Poznań | June 9-10, 2025

International Conference

Guarding the Way of the Lord. Religious Law versus State Law in Human Experience.

by Centre for Axiology of New Technologies and Social Change
Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań (Poland)
and University of Potsdam (Germany)

ABOUT CONFERENCE

Welcome to Guarding the Way of the Lord. Religious Law versus State Law in Human Experience.

The relationship between state law and religious law has always been an area of potential tension, where the moral expectations of religion meet human experience.

Our conference is dedicated to the relationship between religious and secular law in various contexts and experiences, from a Catholic and Jewish perspective.

The previous project was the ‘First Roman Consultation on Jewish and Canon Law’, which took place at the Gregorian University on 9-11 October 2006, based on the observation that it is important for both Catholics and Jews to act justly in order to achieve justice.

Dedication
This conference is dedicated to the blessed memory of Rabbi Prof. Walter Jacob (1930 – 2024), President of the Abraham Geiger College at the University of Potsdam.

Agenda OF

Conference

GUARDING THE WAY OF THE LORD. RELIGIOUS LAW VERSUS STATE LAW IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE

Opening address:
Prof. dr hab. Bogumiła Kaniewska, rector of the Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań

Welcome Remarks:
Most Rev. Zbigniew Zieliński PhD, Archbishop of Poznań

Welcome Remarks:
Rabbi Prof. Walter Homolka PhD, University of Potsdam

Session 1: Crisis in Religious Education at State Schools

Speakers

Chair: Rev. Jacek Zjawin PhD, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań

Rev. Sławomir Wiktorowicz PhD MSF, University of San Damaso Madrid
Concordat and Constitution on Religious Teaching in Schools on the Example of Spain

Jessica Schmidt-Weil PhD, Berlin
Religious Instruction in State Schools: Cooperation or Confrontation? Lessons from Germany

Discussion

Session 2: Areas of Tension between Religious and Secular Law

Speakers

Chair: Prof. Dr. Burkhard Berkmann

Prof. Shimon Shetreet PhD, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Secular Limits of Rabbinical Courts and Religion Related Matters: Procedural and Substantive Issues

Jakub Stępień PhD, University of Łódź
State-Church Relations in the Past, Present and Future – an Analysis of the Current Form of Mutual Relations and the Prospects for Change in the Coming Years

Discussion

Lunch

Continuation
Areas of Tension between Religious and Secular Law

Speakers

Prof. Amihai Radzyner PhD, Bar-Ilan University
Rabbinical Adjudication under State Law: A Halakhic Cost-Benefit Analysis

Aleksandra Brzemia-Bonarek PhD, John Paul II Pontifical University of Kraków
Contemporary Church Legislation as a Tool for Reversing the Perception of Lay People as Passive Believers

Discussion

Session 3: Innovation in religious law in Judaism and in the Catholic Church

Speakers

Chair: Rabbi Prof. Walter Homolka PhD, University of Potsdam

Prof. Dr. Burkhard Berkmann, Institute for Canon Law, University of Munich
The Function of Catholic Canon Law and Its Flexibility

Rabbi Prof. Michael J. Broyde PhD, Emory University and Columbia Law School
Innovation in Jewish law

Prof. KUL dr hab. Paweł Kaleta, Catholic University of Lublin
Innovations in the Code of Canon Law

Discussion

Break

Continuation
Innovation of Religious Law in Judaism and the Catholic Church

Speakers

Lukas Brechtel PhD, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
A cardinal as Co-worker of a Laywoman? Legal Reflections on the Exercise of Ecclesiastical Power of Governance by Lay People in the Roman Curia

Prof. Sergey Dolgopolski PhD, SUNY Buffalo, NY
How Many Tephilin Shel Rosh (Head Phylacteries) Should Conjoined Twins Wear?

Discussion

Dinner with book launch on behalf of the Publishing House Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM
Book presentation Rabbi Stas Wojciechowicz, dr. hab. Monika Waluś

GUARDING THE WAY OF THE LORD. RELIGIOUS LAW VERSUS STATE LAW IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE

Session 4: Interreligious Marriages

Speakers

Chair: Rabbi Stas Wojciechowicz, Jewish Community of Warsaw

Rabbi Jonah Sievers MA, Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Berlin and chairperson of the German Liberal Jewish Court
Interfaith Marriages in the Light of Jewish Reform Responsa

Prof. Dr hab. Piotr Kopiec, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
Interfaith Marriages in Ecumenical Theory

Prof. Dr hab. Joanna Haberko, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań
Exercise of Marital and Parental Rights and Duties in the Case of Different Religious Denominations of the Spouses and Parents

Rev. Piotr Lewandowski PhD, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań
Deficit in Interpersonal Communication and the Invalidity of Marriage

Discussion

Session 5: Religious Conversion

Speakers

Chair: Rev. Przemysław Zgórecki PhD, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań

Rabbi Prof. Michael Broyde PhD
The Return of Jews to Judaism – is a New Conversion Necessary?

Rev. Prof. dr hab. Tomasz Gałkowski CP, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University of Warsaw
Apostates, Heretics, Schismatics – between Conversion and Return to the Church Community

Discussion

Lunch

Session 6: Clergy-Laity Relations

Speakers

Chair: Rev. Przemysław Zgórecki PhD, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań

Prof. Waldemar Cisło, UKSW, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, Warsaw
The Church in the Mission of Human Brotherhood

Dr hab. Monika Katarzyna Waluś, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, Warsaw/ Rev. Prof. UAM dr hab. Andrzej Pryba MSF, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań
From Conversion to Acceptance. Motives of Religious Conversions

Rabbi Alex Goldberg, Barrister and Interfaith Chaplain, University of Surrey
A Comparative Legal Analysis of Clergy-Lay Relations: Jewish Rabbinical Authority Versus the Legal Framework Governing Other Abrahamic Traditions in Common Law Countries

Discussion

Continuation
Areas of Tension between Religious and Secular Law

Rev. Dr hab. Rafał Kamiński, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, Warsaw
Problems of Cooperation between State and Church in the Field of Procedural Law

End of the conference

speakers

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