Research

Main Research Focus at the Chair of Pastoral Theology and Homiletics

• Social pastoral work and diaconal presence after the end of the People's Church
• Relations between social dynamics of discrimination and exclusion (e.g. racism, sexism) and religion/church action; reception of postcolonial theories in theology
• Theological-feminist research taking into account intersectionality approaches; in particular sexual and spiritual abuse of adult women in the Catholic Church
• Investigation of the connections between expected and actual relevance of theological research in practice contexts
• Diaconia at the end of life (in the context of the planned Master's programme "Perimortal Sciences")

Gender-sensitive language in our research

Language influences people's thinking and actions. Knowingly or unknowingly discrimination on the basis of race, class and gender can be (re-)produced through language.  

On the basis of the biblical witness we are convinced, that every person has equal dignity. Therefore we are committed to the cause that "the basic equality of all must receive increasingly greater recognition" (GS 29).

One component of moving closer to this goal is the effort to make all genders visible not only in real terms, but also linguistically in our university work.

For this reason, we recommend the guidelines for the use of gender-sensitive language  (german) to all students who are writing seminar papers or qualification theses at our Chair and, of course, we, ourselves, also strive to use gender-sensitive wording in all our publications.