Against the backdrop of the climate crisis, war, the pandemic and a world order undergoing rapid and fundamental change, the question of the tension between end and beginning is of great relevance. How do catastrophes and crises generate not just threats and dangers, but can also serve as a starting point for radical metamorphoses and new world models? How can catastrophe be considered an opportunity for a new beginning, the rise of an alternative history of creation? These questions touch upon experiences and lifeworlds of all generations and cultures. The series, organized by the Heidelberg Worldmaking team in cooperation with the Thematic Research Network "Umwelten-Umdenken-Umbrüche", Käte Hamburger Centre For Apocalyptic and Postapocalyptic Studies (CAPAS), the Academy for Future and the Junge Kantorei, will use different formats (including lectures, discussions, concerts, readings and film screenings) to bring scientists and scholars of various disciplines, public actors, artists and the broader audience into a dialogue.

The Heidelberg Ruperta Carola lecture series continues its series “Creatio—End as Beginning: Global and Transdiciplinary Perspectives” with two lectures on theological perspectives on life, death and suffering, and a talk on “Creation through the lens of Physics”, as well as a film screening of “Arrival” with introduction. The lectures will be held in German and will be made available online afterwards.

Venue:

The lectures will be held at the Aula der Neuen Universität, lecture room 13, and the recordings will be made available digitally afterwards.

November Program:

Lamento am Ende und im Anfang: Klagen – Suchen – Loben

Cristina Blazquez (Evangelisches Pfarramt Eppelheim)

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»Krankheit als Schangse« (Robert Gernhardt): Zur Kritik der Vorstellung sinnvoller Katastrophen

Prof. Dr. Thorsten Moos (Theologisches Seminar, Universität Heidelberg)

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Schöpfung im Auge der Physik

Prof. Dr. Matthias Bartelmann (Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Heidelberg)

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Film: »Arrival« (2016) by Denis Villeneuve

Introduction: Prof. Dr. Matthias Bartelmann (Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Heidelberg)

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More information on the series and recordings of past lectures can be found on:

https://www.uni-heidelberg.de/de/transfer/kommunikation/ruperto-carola-ringvorlesung/ruperto-carola-ringvorlesung-vom-ende-als-anfang#:~:text=Vor%20dem%20Hintergrund%20von%20Klimakrise,zwischen%20Ende%20und%20Anfang%20hochaktuell