Issue from 2024

Volume 118 (2024)

TOPIC: RELIGION AND POSTCOLONIAL MEMORY

  • Felicity Jensz | Films of Faith and Colonial Fantasy in Inter-War Germany

    Films of Faith and Colonial Fantasy – Postcolonial Religious Memories
    in Inter-War Germany

    After the ‹loss› of the colonies at the end of the First World War, German missionary societies turned to the medium of film to spread information about religious work including work in the former German colonies. Between 1927 and 1960, over 65 missionary films were produced by Catholic and Protestant missionary societies, many with an explicit connection to the former German colonies. The media of film has not been examined in terms of how this media contributed to postcolonial religious memory making. This article focuses on Protestant missionary films and their supporting documentation to argue that they were imbued with ‹imperial nostalgia›/‹imperialist nostalgia› (Lorcin/Rosaldo) and ‹colonial nostalgia› (Lorcin) as well as reference used by the popular colonial revisionist movement to make moral claims for the return of the colonies and the role of German missionaries. In the cultural and political turmoil of the late 1920s, the connection to political and religious memory making was blurred through the use of colonial and imperialistic nostalgia in missionary films.

    Films – Propaganda – Protestant mission – Post-Colonial Germany – Inter-War period.

  • Daniel Annen | Reziproke Missionierung - Thomas Immoos

    Thomas Immoos’ Reciprocal Mission

    Thomas Immoos was a Catholic priest who had attended the Bethlehem Brothers’ school in Immensee and later became a member of this missionary society. Born in Schwyz in 1918 and then raised in Steinen, he probably experienced the restrictive norms of the Catholic milieu in his childhood and youth. This is interesting because he experienced completely different mentalities in Japan and in the wide world in general. At the beginning of the 1950s, he took up a teaching position in Japan, which he maintained until he died in 2001, from 1962 as a professor of German-language literature at the University of Tokyo. However, he interrupted his stay in Japan from time to time, partly to complete a doctorate under the famous Germanist Emil Staiger at the University of Zurich in 1961, as well as simply to visit his still beloved homeland of Central Switzerland. Should his Central Swiss origins, together with his Catholic priesthood, not have urged him to proselytize in favour of his original denomination in Japan? That might be expected but was not the case, not with Thomas Immoos. Even as a missionary in foreign lands, he remained the researcher, the questioner. Instead of imposing a religion, he searched for what united the religiosity in Japan with Catholic positions, which is why his missionary work can be described as reciprocal. His main areas of research were Japanese cult theatre, Shintoism, and Buddhism, where he found similarities and analogies and was thus able to draw attention to deficits in Catholicism as well – an area, where C.G. Jung’s theory of archetypes was helpful to him. Ironically, one might almost say, that Thomas Immoos’ view of the Far East can reveal new psychological and theological insights into the near West.

    Catholicism of the Milieu – System of Norms – Analogies – Cult Theatre – Shinto – Buddhism – Reciprocity.

  • Fabio Rossinelli and Filiberto Ciaglia | The Collateral Activities of Missionaries in Southern Africa between Exploration and Exploitation

    Memories in Tension – The Collateral Activities of Missionaries in Southern Africa
    between Exploration and Exploitation in the 19th Century

    This article analyses the activities of several European missionaries who worked in Lesotho, Zambia, Mozambique and the Transvaal in the 19th century through the missions of Paris (Société des Missions évangéliques de Paris, founded in 1822) and Lausanne (Mission romande, former Mission vaudoise, 1874). The focus is on how these missionaries developed their personal interests outside their mandate. Knowledge and money were at stake. While some activities were made public, others were treated with the greatest discretion. This affected and shaped the way in which the missionary memory was constructed. The sources used for this study are listed in a database created by the authors themselves, with a multidisciplinary team in Italy: missioniprotestanti-africaaustrale.org (online since 2022, interactive from 2024).

    Mission – South Africa – Knowledge – Money – Remembrance – Memory.

