Thursday
Getting the hang of the transport system, I negotiated a start early enough to arrive in time for Bible Study, arriving in Hall 4 at 9.30 to hear Hans-Jochen Vogel, a German elder-statesman who seemed to have something in common with Jim Callaghan for presence. He made a good stab at pointing out how democracy and social justice should be supported by scripture. People applauded his attempt.
I attended a talk on �die grosse Sehnsucht� = the great longing - for Spiritual experience, given by a Prof Dr Fulbert Schefensky, a former monk, who was described as having � converted� to Protestantism. A very large number of people were there to listen. I had the impression he was regurgitating what he was taught in the monastery about spiritual discipline: discipline rather than feel-good prayer. An important point was that we should most productively seek God through experience, rather than experience per se, in the hope that God might turn up.