UNY Faculty of Languages and Arts Performance Hall was filled with visitors who were very enthusiastic to attend the Discussion and Reading of the Poet Goethe the West and East Bridge Builders (Islam) on 2 October 2019. Berthold Damshauser from the University of Bonn Germany in his presentation has been able to make the atmosphere of the discussion room come alive. Participants were amazed when Bertold began to objectively portray Goethe. Goethe is not just a poet because he has gathered talents in him. This can be seen from his works that always get a reception from the public. He was not only a poet with thousands of poems he had written, but he was also a playwright with the famous Faust drama, or a novelist with the romance "Die Leiden des jungen Werthers" who had made Goethe a celebrity at that time. Besides in the fields of literature and culture, it turns out that Goethe was also a minister in Weimar and a scientist with his famous color theory. That is why, Nietsche as the next generation of Goethe said that Goethe is a culture.
At the end of his life, Goethe began writing works related to the teachings of Islam that were collected in the collection of West-östlicher Divan. From this phenomenal work then Goethe's ideas and narratives of Islam can be enjoyed. "Goethe is very close to Islam, that is a fact," Bertold said. He further said that there was a Goethe phrase that made people make sure that Goethe was a Muslim. "I do not reject the presumption of people that I am a Muslim". This sentence has made people continue to discuss it.
After Berthold finished reading some Goethe poems, the program continued with questions and answers. The questions asked were varied but were dominated by participants' curiosity whether Goethe was a Muslim. Because time is very limited, the discussion closes leaving many questions left. The discussion ended with Bertold's statement by saying that we must take care of the bridge that Goethe had built, namely the bridge between West and East (Islam). (AKS; Tj.Lak)
