Europe? Elections? Bible study? How does that go together?

*** Wenn Sie diesen Post auf Deutsch lesen möchten, lassen Sie es mich bitte wissen: hahn@eaberlin.de.

With Julian and Fleur from UK and Joanna from Poland, we discussed the agenda for our evening-Dialogue on the EU Elections on May 17. Well May 17^th is our online-dialogue. The elections will be held in June. And yes, we hope to inspire people to really go and vote. And no, we will not suggest specific parties to give your vote to. We are quite sure that our participants from all over Europe are able to think and analyse the political landscape themselves.

But what should we as Christians bother with politics at all, and what about this European Union? Well, register and see… The Online-Evening will be in both English and German, but we provide simultaneous interpretation between these too languages.

But here is what we have planned:
Love your (European) neighbour as yourself?! | Theological reflections on the European Elections
- Welcome and Introductions
- The CPCE-Statement on the EU-Elections (Prof. Dr. Hans Jürgen Luibl, Germany) The CPCE is the Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe with over 90 member Churches all over Europe.
- “Love your neighbour near and distant”: Karl Barth recognised that there are both 'near and distant neighbours’ to whom we have a responsibility of care. And he argued: “A Christian people is one in which paganism and national egoism are broken, judged, and purified by the Spirit of Christ.” We will explore what this theological imperative might mean for our political life and democratic involvement. (Rev. Dr Julian Templeton, UK)
- “Love your neighbour everywhere – The universal nature of the Christian faith”: Can we try and find a concept of home that is both future oriented and invites renewed fellowship and reconciliation? (Rev. Fleur Houston, UK)
- Prayer for Europe (Prof. Dr. Hans Jürgen Luibl)

The Bible Dialogues are as the name says: Dialogues, so we want to hear about your thoughts and opinions and we also look at what the Bible can say to this. The Bible? On Europe? Well, the Bible actually looks past all borders so Europe may be a little too narrow, but let us start there for now. 😊