This Symposium, organized by Fjellhaug International University College (FIUC), aims to focus on issues such as social control, religious compulsion, religious persecution, multireligious coexistence, Christian mission, and religious freedom.
Religious Freedom and Forced Faith - Symposium 2021
Christof Sauer (Prof. FTH Giessen/ETF Leuven)
Todd Huizinga (Religious Freedom Institute)
Frode Ulvund (Prof. University of Bergen)
Ingunn Folkestad Breistein (Prof. Ansgar University College)
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.
Wednesday, 22. September
10.00-10.30 Arrival and Coffee
10.30-11.00 Welcome and overview by Frank Ole Thoresen (rector FIH)
11.00-12.00 Plenary paper “Religious persecution: Definitions, scales and spectrums” by Christof Sauer
12.00-13.00 Lunch
13.00-14.00 Plenary paper “Global Religious Freedom, the United Nations and the West” by Todd Huizinga
14.00-14.30 Coffee Break
14.30-16.15 Papers
““Out of sight out of mind?”- examining the nature of women’s experience of religious persecution” by Vija Herefoss
“Contested religious freedom as a conflict about interpretative authority –The discourse about “sinicizing” Protestant Christianity in contemporary China” by Meiken Buchholz
“Do Protestants in Flanders Still ‘Protest’? Social Self-Presentations of the Recognized Protestant-Evangelical Religion in Flanders.” by Jelle Creemers
“Freedom of religion in the Danish Constitution” by Jesper Aagaard
17.00-18.00 Dinner
18.00-20.00 Coffee and conversations (Social)
Thursday, 23. September
08.00-09.00 Breakfast
09.00-09.30 Morning Prayer (optional)
09.45-10.45 Plenary paper “Toleration, Discrimination, and Exclusion: Religious Otherness within the Scandinavian Nation States, c. 1790–1960” by Frode Ulvund
10.45-11.15 Coffee Break
11.15-12.15 Plenary paper “Religious Freedom and Free Churches: Heritage and present Challenges” by Ingunn F. Breistein
12.15-12.45 Lunch
12.45-14.45 Papers, parallel session (classroom 4)
“Are missionary activities at all possible without coercion? A study of Human Rights documents” by Matthias Adt
“Persecuted Christians in Christian Education” by Tonje Belibi
“Attitudes towards persecution in Second Timothy” by Lars Olav Morstøl
“Did Jesus speak about martyrdom when he told everyone to “’take up one’s cross’?” by Sverre Bøe
13.00-14.30 Papers, parallel session (classroom 2)
“The History of Religious Freedom - From Ancient Athens to the 17th Century” by Peter Olsen
“Freedom of religion and Pietism in Denmark-Norway.” by Kurt E. Larsen
“The ‘Soft Totalitarianism’ of Rod Dreher and its Relevance in a Norwegian Context” by Simeon Ottosen
14.45-15.00 Closing Plenary
Location
The symposium will take place at Fjellhaug International University College, campus Oslo, Sinsenveien 15, 0572 Oslo, Norway (link to location in Google maps).
Symposium Fees
There is no fee for the symposium.
Fjellhaug offer meals that can be bought separately.
Lunch 80nok
Dinner 140nok
Breakfast 50nok
Accommodation
A few rooms are available at Campus Fjellhaug. With single occupation the rooms (including breakfast) cost 550nok, and doble occupation 750nok.
Several hotels in different price ranges are available within reasonable travel distance, for instance:
Statsråd Mathiesens vei 12, 0598 Oslo - directions to Fjellhaug.
Available via Subway (T-bane) from Vollebekk station to Løren Station (five minutes, plus fifteen minutes walking to and from stations).
Vulkan 22, 0175 Oslo - directions to Fjellhaug.
Available by foot (2,7 km) or via bus or tram (25-30 minutes door to door).
Maridalsveien 13A, 0175 Oslo - directions to Fjellhaug.
Available by foot (2,7 km) or via bus or tram (25-30 minutes door to door).
