Edinburgh 1910 - 2010

"Your Kingdom come" - Visions of the Kingdom of God

In Edinburgh 1910 the churches of the Northern hemisphere developed a mission strategy and delineated a plan for the future of the Church. The visionary enthusiasm that led them was characteristic not only for these churches but for the spirit of the age still (before World War I) believing in the power and future of modernity.

Today the visions of how the future might look like are rather depressing: The results of the climate change and the increase of hunger worldwide humble grand grandiose sentiments. We know that we do not and can not plan the future. We rather have our backs up against the wall. Hopelessness rather than hope is increasing.

In the Christian tradition the abundance of hope and future finds itself expressed in the idea of the "Kingdom of God". Yet the interpretation of this idea has been diverse and even opposed. We cannot think of the "Kingdom of God" without political implications: It has an effect on earth but it does not fully realize on earth in the sense that it can not be accomplished within the political frame and by political means. It is a symbol that has been politicised as well as it has been taken in spiritually.

The conference will emphasize and analyse the meaning of the kingdom of God and its visions in the different contexts in which Christians live worldwide and in the different traditions of various denominations. The participants invited followed a call for papers.

The event takes place at Mission EineWelt, Center for Partnership, Mission and Development of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria, in Neuendettelsau, Germany. For more information, please download the conference programme.