Save the Date: 19–23 October 2026, GNPT Interim meeting Amsterdam
Sunday, November 30, 2025 at 1:29PM 
We would like to begin by expressing our deep gratitude to Prof. Sebastian Kim and the organising committee at Fuller Theological Seminary for hosting an exceptional GNPT Consultation in 2025. Their commitment ensured that our community could still gather, reflect, and learn, even when an in-person meeting proved impossible.
We also wish to thank Prof. Kim for his service as President of the GNPT Executive Committee. In keeping with GNPT practice, he has kindly agreed to remain on the Executive in an advisory capacity as we prepare for our next formal meeting. Prof Dion Forster now takes up the responsibility of serving as hosting Chair/President in the period leading up to our next regular GNPT meeting, which will be hosted in Hong Kong.
It is therefore our pleasure to invite you to save the dates of 19–23 October 2026, when we will gather for an interim in-person meeting of the Global Network for Public Theology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The event will be hosted by the Chair for Public Theology and Ethics at the VU Amsterdam, in partnership with colleagues from Chairs and Centres for theology and religion across the Netherlands and the wider European region.
Our proposed theme for this interim consultation is:
Public Theology in a Fractured World: Voices, Visions, and Vulnerabilities
A fuller description of the theme will be circulated in early January.
The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam was founded 145 years ago by the Dutch Public Theologian and statesman Abraham Kuyper. It has long been a home for robust and socially engaged theological scholarship. Its history includes honouring several figures of global significance with honorary doctorates, among them Martin Luther King Jr (1965), Beyers Naudé (1972), Dom Hélder Câmara (1974), and Marilynne Robinson (2016).
We look forward to welcoming the GNPT community to a university with a rich and enduring commitment to the intersections of faith, scholarship, and public life. And to hosting you in the historic, diverse, and beautiful city of Amsterdam!
Please note the following key dates for your planning:
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19–21 October 2026: Interim meeting at the VU Amsterdam, including plenaries, working groups, networking, and the GNPT business session.
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22 October 2026: Optional excursion day exploring the historical city of Amsterdam (details will follow).
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23 October 2026: Optional attendance at the Inaugural Professorial Lecture for the Chair of Public Theology and Ethics, Dion Forster, at the VU Amsterdam (15:45). All GNPT participants are warmly invited to attend.
More detailed information about our meeting will follow in the first week of January 2026, including the formal Call for Working Groups and Papers, which will also be posted on the GNPT website. We anticipate capping participation at approximately 100 attendees, and registration will open in March 2026.
For now, we kindly ask you to save these dates in your calendars.
We will soon set up a new GNPT mailing list.
Should you have any questions, you are warmly invited to contact Dion Forster at: d.a.forster@vu.nl
With peace, courage, and hope for the work that lies ahead,
On behalf of the Executive Committee of the Global Network for Public Theology
