I met the Rev. Dr. Martin Robra at Villars-sur-Glâne, a few kilometers outside Geneva, on May 27, 2017. He began working with the World Council of Churches (WCC) in 1994 and in 2006 became the co-secretary of the mixed working group between the WCC and the Catholic Church set up in 1965. I had already spoken with Pastor Robra about the meeting in Lund marking the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.[1] We talked about how all the speeches had been...
It is summer on Coney Island, and clouds and rain are stealing the light from the sky and the colors from the sea. Woody Allen is fond of this place, for it was at Coney Island where he spent happy moments during his childhood. But today it is a place past its prime. In his new film, Wonder Wheel, he has recreated the atmosphere that was present in the 1950s, when colorful crowds populated the beach and the adjacent amusement...
Visiting the so-called “rooms” or “chapels” of St. Aloysius Gonzaga in Rome, to a certain extent one can measure the distance – about four and a half centuries – between our time and his. But he also seems very present, because some things belonging to him – the crucifix, objects for daily use, the letters written in a beautiful script – seem to indicate to the visitor (as if the statue which portrays him very naturally, located in the great...
Introduction Over the last two decades, the Chinese presence across Africa from West to East, South to North, through different projects, like building infrastructure or investing in different sectors, has become conspicuous. When you pass through Addis Ababa – the capital city of Ethiopia and the African Union (AU) – you cannot avoid noticing the new flamboyant offices of the AU built by China, or the new railway that links Ethiopia to the sea. A few months ago, Kenya officially...
Some significant events in 2017 If we wish to outline a future scenario for Europe, it is useful to first recall certain significant events that took place during 2017. The first was at the beginning of the year, on January 31, a few days after the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States. On that date, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, sent a letter to his colleagues - the 27 heads of state and...
For around the last three years, the Chinese leadership has been repeatedly calling religions present on Chinese soil to “sinicize” (zhongguohua).[1] What is meant by this word? Translators of official documents experience difficulties when trying to convey the meaning of a term like zhongguohua. For instance, the translation of Xi Jinping’s report at the start of the 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, in October 2017, reads as follows: “We will fully implement the Party’s basic policy on religious...
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