Conference on “just peace” in the Netherlands later in June

An Amsterdam university and a Dutch Mennonite seminary will host a conference on “just peace” later this month.  The occasion will also follow up on a recent international convocation on peace in Kingston, Jamaica, and inaugurate the professorship of Mennonite ecumenist Fernando Enns. 

The vu University Amsterdam (vu) and the Doopsgezind (Mennonite) Seminarium, both of which are located in Amsterdam, are organizing the academic congress just peace. This event celebrates the 275th Anniversary of the Seminarium and the inauguration of Dr. Fernando Enns as full professor at the newly established vu chair on Peace Theology and Ethics.

The World Council of Churches accepted at its 1998 assembly in Harare/Zimbabwe a motion from the Mennonite delegate Dr. Fernando Enns to designate 2001-2010 as the Decade to Overcome Violence. At the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (iepc), May 2011 in Kingston/Jamaica, the Decade will be officially closed. It is the hope of the wcc that through this process an ecumenical theology of just peace will emerge.

At the Amsterdam congress, only one month after the event in Kingston, the main focus will be on three themes:

  • The Role of Peace and Justice for the Unity of the Churches;
  • The Intercultural Context of Peace with Justice;
  • The Interdisciplinary Context.

Besides keynote addresses there will be a number of workshops from different disciplinary perspectives, such as theology, interreligious relations, psychology, social science, and law. The congress is planned with the support of visor (vu Institute for the Study of Religion, Culture, and Society) and Doopsgezind WereldWerk. It will be concluded with Prof. Enns’ Inaugural Address.

For more information click here.