“Trends in the development of the contemporary European societies and the place and role of religion in them” – Lecture and Discussion

19:00 Sofia Gallery

Lecture and Discussion lead by Dr Valentin Kozhuharov, Professor of Theology.

Dr Valentin Kozhuharov is Lecturer of Theology in Christian education, Christian mission and in General education at different universities, institutes and colleges in Europe. For a number of years he was teacher of English and Russian at a high school, then for seven years he taught at the department of philology of the Veliko Tarnovo university, and for another seven years teaching at the department of theology of the same university. Still for another seven years, between 2002 and 2009, he lectured at the Russian Orthodox university of St John the Theologian in Moscow and was working as expert in religious education in the department for religious education and catechization of the Moscow Patriarchate. In 2010 he worked as head of the educational-missionary department of the Veliko Tarnovo metropolitan eparchial centre and since 2011 he has been lecturing in Missiology and Psychology of religion at the department of theology of Plovdiv university, in Missiology at the Institute of missiology for Central and Eastern Europe in Budapest, and he also lectures in different theological colleges and schools in the United Kingdom, such a Redcliffe college in Gloucester, Spurgeon college in London, the Oxford centre for mission studies in Oxford, etc. Dr Kozhuharov is an academic reviewer of PhD and DTh students’ dissertations in Europe and Africa. Every year, he takes part in at least a dozen of conferences and seminars dedicated to the issues of religion, Christianity, general and religious education and pedagogy, the work with young people and children, etc. He is author of dozens of books, articles, book chapters, and he is member of more than a dozen of international scholarly organisations and societies working in the field of general education and Christianity. Dr Kozhuharov is also representative for Europe at the biggest and the most representative organisation of the theologians and the missiologists in the world, The International Association for Mission Studies. Since the autumn of 2013, he has lecturing in the London’s Bulgarian Orthodox community where two theological disciplines are considered: “Contemporary Christianity: presence in the world or mission to the world” and “Christian Orthodox spirituality.”

The theme of “Trends in the development of the contemporary European societies and the place and role of religion in them” considers various issues, such as:
– the issues of historical development of the societies of the “old continent,” most of all the development after the changes in Eastern Europe of the end-1990s;
– the significance of the European structures for the establishment of a “European image” of the different countries;
– the function and the role of religion in the societies and especially the influence which it has or may have on the societies and their development and on the different systems of education;
– the importance of religion at the state (public) schools in Europe where religious issues are taught either through specific school subjects or within the scope of the subjects Social Studies and Citizenship Education and where religious knowledge could influence pupils and students’ educational achievements and skills;
– the tendencies of development of the European societies while bearing in mind the presence in them of various secular, atheistic, religious and other types of public groups and organisations all of which are struggling to occupy specific space in the public arena.
The lecture aims not so much to give new information on the issues considered but to summaries them, to draw certain conclusions and to show the significance of the European societies for the development of the worlds’ societies in general.