Consultation: "A theological reflection on cruelty - the ugly face of violence"
Crêt-Bérard, Puidoux, Switzerland, 5 - 8 December 2006
organized by Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches
in collaboration with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Coorganizers and media contacts
Rev. Dr Deenabandhu Manchala
World Council of Churches (WCC)
Programme Executive, Faith and Order Commission
Tel. +41-22-791-6422 / +41-78-686-7771 (mobile)
dem@wcc-coe.org
Dr Michael Reid Trice
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations Officer
Tel. +1-800-638-3522 ext. 2613
Michael.Trice@elca.org
Presenters and papers
Dr Sylvie Bukhari-de Pontual
"Political Detainees in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay" (to be confirmed)
Dr Bukhari-de Pontual is a lawyer at the Paris Bar, lecturer in international law at the Social Sciences Department of the Catholic Institute of Paris, and president of the International Federation of Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (FIACAT).
Dr Tharcisse Gatwa
"Mémoire et Violence. Le défi de la guérison de l'Église et de la Nation au Rwanda"
Dr Gatwa is a journalist and theologian, director of the Centre for Evangelical Literature in Francophone Africa/Editions CLE, author of "Victimes ou Coupables. Les églises et l'idéologie ethnique au Rwanda, 1990-1994" (Lome, Yaoundé).
Mr Zoghbi E. Alzoghbi
"Occupation in Palestine" (to be confirmed)
Founder and director of WI'AM - Palestinian Conflict Resolution Centre.
Dr Lerleen Willis
"Hierarchies of humanity: The dehumanising potential of racism in Europe"
Dr Willis is chair of the editorial board of the International Journal "Black Theology", and a freelance organizational consultant experienced in working with marginalized groups. She is currently researching Black theology, African presence in Europe, and the role of spirituality in coping with adversity, e.g., racism.
Dr Muriel Orevillo-Montenegro
"Sex as locus of cruelty: the violence of sex trafficking"
Dr Orevillo-Montenegro is a professor of theology and religious studies at Silliman University Divinity School in Dumaguete City, Philippines, former administrator of a development programme for and with women and children in the urban poor areas of Dumaguete, and author of "The Jesus of Asian Women" (Orbis Books, NY).
Mr Paul Divakar and Rev. Dr Sathianathan Clarke
"Cruelty, criminality and community: Dalits in the web of Indian culture"
Mr Divakar is co-ordinator of the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights, New Delhi. Rev. Dr Clarke is a contextual theologian from India working on how marginalized and oppressed communities utilize religious resources both to legitimize and resist suffering.
Mrs Helen Hood
"De-facing the image of God: cruelty and violence against women"
Lay theologian and church worker in the Scottish Episcopal Church. From September 2000 to April 2006, she worked as consultant from a base in Edinburgh, Scotland, on the World Council of Churches' Project on Overcoming Violence Against Women.
Sr Rachel Sena, OP
"The Lord protects the stranger: addressing the issue of xenophobia and immigration"
Sr Sena is director of the Maya Ministry Office, which provides pastoral care to the Native American Mayas, and a family literacy programme for illiterate immigrant families in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA.
Rev. Dr Mary-Anne Plaatjies-Van Huffel
"Apartheid then and now"
Rev. Dr Plaatjies-Van Huffel is a minister at the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) and member of the moderamen of the Cape Regional Synod of the URCSA. She has investigated the topic of women in the theological anthropology in the Afrikaans Reformed tradition.
Ms Carla Khejoyan
"The memories of the Armenian genocide" (to be presented in absence)
Moderators
Dr Giorgio Baruchello
Dr Baruchello is a professor of philosophy. His scholarly publications focus on the issue of cruelty in ethics and intellectual history. He is the founder and co-editor of the electronic journal on Nordic and Mediterranean studies "Nordicum-Mediterraneum". (Italy / Roman Catholic)
Rev. Dr Ronald William Duty
Rev. Duty is assistant director for studies in Church and Society for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). He is also co-chair of the ELCA's interunit task force for the Decade for a Culture of Peace & Nonviolence. (USA / Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)
Rev. Dr Drea Fröchtling
Rev. Fröchtling is a member of the core group on theological reflection on peace of WCC's Faith and Order Commission. She has been working in congregations and ecumenical organizations in Germany and South Africa. As of January 2007, she will be working for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa, with a major focus on issues of HIV/AIDS, poverty and overcoming violence. (Germany - South Africa / Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover)
Dr John McCarthy
Dr McCarthy is associate professor of theology at Loyola University Chicago, and a member of the Loyola Centre for Theological Advancement. His field of speciality is fundamental theology, hermeneutics and theologies of culture. (USA / Roman Catholic Church)
Dr Geiko Müller-Fahrenholz
Dr Müller-Fahrenholz is coordinator of the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, to be held in 2011 at the conclusion of the WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence. A retired minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany, he was professor of ecumenical theology and ecological ethics, and director of one of Germany's Protestant academies (in Bad Segeberg and Hamburg). (Germany / Evangelical Lutheran Church)
Dr Bob Schreiter
Dr Schreiter is professor of theology at the Catholic Theological Union Seminary in Chicago, USA. He has written extensively on the theology of reconciliation, and is a consultant to Caritas Internationalis on the theology and spirituality of social reconciliation. (USA / Roman Catholic Church)
Ms Bisan Kassis
Ms Kassis is secretary of the Foundation Palestine in the Netherlands, and an active member of the Palestinian Committee in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. As a student at the University of Erasmus in Rotterdam, she focuses on social policies regarding migrants and ethnic minorities in Rotterdam, and on terrorism and counter-terrorism. (Palestine - Netherlands / Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land)