  • Christian Antonio Rosso | Le memorie dei padri della Consolata e dei frati minori in Somalia

    «In the Land of Aromas» – History of the Catholic Missionary Experiment in Somalia in the 20th Century in the Memoirs of the Fathers of the Consolata and the Friars Minor

    There is a deep nexus linking the history of the Catholic mission in Somalia to the political events of the last Italian colony, in close dependence on the seasons that colonialism had experienced in the succession of the liberal and fascist during the British and Italian administrations. This article will attempt to give a succinct account of the different phases of missionary expansion in Somalia, starting from the pioneering attempt of the Trinitarians, which began in 1904, to the more lasting attempt of the Friars Minor, after the brief and significant parenthesis of the Fathers of the Consolata, through the medium of the missionaries’ memories. The memoirs kept in the archives or given to the press clearly show the consciousness with which the missionaries «proselytised», the motivations underlying their actions, confusion between civilisation and Christianisation. It also attests to the presence of several «ideological» production centres: a central Vatican one and a more peripheral one inclined to compromise with fascism. The return of Italy to the Horn in 1950 as a fiduciary power represented an occasion for rewriting the history of the Catholic presence in Somalia, not without ambiguities, omissions, and reticence.

    Somalia – Fathers of the Consolata – Civilisation – Christianisation – Missionary Expansion – Memories.

  • Mick Feyaerts, Simon Nsielanga and Idesbald Goddeeris | Congolese Religious Memories of the Colonial and Missionary Past

    The Power of Silence – Congolese Religious’ Memories of the Colonial and Missionary Past

    This article examines how Congolese religious – Jesuits and Annonciades in Congo and Congolese clergy in Belgium – look back at the colonial past and at the role of missionaries. It demonstrates that they approach this mostly in positive terms, even with gratitude and praise, although there is also vague criticism and, in the 1970s in the context of Africanization, explicit opposition against the dominant narrative. The silencing of the dark pages of the colonial past can be explained in several ways. In doing so, Congolese reli-gious both overcome a reading of the colonial history of Congo in which Congolese are mere victims, and reclaim control over their own history. They also confirm their belonging to their transnational congregations and to the Catholic Church in general. Finally, the dominance of positive elements in these collective colonial memories should also be read against the backdrop of infrastructural decay and political impotence in present-day Congo. Contrasting this to the colonial era allows for the Congolese religious to implicitly voice an indictment of the authorities while keeping them save from repressive actions.

    Missionaries – Memory – Decolonization – Congo – Belgium.

  • Silvia Cristofori | The Ibadan School and Historiographical Continuity as a Decolonisation of Africa's Past

    History as a Living Reality – The Ibadan School and Historiographical Continuity as a Decolonisation of Africa’s Past

    This article analyses some of the works of the Ibadan school of historiography with the aim of showing how, in a context of African nationalisms, they intended to give historiographical legitimacy to African historical consciousness. On the one hand, this revealed the extent to which historiography until then had not only written a partial history but was also an ideological dispositif of domination. On the other, it attempted to establish a historiographical continuity with both African oral traditions and with non-academic histories written by the Nigerian Christian elite since the 1870s. This article will highlight how one of the most interesting legacies of the Ibadan school was the unresolved issue that, while the writing of history, both academic and non-academic, connected the African past to a universal history, placing it in conversation with other human experiences, it also disconnected the oral tradition from the sense of history it had expressed in its own context of production.

    Africanist Historiography – Ibadan School of Historiography – Decolonisation of History – Nationalism and Historiography – Historiography of the African Christian Elite in the 19th Century – African Oral Traditions and Historiography.

