”Things were starting to move” — that was the theme of Ulrich Schmiedel’s inaugural lecture at Lund University in September 2024, and it also became the theme of an issue of Uppdrag Mission. ”From your perspective, what do you see starting to move?” was the question that we asked some of Ulrich’s colleagues in different countries and some parish and diocese workers in the Church of Sweden. Fatima Tofighi, assistant professor of Religious Studies at the University of Religions in Qom, Iran, who holds a PhD in Literature and Theology from the University of Glasgow in Scotland, sent us these impressions:

In as much as taxonomies of religions and boundaries among them are challenging, they cannot be dismissed. Still, this does not mean that we allow ourselves to be ethically irresponsible toward the ‘religious’ other. In order to be global and contextual, theology of any religion cannot stay on a safe island. It has to acknowledge its accountability to the others. Both Muslims and Christians should not only take it as their ethical responsibility to liberate those within their own religious communities, but should discern those outside the borders of their confessions. In a comparative, dialogue-oriented context, Muslims and Christians can be reminded of the ramifications of their exegesis (even the ‘liberationist’ ones) for others.