2025 Program
Program
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Ethics in Diversity – Intercultural and Interreligious Ethics
Societas Ethica’s 61th Annual Conference 2025
August 21–24 2025, Hofgeismar, Germany
Conference Program
Thursday, Aug 21, 2025
Registration
14:45 – 17:00
15:00
Pre-Conference Workshop - Young Societas
For PhD students and Postdocs who have registered for this event
15:00 – 17:00
Coffee
18:00
Dinner
Opening of the Conference – Welcome by the President and the Host
Prof. Dr. Gotlind Ulshöfer and Dr. Giulio Salvati
Welcome by the State of Hessia
Timon Gremmels, Hessian Minister of State
Welcome by the Church of Kurhessen Waldeck
Prälat Burkhard zur Nieden
Welcome by the Evangelische Hochschule Darmstadt (EHD)
Prof. Dr. Michael Vilain, Vice-President of the EHD
19:00
19:30
Keynote Lecture: Moving Horizons – Towards a truly Intercultural Ethics of Dialogue
Associate Prof. Dr. Angela Roothaan, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
21:00
An Introduction to Hofgeismar Residence
Guided tour of the premises
Friday, August 22, 2025
07:30 – 09:00
Breakfast
Welcome – Greetings from the European Academy of Religion
Prof. Dr. Herman Selderhuis, President of the EuARe
09:00
09:15
Keynote Lecture: Gender and Interreligious Dialogue
Prof. Dr. Anne Hege Grung, Oslo University
10:30
Coffee & Tea Break
11:00 – 12:30
Paper Sessions (1)
Session A
Ulrike Sallandt:
Eine Transatlantische Beziehung. Befreiungsethik – Enrique Dussel und Emmanuel Levinas im Gespräch
Imane El Guennouni:
Retrotopische Ideologien und politische Macht in muslimischen Traditionen: Eine Analyse der Hizbut-Tahrir aus interkultureller und interreligiöser ethischer Perspektive
Session B
Foster Pinkney:
Between J. Deotis Roberts and James H. Cone: Finding Resources for Black Survival within the Tension of Black Experience
Session C
Dirk-Martin Grube:
Dialoguing across difference: truth-geared versus hermeneutical kinds of intercultural and interreligious dialogues
Francesco Scalzotto:
The Role of Religion in Intercultural Dialogue: Recognition, Meaning, and Non-Violence. A Catholic Perspective
Session D
Gary Slater:
Religions-as-Territories as Ethical Framework for Religious Diversity: Anatomy of a Metaphor
Sung Kim:
Ecumenical Encounters as Intercultural Spaces: Ethical Challenges and Transformative Potential
12:30
Lunch
13:30
Lectures in Plurality:
Ethical Traditions and the Question of Economic Independence. Jewish Women in Early 20th Century Italy
PD Dr. Ruth Nattermann, Leipzig University (Research Centre Global Dynamics) and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich
Human Rights and Business Ethics
Prof. Dr. Peter G. Kirchschlaeger, Professor of Ethics, University of Lucerne and ETH Zurich, Human Rights Expert
Similarities Between the Business Ethics of Islamic Ahi Guilds of Turkey and the Historical Protestant Work Ethic
Prof. Dr. Mahmut Arslan, School of Management, Ibn Haldun University, Istanbul and President of the European Business Ethics Network
Paper Sessions (2)
15:30 – 16:45
Lea Schlenker:
From Table Manners to Ethics for Interreligious Dialogue
Kathryn Heidelberger:
Happiness on the Way to God: Comparing Thomas Aquinas and Abu Hamid al-Ghazālī on the Moral Life for Flourishing in a Pluralistic Society
Session E
Session F
Martin Langby:
Care for the Other and the Self
Chase Rodriguez:
God is Gracious Host: Toward a Theology of Intellectual Hospitality
Session G
Max Tretter & Xin Mao:
Towards a Critical Hip Hop Epistemology for Ethics - Intercultural Perspectives from Chinese and German Rap
