JCM Conference 2021
How does the time of isolation change our ideas about religious community?

8 - 14 February 2021 in Vallendar, Germany
The pandemic, regardless of whether one counts it as the most relevant crisis of the time or criticises the measures taken to fight it as exaggerated, is having an impact on our everyday life everywhere. In the last months the isolation has led to a changed sense of time, to new types of social contacts and especially for people of faith, to a rethinking in areas of worship, spiritual welfare and coping with contingency. The pandemic is now testing the foundation of every Abrahamic religion, the community. Times of crisis have always reinforced search for meaning. Will the problem of isolation lead in the long term to a reversal of individualisation and will the sense of community regain a higher status in society?

How do our faith institutions respond to feelings of loneliness and alienation? Can faith and religiosity in psychological terms relieve the burden at all, and if so, how? Streaming events by religious communities have drawn greater attendance than local in-person worship. But does it touch people as deeply as an in-person real-life services that allows personal encounter and involvement and do these satisfy religious needs or are they just another means against boredom next to Youtube, Netflix and Co.?

The 2021 conference will attempt to discover how this crisis challenged and will continue to challenge life and works of our religious communities and how we can sustain ourselves and our dialogue. What will we need to leave behind and what can we learn from and with one another?

JCM Conference 2021 Online

8 - 14 February 2021 online
Due to the current Coronavirus pandemic, there will be an option to attend parts of the conference online. Please consider this primarily as a back-up option as we will not be able to offer full participation online. Registration for online attendance is open until 1 February 2021.

JCM Conference 2020
Religious Responses to Terror and Trauma

Our 47th conference explored the religious responses to terror and trauma. If you missed the conference or need a reminder about the 2020 conference, you can find details on this website. We look forward to welcome you in 2021.