Registration

Symposium Team Briefing

Dinner at the conference venue

Opening session (Conference Room)

Dr. Emilio Ricardo Báez Rivera, Puerto Rico: Ecología, educación y diálogo interreligioso en el amor místico. Dr. Antonio Ramos, Puerto Rico: Los límites del lenguaje en Wittgenstein: Una ventana hacia lo inefable y lo místico. Dr. Luis O. Canting Placa, Puerto Rico: Noosfera y Antropoceno: educar para el avance evolutivo de la “Super-Humanidad”. Plenary

Meditation (Conference Room)

Wilfredo Benitez, Portugal

Intercultural Forum (Conference Room)

Break

Keynote I, II, & III

Keynote I: Prof. Dr. Meena Sharify-Funk, Canada: Gendering Sufism - Tradition and Transformation. Associate Professor of Religion and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada. She is author of Contemporary Sufism: Piety, Politics, and Popular Culture (Routledge, 2018). Keynote II: Prof. Dr. Luce Lopez-Baralt, Puerto Rico: Borges in Dialogue with Islamic Mysticism. Distinguished Professor (Insignis Professor) and Emeritus Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literatures at the University of Puerto Rico. She is author of 30 books on comparative Spanish and Arabic literatures and mysticism, aljamiado-moorish and Latin American literatures. Keynote III: Prof. Dr. Cristobal Serran-Pagan y Fuentes, Czech Republic: Thomas Merton's Engagement with Muslims: Insights for Dialogue with Muslims Today. Professor in the Department of Philosophy at University Palackeho in Olomouc, the Czech Republic. He is author of Saint John of the Cross: his Prophetic Mysticism in the Historical Context of Sixteenth-Century Spain (Washington DC: Pacem in Terris Press, 2018). Plenary

Lunch at the conference venue

Workshops and papers I

Wilfredo Benitez, Portugal: Photography as Contemplative Exploration. Dr. Juan Carlos Ramos Hendez, Colombia: Contemplative Power: Thomas Merton, poética-profética ante la persecución religiosa. Dr. Luis H Pabón Batlle, Puerto Rico: El Pitágoras que no conocemos. Dr. Pinghua Liu, China: "Dao Follows Nature" and Zen's Hermitage in Mountains and Forests: A Dialogue on Ecological Wisdom between Laozi and Zen Buddhism (online). Dr. Aizaiah G. Yong, USA: Trauma and Renewal: Emerging Contemplative Contributions to Interfaith Community Transformation (online).

Break

Reflexion groups I

Dinner at the conference venue

Conversations and Connections

Breakfast at the conference venue

Departure to local projects in Herrnhut und Ostritz

Lunch

Workshops and papers II

Prof. Dr. Marcela Raggio, Argentina: The Legacy of Thomas Merton and Pope Francis: Ecology and the Literary Education. Lilian Naserian Martine, Kenia: Building a Sustainable Future. Dr. Jose Andujar, USA: Albert Schweitzer’s “Reverence”: Honoring life in all forms in these convoluted times. Dr. Alicia Irene Bugallo Finnemann, Argentina: Links between Environmental Philosophy and Environmental Education (online). Prof. Dr. John Gillespie, USA: The Sacred Ecology of Vision: Inscape, Incarnation, and Nature in Thomas Merton and Gerard Manley Hopkins (online).

Break

Reflexion Groups II

Festive Dinner at the conference venue

Latif Bolat, Turkiye: concert

Conversations and Connections

Breakfast at the conference venue

Meditation (Conference Room)

Latif Bolat, Turkiye: Andalusia under the Islamic Rule: Tolerance and Dialog

Intercultural Forum (Conference Room)

Break

Keynotes I, II, & III

Keynote I: Prof. Dr. Vasudha Narayanan, USA: The Cosmos as the Body of God: Ecology, Interfaith Conversations, and Emergency Ethics. Distinguished Professor, Departement of Religion, at the University of Florida. She is author or editor of nine books. She created the first Center for the Study of Hindu Traditions (CHiTra) with the University of Florida. Keynote II: Prof. Dr. Jung Eun Sophia Park, USA: Thomas Merton and Cross-Cultural Spiritual Direction: To Construct a Borderland. Associate Professor of Emerita at Holy Names University and a Global Educator/Learner. She published An Asian Woman´s Religious Journey with Thomas Merton (Palgrave, 2022). Keynote III: Dr. Sanjana Das, Singapore: “Wake Up and Dance”: In Solidarity with the Struggles of Indigenous Women in the Global South affected by Ecocide. Researcher, feminist theologian and development practitioner, from India. She has co-edited a book with Joerg Rieger, Decolonizing Development and Religion: Theoretical Frameworks, Case Studies, and Theological Models, SCM Press, 2025. Plenary

Lunch at the conference venue