Tag: people

I grew up in a small town in the middle of the Czech Republic, where there was a very homogeneous society. On the other hand, I was strongly influenced by the collegial environment of my parents – both of them are priests, my father from my early childhood worked intensively with prison chaplains in the Czech Republic and abroad, we visited each other often, and we made a concerted effort to understand other cultures, which was not very common outside of Prague in the 1990s. I have to say that I enjoyed it very much, yet I was rather discouraged by the demanding nature of the parish priest’s vocation for my family.

In high school, I made strong friends with the school’s Catholic community and managed to participate in the then budding exchange visits. Eventually, I was drawn to theology and during my studies I was very interested in ecumenics and took the opportunity to study for a semester in Leipzig, Germany.
After 5 years, I interrupted my studies to work in Diakonia, in charge of professional training for social workers. I managed to .
In 2017 I finished my studies and entered the vicariate and then the pastoral ministry. I now work and live on the periphery of Prague (Horní Počernice), many people from the congregation have spent part of their lives abroad and we have managed to cultivate warm ecumenical relationships in the local community.
For konference:
1) A year ago I started to get involved in the Evangelical Preachers’ Fellowship – with my colleague Pfann (who was originally coming as well) we are in charge of the international agenda. Much of the contact has been established over the years, but we would like to extend our cooperation to a few more countries.
2) Personally, I observe a bit that many of the personal international contacts are with the generation on the verge of retirement. I very much appreciate this continuity and mature experience, yet I would very much like to attend a conference where people who are at the start or in the first stage of their service come together.
3) I will stay in Vienna until Monday, and have arranged to visit the Gaubenskirche Lutheran congregation in Simmering, where the congregation is warmly open to various minorities.

The topic of nationalism in the old continent has been gaining importance over the past decades. Nationalist parties are increasingly shaping the political spectrum of European countries. After France avoided a far-right turn by losing to a pro-European candidate and general condemnation of the Russian nationalistic activities in Ukraine, it might seem the nationalistic crusades in Europe suffer one severe blow after the other. Nevertheless, the countries with their political parties and churches are obliged to face the new challenges brought by the recent political happening and take action to prevent serious consequences, reaching far beyond rejecting refugees and building fences.

I consider nationalism, especially its far-right form, a dangerous relict of the past, territorial times utilized as an easy-to-use weapon against not always unproblematically functioning democracies of the modern European countries. This is especially evident in the post-Soviet states, where problems such as corruption or malfunctioning social systems occur daily. I do not want my identity to be defined by a particular nation, I rather support the cosmopolitan point of view.

I am Juliette (she/her), 25 years old and I come from France. I am currently studying Protestant Theology between Strasbourg (France) and Berlin (Germany) in order to become a pastor in my church: the Reformed and Lutheran Protestant Churches of Alsace-Moselle. Before that, I studied political science, cultural science, and gender studies. I am particularly interested in feminist and queer theology. But what I really love is drinking coffee and eating cake.

The topic of nationalism concerns me because I think that in France, because of the separation of religions and the State, our churches are scared to raise their voice in public and to be a counter-power to the nationalistic and discriminatory policies in place. For me, it is important as churches to dare to take an interest in politics and to have an opinion on it. Because it is not our nationalities that bind us as Christians but our faith, let us dare to strive for less nationalism and more solidarity with our neighbors, even if they are not from the same country.

I was born in an atheistic family. God came into my life only 4 years ago. To deepen my knowledgde about religion, I started studying at the Faculty for Protestant Theology and Religion Studies (FPTR) in Brussels. In the Master programme, we worked during this academic year around the themes ‘identity’ and ‘polarisation’, which are closely linked to the general topic of the Youth Theology conference in Vienna. 

Before studying theology, I finished a Master in International Relations and Diplomacy at the University of Antwerp (2013). Currently working in a European Institution, I am familiar with the ongoing discussions about cosmopolitism versus nationalism. For this reason it’s very interesting for me to see how my academic backgrounds from the fields of political science and theology are coming together during this conference.

The United Protestant Church in Belgium (VPKB/EPUB), from which I am a member, shows furthermore that it is possible to merge several Protestant denominations in one broader church, to be open to the world and work together with people using different national languages (Dutch, French and German), in a country where nevertheless nationalistic tendencies are popular in the political polls.

My Name is Frederik Grüneberg, I am 29 years old, I am from Germany and I am studying theology for diploma. Before I studied this, I have already studied Politcal Science and History and Theology of the Christianity for Bachelor. In my studies of Politcal Science I have written a Bachelor Thesis about Nationalism in South Africa after 1994. Some of the thoughts we’re based on my experience of a year in South Africa between school and University. The topic of Nationalism was also very presented in my school and Politcal comittment. I am a Person who is very aware of the danger of nationalism. As a Person who have lived in two different countries which a rich History and Present of Nationalism and visited a Lot of different countries the concept of cosmopolitanism is more suited for me. 

Therefore I am very interested in this conference and looking forward to the discussions and Outputs of this conference.