This Academic Consultation will critically examine phenomena of polarisation in church and wider society and investigate initiatives toward depolarisation. Recently, political discourse has become increasingly divisive and societal dynamics have become tense and hostile. The consultation will consider the role of churches and ecumenical organisations in the midst of polarising dynamics, asking whether they should engage in advocacy or diplomacy, or adopt other approaches.
It will be important to assess different types of polarisations, their motives, narratives, dynamics and impact. This will involve addressing the harm and injustice experienced, and analysing theological implications and responses, and the potential for transformation. More specifically, the consultation will discuss how and for whom churches are a colonising or decolonising space, and how and for whose benefit theological discourse on gender and identities has been framed in antagonistic terms. The consultation will address the role of symbols and rituals in processes of polarisation and reconciliation. It will also focus on the complex question of truth-seeking amidst conflict and hostility, as a core theological task in the church, as well as in academic and ecumenical spheres.
Speakers and participants from various contexts and church traditions across Europe will engage in joint analysis and constructive theological reflection.
