Welcome at the Department

Dogmatic theology has the task of presenting matters of the Christian faith in a coherent manner and to analyse them in the context of contemporary questions.

In order to perform this task appropriately, it must first strive for a representation of the faith that is true to its origin. For this purpose, dogmatic theology draws on the Holy Scriptures and the ecclesiastical tradition and follows the great theological contributions of antiquity, the Middle Ages and modern times.

However, dogmatic theology can not simply repeat what other eras have been thinking. It must, therefore, open up the meaning of the faith in a contemporary way.

This requires a vigilant analysis of the times and an appropriate form of thought. In the plural worlds of late Modernism, the toolkit for the diagnosis of the times can be trained through conversation with other humanities and social sciences, but also with contemporary literature. For the development of a consistent form of thinking in which the contents of the faith can be presented systematically, the conversation with modern philosophy is essential. 

Corresponding to this task, our department focuses on the following subject areas:

The Poetics Lectureship "Literature and Religion", unique in the German-speaking world, offers the opportunity to engage in conversation with contemporary authors. It trains the perception of language and present-day religious quests. The faculty-wide focus area "Christian Identity in Modernity", initiated by the department of dogmatic theology, sheds light on the far-reaching transformations of the Christian faith in modern times and attempts to process the resulting challenges. Finally, the issue of "Religion and Violence", which has gained new visibility following the 9/11 attacks, is the subject of a third-party funded research project. It investigates the question of the potential for violence of religion, which was notably raised by the work of Jan Assmann.