Hope

The fourth Religious Education and Theology Study Day of the Institute of Catholic Theology on January 17, 2018 focused on the fundamental Christian concept of hope . Almost 100 participants came together at Holländischer Platz to explore the question of what critical potential the Christian message of salvation can unfold today. The colorful mix of participants, which ranged from students to pre-service teachers to teachers, was enriching.

The two keynote speeches at the beginning of the event took very different approaches to the topic.

Dr. Franz-Josef Nocke, Professor Emeritus of Dogmatics at the University of Essen, entitled his lecture "What does hope mean for life in these times?". In fact, however, he went far beyond this by tracing the change in hopes in the 20th and 21st centuries, repeatedly classifying them theologically and illustrating them with biographical experiences.

Dr. Monika Jakobs, Professor of Religious Education in Lucerne, spoke on the topic "Between hope and fear. Thinking about final questions with children and young people". She covered a wide range of topics, from the developmental psychology of children and young people to specific materials for religious education.
The discussions that followed also clearly showed that the topic of hope is able to inspire controversial theological thinking in people today. Various workshops attempted to find answers as to how this can also be achieved in schools.

In addition to the workshop by Dr. Julia Lis from the Institute for Theology and Politics in Münster, which explored the socio-critical implications of the Christian concept of hope under the slogan "Christian hope is militant" (Pope Francis), four workshops worked specifically on the implementation of the topic in religious education.

Vanessa Braun and Stefan Josef Schmitt organized a workshop on the topic "Obeying God more than people. Strengthen personality - gain freedom". Other workshops focused on different methodological approaches. For example, Eberhard Streier (consultant for religious education media work in the diocese of Essen) gave an insight into three relevant short films under the title "RISING HOPE - images of hope in international short films" and worked with the participants to develop ways of making them accessible in religious education lessons. Dr. Eva Willebrand worked on dimensions of hope in children's and youth books and Josephina Barba together with Christine Gebhard & Anja Böddeker on motifs of hope in images and music in religious education.

Overall, the study day covered a wide range of topics, from fundamental theological questions to suggestions for specific teaching methods.