Stefan Höschele, 51, is vice dean of the School of Theology, director of the Institute for Adventist Studies and professor of Systematic Theology and Adventist Studies at Friedensau University. His PhD from the University of Malawi is entitled "Christian Remnant - African People's Church: The History of Seventh-day Adventism in Tanzania, 1903-1980" and his habilitation thesis at Charles University, in Prague, was on "Interchurch Relations in the History of the Seventh-day Adventist Church". As a student and teacher in Europe and a missionary in Algeria and Tanzania for ten years, Höschele experienced different types of society and the coexistence of people of different faiths. He was also a privileged observer of the relationship between different communities and religious institutions.
Stefan Höschele, a researcher of the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, recently published the book "Adventist Interchurch Relations", about the position and relationship of Seventh-day Adventists with other Christian denominations and other religions. In this interview, as well as presenting a summary of the Church's journey in formal and informal dialogue with other communities, Höschele explains the difference between interreligious dialogue, interconfessional dialogue and ecumenism, presents his vision of relationships between religious communities today, and explains the reasons for the Adventist Church's non-participation in institutional ecumenical movements. He also states that the Church actively participates in relationships with society and other communities through informal means and is valued for this, and proposes the concept of the Church's "non-institutional unity", which is appreciated externally, as a form of the Adventist Church's relationships.
After all, in his words, "we, like other Christians, also want unity, but we don't compromise theology to achieve it".
