FORUM FAITH & SOCIETY | 26-28 JUNI 2025

Tracks

Economics: Beyond Recieved Economics

Economics as established academic discipline functions  within a strict
paradigm called here «mainstream economics». Every paradigm rests on a
set of specific premises, which the academic community takes for granted
and usually does not discuss. However the premises are not neutral,
they  limit the spectrum of methods acceptable within the discipline,
and set the research agenda, i.e. the type of questions the discipline
will pick up. The excursion «beyond received economics» aims, first, at
discussing the key premises of the dominant paradigm in the light of
Christian social teaching and, second, at envisaging alternatives.

Politics: Zwischen Auferstehungshoffnung und Weltuntergangsstimmung

Was prägte das politische Umfeld zur Zeit Jesu und der ersten christlichen Gemeinden? Wie gingen sie mit den Machthabern ihrer Zeit um? Welche politischen Impulse lassen sich aus Jesu Botschaft und Handeln ableiten? Und inwiefern ist der «Auferstehungsglaube» für heutige politische und ethische Fragen relevant?

Education: Communicating Faith as an Existential Reality

The Christian faith is often presented as a set of beliefs, which can be justified apologetically and explained pedagogically. This presentation argues that the rise of the ‹deconstruction› of faith in western culture makes it imperative that we explore the existential impact of faith. If this doctrine is true, what difference does it make to our understanding of the meaning of life? To our understanding of own personal significance, or our sense of identity and calling? In this presentation, I will explore some strategies for developing such an approach to communicating faith.

Spirituality: Resurrection and the Life of Christ in Us

Before and even during his Passion, Jesus expresses a deep concern for his disciples (the Fourth Gospel in particular testifies to this, incl. the narrative at the moment right before Jesus’s death with Mary and the beloved disciple at the foot of the cross). Jesus says to all of his disciples: «I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. [...] because I live, you also will live.  On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.» This discussion will reflect on these words and what they can mean for us as communities (and people) who seek to live out faith in the crucified and risen Christ today.

Health: The Broken Body in Heaven? Suffering, Disability and the Resurrection

How do we represent the resurrected body? Must it be perfect – according to Western norms of bodily perfection – free from blemish, or even free from disability? Christian theologians have begun to challenge this presumption, suggesting that the resurrected body might retain marks of disability. This intuition has a biblical foundation: both Luke and John report in their Gospel how the disciples recognise the resurrected Jesus by the wounds of the nails in his hands and feet. If Jesus’ wounds still shape his resurrected body, what does this say about our own body in the after-life? In this track, we will engage in a critical and interdisciplinary discussion on this provocative topic. We will explore why it is essential to reimagine our theological and cultural conceptions of the body in the afterlife. As Emmanuel Mounier once observed, «the hope for the afterlife immediately awakens the will to organize the here and now ^[1].» The stakes are high: if we assume that disabilities must vanish in the afterlife, are we not also tempted to «purge» them from the present world?

[1] Emmanuel Mounier, « Pour un temps d’Apocalypse », Esprit, n° 129/15, 1947, p. 6.