ABSTRACT:

For those escaping hunger, poverty, and persecution, and for others facing various disadvantages, the fundamental question arises: do we include and accept them? Do we open ourselves and our assets to them? Are we willing to understand them and their situation? Do we see the values and dignity of others as our own? “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was a stranger and you invited me in.”

As a result of the scriptural understanding of man’s existence in the world, bibliodrama, similar to sociodrama, is an important medium for aspirations to transcend the vicissitudes of current life situations. In the workshop we will try to show how a biblical story can become an inspiration for solving problems on a social level by understanding the human experience told to help the community to better mobilize its resources and to take responsibility.

Our starting story is a fascinating intercultural-interethnic event: „In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab {…} They married Moabite women.”

In the first part of our workshop, we will experience and reflect on the social context of the narrative. Afterward, we will together create the reality of the initial situation here and now. In the meantime, we will pay particular attention to the common ground in the interpersonal relations of the moment, to aspects of understanding, solidarity, inclusion, and subsidiarity. We will attempt to experience the joys and challenges of an ecumenical and intercultural attitude, and how and to what extent scriptural truth can be made relevant to us: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7, 12)

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS: