Search results

If the worsening global inequality highlighted recently is to be tackled, world leadership must act “now”, in tangible ways, says World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, participating in the 2017 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland this week.

The chief cleric of Cairo’s prestigious mosque and university, H.E. Professor Dr Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar al Sharif, has decried the present-day “civilizational crisis” of poverty and insecurity and called for interreligious collaboration to address it.

Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Christian and Buddhist religious leaders met this week in Assisi to discuss peace, while across the ocean in New York City global political leaders assembled at the United Nations also focussed on a troubled world.

“Sebagai seorang professor ekonomi dan etika ekonomi dengan latar belakang teologi, dan sebagai dekan dari sekolah GEM, saya dapat mengatakan bahwa ekonomi pluralistik -- yang saat ini berkembang sebagai inisiatif mahasiswa secara internasional -- merupakan sebuah usaha untuk menantang ekonomi monolithik neo-liberal. Sudah saatnya ada cara berpikir yang baru mengenai ekonomi," demikian pernyataan Prof. Martin Büscher, kepala bidang etika bisnis dan ekonomi di Institut Diakonia dan Manajemen, Universitas Protestan Wuppertal/Bethel, Jerman, pada penutupan sekolah Pemerintahan, Ekonomi dan Manajemen (Governance, Economics and Management/GEM) yang diadakan di Hong Kong pada 22 Agustus - 2 September yang lalu.

由普世教會協會（WCC）及普世改革宗教會聯盟（WCRC）籌辦的「治理、經濟與管理（Governance, Economics and Management, GEM）課程」於2016年8月22日至9月2日在香港舉辦。德國烏伯塔／伯特利改革宗大學（Protestant University of Wuppertal/Bethel）服事與管理學院（Institute for Diakonia and Management）經濟與商業倫理學首席教授馬丁・布舍爾（Martin Büscher）在課程尾聲提到，「身為有神學背景的經濟學及經濟倫理學教授，又是GEM課程的負責人，我認為以國際學生倡議引人注目的多元經濟學對新自由化單一經濟學提出挑戰，以全新思維來面對經濟學的時刻已經到了。」

“As a professor of economics and economic ethics with a theological background, and as dean of the GEM school, I can say that pluralistic economics – getting new prominence as an international student initiative – is an attempt to challenge neo-liberal monolithic economics. It is time for new thinking about economics”, stated Prof. Martin Büscher, first chair for economics and business ethics at the Institute for Diakonia and Management at the Protestant University of Wuppertal/Bethel, Germany, at the conclusion of the Governance, Economics and Management School held in Hong Kong on 22 August-2 September.

The globalization of the world economy has not been an even process, and in many ways governance for the protection of capital has overtaken governance for the protection of human well-being. A recent Ecumenical School on Governance, Economics and Management for an Economy of Life addressed this very asymmetry.

Ein Wirtschaftssystem, das auf hemmungslosem Konsum und Gier beruht, ist ein fester Bestandteil unseres modernen Lebens geworden. Es ist deshalb an der Zeit, dieses Paradigma zu ändern und sich für eine neue Finanz- und Wirtschaftsarchitektur einzusetzen. Der ÖRK gemeinsam mit der WGRK jetzt zum ersten ökumenischen Seminar für Leitung, Wirtschaft und Management mit dem Thema „Für eine Ökonomie des Lebens" in Hongkong ein.

An economic system based on over-consumption and greed has become firmly rooted in today’s world and it is high time to change this paradigm by working for a new financial and economic architecture. The WCC together with the WCRC now convenes a first ever Ecumenical School on Governance, Economics and Management for an Economy of Life, in Hong Kong SAR.

Land rights, equity in development resource flows and life-enhancing epistemologies were among the themes emphasized by faith-based organizations at the World Social Forum in Montreal, Canada on 9-14 August.

“Creation is God’s work, every day, according to Luther. Creation ultimately belongs to God. We are accountable to God for what we do as partners in God’s creation, as deacons of God’s creation. Do we bring hope for human beings and the whole of creation? This is the question we in the Christian Church must ask one another,” said WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

A gathering hosted by the National Council of Churches in India on 26 April allowed 50 participants to deliberate on the World Council of Churches statement “Economy Of Life: An Invitation To Theological Reflection and Action.”

With a background in international conflict resolution, peace-building and reconciliation, Professor Emily Welty is uniquely suited to her role as acting moderator of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the WCC. She facilitated the commission’s work most recently during its annual meeting in Geneva from 7 through 14 March.

The United States has the biggest economy on planet earth. It is of great concern to Rev. Dr Susan Henry-Crowe, however, that such a moniker for her country does not always mean resources are available to the population in an equitable way.

While it was German chancellor Angela Merkel who boldly affirmed the willingness of Germany to receive hundreds of thousands of immigrants, it has fallen to the interior ministry, under the leadership of her longtime ally Dr Thomas de Maizière, that must realize that dream – and keep it from becoming a nightmare – through concrete arrangements for reception and integration of migrants into German society and its economy.

As rector of the only ecumenical theological institution in Cuba, Rev. Dr Carlos Emilio Ham is at the forefront of exploring how local churches can engage in empowering diakonia.

Climate-induced loss and damage is one of the key points being raised by faith groups during COP21. A discussion panel and a demonstration held at COP21 in early December brought to light many facets of this issue.

How and in which ways are money and finance shaping the world economy and society? What ought to be the roles of money and finance and what can we do together as faith communities to make the prevailing international financial architecture more just and compassionate?

It is raining. It is cold and windy. Autumn is in the air in northern Greece. We have just arrived at the Idomeni refugee camp in northern Greece, on the border between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). The fast-approaching winter poses as great a threat to the refugees as do the smugglers. In the worst case, winter means death.

“Christianity is not about big preaching, it’s about how you can impact somebody and add value,” says Nigerian ecumenical leader Rev. Dr Ibrahim Yusuf Wushishi, who leads a huge grouping of churches in Africa’s most populous nation.