Goethe Cultural Festival, Aug. 24 – Sept. 5
277 Years of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe — modern and creative ideas on the life and work of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe — we say: Happy Birthday,
Goethe and faith—that was, and remains, a complex relationship. In any case, it’s one that’s still worth exploring today. “Tell me, what’s your take on religion?” This now-proverbial “Gretchen question,” posed by Gretchen herself in *Faust I*, serves as the starting point for a brief literary journey of discovery as part of the 2nd Goethe Cultural Festival in Waren (Müritz), to which we invite you on September 1 at Café International. What does the wager between God and Mephisto over “poor Thor”—Doctor Faustus—have to do with one of the most difficult books in the Bible to digest? Why can faith be both childlike—perhaps even childish—and yet save lives? What ultimately saves Gretchen, and which question posed by one of the 20th century’s most important theologians does our Doctor Faustus anticipate?
We want to let Goethe and his protagonists speak for themselves, and then share our own thoughts. We expressly encourage you to think along with us, believe with us, and doubt with us!
