{"id":22968,"date":"2025-05-06T14:14:05","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T14:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/?p=22968"},"modified":"2025-05-06T14:19:53","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T14:19:53","slug":"european-theology-teachers-rethink-ministry-in-digital-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/european-theology-teachers-rethink-ministry-in-digital-age\/","title":{"rendered":"European Theology Teachers Rethink Ministry In Digital Age"},"content":{"rendered":"

6 May 2025 | Valencia, Spain [Andrea Cramer, Inter-European Division News]<\/p>\n

As March drew to a close, Adventist European theologians gathered at Sagunto Adventist College in Valencia, Spain, for the European Theological Teachers Convention (ETTC). The theme for this year\u2019s event was \u2018Rethinking the Church in the Digital Age: Theological, Missiological and Pedagogical Considerations\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n

The keynote speakers at the 18\u201322 March conference were: Elias Brasil de Souza, Director of the Biblical Research Institute at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (BRI); Tihomir Lazic, Lecturer in Theology at Newbold College of Higher Education (NCHE); Ken Shaw, President of Southern Adventist University (SAU); Martin Klingbeil, Professor of Old Testament at Friedensau Adventist University (FAU); and L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Szab\u00f3, Director of the Arthur Daniells Institute of Mission Studies (ADIMIS). FAU lecturers Igor Lorencin and Bojan Godina also presented papers.<\/p>\n

\"\"
From left to right: Kayle de Waal, Elias Brasil de Souza, Tihomir Lazic, Gabriel Monet (Dean, Adventist University of France) and Ken Shaw take a question from the audience.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As digital and technological developments continue to reshape the world, the Adventist Church faces both new challenges and fresh opportunities. Speakers examined theological, missiological and pedagogical perspectives, critically analysing how digital technology is influencing Church identity, community dynamics, mission strategies and education. At the heart of their discussions was a central question: how can the Church thrive in a digital age while remaining anchored in its core beliefs and values?<\/p>\n

Embedded in every European theologians\u2019 convention is the meeting of the European Adventist Society of Theology and Religious Studies<\/a> (EASTRS), a scholarly society for Adventist academics in all fields of theology and religion. At the end of the conference, L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Szab\u00f3 took office as President of EASTRS for the next two years, succeeding Tihomir Lazic. Stefan H\u00f6schele, FAU professor, continues to serve as Secretary, a role he has held since 2017.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the event, FAU Rector, Roland Fischer, noted, \u201cThe large turnout of around 80 participants from both the Inter-European Division (EUD) and the Trans-European Division (TED) was impressive; even a representative from Ukraine was present with his family. A big thank you for the overwhelming hospitality of our colleagues from Sagunto.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexander Schulze, FAU Dean of the School of Theology, praised the constructive cooperation between colleagues and their willingness to engage with such a current issue. Sebastian Kuhle was also impressed: \u201cThere was a lively exchange at the conference on a digital church and what this means for theology and the study of theology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerstin Maiwald, FAU research assistant, noted, \u201cThe fact that some universities allow and even promote work with artificial intelligence (AI) in certain areas of study and research was a new perspective for me. It became important to me to take a holistic look at the benefits and limitations of AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin Klingbeil, FAU Professor of Old Testament, viewed the congress from a different perspective: \u201cIt was my first time at the ETTC and I enjoyed being part of the well-represented Friedensau delegation. There were many new colleagues from EUD and TED to meet, and then there were also the familiar faces from my previous places of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Matija Kova\u010devi\u0107, from Adriatic Union College (Visoko Teolo\u0161ko U\u010dili\u0161te), gives a presentation about Ellen White’s strong support for the value of academic study in supporting the church’s mission.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Theology teachers from the Trans-European Division (TED) were well represented, with delegates from NCHE, Adriatic Union College, Belgrade Theological Seminary, Hungarian Adventist Theological College, and the Polish Senior College of Theology and Humanities.<\/p>\n

Kayle De Waal, TED Education Director, commented, \u201cThe convention was stimulating and an absolute joy to attend. The presentations were thought-provoking and will support the Church\u2019s mission, particularly as it grapples with the impact of digital technology on our teaching ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next ETTC conference is scheduled for 2027 and will take place in Maru\u0161evec, Croatia.<\/p>\n

\n

This article was originally published by the Inter-European Division News<\/a> and has been adapted for tedNEWS, with thanks to Andrea Cramer.<\/p>\n

[Photos: David Neal]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Faithful church, digital future. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":22982,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1569,1571,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication-media-technology","category-education-educational-entities","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22968"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23007,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22968\/revisions\/23007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}