Religious persecution and theological/missiological education
17 -18 September 2025 Fjellhaug International University College invites you to a research symposium on our campus in Oslo. This Symposium aims to focus on the interrelations between religious persecution and theological/ missiological education, both from a theological perspective, and from a human rights perspective.
The Symposium is co-sponsored by the International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF)
Religious persecution, including the persecution of Christians, is a contemporary global topic of urgency. The same applies to its counterpart, freedom of religion or belief (FORB).
The topic resonates with almost all disciplines in theological and missiological education.
The future ministries of pastors, missionaries and other Christian workers call for equipping in this field. For example, pastors encounter traumatized refugees and persecuted converts. They need to preach on the topic appropriately and integrate it into the lives of their congregations, even for those who do not currently face faith-related disadvantages. Christian workers in countries where Christians are under pressure for their faith need to relate the Biblical message to the context and operate wisely. The staff of advocacy agencies is seeking best practices and ethical guidelines on gathering and sharing information on FORB and FORB violations.
Theological educators in different contexts need to ask themselves whether the topics of persecution and FORB are sufficiently anchored in their curriculum and whether the curricula are adequate for the respective context.
For the purposes of this symposium theological and missiological education is understood broadly as educating, teaching, and equipping for ministry of any Christian workers. This can range from Bible School to higher theological education, from adult education to further professional training of pastors. It includes both the perspectives of educators and learners.
The scope of the focus topic ranges from the more theological loci of suffering for Christ, persecution, and martyrdom to the more human rights-oriented aspects of religious discrimination and FORB for all.
This symposium aims to examine the intersections between these two fields: religious persecution and theological/missiological education.
Possible perspectives are complementary: from inside of contexts of pressure as well as from outside context of contexts of pressure, reflecting on the challenges of the body of Christ.
The topic can be approached from the angle of any individual discipline represented at educational institutions for theologians, pastors, missionaries and Christian workers.
Numerous questions can be raised (not restricted to the following):
3-4 experienced plenary speakers from different contexts will highlight some of the above questions.
Theological educators, pastors, missionaries and Christian workers and any other interested researchers are invited to submit paper proposal on any of these and further related topics. Paper proposals may be on different academic levels, from scholarly research to practitioner reports and reflections. Presenters may hail from (or minister in) Europe and beyond, and the variety of contexts and perspectives is appreciated. There is space for contributions that focus more on questions of theological/missiological education as well as those which focus more on the material content that might be taught.
Please send your abstract (200-300 words) before 1 June 2025 to forskning@fjellhaug.no
You will be notified of acceptance before 1 July 2025.
Each researcher is given 15-20 minutes to present his/her paper.
Responses and comments will follow the presentation in the plenum. Each paper will be given 30 minutes or more depending on the number of participants and papers. If there are many papers, some of the paper sessions will be divided into groups.
An abstract of the paper will be made available for the symposium participants.
The presentation and the responses will be in English.
Big screen and sound system are available. Presenters can use their own PC.
The presenters are free to publish their papers where they find it expedient.
The symposium will primarily be for researchers; academically interested practitioners are also invited.
For any questions, please contact forskning@fjellhaug.no
Prof. Dr. mult. Thomas Schirrmacher. President of the International Council of the International Society for Human Rights, President of the International Institute for Religious Freedom.
Dr. Sara Afshari. Oxford Center for Mission Studies.
Prof. Dr. Jelle Creemers. ETF Leuven. Professor of Religious Studies and Missiology. Director of the Institute for the Study of Freedom of Religion or Belief (ISFORB).
Kristina Patring. Swedish Mission Council - Advisor / ETF Leuven - Research Fellow.
Other researchers are encouraged to present papers. The symposium welcomes research related to this topic from both various theological disciplines and other fields of research.
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Religious persecution and theological/missiological education
President of the International Council of the International Society for Human Rights, President of the International Institute for Religious Freedom. (Germany)
The idea of religious freedom originated from religious minorities within Christianity and from the minority of Jews. Therefore, Christians and Jews must confidently participate in the global promotion and implementation of this idea, even though it is now shared by people of all religions and beliefs as part of the canon of human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The study of persecution and martyrdom must find its way back to the heart of Christian systematic theology and become an integral part of every subject of theological studies, e.g. Christology, ecclesiology, church history, ethics, missiology or pastoral care.
The same applies to the more general question of freedom of religion or belief, and theologians should be able to provide its basis in dogma and political ethics in a way that is clear and easy to understand. This includes a critical study of the ways in which Christianity has lived up to or violated its own standards throughout history.
In addition to theological perspectives, Christians are always interested in secular and empirical perspectives that test reality in history and the present. Thus, every known academic field of research has a potential to help describe, evaluate, and ameliorate issues of religious freedom suppression, whether the victims belong to the Christian faith or to any other major or minor faith.
This paper is a call to Christian scholars in all relevant fields of academic research to engage in religious freedom studies and to join this growing global community of scholars. But it is also a call to Christian scholars to collaborate with scholars of all faiths or none, and to present the results of their research in such a way that they can be shared and discussed with any scholar of good will around the world, also making them accessible for media, governments, and parliaments, which usually represent a mix of worldviews.
Examples will be given from fields in which the speaker himself has been involved globally over the past four decades, such as systematic theology, political ethics, cultural anthropology, sociology of religion, historical studies, and interreligious dialogue.
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Dr. Sara Afshari.