  • Francesca Badini | The Use of ‹ Collective Memory> in Muhammad al-Gazali's Religious Discourse

    The Use of ‹Collective Memory› in Muḥammad al-Ġazālī’s Religious Discourse – The Battle of Badr (624) and the October War (1973)

    This article aims to explore the possibility of analyzing the concept of retrospective utopia in Muḥammad al-Ġazālī’s (1917–1996) predication as a reconstruction of ‹collective memory›. The analysis considers the sermon that al-Ġazālī presented at the ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ mosque in Cairo on 14 December 14, 1973, concerning verse Q. 2:217. The analysis of the sermon under consideration presents the exegetical strategy with which al-Ġazālī managed to justify the events related to the October War of 1973, i.e. the attack by Egyptian forces during what was considered the holy month, at the Battle of Badr in 624, an event reworked by Islamic tradition and presented to the Islamic community from the perspective of ‹collective memory›. In this contribution, I present the two historical events considered, contextualize al-Ġazālī’s preaching activity in 1973, hinting at the relationship between the exegete and the political representation of the Egyptian state in those years, and then analyze the sermon considered, explaining why the author chose to justify the actions of President Anwar Sadat (1918–1981) through religious proselytism and the recall of ‹collective memory›.

    Muḥammad al-Ġazālī – October War of 1973 – Battle of Badr – Islamic Community – Islamic Tradition – Egyptian State – Anwar Sadat.

  • Marcello Grifò | Memoria e missione nella riflessione teologica post-coloniale

    Beyond Evil, the Martyria of Memory – Towards a History of the Categories Memory and Mission in Post-Colonial Theological Reflection

     

    Trying to reweave the thin strands of the intricate warp of a tormented history, this contribution intends to investigate, after considering the approach to memory in Africa during the colonial period – partly evocative, partly substitutive – its function especially at the sunset of that controversial season, when the mission ceased to act as one of the main channels for the propagation of European values and lifestyles and, conversely, a serious process of inculturation of faith began from a theological, liturgical and anthropological point of view, as well as the construction of an equitable and modern society to which the churches wanted to make their specific contribution. Consequently, the mission category no longer coincides with the effort to extend the Christian faith but, by conveying a proclamation of the Gospel no longer separable from a genetic link with social justice, the fair redistribution of resources, democracy, and universal reconciliation, takes on a robustly civil character. It is in this perspective that, among many possible conjugations of memory-making, the present study has chosen to highlight an unprecedented theological declination of it, the research of which is still one of the least investigated in history and anthropology. It goes beyond the specifics of endogenous memory which is elevated to a sign of universality of reason that entails the sharing of basic and founding principles and the pursuit of a common purpose for humanity of all faiths and ethnicities.

     

    Martyria – Memory – Mission – Post-Colonial Theology – Inculturation – European Life – Social Justice – Universality.

     

  • Ilaria Macconi | Inculturazione e ‹decolonizzazione› della missione in Africa

    Inculturation and ‹Decolonisation› of Mission in Africa – for a New Narrative on Evangelisation

    In my contribution, I intend to explore how, in the period immediately following the processes of decolonisation in Africa and at the urging of the Second Vatican Council, a different narrative on evangelisation imposed itself, leading to the need to search for new reference models for engaging with others. During these transformative years, the Church not only questioned the future of its mission but also revisited its past. At the heart of this «revision» of missionary memory is the debate on the complex relationship between faith and culture, ultimately leading to decolonising the very idea of mission. It became increasingly apparent that evangelisation requires a genuine «inculturation» of the message of Christ. The discussions at conferences and study weeks offer insights into the key turning points in this discourse, while the writings of missionaries (particularly those from Kenya) testify to how these ideas have been implemented in everyday life.

    Africa – Culture – Decolonisation – Evangelisation – Faith – Inculturation – Memory – Mission – Missionaries – Narrative.

  • Madelief Feenstra | Postcolonial Memory at Work in Two Dutch Protestant Churches

    «It’s Time To Lead the Way» – Postcolonial Memory at Work in Two Dutch Protestant Churches

    Much like in other former colonial metropoles, The Netherlands has in recent decades seen the emergence of significant societal and academic debates about the nature and legacy of the country’s colonial, and specifically slavery, past. More and more mainstream institutions – from museums to municipal governments – have in recent years started programs to examine and acknowledge ‹their› historical involvement with the transatlantic slave trade, or in other ways have moved towards critical examinations of the ways in which traces of this past permeate the present. This article explores how two Dutch church communities, namely the Evangelical Lutheran Church Amsterdam and the Evangelical Brotherhood Amsterdam City and Flevoland, are currently actively taking part in this shift and engaging with the history and legacy of the slavery past. It does so through an analysis of a publication initiated by both congregations and published in 2020, which details the program of a working group these two communities jointly installed and includes texts from an essay competition, symposium and sermons.

