Tuesday 11, July
St. Thomas Church turns techno temple
We’ve officially seen it all. This Saturday, St Thomas Church in Kreuzberg will be hosting a techno rave.
Encouraging the city’s techno-disciples to “experience the connection between church and ecstasy”, the event will feature a lineup including acid-techno DJ Torsten Kanzler and other DJs from Berlin and Cologne.
Transcendence and ecstasy were important elements of religious life.
The party, which comes with the very Rave the Planet-like slogan of “Love Heals the Soul”, is being organised by the Protestant Church District of Berlin Stadtmitte, and comes as an attempt to open the church up as a place of celebration and shared experiences.
“Already in the Bible, transcendence and ecstasy were important elements of religious life”, says Bertold Höcker, theologian and superintendent of the church district. “We are bringing this form of religious experience back into the church.” But are spirituality and techno culture really two sides of the same coin, as Bertold claims?
Well, don’t expect your typical Berlin 36-hour techno fest. This rave will be closed at 6am on Sunday with a “spiritual chill out”, which is expected to be open-access, if capacity allows.
