The 35th Methodological Seminar "The Role of Christian Churches in Building Resilient Democratic Societies"
EEIT continues the series of seminars "Public Theology in the Context of Overcoming the Totalitarian Past." On September 20, at 13:00 Kyiv time (online, on Zoom), the Institute plans to hold the third seminar in this series on the topic "The Role of Christian Churches in Building Resilient Democratic Societies." At the previous seminars, the speakers together with the participants discussed the experience of various Christian communities in totalitarian states. At the next seminar, we will talk about our present and how Christian churches can contribute to building a better democratic future.
Speakers of the Seminar
Katharina Kunter
Full professor of Contemporary Church History at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Helsinki, Finland, since 2020. She studied History and Protestant Theology at the Universities of Giessen and Heidelberg in Germany and has worked at various German and European universities and research projects, including an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation fellowship at the University of Aarhus in Denmark. Her research focuses on the history of the long 20th century in Europe, with an emphasis on the intersections between political history, religion and culture.
Image Credit: [University of Helsinki]
David Kovačević
Croatian theologian and church deacon. Dr Kovačević earned a bachelor's and master's degrees in theology from the Evangelical Theological Seminary, Osijek, Croatia. He earned his doctorate with Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 2023 with the thesis: Theological and Ecclesial Challenges to Croatian Populist Nationalism. He currently serves as the Deacon in the Church of God in Croatia. He is the founder of the "Stand Up and Walk" ministry for the socially marginalized in the city of Zagreb. He also serves as the lecturer and Student Dean at Evangelical Theological Seminary, Osijek, Croatia. David and his wife, Arnela, have been married for four years and have two children.
Pavlo Shevchuk
PhD in Theology, Research Fellow at the Eastern European Institute of Theology, and head of the Department of Theology at the Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary. Pavlo Shevchuk specializes in the study of contemporary political theology. He is particularly interested in the critique of secularism and the church's role in public space. By understanding the history of political thought and current global trends, he seeks to build a relevant model of church-state interaction in the Ukrainian context.
Work of the Seminar
13:00 – 14:00 – "Political Populism as a Threat to Democracy: The Church Aspect." Speaker: David Kovačević. Language: English with Ukrainian simultaneous interpretation.
14:15 – 15:15 – "How to Establish a Civil Religion in Societies Lacking Democratic Experience? Historical experiences from 1945 and 1989." Speaker: Katharina Kunter. Language: English with Ukrainian simultaneous interpretation.
15:30 – 16:30 – "Public Theology: Building a State with Immature Democracy." Speaker: Pavlo Shevchuk. Language: Ukrainian with English simultaneous interpretation.
Registration
Attendance is free, but registration is required for all participants. Immediately after registration, you will receive a confirmation email with information on how to join the event. The Zoom link is unique to each participant, so please do not share your registration information with anyone else. Each participant must register separately and receive their own link to join the meeting.
To participate in the seminar, you need to fill in the registration form here.
