On Monday, January 29, the EWST Educational Center held a conversation/debate about freedom, with the participation of the rectors of three Wroclaw universities – the Evangelical School of Theology (EWST), the University of Wrocław (UW), and the Pontifical Faculty of Theology (PFT).
The meeting took place as part of this year’s Week of Prayer for Unity of Christians. The topic was connected not only with the motto of this particular day of the week (“Not a slave anymore, but a beloved brother”, Philemon 1:16), and also the 100th anniversary of Poland’s independence and regaining its freedom. In the introduction to the discussion/debate, EWST professor and Academic Dean, Dr. Piotr Lorek showed the many dimensions of freedom contained in the letter of Paul to Philemon. The apostle Paul, interceding for the fugitive slave Onesimus, indicates that Christ frees everyone – both slaves and their masters. Paul also encourages the reevaluation of the perception of social order in light of the Gospel. The participants also listened to the recorded statements of several people about their understanding of freedom.
The debate included Professor Adam Jezierski (Rector of UW), Professor Wlodzimierz Wolyniec (Rector of PWT) and Professor Wojciech Szczerba (Rector of EWST) together with the editor-in-chief of the Ekumenizm.pl portal, Dariusz Bruncz, who was the moderator. They sought to answer questions about the meaning of freedom today and its understanding by modern people.
The ideas that were presented were both optimistic and worrisome. When Rector Jezierski quoted a fragment from George Orwell’s novel “1984” – it turned out that after nearly 70 years since writing, his perspective is still accurate.
Many participants were struck by the idea of Rector Szczerba, who reminded the audience that – according to the biblical message – every human being is created in the image of God. This includes everyone – so not only those who are close to us, whose views we share or accept.
Rector Wołyniec emphasized the relationship of freedom with human maturity. He also pointed out that in the last three decades after 1989; Poles’ perception of freedom is becoming deeper and more multilayered.
The debate could not develop and exhaust all the topics – so it left both participants and listeners with a feeling of wanting more. After its completion, numerous and long discussions took place in the lobby. The subject of freedom turned out to be extremely important for many people and will certainly be discussed also during our other meetings.
We pay a lot of respect and gratitude to the rectors who accepted our invitation to the discussion and to the moderator. We would also like to thank all participants of the meeting – both those who visited us and people who followed the debate through social media.
We invite you to view the photo gallery and the movie (in Polish) from the event.