Church has a bonus, says our Swedish columnist Julia Boehme. You don’t only have fun with your brothers and sisters. In difficult times, your relationship is even tested. “We have the opportunity to help, learn and forgive.”

Europe is unthinkable without Christianity. Yet it is not self-evident that people continue to draw on this source, says theologian Hendrie van Maanen. Are there cracks in the fishbowl in which we in the West swim like goldfish?

No sensible person would call me shy. I am always first to volunteer to speak publicly. And yet, I was terrified to enter the church.

Good Friday, the 7th of April, 1724. Johann Sebastian Bach had just finished leading the first performance of his “Passio secundun Joannem”, the St. John Passion. Very likely, he felt relieved, knowing the group he had to work with. Little did he know that his oratorio would be sung around the world 300 years later.

Christians in Western Europe tend to focus on the crucifixion and death of Jesus far more than on His resurrection.