Conference on ‘Poverty: Problem and Path’ in Utrecht

Together with Fachstelle Franziskanische Forschung (FFF) and 1219 Religions- und Kulturdialog, who organized a conference on April 9-11 2015 in Munster, the Franciscan Studycentre has organized a two-day conference about poverty in Utrecht. The dual conference Munster-Utrecht discussed poverty in different scientific perspectives and brought these perspectives in dialogue with experiential stories and practices. Krijn Pansters (Tilburg School of Theology) opened the conference by asking the questions of poverty as ‘sin’ and ‘virtue’. The first part of the conference approached poverty as a economical, historical and sociological problem. The second part of the conference consisted of philosophical, ethical and missiological perspectives. The third part of the conference treated poverty as a spiritual way. The fourth was a Franciscan part. Jean-François Godet-Calogeras (St. Bonaventure University) described the poverty of Francis and Clare. Jan van den Eijnden OFM and Hans van Bemmel OFM went into practices of poverty today. Timothy Johnson (Flagler College, St. Augustine) analyzed a quotation on the poverty of Francis in the newly discovered Celano, which causes him to approach poverty as a mode of interaction with all bodies within the creation, thus a relational experience. The dean of the Tilburg School of Theology, Marcel Sarot, closed the conference by referring back to the e-mail with which it started. The dual conference in Münster and Utrecht wil be published at Aschendorff Verlag. For more information: http://armut-armoede-poverty.net/ For the complete text in English: [attachments size=small fields="title" target=1 docid="9820"]