Conference on the Unity of the Church

Invitation and Call for Papers INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH: ECUMENICAL THEOLOGY AND HERMENEUTICS IN THE POST-MODERN AGE 17–20 October 2012 Bose, Italy THEME OF THE CONFERENCE This year we celebrate 50 years since the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, an epochal event in the history of modern Christianity. The restoration of unity among all Christians was proclaimed one of the principal concerns of the Council. This new attitude towards other Churches clearly expressed by Vatican II, opened the door to active development of ecumenical theology – not only in the Roman Catholic Church but also in the Ancient Oriental, the Orthodox and the Protestant Churches. Closely related to ecumenical theology is ecumenical hermeneutics. As is stated in one of the key documents issued by Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, each local church “is called to be a hermeneutical community, that is, a community within which there is a commitment to explore and interpret anew the given texts, symbols and practices.” But as the churches engage in ecumenical dialogue, each church and tradition opens itself also to being interpreted by other churches and traditions. “The ecumenical movement provides particular opportunities for the churches to reflect together on issues of interpretation and communication for the sake of ecclesial unity and the renewal of human community.” However, as Cardinal Walter Kasper, former President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity noted in 2003, “after the first rather euphoric phase of the ecumenical movement which followed the Second Vatican Council, the last decade has seen us experiencing signs of tiredness, disillusionment and stagnation.” Unfortunately, the situation does not seem to have changed much today, almost ten years since then. The aim of the forthcoming Conference is to reflect on the ways of interpretation of texts, symbols and practices in Eastern and Western Christian traditions; to identify current impediments to further development of ecumenical dialogue; and to discuss the possibility of new theological and hermeneutical approaches which could be applied in the situation of contemporary, “post-modern” world and would allow to overcome existing obstacles and to establish better mutual understanding between different churches. The Conference is dedicated to the memory of Bishop Pierre Duprey (1922-2007) whose 90th anniversary is commemorated this year. Bishop Duprey has contributed a lot of effort into development of ecumenical dialogue serving as Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. He was the founder and later President of the Catholic Committee for Cultural Collaboration with the Orthodox Churches and the Ancient Churches of the East; he was also Patron and a good friend of St. Andrew’s Biblical Theological Institute. PAPERS AND PUBLICATION Those who wish to present a paper should send a summary (500 words at most) by email to St. Andrew’s Institute by 1 August 2012. The Organizing Committee selects papers for the Conference and sends invitations to the speakers. The full text of all the papers selected will have to be submitted by 1 October 2012. The working language of the conference will be English. Upon arrival at the conference every participant will receive summaries of all the papers presented and the conference programme. Papers are scheduled for 30 minutes each. Selected papers will be published in St. Andrew’s quarterly Pages: Theology, Culture, Education. Registration form can be found on St. Andrew’s website www.standrews.ru. Registrations, summaries and papers should be sent to: Mikhail Tolstoluzhenko St. Andrew’s Biblical Theological Institute Jerusalem St. 3, Moscow, 109316, Russia Tel/Fax: +7 495 6702200; +7 495 6707644 Email: info@standrews.ru, standrews@yandex.ru ORGANIZATION AND ACCOMMODATIONS The Conference will assemble on Wednesday, 17 October for the opening ceremony in the evening. Participants will depart after breakfast on Saturday, 20 October. The Conference will be held in the recognised spiritual and academic centre – the Monastery of Bose. Accommodation and meals will be provided by the organizers. ____________________________________________ St. Andrew’s Biblical Theological Institute PATRONS: METROPOLITAN KALLISTOS OF DIOKLEIA, BISHOP RICHARD HARRIES, PROFESSOR HANS KÜNG, VERY REV. LEONID KISHKOVSKY, PROFESSOR VALENTIN L. YANIN, PROFESSOR ANATOLY A. KRASIKOV, REV. DR JOHN BINNS

THEOLOGY OF DIALOGUE CONFERENCE

St. Andrew’s Biblical Theological Institute (Moscow, Russia) Novi Sad Theological Seminary (Serbia) DELM - Development of Ecumenical Leadership in Mission Network with the support of ICCO - Kerk in Actie (Utrecht, Netherlands) Invitation and Call for Papers INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE THEOLOGY OF DIALOGUE 7-10 November 2012 Novi Sad, Serbia THEME OF THE CONFERENCE The dialogue between Christians of different confessions has become very important in the contemporary world. This dialogue presupposes as its ultimate aim restoration of full communion between separated churches. This aim however is not something that could be easily and quickly achieved and requires a lot of work to be done for its realization. However, even first steps in this direction show that inter-Christian dialogue bears a lot of good fruits for those who are engaged in it. Communication between representatives of different traditions leads to a better understanding of each other and to mutual enrichment. Furthermore, our awareness of the other brings about a change of our own mind. This leads us from the dialogue for understanding to the dialogue for change. An important part of this dialogue is reassessment of the past, especially of the events that caused disagreements and divisions between churches, which were often accompanied by condemnations and anathemas. Purification of memory thus becomes a very important aspect of any interconfessional dialogue. The same applies to any interreligious dialogue which has also become very important today. Neither of these however can be made possible without genuine and authentic love towards the other. It is love that lies at the very heart of any true dialogue, which therefore can properly be called the dialogue of love. ‘He who does not love does not know God; for God is love’ (1John 4:8). It is with this point that any theological reflection on the dialogue should begin before it turns to the discussion of different aspects and levels of dialogue, both theoretical and practical. The concept of dialogue, due to the works of 20th century thinkers such as Martin Buber, Emmanuel Levinas, Mikhail Bakhtin etc., has taken an important place in the contemporary philosophical and theological discourse. It seems however that this often remains at the level of scholarly talks about ‘dialogue in general’, full of fascinating and exciting ideas but without any significant realization in terms of praxis. In this sense, any theology of dialogue should be ultimately orientated towards concrete work in the field of inter-Christian and inter-religious relations. The aim of the forthcoming conference is to discuss the ways in which theology of dialogue can be developed and how this can be applied on the practical level, in the dialogue between religious communities and persons in different cultural contexts. PAPERS Those who wish to present a paper should send a summary (500 words at most) by e-mail to St. Andrew’s by 15 September 2012. The Organizing Committee selects papers for the Conference and sends invitations to the speakers. The full text of all selected papers will have to be submitted by 1 November 2012. The working language of the conference will be English. Upon arrival at the conference every participant will receive summaries of all the papers and the conference programme. Papers are scheduled for 30 minutes each. Summaries and papers should be sent to: Mikhail Tolstoluzhenko St. Andrew’s Biblical Theological Institute Jerusalem St. 3, Moscow, 109316, Russia Tel/Fax: +7 495 6702200; +7 495 6707644 E-mail: standrews@yandex.ru, info@standrews.ru ORGANIZATION AND ACCOMMODATIONS The conference will assemble on 7 November 2012 for a reception and opening ceremony in the evening. Participants will depart after breakfast on 10 November. Accommodation and meals will be provided by the organizers. REGISTRATION Numbers are limited and early registration is strongly advised. Registration forms can be found on St. Andrew's website www.standrews.ru and must be sent to the above address.

CEEAMS 2012

From 28 - 30 th November the next annual CEEAMS meeting will be held in Budapest, Hungary.