratic structures.The first seminar, "Totalitarian Past: The Case of Eastern and Central Europe.Political, Social, and Ecclesiastical Aspects," was held on May 10.It was devoted to strategies for the existence of churches and religious communities in totalitarian states.It is quite surprising to see fascinating events that bring in truly top-notch speakers and experts go by without much publicity and remain in obscurity despite the high numbers of participants.This can be said about the series of methodological seminars by the Eastern European Institute of Theology under the broader title "Public Theology in the Context of Overcoming the Totalitarian Past."However, the totalitarian is not the "past".It is, unfortunately, the present, and the question remains whether it will be the future.The first seminar on "The Totalitarian Past: The Case of Eastern and Central Europe.Political, Social, and Ecclesiastical Aspects" focused on the survival strategies of churches and religious communities in totalitarian states.This included not only the USSR but also Romania and Yugoslavia.It brought together outstanding researchers from Ukraine, Finland, Romania, and Britain.The seminar was divided into three segments: a foreign segment on the fate of various churches, a Ukrainian segment on the fate of churches in the USSR, and a philosophical segment with a lecture on totalitarianism as a phenomenon.
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4401530199