Upcoming Seminars for April 2026
9 April 2026
1-2 pm
Artspace, Level 1, Old Arts Building
Speaker: Anne Heikkinen
(Doctoral Research, Helsinki University - Finland)
Title: "Faith under occupation: Munib Younan and Palestinian Lutheran Perspectives on Occupation, Oppression, and Nonviolent Resistance".
ABSTRACT
16 April 2026
1-2 pm
Artspace, Level 1, Old Arts Building
Speaker: Prof Gerhard van den Heever
(Professor Extraordinarius, UWC)
Title: "The Culture, the Council, and the Really Important Sideshow: An Experiment in History and Histori.ography"
ABSTRACT
The presentation raises fundamental theoretical questions about the discursivity of the theological field and the proprium of the study of religion and theology. The conceptual lens for this kind of questioning is the speech-actness of theory and disciplinary and field formations. The presentation does so by surveying the dominant commentaries and discourses on the Council of Nicaea and the Nicene Creed, and proceeds to critique contemporary Nicene-derived and -inspired theological thinking which constructs its meaning to reside solely in the theological discourses associated with and clustering around the Council and its Creed. Through critical historiography and theories of discourse, the history of the Council and the Creed is read as a discursive formation, the meaning of which lies outside of the Nicene disputation. By setting “Nicaea” as icon within the framework of changes in religious mentalities of the period, the rising cults of saints and martyrs, the article argues that the Council of Nicaea was actually conceived as the vicennalia, the two-decade celebration of Constantine’s rule, especially his victory over his rival emperor, Licinius, and that the real prize for Emperor Constantine was the erection of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Church was celebrated as a monument to Constantine’s victory, and the celebrated Nicene formula of homoousios helped link Constantine to Christ as a means to authorise his rule. Considering the religious history and the culture in the context of which Nicaea as an iconic event manifested in history, forces a reconception of what theology – and religion – actually are.
(Professor Extraordinarius, UWC)
Title: "The Culture, the Council, and the Really Important Sideshow: An Experiment in History and Histori.ography"
ABSTRACT
9 April 2026
1-2 pm
Artspace, Level 1, Old Arts Building
Speaker: Anne Heikkinen
(Doctoral Research, Helsinki University - Finland)
Title: "Faith under occupation: Munib Younan and Palestinian Lutheran Perspectives on Occupation, Oppression, and Nonviolent Resistance".
ABSTRACT
This paper explores Palestinian Lutheran perspectives on occupation, oppression, and liberation through the thought of Bishop Munib Younan and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL). Munib Younan (b. 1950), Palestinian Lutheran emeritus bishop and former president of the Lutheran World Federation, has consistently opposed occupation and advocated for Palestinian freedom. His contextual theology is rooted in Palestinian lived experience and focuses on three key themes: commitment to international law and human rights, Lutheran theology of reconciliation and liberation, and nonviolent struggle articulated through a theology of martyria.
The ELCJHL, which emerged from German Lutheran mission activity, is small in membership – fewer than 3,000 members – but influential in its prophetic critique of the occupation. Its identity is shaped significantly by the refugee background of most of its members. As such, both the church and Younan connect theology closely to the political and social circumstances of Palestinian life. This way of doing theology is part of the tradition of Palestinian theology, which has emerged especially since the 1980s.
Drawing from Palestinian Christian thought, Younan understands occupation as a form of sin that dehumanises and destroys the perpetrator before the victim. Liberation from occupation, therefore, would mean liberation and restored dignity for both Palestinians and Israelis. The church’s role, Younan insists, is to oppose the violence and humiliation inherent in occupation and to speak prophetically against all forms of structural sin, including injustice, racism, and subjugation.
The ELCJHL, which emerged from German Lutheran mission activity, is small in membership – fewer than 3,000 members – but influential in its prophetic critique of the occupation. Its identity is shaped significantly by the refugee background of most of its members. As such, both the church and Younan connect theology closely to the political and social circumstances of Palestinian life. This way of doing theology is part of the tradition of Palestinian theology, which has emerged especially since the 1980s.
Drawing from Palestinian Christian thought, Younan understands occupation as a form of sin that dehumanises and destroys the perpetrator before the victim. Liberation from occupation, therefore, would mean liberation and restored dignity for both Palestinians and Israelis. The church’s role, Younan insists, is to oppose the violence and humiliation inherent in occupation and to speak prophetically against all forms of structural sin, including injustice, racism, and subjugation.
16 April 2026
1-2 pm
Artspace, Level 1, Old Arts Building
