Exile seems to provide fertile ground for theological renewal. When the French Republic proclaimed the separation of church and state in 1905, some of the exiled Catholic seminaries became “cradles of a revolution in Catholic theology” (Sarah Shortall). When the Bolshevik’s proclaimed the separation of church and state in 1918 and started their anti-religious campaigns, some of the exiled Orthodox circles became cradles of “a creative and fruitful theological and ecclesial renewal” of Orthodoxy (Kallistos Ware). In Paris, where the Saint Sergius Institute of Orthodox Theology was founded in 1925, there have been numerous points of contact between these two processes, actors, and institutions.
This conference will examine the intellectual and biographical contacts between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy in the mid-twentieth century before and following the Second World War. The intellectual exchange between Catholic and Orthodox thinkers would eventually shape the trajectory of the Second Vatican Council as well later currents of theological renewals within both traditions. The conference will explore the networks of influence between Catholic thinkers associated with Nouvelle Théologie in France and German-speaking countries, and modern Orthodox thinkers of the émigré school (and those influenced by them) in the 20th century.
The conference will be focused on questions of political theology, philosophical personalism, ecclesial ontology, and the modern ressourcement/aggiornamento of tradition.

The conference is organised by the Sergii Bulgakov Research Centre at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) in cooperation with the Institute of Old Catholic Theology at the University of Bern, the Orthodox Christian Studies Center of Fordham University (New York, USA), the Volos Academy for Theological Studies (Greece), and the St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute (Paris)