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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