European Crisis and Reorientation

Copyright: Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Wiesbaden

Open international workshop on Karl Barth’s Der Römerbrief in the cultural and intellectual context of post-WW1 Europe

The epoch in the aftermath of First World War in cultural and intellectual Europe was marked by tensions and contradictory movements, shock and resignation, but also by a vigorous drive for reorientation. Such crises of orientation pose a challenge to religion to manifests its relevance. How movements of theological, cultural and political thought interrelate in the perception of crises is the theme of this workshop, celebrating at the same time the centenary of an epoch-making theological text: The Swiss theologian Karl Barth’s Romans commentary, Der Römerbrief, published in the winter of 1921-22, serves here as a prism for these interrelations.

Contributions from an international assembly of researchers cover both Der Römerbrief as it mirrors intellectual and cultural movements of interwar Europe, the reception of 19th century thinkers in the book and its further cultural impacts.
In addition, the programme includes two smaller short paper sessions. Proposed topics for papers: The early work of Karl Barth, its receptions and impact, theology and culture in the interwar period, concepts of theology and crisis.

The workshop is open to all interested and will be conducted in a hybrid format at the Faculty of Theology and online. Registration and deadline for paper proposals, see below.

Programme

28 October
14:30	Welcome
14:45	Karl Barth’s Performative Theology: Context and Rhetorics in Der Römerbrief 1922 (Ola Sigurdsson, University of Gothenburg)
16:00	Coffee break
16:30	“A snake biting its own tail”: Karl Barth’s critique of political modernity in its Weimar contexts (Liisi Keedus, University of Tallinn)
17:45	Crisis and Reorientation in German intellectual life in the transition from Kaiserreich to Weimar Republic (Adam Paulsen, University of Southern Denmark)
29 October
09:15	The Voice of the Preacher – Literary and Rhetorical Aspects of Der Römerbrief (Håkan Möller, University of Gothenburg)
10:30	Kierkegaard in Der Römerbrief (Anne Louise Nielsen, University of Basel)
12:00	Break
13:00	“Theology After”: How Can Karl Barth’s Theology Contribute to Contemporary European Crisis and Reorientation: A post-Soviet Case? (Katya Tolstaya, Free University of Amsterdam)
14:15	The Distinction in Karl Barth’s The Epistle to the Romans - Dialectics of Justification, Faith, Law, Sin and Grace as distinctions of excellence in Paul (Carsten Pallesen, University of Copenhagen)
15:30	Coffee
16:00	From Answers to Questions: Thurneysen and Barth on Dostoyevsky (Sigurd Baark, UCPH)
17:15-18:15	Short paper session
30 October
09:00	Literary Receptions of Barth’s Der Römerbrief (Bent Flemming Nielsen, University of Copenhagen)
10:15-11:45	Short paper session
12:00	Break
12:30	Prophecy as a political-theological category in Barth’s Römerbrief? (Christine Svinth-Værge Põder, University of Copenhagen)
13:45	Concluding discussion and coffee