He reads out a statement from Thomas Paul Schirrmacher, who was unable to attend and will be coming to Basel next year
(Bonn, 03.09.2024) On 24 April 2024, STH Basel hosted the annual “Tilmann Geske Memorial Lectures”. Tilmann Geske, a graduate of STH Basel, was brutally murdered together with two Turkish Christians 17 years ago because he lived as a Christian in Turkey and was committed to spreading the Gospel.
In order to keep his memory and his testimony for Jesus Christ alive and to reflect on the persecution of Christians, two guests were welcomed this year. After an introduction by Prof. Dr. Sven Grosse, Susanne Geske, Tilmann Geske’s widow, gave a warm welcome to all those present. Matthias Böhning then gave a lecture on the “Ecumenism of the Martyrs”. He is Secretary General of the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) and works closely with Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Paul Schirrmacher – from whom he brought greetings that including impressive excerpts from the report on the murder of the three Christians in 2007.
After a moment of silent remembrance, Matthias Böhning continued with inspiring remarks on his theme. In a first step he showed the negative image of an ecumenism of martyrs: Throughout the history of the church, there have been persecutions of Christians by Christians. – A bitter thread that has not yet been broken. In a second step, encouraging examples of unity among persecuted Christians were given. Matthias Böhning pointed out that the majority of the New Testament writings were written in a situation of persecution and that many well-known biblical passages can be read in such a context. The evening ended with a lively discussion between Matthias Böhning and Susanne Geske.
Due to a scheduling conflict with the hearing in the Human Rights Committee of the German Bundestag, at which Thomas Paul Schirrmacher testified as an expert witness, Matthias Böhning had to give the Tilmann Geske Memorial Lectures 2024 at STH Basel at short notice. Böhning began by reading out memories of Thomas Paul Schirrmacher, the text of which can be found below. It is planned that Schirrmacher will give the Tilmann Geske Memorial Lectures in 2025.
Downloads and links
- Photo 1, photo 2, photo 3 and photo 4: ISHR Secretary General Matthias Böhning during the Tilmann Geske Memorial Lectures 2024 © BQ/STH Basel
- Photo 5: Susanne Geske, Tilmann Geske’s widow, during the Tilmann Geske Memorial Lectures 2024 © BQ/STH Basel
- Announcement from STH Basel: https://sthbasel.ch/veranstaltungen/tilmann-geske-memorial-lecture-2024/
- Audio recording of the speech: https://sthbasel.ch/wp-content/uploads/Tilmann-Geske-Lectures-2024-128.mp3
- Invitation to the Tilmann Geske Memorial Lectures 2024:
https://sthbasel.ch/tilmann-geske-memorial-lectures-2024/ - Memories by Thomas Paul Schirrmacher:
https://www.thomasschirrmacher.info/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Geske_Lecture_2024_Introduction.pdf