Harshita Tripathi:
Between das Nichts and Abhāva: Absence as an Ethical Horizon for Climate Responsibility
Session H
David Okwuma:
Building Ethical Pathways: The Role of Interfaith Dialogue in Addressing Religious Diversity
Ingeborg G. Gabriel:
Interreligious Dialogue and ethical frameworks for religious diversity
16:45
Coffee & Tea Break
17:00 – 18:30
Paper Sessions (3)
Session I
Stefan Heuser & Alexandra Wolf:
Ethical judgment in intercultural and interreligious competence development. Experiences from a project on teacher education
Thomas-Andreas Põder:
Reconceptualizing Religious and Secular Interplay: A Semiotic and Ethical Framework for Pluralistic Societies
Session J
Edith Wittenbrink:
Participatory justice in a post-migrant society: A decolonial ethical approach
Enyimba Maduka:
Madukaku as a Framework for Decolonizing Intercultural Ethics: An African Perspective
Session K
Ute Judith Steyer:
Eliezer Berkovits’ philosophy of halakha
Lukas Johrendt:
Divine Law as a Utopia of Justice: A (inter)-theological critique of exploitation and marginalization
Session L
Matthew J. Bagot:
Protecting Migrants, Refugees and Displaced Persons: The Mutual Contribution of Catholic Christianity and Islam to a Humanitarian Crisis
Sitian Liu:
The Role of Moral Fictionalism in Navigating Ethics in Diverse Societies
18:30
Dinner
20:00
General Assembly
General Assembly for all members of Societas Ethica. Those who are not yet members are very welcome to attend.
Later
Social Evening
Saturday, August 23, 2025
07:30 – 09:00
Breakfast
09:00
Keynote Lecture: International Politics and Ethical Challenges in a Multicultural World
Prof. Dr. Azza Karam, President and CEO Lead Integrity and Affiliate Professor, Ansari Institute for Religion and Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame, IL, former Secretary General of Religions for Peace
10.15
Coffee & Tea Break
10.30 – 12:00
Paper Sessions (4)
Session M
Amanda Lindestreng:
Conflicts of Rights and Religion: Ethical Considerations of the Right to Freedom of Religion
Alexandra Lebedeva:
The Ideologization of Human Rights in the Wake of Nationalism
Session N
Nicole Kunkel:
Solidarity as a Sympoietic Practice – On Entangeling Humans and Non-Humans
Ronnie Hjorth:
Pluralism as Variety
Session O
Godwin Ampony:
Intercultural and Interreligious Ethics in the International Recruitment of Health Professionals — A Case Study of the Philippines, Indonesia, and Germany from the UEM Perspective
Hadil Lababidi:
Is There a Difference Between Withholding and Withdrawing Life-Sustaining Treatment From an Islamic Perspective?
12:00
Lunch
Excursion to Kassel
In the footsteps of the Grimm brothers
13:00
19:30
Conference Dinner with Dinner Speech: Ethics in Diversity – South African Perspectives
Prof. Dr. Nico Koopman, University of Stellenbosch
Including the presentation of the Young Scholar’s Award winner
Sunday, August 24, 2025
Breast
07:30 – 09:00
Interreligious Meditation
Dr. Dr. Peter Noss, Ecumenical Center, Frankfurt
N.N.
08:15
09:00
Discussion: Developing an Intercultural and Interreligious Europe: Ethical Challenges and Responsibilities
Input: NN, Member of the European Parliament
Panel:
Prof. Dr. Ingeborg Gabriel, University of Vienna
Prof. Dr. Nico Koopman, University of Stellenbosch
Prof. Dr. Thomas-Andreas Poder, University of Tartu
Prof. Dr. Ralph Wüstenberg, Europa-Universität Flensburg
Coffee & Tea Break
10:30
11:00
Concluding Discussions
Farewell Note
Prof. Dr. Gotlind Ulshöfer,
Dr. Giulio Salvati
Brown bag lunch
12:00