Seminar "Shared and Contested Spaces: Islam and Christianity in Istanbul" - April 6 - 12, 2015
„Shared and Contested Religious Spaces: Islam and Christianity“ – this was the title under which a group of students from our university undertook a one week field trip to Istanbul from 6th to 12th of April. The group (among them students of Theology, Comparative Religion, Islamic Studies and Cultural Anthropology) was led by Prof. Dr. Hintersteiner (Institute of Missiology and the Study of Theologies beyond Europe) in cooperation with Marmara University, Turkey. The aim of the programme was to not only educate the students on the relationship and the history of Islam and Christianity in the European-Asian border through lectures, but to give them the opportunity to visit and experience the sites themselves. Thus the programme entailed visits to important historical places (e.g. Hagia Sophia; Eyüp Mosque, Blue Mosque and others) as well as a shared study programme with students of Marmara Universities department of Islamic Theology.
The accompanying lectures of the programme were held in the rooms of the Holy Trinity Patriarchal & Stavropegial Monastery on the Island of Halki, former location of one of the most prolific Theological schools of the Greek-Orthodox Christian world. The Abbot Prof. Dr. Lambriniadis, Metropolitan of Bursa kindly hosted our group and held the programmes opening speech.
After a week of lectures, field trips and debates, the programme ended with participation in the feast of Easter at the Patriarchal Basilica of St. George, presided by Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, at one of the most important Patriarchates in the Orthodox world.
The Programme proved to be a success not only in educating the students and giving them a unique opportunity and unique experiences, but also in establishing the basis for a future cooperation between Münster and Marmara University, Holy Trinity Monastery on Halki and also the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
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