Transformative Learning in Times of Crisis: Compassion as an Integrative Approach to Peace and Sustainability?!
Date: October 15–17, 2025
Venue: University of Bonn, Impulse Center (”Ermekeil Villa”, Adenauerallee 131)
Overview:
In 2025, societies around the globe are confronted with an intensification of both global and local crises, ranging from political upheavals and environmental catastrophes to the long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and an escalating threat of war. Geopolitical tensions and increasing social polarization are further undermining the stability of existing economic, ecological, and cultural structures. Within this intricate web of challenges, an urgent question arises: What ethical, spiritual, and educational resources are available to shape processes of societal transformation in constructive and sustainable ways? In this context, religious education is increasingly being understood as a “crisis discipline” — one that not only seeks to critically engage with existential questions but also provides frameworks for orientation and actionable perspectives. The notion of crisis is thus not merely interpreted as a state of emergency or threat, but rather as a conceptual locus of theological reflection and anthropological decision-making. Against this backdrop, the paradigm of compassion, as developed by Johann Baptist Metz, gains renewed significance. Understood as a passionate solidarity with the suffering of others, compassion points to a spirituality of resistance — one that has the potential to activate individual and collective capacities for repentance, responsibility, and transformative action. In its performative depth, it offers a powerful foundation for peace education that transcends mere exhortation and becomes a concrete expression of theological recognition and global justice. The forthcoming conference will therefore explore the multifaceted interrelations between compassion, sustainable development, and peacebuilding.
Conference Objectives:
The conference seeks to foreground the triad of compassion, sustainable development, and peacebuilding as key perspectives for a theologically grounded and socially engaged approach to religious education. At its core lies an analysis of compassion as an integrative paradigm for transformative learning in times of multiple crises, both as an ethical-anthropological disposition of the individual and as a collective principle of social and ecological action.
CfP/ CfC: Transformatives Lernen in Krisenzeiten: Compassion
Particular attention will be given to the role of religious education within the horizon of global justice: as a critical instance that accompanies and reflects processes of social and ecological transformation, and as a pedagogical space in which spirituality, ethical discernment, and political agency are interwoven. The conference thus aims to develop concrete educational approaches that contribute to shaping a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world.
Target Audience:
• Scholars from the fields of theology, religious education, social sciences, and environmental studies
• Educators and professionals working in educational institutions in crisis and conflict areas
• Theologians and religious leaders active in community work and peacebuilding Students interested in exploring the role of education in times of crisis and the challenges of sustainability and social justice
• Practitioners and activists working in interreligious dialogue, social justice, and sustainable development.
Call for Contributions:
We invite scholars in theology and religious education as well as practitioners from related fields, to submit proposals addressing the following thematic areas:
1. Compathic Spirituality as a Theological Resource: What potential does a spirituality shaped by compassion offer for religious education in times of crisis? How can it function as a transformative, interreligious, and emancipatory force in promoting social justice and sustainable development?
2. Compassion and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): In what ways can the paradigm of compassion contribute, both ethically and practically, to the implementation of the SDGs? What perspectives can religious education offer for integrating ecological, economic, and social objectives?
3. Interreligious Approaches to Sustainability and Justice: Which concepts and practices from diverse religious traditions promote a sustainable and solidaristic way of life? How can compassion be understood as a bridge in interreligious dialogue and as a catalyst for collective action?
4. Compassion as a Practice of Social Solidarity: What pedagogical approaches can foster compassion as a socially transformative disposition? In what ways can religious education create spaces where Mit-Leidenschaft (compassionate co-suffering) contributes to social and ecological transformation?
5. Peacebuilding and Societal Transformation: How can compassion be conceptualized as a foundation for peace education? What roles can religious education—as a “discipline of crisis”—assume in critically and creatively accompanying processes of societal change?
6. Compassion as an Ethical and Political Challenge: How can compassion serve as a guiding resource in social and political conflicts without becoming paternalistic or depoliticizing? What theological and ethical tensions emerge in this context, and how might critical reflections on the notion of compassion enrich both discourse and practice?
Submission Deadline: July 31, 2025
Please submit your abstract (max. 300 words) along with a short biography (max. 150 words) to mdom1@uni-bonn.de. An academic committee will review all submissions. Notification of acceptance will be sent by August 15, 2025. Full papers for the conference proceedings are to be submitted by May 1, 2026. Registration for participation in the conference is also possible until July 31, 2025, via the same email address.
Conference Language: German and English
Contact: Please get in touch with PD Dr. Maike Maria Domsel (mdom1@uni-bonn.de) for further information and inquiries.
We look forward to your contributions and to an inspiring, interdisciplinary discussion on compassion as a transformative force in times of crisis!