PhD Courses in Denmark

13.00-13.15

Welcome

13.15-13.45

Recollection and Introduction

13.15-13.45

Johanne S. T. Kristensen: “From Faith, Scripture and Practice to Truth?”

13.45-18.30

Young Scholars Program/ Short Papers (open call)

16.00-16.15

Coffee Break

18.30

Summary and Drinks (open for all)

10.15-12.00

Open Lecture, open for all, no registration 

Professor Stefan Dienstbeck, Rostock: “A Question of Truth: The Importance of the Confessional Tradition for a Current Understanding of Faith”

What is truth? The question posed by none other than Pontius Pilate during the trial of Jesus is more relevant to theology today than ever before. Whereas early Christian confessional theology and dogmatic theology up to the Enlightenment assumed that their statements were true, or at least wanted to be true, in 20th and 21st century theology there is a big hesitation in this regard. What significance can biblical texts and confessional traditions still have for theological statements today? How can theological statements still be made without immediately running the risk of negating reason and becoming unscientific? The lecture will take up precisely these questions and, taking into account theological positions of the 20th century, will try to work out how to deal with truth claims in theology. The considerations culminate in the thesis, based on Paul Tillich, that a Christian approach to the question of truth must always fulfil a Christological criterion in order to avoid turning into heresy or heterodoxy.

12.00-13.00

Lunch

13.00-14.00

Lecture with the Church History Section/Copenhagen Centre for Christianity and Antiquity: Juliette Day

14.00-14.30

Coffee Break

14.30-19.00

Conference Lectures

13.00-14.00

Professor Emeritus Mogens Müller, Faculty of Theology, Copenhagen “God as
Pure Love. Marcion’s Rejection of a Paradoxical Perception of God”

14.00-15.00

Postdoc Maria Munkholt Christensen, University of Bonn, “Truth in Narrative Form: Revisiting Early Christian Women’s Lives and Their Truth”

15.00-15.30

Coffee Break

15.30-16.30

Associate Professor Sasja Stopa, University of Aarhus: “’Fides facit veritatem’” Martin Luther’s transformation of apophatic theology and the recognition of God sub contrario?”

16.30-17.30

Postdoc Matthias Ruf, Tübingen University: “Truth and the Future of Tradition”

18.00

Conference Dinner