Rolf Hille

Rolf Hille is the former Principal of Albrecht-Bengel-House of the Univiersity of Tübingen school of theology. Since 2009, he has held a lecturer position in systematic theology and has helped develop and lead a doctoral supervisory program for Albrecht-Bengel Haus.  He is the director of ecumenical affairs for the World Evangelical Alliance (formerly the World Evangelical Fellowship) and was formerly the executive chairman of the WEF Theological Commission. He earned a doctorate in Protestant Theology from Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, writing a dissertation on Karl Heim. He is married and has two children.

2011 Forum Sessions

Luncheon Workshops

How the European Leadership Forum is Like a Thirteenth-Century University

The year A.D. 1200 marked the beginning of one of the most historically successful and global institutions: The first university opened its doors in Paris and began its work.  The central idea behind (for) the European universities was the conviction that an all-encompassing unity (unitas) lay as the foundation of the wide variety (varietas) of phenomena.  Indeed, the very word "university" is made up of these two Latin terms, unitas (unity) and varietas (variety or diversity).  This unity was based upon the Christian faith.  Traces of the one God and Creator can be found in the diversity in the world as the deepest unity of all being.  Therefore, theology was the leading science for the other disciplines at the Medieval university, namely, philosophy, medicine and law.  In the age of global pluralism, the European Leadership Forum is faced with the completely new challenge of discovering the faith of the Bible as the inner unity in all knowledge and science and giving public testimony to it.

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