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© Simone Sinn

The Role of Islam and Christianity in Public Space. Perspectives from Indonesia and Germany

International Conference

Date: 26 to 28 September 2025
Location: JO 1, Johannisstr. 4, University of Münster, Germany
Hosts: Center for Islamic Theology and the Department of Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology at the University of Münster

 

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© Pexels/Afif Ramdhasuma

Islam and Christianity in public space – German-Indonesian exchange at the University of Münster

Starting on 26 September at the University of Münster, an international conference will address the public role of Islam and Christianity, and their contribution to democracy in Indonesia. ‘Like those in Germany, Muslim and Christian communities in Indonesia are faced with the question of how to promote democracy and deal constructively with conflicts over religion’, say the organisers of the three-day conference, Protestant theologian and religious studies scholar Simone Sinn and Islamic theologian Mouhanad Khorchide from the Cluster of Excellence ‘Religion and Politics’.

Indonesia is a religiously plural country with the world's largest Muslim population. Indonesian Islam is distinct and unique, its manifold everyday practices, its educational institutions as well as Islamic scholarship are thriving. Substantial scholarship on religion and democracy, analysing the changing landscapes of democratic life and the role of religion in public life, has emerged in Indonesia. Islamic and Christian scholarship has significantly engaged in contemporary issues of societal change: education, gender relations, ecology, and interreligious relations.  

Germany is known as the country where the Protestant Reformation started in the 16th century and changed the religious landscape of Europe. A new chapter in the complex relationship between religion and politics opened up with the Westphalian Peace treaty, signed in 1648 in Münster. The religious landscape in Germany has been changing in recent times, mostly through migration and secularisation: Christianity has become much more diverse and the Muslim community has been growing. For many centuries, Germany has been a stronghold for academic theology, both Protestant and Catholic. Since almost 15 years, Centers for Islamic Theology have been established, with Münster being the lead center in this field.

Today, Münster is one of Germany’s renown university cities with the biggest hub for theological scholarship in Europe, with a Protestant faculty, a Catholic faculty, a Center for Islamic theology, and a Center for Religious Studies. These institutions have started to intensify their collaboration and will move to a new campus in 2026: the Campus of Theologies and Religious Studies. This will be a unique space for collaboration in teaching and research across different theologies and academic disciplines. Similar contemporary issues as in Indonesia are intensively dealt with: new developments in education, gender relations, ecological crises, and interreligious relations. The Center for Islamic Theology hosts the “Corpus Coranicum”, a distinct research institute on the Qur’an.