PThU Events
- Expert Meeting Ritual Techniques: New Openings in Ritual and Liturgical StudiesThe Institute for Ritual and Liturgical Studies (IRiLiS) is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary with an expert meeting on ritual techniques. The meeting aims to sketch new directions in the study of contemporary and historical liturgy and ritual. It asks how rituals can be fruitfully explored as techniques: operational processes involving work with things and symbols which entail both 'know-how' and 'know-that'. You can view the programme.
- Guest lecture Missional Leadership by dr. Cathy RossDr. Cathy Ross will give a lecture on missional leadership. She is a well known expert on the topic, and has been responsible for the training of pioneers and missionaries in the UK and abroad. This February, Dr. Ross is research fellow at the PThU, in cooperation with the Protestant Church in the Netherlands and the Netherlands Mission Council (NZR). You are cordially invited to attend the guest lecture.
- Promotion Roy Alexander Surjanegara: Power in Reformed PolityOn Tuesday 1 March Roy Alexander Surjanegara will receive his PhD at the PThU (promotors: prof.dr. L.J. Koffeman and dr. E.G. Singgih). The title of the thesis is: The Issue of Power in Reformed Polity in Indonesian Churches.
- Moral Compass Conference 'The search for moral common ground'In the current political, cultural, and moral climate, constructive debates about morality are rare. On the one hand, positions are highly polarized. On the other hand, there seems to be a significant relativistic tendency. Can we still have meaningful conversations about matters of morality? Is there a shared moral language between representatives of opposing positions? And what are the prospects of finding shared values? Join our conference to discuss the notion of a shared ‘moral compass’ and moral common ground.
- PThU International Conference 'Negotiating Good Life in Times of Crisis: Voices of Theology and Religious Studies'Theologians and scholars in religious studies are called to reflect on good life. This international conference seeks to create a platform for reflecting together on good life in the face of the interrelated crises of today’s world. The conference aims to explore what constitutes a ‘good life’ and in what way ‘good life’ is envisioned and promoted in religion. We will inquire religious sources as well as beliefs and practices, in both historical and contemporary perspective. How do Christians and others negotiate ‘good’ life in times of crisis?
- Keynote Aruna Gnanadason: Negotiating good life in times of crisisDr. Aruna Gnanadason will provide the opening keynote of the PThU international conference on the good life in times of crisis. Dr. Aruna Gnanadason is the former Director of World Council of Churches Programme on Women in Church and Society in Chennai, India.
- Keynote Awraham Soetendorp: To amplify the 'whisper of truth'. Towards a council of conscienceRabbi Awraham Soetendorp will provide the second keynote of the PThU international conference on the good life in crisis. You can watch the keynote live on YouTube.
- Keynote Cynthia Rigby: Bone of bone, flesh of flesh: belongingness and the good lifeDr. Cynthia Rigby will provide the third keynote at the international PThU conference on the good life in crisis. Dr. Rigby is the W. C. Brown Professor of Theology at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in the United States. You can watch the keynote live on YouTube.
- Young Theologians PanelThe second day of our international conference on the good life in times of crisis will close with our Young Theologians panel. They will be reacting to the statements: “Times of crisis can put a positive perspective on life under pressure” and “In a time of crisis, the Bible guides me / my community / people in our society in making just decisions.” You can watch the panel live on YouTube.
- Keynote Allan Boesak: Belhar at forty, between the politics of manufactured contentment and the hope of life abundantDr. Allan Boesak provides the final keynote at our international PThU conference on the good life in times of crisis. Dr. Allan Boesak is cleric, politician, and anti-apartheid activist from South-Africa. He has a doctorate of the Theological University in Kampen (1976) and was president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches from 1982-1991. Dr. Boesak is an award winning author of 22 books. His latest book is Children of the Waters of Meribah: Black Liberation Theology, the Miriamic Tradition, and the Challenges of 21st Century Empire (2019). You can view the keynote live via YouTube.
- Bi-annual conference Jewish and Christian Perspectives consortium: 'Memory: In search for lost time'The bi-annual conference of the 'Jewish and Christian Perspectives' consortium will be held on the topic of 'Memory: In search for lost time'.
- Online lecture: The ageless self and the selfless ageThe PThU and Radboud University are organising a virtual public Keynote Lecture entitled 'The Ageless Self and the Selfless Age', given by Prof. Mira Balberg (UC San Diego) in consultation with Prof. Haim Weiss (Ben Gurion). The lecture is part of a symposium on 'Conceptualising old age in ancient Jewish and early Christian contexts'. The lecture extends their recent groundbreaking study of 'old age' in rabbinic literature (When Near Becomes Far, Oxford UP 2021).
- Webinar: Refractions of Hermeneutics in African Theology: A South-North ConversationIn this conversation, ATW and CTCW’s Prof Benno van den Toren will dialogue with Langham Literature African Coordinator Dr Liz Mburu about the place of hermeneutics in the discourses of current African Theology scholarship.
- International IRTI Conference: Theology Facing Climate ChangeWe are happy to announce that the 14th biennial International IRTI Conference on ‘Theology Facing Climate Change’ will take place online, on June 21-24, 2022. You can now register and view the programme.
- Opening academic year 2022-2023The PThU will open the academic year 2022-2023 on Tuesday August 30, 2022 in the Nicolai church in Utrecht. The central theme of this festive event is Church and theology in 2040. Keynote speaker is Rosanne Hertzberger.
- Conference: Apprehending valueEach of us, every single day, experiences the world as laden with value. We see situations as just or unjust, view a person as spineless or courageous, experience a philosophy lecture as interesting or boring, and so forth. This conference aims to address the fundamental questions raised by such experiences.
- The Anselm Moment: responding theologically to the current times. 39th International Barth ConferenceIt was about 1930 and Karl Barth felt that his theological thoughts began to reach a deadlock. To get out of it, he consulted Anselm of Canterbury. It is a pressing venture to study the impasse Barth was in, and the solutions he found in his book on Anselm. How do we in 2022 relate to Anselm’s and Barth’s methodological instructions, and what do they imply for our own era? That is the focus of this 39th Barth Conference.
