​Rev Mirko Lipski-Reinhardt

Rev Mirko Lipski-Reinhardt is the pastor of the Protestant Church in Hünxe, Germany. Originally from the Western part of Germany, he studied theology in Wuppertal, Oslo, and Berlin. Being a pastor is not unusual in Mirko’s family as his mother started that tradition. Mirko attributes his faith and his belief to his grandmother and grandfather. He has developed a project on Instagram focusing on religion, society, and everyday life, which was recognized with a special media award. In addition to his general work in the congregation, Mirko is also responsible for the public relation and social media work of his church.

Kübra Böler

Kübra Böler was born 1993 in Rendsburg, a town in Northern Germany. She is a religious scholar, presently doing her Masters in Religious Studies within the Academy of World Religions at the University of Hamburg on ‘Religions, Dialogue and Education.’ She has been writing poetry passionately for the last ten years and coordinates a project ‘KursivDenker’ which invites youth and young people to develop their personality through creative means. They’re planning to publish a magazine this coming year.

​Dr. Joshua Edelman

Josh is senior lecturer at the Manchester School of Theatre, Manchester Metropolitan University. Though his original training is in the anthropology of religion, he has worked for over a decade as a theatre director, largely in Dublin and New York. His research looks at both theatre and religion as fields of social performance, especially in the contemporary West. ​Josh is the principal investigator for BRIC-19, a research project examining how British religious communities have adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions it has imposed. The project aims to document, analyse, and understand the new ways that religious communities are coming together, and to use those findings to help make religious communities stronger and more resilient for the future.

by Dr. Jabal Buaben
Muslim Lecture Part II 2015

‘Arguably, the most dangerous disease which now afflicts the Muslim Ummah is the disease of disagreement and discord. This disease has become all-pervasive and affects every area, town and society. Its appalling influence has penetrated into ideas and beliefs, morality and behavior, and ways of speaking and interacting. It has affected both short and long-term goals and objectives. Like a specter, it finally envelops people´s souls. It poisons the atmosphere and leaves hearts sterile and desolate. Multitudes of people are left contending  with one another, and the impression is given that all the Islamic teachings , commands and prohibitions at the disposal of the Ummah are there only to spur people on to discord and make them revel in internecine strife.’

by Halima Krausen
Muslim Lecture Part I 2015

By Pastor Heike Rödder
Christian Lecture 2015

I have been a woman from birth, but I left the work of women:
baskets and winding yarn, threads made taut on the bits of paper.
The blossoming meadows of the muses give me joy,
the choirs on high Parnassus,
which rises up doubly.
Other women might be happy with other things:
This alone brings me fame, this alone is my happiness!

by Rabbi Mark Solomon
Jewish Lecture 2015