    Postcolonial Memory – The Netherlands – Slavery – Religion – Mission – Suriname – Evangelical-Lutheran Church – Moravian Church.

DOSSIER: ADVOCATING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN THE HELSINKI PROCESS

  • Eva Maurer | Das Schweizerische Ost-Institut, die Kirchen und die Menschenrechte

    What About Religion? – The Swiss Institute for Eastern European Studies, the Churches and Human Rights 1974–1975

    In 1974–1975, during the final phase of the OSCE negotiations, the Swiss Institute for Eastern Europe (Schweizerisches Ost-Institut, SOI) in Bern, published several texts on the relationship between religion and communism. While this anti-communist research institute took a critical stance towards the negotiation process, it used the human rights rhetoric popularized during the 1970s to denounce oppression in the countries behind the Iron Curtain. This focus, however, was not solely motivated by the critical situation of religious practitioners in Eastern Europe but linked to a critique of ‹leftist› tendencies within Swiss church organisations. Published shortly before cantonal and national elections, these publications were covertly co-financed from the ranks of the Swiss Liberal Party (FDP) in Zurich. Their polemic style, however, met with disapproval even from the political centre. After the mid-1970s, the institute’s focus on religious questions seems to have faded, and in contrast to the institute Glaube in der Zweiten Welt (G2W), the institute was only marginally interested in the new human rights groups in the Socialist countries.

    CSCE Process – Swiss Institute on Eastern European Economic Relations – Peter Sager – Anti-Communism – Religion – Church – Human Rights – Eastern Europe – Switzerland.

  • Erik Sidenvall | Missionary Enthusiasm and Human Rights Activism

    Missionary Enthusiasm and Human Rights Activism – A Study of the Religion-Political World of the Swedish Slavic Mission, 1965–1985

    This article analyses the ways in which the Swedish Slavic Mission (Slaviska missionen) became involved in human rights activism from the mid-1960s until 1989. It argues that human rights advocacy, primarily focusing on the position of Protestants in the Soviet Union, resulted in a redefinition of the mission’s public appearance. As a harbinger of knowledge, it became a partner in a loosely organised network of human rights NGOs.

    Human rights – Cold War – Protestantism – Christian Mission – Religion – Soviet Union – Slavic Mission.

  • Markku Ruotsila | Finnish Churches and the Helsinki Process in Transnational Perspective

    Détente, Finlandization, and Resistance – Finnish Churches and the Helsinki Process
    in Transnational Perspective

    This article reconstructs the full range of Finnish church opinion regarding the Helsinki Process from a range of contemporary private correspondence and institutional archives, the religious press and oral history sources. It shows that alongside the celebratory official discourse focused on détente and confidence building, the Helsinki Process occasioned vigorous and protracted contestation throughout Finnish civil society, including in the churches. This was the case particularly regarding the nature of the human rights to be protected under Basket III of the Helsinki Final Act. On this issue, the Finnish church’s ecumenically-minded leadership divided fundamentally from the evangelical neo-Pietists that formed the bulk of their church’s active churchgoers. With much of the rest of the ecumenical movement, the former opted for a socially progressive agenda for the CSCE/OSCE that aspired to a convergence of the two competing economic systems and de-emphasised religious freedom in favour of ‹social human rights›. The latter, on the other hand, rejected détente and confidence building and became interested in the Helsinki Process only as a means of advancing their own goals of religious freedom in Soviet-controlled lands.

    Ecumenism – Evangelicalism – Fundamentalism – Human rights – Finlandization – Rollback – Bible smuggling – OSCE – CSCE.