From Good Friday to Resurrection: A Communal Theological Framework for Teaching on the Persecution of Christians
Oxford Center for Mission Studies. (England and Iran)
This paper offers a communal theological framework for understanding and teaching on the persecution of Christians, ingrained in the biblical pattern of Good Friday (suffering), Holy Saturday (waiting and uncertainty), and Easter Sunday (resurrection and hope). Drawing on the experiences of Christian communities, particularly in the Global South, this paper resists the individualization and instrumentalization of persecution, offering instead a vision that honors its sacred and ecclesial nature, while also acknowledging the critical aspect of identity sustainability (rooted in waiting in-between) within the local church context.
Building on existing theological accounts, this paper engages contextual theological education and missiological implications for both high-pressure and low-pressure contexts. It explores how the communal nature of persecution shapes Christian formation, discipleship, and leadership development in theological institutions using the Episcopal Church in Kerman, Iran as a case study. Furthermore, it examines how theological educators can move beyond Western-centric narratives and incorporate solidarity, resilience, and ecclesial suffering into curricula, recognizing that persecution, like suffering itself, is often a shared experience, as explored in Suffering, persecution and martyrdom – Theological reflections (Sauer & Howell, 2010).
By drawing on existing sources, this paper will argue for a shift away from persecution as an evangelistic tool toward a deeper understanding of persecution as a shared, sacred witness. This communal vision (grounded in the biblical framework of Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday), situates suffering and living-in-between as integral to Christian identity and better equips the church to theologically, pastorally, and educationally respond to persecution in an increasingly complex world. It calls for a nuanced approach that acknowledges the socio-political realities (waiting and uncertainty) of persecution while preserving a focus on its spiritual implication, echoing the call for a balanced perspective found in many contemporary theological discussions on the topic.
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Prof. Dr. Jelle Creemers.
Education on Religion and Law, FORB and Persecution at Christian Higher Education Institutions: Challenges and Opportunities
ETF Leuven. Professor of Religious Studies and Missiology. Director of the Institute for the Study of Freedom of Religion or Belief (ISFORB). (Belgium)
Christian higher education institutions, including seminaries and faculties of theology and religious studies, typically aim at the formation of Christian leaders for church and society. Such leaders will without doubt be confronted with challenges at the intersection of religion, human rights and society. In some sociopolitical contexts, this may mean being prepared for answering to societal discrimination and religious persecution. In other contexts, it may mean reconsidering the role of a shrinking Christian presence in a secularizing society. In still other contexts, it may mean being aware of the own societal power and taking care to not engage in discriminatory practices themselves.
Christian higher education institutions therefore need to prepare their students to constructively deal with such complicated questions. This requires them to achieve not only basic understandings of how societies work, but also of (human rights) law, religious diversity, the state, secularity, mechanisms of exclusion and discrimination ànd theological tools to interpret realities and activate responses.
This paper will give attention to key challenges and opportunities of Christian higher education institutions in this regard. It will first carefully consider challenges in the construction of courses which deal with religion and law, FORB, and persecution, giving attention to cultural and contextual variations. Second, it will provide concrete proposals for curriculum development, integrating fundamental readings, good practices and our experience at the Institute for the Study of Freedom of Religion or Belief at ETF Leuven. In sum, we plead for Christian higher education institutions to not leave this thematic to faculties of law, canon law, or sociology, but to learn from them in view of the formation of the students entrusted to us.
Empowerment for FORB Literacy: Learning from SCM-Faith in Development
Swedish Mission Council – Advisor FORB / ETF Leuven - Research Fellow.
SMC – Faith in Development (SMC) has 16 years of experience promoting Freedom of Religion or Belief (FORB) as a human right for all. What started as a rather small FORB advocacy work has now grown to include organisational capacity building and the collaborative development of awareness-raising and training tools with partners. With learning resources and tools in 24 languages, the SMC-initiated and developed ‘FORB Learning Platform’ is today a go-to provider of training, digital courses and learning materials on FORB for Churches, Christian Development organisations, Ecumenical platforms such as the World Council of Churches, civil society globally and multilateral state actors such as the European Union.
I have had the privilege of being part of SMC’s FORB journey for 12 years. When I joined the SMC in 2013 my task was to build and develop its capacity development on FORB from the bottom up. Through this journey I’ve drawn inspiration from Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard who writes “If One Is Truly to Succeed in Leading a Person to a Specific Place, One Must First and Foremost Take Care to Find Him Where He is and Begin There.” In many ways, this quote reflects the Scandinavian tradition of people’s education which is so strongly influenced by Paulo Freire’s pedagogical thinking. Empowerment, aimed at a decolonisation of FORB work and room for local actors to develop their own operational strategies in combination with the development of open-source materials, was part of our vision from the start.
During my presentation, I will share lessons from the SMC’s journey, going from having had no FORB capacity development to becoming a global leader within this area, not least through the ‘FORB Learning Platform’. I will also introduce some of the different resources we have developed throughout these years. Thereby continuing our vision to enable various actors, including those involved in theological and missional education, to develop response strategies to the challenges that religious persecution and FORB violations present today.
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The symposium will take place at Fjellhaug International University College, campus Oslo, Sinsenveien 15, 0572 Oslo, Norway.
There is no fee for the symposium.
Fjellhaug offers meals that can be bought separately:
Lunch 95 NOK
Dinner 120/150 NOK (without/with dessert)
Breakfast 55 NOK
Several hotels in different price ranges are available within reasonable travel distance, for instance:
