Program:
10:00 a.m.
Location: Schloßkirche der Universität Bonn (University Chapel), An der Schloßkirche 2-4, 53113 Bonn
Church Service for the opening of the Winter Semester 2024/25 with the topic "Einmal quer durch’s Leben" / "That’s Life". Bibeltexte und Bilder zur Anthropologie.
Organized by students and Prof. Dr. Cornelia Richter.
11:15 a.m.
Location: Schloßkirche der Universität Bonn (University Chapel), An der Schloßkirche 2-4, 53113 Bonn
Semester Opening Lecture from Prof. Dr. Martha Frederiks (Utrecht):
"Studying Christianity in the 21st century: some reflections"
Much of the current literature on Christianity in past and present heralds a new era of Christianity. Partly driven by a preoccupation with missiometrics, partly by postcolonial sentiments, the literature spotlights thriving Christian communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America, interpreting them as indicators of 'the shifting center of Christianity' and 'the rise of world Christianity'. To buttress its argument of a paradigm shift, the literature often positioned these developments against the background narrative of secularization and decline of Christianity in Western Europe.
What, if any, are the implications of what Paul Kollman has called this 'world Christian turn' in the literature? Is there a need to transform the topography and cartography of church history, as Justo González has argued? Or should we think about Christianity in terms of 'polycentric structures', as Klaus Koschorke has proposed? What, if anything, do these developments and proposals imply for the way in which we conceptualize Christianity and for the manner in which we could study Christianity in the 21st century?
12:45 p.m.
Location: Rabinstraße 8, 53111 Bonn, seminar room 3 (ground floor)
Coffee Welcome Meeting with all students, organized by the Student Association of the Faculty of Protestant Theology (Fachschaft)