World Council of Churches - News Release
Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org For immediate release - 15/05/2007 04:30:53 PM
INTERNATIONAL ECUMENICAL CONFERENCE TO EXPLORE CHRISTIAN THOUGHT AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO PEACE, RECONCILIATION AND FORGIVENESS
Christian scholars from Europe and US will discuss peace, justice and security and how they relate to religion, spirituality and healing at an international ecumenical conference on "Forgiveness, peace and reconciliation" to be held 17-20 May 2007 in Volos, Greece. The current situations in Cyprus, Serbia, Russia, Ireland and the Middle East will be amongst case studies considered in a conference section on "Orthodoxy in situations of conflict".
A broad spectrum of distinguished theologians, scholars and academics, ecumenists, members of peace and reconciliation fellowships from the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican and Protestant traditions will participate in the conference, which is being jointly sponsored by the Volos Academy for Theological Studies, the Boston Theological Institute - an ecumenical consortium of Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant theological schools, seminaries, and university divinity schools - and the World Council of Churches (WCC). The Church of Greece hosts the conference as its contribution to the WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence, whose annual focus this year is on Europe.
In their presentations, speakers will be looking at various aspects of the over-arching theme. After opening lectures on "The call to overcome violence," they will explore such topics as the interrelationships between peace, justice and security; war in the name of religion; spiritual resources for a culture of peace; identity and "otherness"; and healing of memories.
Panel speakers from Cyprus, Serbia, Russia and the Middle East will discuss "Orthodoxy in situations of conflict"; members of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship, the St Egidio Community in Rome, the Interreligious Dialogue Centre (Serbia) and the Centre for Contemporary Christianity in Ireland will participate in a concluding round table on "Christian churches contributing to a culture of peace".
A detailed programme with topics and speakers is available on the WCC website at: http://overcomingviolence.org/fileadmin/dov/files/events/Forgiveness__Peace_and_Reconciliation_timetable2.doc
Additional information: Juan Michel, +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
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The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 347 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.
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