18.09.2014
The Reformation and its Continuing Influence – Free Public Lecture
A public lecture focusing on the legacy of the Reformation takes place in the Trinity Long Room Hub, Trinity College, Dublin, on Tuesday September 23 at 6.00 pm. The speaker will be Dr Margot Kässmann, and she will talk on ‘Remembering the Reformation: Challenges of the 2017 Centenary’.
2017 will mark the 5th Centenary of the start of the Continental European Reformation. With the publication of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgencies 500 years ago, Christianity in Western Europe, and indeed the world over, changed for ever. The ensuing violent struggles dashed any remaining hope for survival of a unified Church. Faced with violently conflicting claims of absolute truth and legitimacy, Western Europe began its long process of dissociation of the secular from the religious sphere that has culminated in what in the last 50 years or so has been called secularisation.
Yet, the upheavals of the 16th century also gave rise to many aspects of our culture which continue to be fundamental to our understanding of education and individual conscience, equality, citizenship and democracy.
Dr Kässmann’s lecture will engage with the dual legacy of this momentous era of our religious, political and cultural history, teasing out those strands that continue to nurture and give orientation as we face the many challenges of our age.
Dr Margot Kässmann is uniquely placed to stimulate a process of reflection on this important feature of our cultural make–up. She is a formidable speaker and former Lutheran Bishop of Hannover. She is a former Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD), author of many books, and Chief Editor of Chrismon, a popular monthly news magazine with a theological outlook. Dr. Kässmann has been a strong and critical Christian voice that is widely respected across the public sphere of the German speaking parts of Europe. After working with the World Council of Churches and a recent period as visiting professor in the USA, she is currently the EKD’s special envoy for the Reformation Centenary.
Dr Kaessmann’s lecture will be followed by short contributions from three discussants: Dr. Brendan Leahy is the Bishop of Limerick and formerly Professor of Systematic Theology, St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth. He is joined by former Supreme Court judge and member of the Council of State of Ireland, Mrs. Justice Catherine McGuinness and Dr. Duncan Morrow, Lecturer in Politics, and Director of Social Engagement, University of Ulster, Belfast. The discussion will be chaired by Prof. Linda Hogan, Vice–Provost of Trinity College Dublin and Professor of Ecumenics. The evening will conclude with a reception hosted by the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The event is the outcome of a process of collaboration on the Reformation Centenary between the Trinity Long Room Hub, the Confederal School of Religions, Peace Studies and Theology, the Centre for Early Modern History and the Lutheran Church in Ireland.
All are welcome and admission is free. To register, please visit
http://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/