The target group of the conference are advanced students of theology, doctoral candidates, pastors, religious education teachers, catechists up to 35 years. Participants will be chosen according to country proportionality. Digital Academy participants will be prioritized. All Applicants will be informed in the begining of March. The preferred language is English and if papers are given in another language the presenters are asked to prepare an English summary. Due to the founding of the Erasmus+Program, the conference fee is only 50 Euro. All cost for accommodation and food as well as all your travel-expanses to Vienna and back will be covered by the Young Theology projekt. Participants are supposed to give a presentation (20 min) about their church of origin at the Forum in Vienna. Guiding questions for the preperation of this presentation will be provided.
Project partners are the Protestant League Hesse (EB Hessen) , the Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE) and the Centre for protestant theology south-east Europe (ZETO). The project is funded by the European Union as a Erasmus+program.
Background:
Many Protestant churches are currently experiencing changes that deeply affect their self-understanding, social status and internal structure. Public discourses in Europe are shaped more and more by nationalist positions. This has an impact not only on political debates of the respective societies; it also challenges the Protestant churches as agents in these societies. On the one hand, Protestant churches are rooted within their own historically and culturally moulded narratives. On the other hand, as Protestants they are part of European Protestantism and of worldwide Christianity. Which challenges arise for Protestant churches facing strengthening nationalisms? What significance do they attribute to their own national anchorage concerning their Protestant identity?