Questions about God set students thinking

The concepts of faith and belief are overrated, reckons theology professor Søren Holst.

For a start, the word ‘belief’ is ambiguous. It may raise the question of existence of a higher power, or simply whether or not you have trust in that higher power.

»Do you regard the existence of God as a possibility?« Professor Holst asked the audience, leaving more questions unanswered than before.

Click here to see a photo gallery of the event.

Faculty as old as the University

We are at a Copenhagen Master’s of Excellence COME event, and Søren Holst of the Faculty of Theology is looking at the concept of God and raising questions about His existence.

The seven elite courses under the Copenhagen Master of Excellence (COME) take turns in hosting students from the other disciplines. This month, the students from the course ‘The Religious Roots of Europe’ are playing host.

The Faculty of Theology boasts of originating in 1497 when the University of Copenhagen was founded.

God over dinner and drinks

Because of the widespread relevance of the world’s three major religions; Hinduism, Islam and Christianity; it is important to know their impact on Europe, the Dean of the Faculty of Theology stressed at his opening address which welcomed the students that evening.

Theology as a subject is infinite, professor Holst commented in his lecture that followed. Unlike other subjects it cannot be scrutinized by competitors or colleagues because ‘revelations cannot be shared’.

If students were left confused after Professor Holst’s talk, they were satisfied with the way he opened up new avenues for discussion.

Most people know something

»It was not something you didn’t know anything about at all,« quipped a thoughtful Tim van Deurzen, a Dutch student to the University Post. »Unless you live in a box, you would know about the major religions in the world and what they say«.

»It was interesting. He spoke about how religion could open up solutions if you did believe in the possibility of the existence of God«, Victoria, another student, of human biology, reasoned.

And so the night went on with dinner and merry conversation.

Click here to see a photo gallery of the event.

Uni-avis@adm.ku.dk

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