Günter Müller

The First Conference of the International Society for the Study of Time was held at the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut at Oberwolfach in the Black Forest, Federal Republic of Germany from Sunday, 31 August to Saturday, 6 September, 1969. The origin of this conference and the formation of the Society goes back to a proposal due to J. T. Fraser that was discussed at a conference on "Interdisciplinary Perspectives of Time" held by the New York Academy of Sciences in January, 1966. It was unanimously agreed than that an international society should be formed on an interdisciplinary basis with the object of stimulating interest in all problems concerning 'time and that this object could best be attained by means of conferences held at regular intervals. J. T. Fraser was elected Secretary, S. Watanabe Treasurer, and I was elected President. It was agreed, at my suggestion, that the organization of the first conference of the newly formed Society be left to a committee of these three officers, on the understanding that they would invite authorities on the role of time in the various special sciences and humanities to form an Advisory Board to assist them. One of the main difficulties in seeking support for an interdisciplinary conference is that most foundations confine their interest exclusively either to the sciences or to the humanities.

Like any other organization, orders also have to adjust their way of managing to cope with the changing environment. Although they live behind the walls of the monastery, these walls are becoming more and more permeable. Some are doing this by looking for ways to transfer management knowledge and tools from the corporate world. But such “managerialism” has clear limits. If they are not perceived and respected it puts the monastic community in danger. In this chapter the authors reflect on the possibilities and limitations of using knowledge of management science in the context of the church. They see a clear danger in doing too much of this managerialism; to find the right measure it takes a lot of sensibility towards the specific context.

This book explores opportunities and limitations with regard to transferring knowledge and tools from the corporate world to manage monasteries or other types of religious institutions. To do so, the contributing authors analyze both the ideological and practical implications of employing modern organizational theory in the context of religious institutions, and seek to strike a balance between preserving traditions and promoting modernization. In this regard, they draw on experience gained in the course of long-standing collaborations between religious institutions, such as monasteries, and business and management schools.