A group of students and teachers from Frankfurt, Helsinki, and Copenhagen are in Iceland to participate in a course in Skálholt and Reykjavík, organised by the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Iceland. The course, entitled “History of Christianity in Iceland and European Entanglements“, is organised in collaboration between the University of Iceland, the University of Copenhagen, Goethe University Frankfurt, and the University of Helsinki, and is supported by the Erasmus programme.
The course is attended by 19 students from four universities and six instructors who are involved in teaching it. The course is a Blended Intensive Program (BIP) aimed at encouraging groups within the wider university community to develop teaching through international collaboration and by using innovative digital approaches. This specific course is taught in two parts. The theoretical component of the course is taught online, while the practical component takes place in Reykjavík and Skálholt, where students explore the history of Christianity through the landscape, memorials, and historical sites.
Haraldur Hreinsson, assistant professor in the history of the Christian religion at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, and the course supervisor in Iceland, says that it explores the history of Christianity in Iceland from the settlement period until today, and that this history is placed in the wider context of European and international development. “Among other things, we analyse how religious knowledge, ideas and institutions were disseminated through localised church denominations and educational systems, Iceland’s place within ever-changing power structures and how its peripheral position influenced the development of religion in interaction with culture and society.”
Other course instructors are Stefan Michels and David Brandon Smith from the Goethe University Frankfurt, Anna Vind and Johnny Lindholm from the University of Copenhagen and Katharina Kunter from the University of Helsinki.
