2021 Conference: Coronavirus and the Church: A year on

Anglo-Nordic-Baltic Theological Conference 2021

 

Coronavirus and the Church: A Year On...

 

The Anglo Nordic Baltic Theological Conference wants to re-establish itself after a gap of a few years, reconvening those who gathered at our last conferences in Ireland, 2013 and Turku, 2015, and with  a range of new people who want to enjoy thinking and conversing theologically together. The shift from corporeal gathering to virtual gathering makes this in many ways easier. 

So we want to offer an online one day conference in the Feb/March 2021 on the theme 'A year on' .

 The Conference intends to look at the impact of the coronavirus on ecclesiastical life from the perspective of theology. This would not be about the techniques of virtual worship, but, in the spirit of the conference - a 'theological house party- to give us the chance to reflect theologically together about our experiences in our many different contexts, and the ecclesiological and theological questions raised.

 Michael Jackson, Archbishop of Dublin writes:

 … a year on … we are conscious that spectatorship at home of something happening elsewhere makes for an increasingly impoverished experience. Our delivery of worship and of ideas is moving from static to dynamic, from passive to active. This in itself raises fruitful questions about inclusion of those who were on the outside for whatever reason; possibilities of creating on-line communities in and from existing churches as well as in their own right; the need for a blended economy of in-church and out-of-church experiences of God connected yet different because of their very distinct contexts. The fundamental question that many of us are asking is: Why would you ever now want wilfully to exclude those who have found God and been found by God quite literally on their phone?

 A number of people very soon will have had no experience of ecclesia other than on-line. This raises important theological questions about community itself; the conducting of Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation. Our hope is that in this day conference on-line we can share with one another the spirit of ANBTC as that of a theological house party using the best of the new on-line techniques to put people at their ease in order to share bold theological thoughts about perennial themes in very changed times. ANBTC has an ethos of open contribution without excessive external regulation in order to let people dream dreams and to let them propound their ideas and to let others react to them.

 We hope you will be interested in participating. If you are, and indeed if you are not, we ask you to share this preliminary paper with others in your church who may be interested. We all hope to learn from one another in a day conference where there will be scope for sharing papers in advance, thus facilitating an interactive conference based in conversation and response owing to time constrains in a one day gathering. We also hope to offer a platform for on-line publication through the Church of Ireland Centre, Dublin City University.

 

Previous attendees have been notified but email addresses may have changed and we are open to new people joining. Please let Miranda (miranda@threlfall-holmes.net) know if you would like to know more or would like to offer a paper.