  • Roland Cerny-Werner | Der Vatikan im internationalen Raum

    The Vatican in the International Arena – An Epistemological Turn between the Second World War and the Second Vatican Council

    Although the Pope – according to his self-image – has always felt responsible for the entire world, until the 20th century it was a rather exclusivist and supra-sociological view of the «world surrounding the Church». With the dramatic challenges of the 20th century, however, a theological and political epistemological transformation, in a Foucauldian sense, began which can be understood as a process by looking at papal diplomacy in the wake of the Cold War that was forming and establishing itself and the existential threat of annihilation of the entire world that was embedded in it. This reorientation reached its interim climax with Paul VI’s «peace speech» to the UN but had already begun in the pontificates of his immediate predecessors after the two world wars. The Holy See began to conceptualise and, above all, theologically substantiate its commitment in the international arena. With the ecclesiological turn of Vatican II and the associated rejection of the Church as «societas perfecta», the Pope gained considerable prestige in the international sphere as an authentic agent of the «integrity of creation».

    International Church Politics – Cold War – Vatican Ostpolitik – History of Diplomacy – Second Vatican Council – Peace Diplomacy – History of Theology.

  • Katharina Kunter | Historical Perspectives on Churches and the New Geopolitical Challenges in Europe

    Farewell to the Idea of Neutrality – Historical Perspectives on Churches and the New Geopolitical Challenges in Europe

    Particularly in the first two years of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, numerous ecumenical church representatives invoked the instruments of the détente policy of the 1970s to legitimise their current church policy positions on the war in Ukraine. The terms ‹dialogue› and ‹neutrality› were central to this. The article examines the extent to which globally influential Christian institutions such as the Vatican, the World Council of Churches and other religious organisations saw themselves as neutral actors during the Cold War and also cultivated a self-perception that was consistent with this stance. ‹Neutrality› is introduced and used as a historical category by analysing the role of the churches as supposedly neutral actors and the limits of their politically ‹neutral› engagement. The focus is on the Protestant churches.

    Cold War – Détente – Dialogue – Neutrality – World Council of Churches – Ukraine War – 20th century – 1970s.

  • Massimo Faggioli | The Holy See's Appeals to Helsinki 1975 for Peace in Ukraine

    «We Need a New Spirit of Helsinki» – The Holy See’s Appeals to Helsinki 1975 for Peace in Ukraine in Historical Perspective

    The article analyses the invocations of the ‹spirit of Helsinki› (the Helsinki Accords of 1975, which saw the Holy See fully involved) during the efforts of Pope Francis and of Vatican diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine following the invasion launched by Russia on 24 February 2022. These invocations were repeated during the first year of the war in Ukraine and showed the distance between the aspirations of the Holy See and those of Russia and Ukraine, but also the difference between Vatican diplomacy and ‹Ostpolitik› in the context of the Cold War and in the 21st-century disruption of the international order.

    Helsinki Accords – Vatican diplomacy – Cold War – Papacy – Ostpolitik – Russia-Ukraine War.

VARIA

  • Stefan Bojowald | Eine kleine Beobachtung zur Lasterhaftigkeit der Mönche in der koptischen Vita Pachomii

    A Brief Observation on the Depravity of the Monks in the Coptic Vita Pachomii

    This paper attempts a new approach to a passage in the Coptic Vita Pachomii. The focus will be on describing the unbridled life of some monks. The lust for wearing beautiful clothes and other worldly pleasures was specifically criticised. The same motif can be spotted in the Syrian Apocalypse of Pseudo Methodius.

    Coptic Patristic – Syrian Patristic – Clothes – Vita Pachomii – Apocalypse of Pseudo Methodius.

  • Paul Bühler-Hofstetter | Die Madonna in den Erdbeeren – Symbolik und Hintergründe

    Madonna in the Strawberries – Symbolism and Background

    The painting Madonna in the Strawberries is characterised by rich symbolism: Strawberries as food for deceased children and a child with a jar of tears, probably intended as a memorial picture for a deceased child. A legend about the little tear jar says we may entrust deceased children to Mary, who wants to give them access to paradise. Hans von Tieffenthal from Schlettstadt is assumed to be the painter. The painting was acquired in 1865 by the Solothurn Art Society from the former St. Joseph’s Monastery there. According to a river painting legend, the artwork is said to have floated down the Aare during the Reformation (1528) and been entrusted to pious sisters. The fact that it was in Gottstatt Abbey can be inferred from its dedication to the Virgin Mary and its geographical proximity to Solothurn. Count Konrad III of Neuchâtel, the foster son of the widow of the last count of Nidau from the founding dynasty of Gottstatt, may be the donor.

