Prof. Dr. theol. Andrea Bieler

Much public discussion about migration in Europe focuses on the conflicts and challenges related to increased religious diversity due to Muslim migration to Europe. The proposed research project aims to shift this attention to the neglected topic of how Christians of different ethnic backgrounds live together in their respective religious communities, practice their faith, and negotiate difference and conflict. This topic has not been sufficiently attended to with regard to public perception or academic research. The research project Conviviality in Motion explores the practices and theologies that emerge from these communities, asks if and how these communities cultivate an affective and religiously grounded sense of belonging, and investigates to which extent they develop a distinct religious expression of being church together. The project focuses on six Christian communities in Switzerland, Italy, and Germany that consist of autochthonous members and migrants. They have been selected because of their documented histories of engendering convivial practices, negotiating ethnic diversity, and living through crises as well as triumphs. In addition, they consciously see these practices as foundational to their Christian self-understanding and consequently experiment with shared leadership models. Finally, most of them have been partially recognized by their denominations as examples of important emerging practices within congregations.Conviviality is understood here - less as a normative concept - but rather as a set of practices that are in constant motion. These practices shift between fleeting and committed relationships, between informal and formalized interactions, and between routinized and improvised performances. We assume that people draw on and refine their religious and cultural resources as they seek to establish ways of living together. Understanding conviviality as a process in motion is helpful when considering encounters that shift between recognition and misrecognition as diverse people within the same religious community strive for a sense of belonging while simultaneously negotiating boundaries across lines of perceived difference. The project proceeds from a preliminary concept of Conviviality in Motion that will serve as a shared frame of reference for the empirical part of the study. This will consist of three multi-sited ethnographic studies of multiethnic Christian communities in Switzerland, Germany, and Italy and two cross-sectional studies. The first cross-sectional study will attend to the interaction between Christians and Muslims that appears to be a pivotal common thread to all field sites; the second cross-sectional study will compare and synthesize all findings in light of an empirically grounded theological account of Conviviality in Motion. This project will triangulate the three ethnographical methods, namely participant observation, document analysis, and episodic interviews, through which a wide range of data will be gathered and analyzed. The aim of the entire project is twofold. First, to develop an empirically grounded concept of Conviviality in Motion that will contribute to theological conversations about the meaning of being church in times of increasing diversification of social spaces. The proposed project intends to make a contribution to an empirically informed ecclesiology by reflecting on multiethnic dynamics in local congregations as a genuine topic for theological deliberation. Second, the research results will be instructive for organizations that strive towards enhancing multiethnic conviviality. The project taps into crucial questions of diversity research that seeks to move beyond an understanding of integration as a one-way street. By turning to such practices of ethnically diverse religious communities we might gain a deeper understanding about processes of mutual interaction and change concerning society as a whole.

«Nicht mehr nur sich selbst genügen!» Dieser Slogan treibt Landeskirchen im ganzen deutschsprachigen Raum um und dazu an strukturelle Veränderungen voranzubringen, die interkulturelle Öffnung ermöglichen und unterstützen. In meinem Promotionsprojekt untersuche ich diese Entwicklungen im Kontext der Badischen Landeskirche. Den Schwerpunkt der Untersuchung bildet dabei die Analyse eines interkulturellen Kirchenzentrums. In diesem leben, feiern und gestalten fünf Gemeinden verschiedener Herkunft, Grösse, Struktur und Sprache in den gleichen Räumen Gottesdienste und Gemeindeleben. Wie kann aus einem Mietverhältnis (professionelle) Freundschaft und produktive Leidenschaft für eine gelebte interkulturelle Ökumene entstehen? Welche theologischen Motive und Narrative treten in den verschiedenen Settings auf und welche Rolle spielen sie im Zusammenleben? Welche sogenannten Coping-Strategien wurden entwickelt, um mit Herausforderungen zu bewältigen? Im Rahmen eines qualitativ-empirischen Forschungsdesign, das sich der Methodologie der reflexiven Grounded Theory und der Sequenzanalyse bedient, gehe ich diesen und weiteren Fragen nach. Auf der Grundlage der empirisch erhobenen Daten innerhalb der nächsten zwei Jahre soll eine Studie mittlerer Reichweite entstehen, die sowohl eine detaillierte Analyse des Kirchenzentrums, als auch Erkenntnisse grösserer Reichweite liefern soll. Dabei weisen die Ergebnisse der empirischen Forschung über sich hinaus und diskutieren grundsätzliche theologische und interdisziplinäre Modelle zu Fragen des affectiv belongings , der Konvivienz und des Zusammenlebens (c onviviality) , des affirmativen Umgangs mit Verschiedenheit, der Kybernetik und des Selbstverständnis von christlichen Gemeinden.

This volume explores religious discourses and practices of hospitality in the context of migration. It articulates the implied ambivalences and even contradictions as well as the potential to contribute to a more just world through social interconnection with others. The book features contributors from diverse national, denominational, cultural, and racial backgrounds. Their essays reveal a dichotomy of hospitality between guest and host, while tackling the meaning of home or the loss of it, interrogating both the peril and promise of the relationship between religion, chiefly Christianity, and hospitality, and focusing on the role of migrants' vulnerability and agency, by drawing from empirical, theological, sociological and anthropological insights emerged from postcolonial migration contexts. Co-editors are: Prof. Dr. HyeRan Kim-Cragg (University of Sakatoon/Canada) Prof. Dr. Isolde Karle (University of Bochum/Germany) Prof. Dr. Ilona Nord (University of Würzburg/Germany)

Development of a series of workshops which will be held for scholars and praciticioners of health care delivery at the University of Chicago and at the University of Basel. Following the Workshop a publication is planned.

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