ProMundis Blogposts

A double Standard: Driving Jews out of the Islamic World

Between 1948 and 1970 850,000 to 1,000,000 Jews were driven out of Arab countries, where until that time they had lived peacefully for hundreds of years. While Palestinians are mentioned daily in the media and the call is made for grandchildren and great grandchildren of once displaced Palestinians to be returned to their homeland, no one speaks about displaced Jews any more. The World Organization ... [Read more]

Fundamentalism is a militant Truth Claim

My German paperback Fundamentalism was published in the ‘compact’ series (Publisher: SCM Hänssler). In that book I allow myself, as a sociologist of religion, to throw my definition of fundamentalism into the ring. In my opinion one should only refer to fundamentalism if violence is involved or when a true danger for domestic safety exists. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks fundamentalism is ... [Read more]

Troops killed as martyrs for God? Something startling in Edinburgh

Even as a teenager and then later as a visitor at the Scottish National War Museum atop Edinburgh Castle (see photo), I found the combination of honoring soldiers and the Chris-tian faith, or at least belief in God, to be shocking. Yet this time, for the first time, I had the opportunity to make an official visit and look closely at the inscriptions and photos. Addi-tionally, in the meantime I have ... [Read more]

Helping like Joseph

Church history in general, and the history of pietistic, Evangelical, and pious streams of faith have been deeply characterized by ever new Christian movements bringing hope for all layers of society and acting as particular advocates for victims of sin, regardless of whether it was their own sin, the sin of others, or collective sins. One can think, for instance, of the Evangelical anti-slavery movement, ... [Read more]

My Great Grandfather’s Confession of Faith

My ancestors were Reformed Hugenots, who came from Salzburg to Prussia and finally settled in Danzig and Königsberg. My great grandfather Friedrich Schirrmacher (1790-1827), who was the director of the Petrischule (Petri School) in Danzig, left behind the following handwritten confession of faith, which is also my own conconfession: My Confession of Faith From the beginning the Evangelical church ... [Read more]

Luther as a carved Medieval Figure?

What a surprise! The picture of a medieval pulpit above shows Martin Luther at the far right as a carved apostle. And placed next to the church fathers St. Augustine and Gregory the Great!? Were prophetic wood carvers at work there? And what would Luther think about that? To be put on the same level as St. Augustine? Or even with the four Evangelists and St. Paul? And on top of that next to the founder ... [Read more]

Tokyo 2010

2000 missionary leaders from 140 countries – primarily representing the largest Protestant missionary societies – met for a four-day world missions conference entitled “Tokyo 2010 – Global Mission Consultation” in Japan in commemoration of the 100-year anniversary of the first world missions conference in Edinburgh in 1910. At the same time, the conference was a direct continuation of ... [Read more]

A Society of Hate

In addition to the newspapers to which I directly subscribe, every couple of hours I go on the internet and look at a number of newspapers and magazines for the newest news stories. Additionally, via a number of keywords Google-Alert supplies me with links to current reports and events. However, when I read the commentaries and blog discussions under these headings, I shudder. Next to the many subject-specific ... [Read more]

Polanski: Compassion towards the Offender, no Regret for the Action or towards the Victim

Let the big ones get away The Zurich film festival, the Berlinale and many other art and media people are protesting the arrest of Roman Polanski. More remarkable is the sympathy they have with the offender. In not a single press release or statement has one read that it is detestable to sexually abuse a 13 year old girl who is purposely given drugs. Here is the background history: 1. Roman Polanski ... [Read more]

Suicide Attacks in Islam

The fundamentalism debate often makes the incorrect assumption that violent, religious fundamentalists want a return to a premodern era. Journalists, who so eagerly want to link everything and everyone to fundamentalism, take little notice of what is scientifically demonstrable or not. However, theories on fundamentalism are often established in the ivory tower before any sort of concrete movements ... [Read more]

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