It is our pleasure to invite you to Katowice, European City of Science 2024, to the conference entitled "Christianity in Europe. Questions on Unity", which will take place from 4 to 7 November 2024.
The pursuit of unity is one of the central postulates of Christianity, directly stemming from the Gospel. The attempts to realize it were always linked to the context of place and time. Today, this Gospel-inspired postulate also encounters numerous and new challenges. Currently we see ourselves confronted with an ambiguous reality: different regions of the world shaken by wars, social tensions and new civilisational challenges, Christian Churches intensely engaged in ecumenical dialogue but also struggling with internal crises. The crisis in the Catholic Church raises the question of how, in the everyday experience of believers as well as in the social arena, the Church can still be „a sign and instrument […] of the unity of the whole human race” (Lumen gentium 1). This observation can probably be generalised to all denominations: The erosion of the moral and spiritual authority of Christian Churches stirs up internal tensions and translates into a difficulty to work effectively for social integration.
Just after the conclusion of the Synod on Synodality in Rome, which culminates a several years long synodal process in the Catholic Church, we would like to address this fundamental topic:
How – in the face of current challenges – do we understand Christian unity in the specific European context?
What new thought for Christianity and its mission is emerging today in Europe from the encounter between theological theories and the dynamics of social life?
During the conference, the interweaving of the many questions about the unity of Christianity in and for Europe, will be discussed on four levels:
- The experiences with Church unity in the synodal process of the Catholic Church: in a Catholic and non-Catholic view;
- Theological conceptions of Church unity before intra-ecclesial challenges and before the test of social credibility;
- The cultural pluralism of Europe and the unity of European Christianity;
- Christian inspirations in current European reconciliation and integration processes.
We invite papers discussing the issues related to the questions on Christian unity in Europe and referring to one of the four levels. We welcome proposals from different theological disciplines as well as from Religious Studies, Cultural Studies, Sociology and others. We explicitly encourage scholars at early career stages to submit their proposals.
- The presentation should not exceed 15 minutes. The conference language will be English.
- The proposals should include your:
- first name,
- surname,
- institutional affiliation,
- the title of the planned presentation,
- abstract (1000-2000 characters),
- short biographical note (up to 1000 characters).
- Please note that only proposals of so far unpublished papers will be accepted.
- We plan to publish selected papers presented at the conference in an academic journal, after they have passed the peer review procedure.
submit your proposal
May 20, 2024
Deadline for abstract submission
May 31, 2024
Communication of the papers accepted
September 15, 2024
Announcement of the final program
September 30, 2024
Deadline for registrations
November 4, 2024
Beginning of the Conference
January 31, 2025
Deadline for the Full Text Papers Submission
Jacek Kempa, University of Silesia, Katowice
Urszula Pękala, Saarland University, Saarbrücken
The conference is organized in collaboration with the theological centres of the Transform4Europe Alliance:
- University of Silesia in Katowice (Poland),
- Faculty of Theology; Saarland University (Germany),
- Institute of Catholic Theology; Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas (Lithuania),
- Faculty of Catholic Theology; Universidade Católica Portuguesa,
- Research Centre for Theology and Religious Studies; and with the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” at the University of Münster.