    Art history – Symbolism – Memorial picture – Solothurn – Reformation period – Gottstatt Abbey.

  • Nicolas Giel | Deutsche Ideen in römischen Händen? – Eine komparative Analyse der De concordantia catholica von Nicolaus Cusanus und der Declamatio von Lorenzo Valla

    German Ideas in Roman Hands? – A Comparative Analysis of the De concordantia catholica by Nicolaus Cusanus and the Declamatio by Lorenzo Valla

    Seven years apart, first Nicolaus Cusanus and then Lorenzo Valla addressed the question of whether the Donation of Constantine was authentic. This temporal proximity has raised the point of whether Valla was influenced by Cusanus in his refutation of the Donation. The following article explores this question in order to find an answer. For this purpose, both the arguments for refuting the Donation of Constantine and the programmes of rule presented by Cusanus and Valla in their two works, the De concordantia catholica and the Declamatio respectively are compared with each other. The comparison makes clear that there are enough arguments to assume that Valla was inspired by Cusanus. However, as the two texts differ in essential points, it is too much to speak of an influence. One can clearly see that Cusanus favours the emperor in his political ideology and grants Councils a special role. Valla, on the other hand, favours the city of Rome and the rulers in general. The Pope should retain his position of primacy within the Church. 

    Nicolaus Cusanus – De Concordantia catholica – Lorenzo Valla – Declamatio – Political Ideology – Donation of Constantine.

  • Mariano Delgado | Pioniere der Missionsutopie und der Missionsethnographie der Frühen Neuzeit – 1524 kamen die ersten zwölf Franziskaner nach Mexiko

    Pioneers of Missionary Utopia and Missionary Ethnography in the Early Modern Period – The First Twelve Franciscans Arrived in Mexico in 1524

    This article examines the light and shadows of the Franciscan mission in Mexico in the 16th century. They were pioneers of missionary utopia with a tendency to «Franciscanise» the Indians and pioneers of missionary ethnography with a dual intention: to eradicate idolatry more thoroughly and to save the honour of the Indian cultures. Not least because of the intertwining of colonial conquest and evangelisation, the Franciscans were not always able to «follow in the footsteps» of their father Saint Francis. Nevertheless, their mission to Mexico is altogether one of the most brilliant chapters in church history.

    Mexico mission – Franciscan mission – Missionary utopia – Missionary ethnography.

  • Heins Sproll | Christianisierung oder Sinisierung in der frühen Chinamission? Die Inkulturationsmethode Matteo Riccis SJ am Beispiel seiner auf Cicero referenzierenden Schrift De amicitia

    Christianisation or Sinicisation in the Early Mission to China? De amicita, Referencing Cicero, as Example of Matteo Ricci’s SJ Inculturation Method

    The article examines the intrinsically inclusive inculturation method of Matteo Ricci (1552–1610) from a global historical perspective as a way of Christianisation that took the culture of the Chinese empire of the late Ming dynasty seriously in its alterity to European culture. With the help of the humanist interpretation of Cicero’s De amicitia, Matteo Ricci succeeded in entering the communication space of the literate mandarins in such a way that he ‹translated› the ethical content of this writing into Confucian values compatible with it. The question is how Ricci’s linguistic and intercultural learning ability enabled him to translate the communicative connectivity of the Christian truth claim to salvation universality into transmission operations that had a Christianising effect in the contemporary humanist sense on some of his addressees among the meritocratic elite at the imperial court. The initial question concerning the result of those operations is therefore settled: Christianisation of China or Sinicization of the Christian mission.

    Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43) – Matteo Ricci (1552–1610) – Chinese imperial court of the Ming – Confucian scholar-officials (litterati) – Inculturation method – Sinicisation – Ritual dispute.

  • Zélian Waeckerlé | Une paroisse «franco-suisse» en diocèse de Bâle au XVIIIe siècle – regards transfrontaliers sur Rodersdorf et ses annexes de Liebenswiller et Biederthal (selon les sources locales)

    A «Franco-Swiss» Parish in the Diocese of 18th Century Basel – a Cross-border Look at Rodersdorf and its Annexes Liebenswiller and Biederthal (According to Local Sources)

    Can a border, in the contemporary state context, exert control over the religious life of the territories and populations it separates? The parishes on the Jura borders of the Alsace of the Bourbons offer insights that question the permeability, or at least the relative nature, of state borders. This is especially true as spiritual boundaries do not necessarily align with temporal ones. For instance, the rural chapter of Leimental included parishes that belonged to both the Kingdom of France and the Helvetic States. Due to its two French annexes, the parish of Rodersdorf has been deemed an «international parish» by local historians. While this descriptor holds true in theory, the lack of clear socio-cultural divisions between Ro­dersdorf and its annexes suggests that this parish may, in fact, be part of a more ambiguous territory – a realm of shared knowledge. Is it a Franco-Swiss parish or a symbolic border?

    Kingdom of France – Helvetic States – «International Parish» – «Franco-Swiss» Border Parish – Jura – Alsace.

  • Johan Smits | Towards a Contextual Canon of Theology – A Network-based Approach to German Academic Theology (1820–1870)

    Towards a Contextual Canon of Theology – A Network-based Approach to German Academic Theology (1820–1870)

    In the field of historical theology, reception at a later stage is often the principal criterion for establishing prominence. This article demonstrates that the different tools in Social Network Analysis provide a comprehensive view of the theological landscape which can include the different contextual factors and developments. After an introduction to the methodology applied, the article explores the relevance of institutions of church administration and societies for the theological landscape in the mid-nineteenth century. It argues that, against the background of a persistently state-based landscape of church administration, the associations forged something like a national stage for academic theologians. The article concludes with an attempt to establish a network-based canon for theology for the periods 1820–1842 and 1843–1870. Finally, the implications of this canon on individual and institutional levels are discussed critically.

    Social Network Analysis – Visualisation – Academic Theology – Church Administration – Societies – Canon of Theology – History of Theology.

  • Simon Friedli | Wie Der letzte Ketzer die Vergangenheit in die Gegenwart bringt

    How Der letzte Ketzer Brings the Past into the Present

    This article analyses the documentary film Der letzte Ketzer, released in 2022, about the Entlebuch farmer Jakob Schmidlin (1699–1747) accused of heresy, convicted, and executed in Lucerne. Based on approaches to historical film analysis by Robert Rosenstone it is examined how Der letzte Ketzer forms its historical theme into a narrative, its structure, its form and with the help of which stylistic and audiovisual techniques it is realised as well as which messages are ultimately intended to be conveyed to the audience through the film.

    Documentary film – Heresy – Schmidlin – Lucerne – Old Swiss Confederacy – Film analysis – Popular history.

  • Ulrich van der Heyden | Das Prachtboot: Wie Deutsche die Kunstschätze der Südsee raubten – oder nicht

    The Boat of Pomp: How Germans Looted the Art Treasures of the South Seas – or not

    The ongoing discussions regarding the potential return of allegedly looted or plundered goods from the Global South, particularly from former colonial territories, have been a subject of debate in Europe for approximately two decades. This issue has gained significant attention, particularly considering recent developments in Germany. Not only historians and activists are engaging in these discussions, but also journalists and even researchers from completely different research fields. One prominent figure involved in the discourse is Götz Aly, a historian and journalist known and respected for his work in Nazi research. Aly’s book on the alleged plundering of a boat from the South Seas during German colonialism garnered widespread media attention but also faced criticism and opposition from experts.

    German Colonialism – Restitution – South Sea – Wokeness – Colonial History.

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