If (systematic) theology is understood as reflection on faith and on questions of meaning and values in the light of the theological tradition, then theology has a relationship with current beliefs, lifeworlds and orientations. As simple as it sounds as difficult is it to determine how this relationship is concretely defined in contemporary systematic theology.
Internationally and in other disciplines of theology, the search for connections between the lifeworld and theological reflection has led to a variety of approaches: In approaches of “lived theology”, “ordinary theology”, “lived religion”, “public theology”, “narrative ethics”, “liberation theology”, “constructive theology” or even “pragmatist theology”, the focus is shifting to the contemporary lifeworld as the starting point and subject of theology – often opposed to “dogmatic theology” or “Systematic Theology” understood as a only theoretical endeavour concerned with dogma and tradition.
An international working group initiated by PD Dr. Frederike van Oorschot (FEST) and Dr. Lea Chilian (Zürich) brings together theologiand from these different strands to discuss the reference to the lifeworld in systematic theology. The aim is to specify the task, approach and contribution of systematic theological research in interdisciplinary discourse, the interplay of theological disciplines and within the broader empirical turn within the humanities and cultural sciences.
The working group, consisting of 20 theologians from Germany, Switzerland, USA, Peru, South Africa and Norway, was formed at an exploratory workshop in May 2023. (Conference report: feinschwarz.net/induktive-theologie) The results of the explorative workshop will be published as a topical issue of the journal Open Theology 2024.
WORKSHOP 1 INDUCTION, DEDUCTION AND ABDUCTION AS HEURISTIC PERSPECTIVE OF ST HEIDELBERG, JUNE, 3-4 2024
- What are the perspectives of thinking and research in doing STs?
- What reference points do STs have and what is their function?
- Where do we find and how do we describe the objects of STs?
- How do STs relate to “the present” (repository for possible topics and questions, task for hermeneutical interpretation [research] object, “reality check” for tradition/scripture, etc.)?
- To what extent and how is past the subject of STs?
With: Hanna Reichel (Princeton), Natalie Wigg-Stevenson (Toronto), Jan-Olav Henriksen (Oslo), Sarah Jäger (Jena) and Elisabeth Maikranz (Heidelberg)
WORKSHOP 2 CRITERIA FOR THE RELATIOO TO “PRESENT LIFE” IN STS
ONLINE, NOVEMBER, 14-15 2024
- (How) Isnormativity a task of ST?
- Is “systematization” a specific feature of STs relating to other theological disciplines?
- How can lived theologies and other empirical research approaches be assessed in ST? Or can/is lived theology be a criterion for dogmatic judgments? („Lebensdienlichkeit“)
- Which methodologies of perception can we relate to, e.g. from empirical research (Narrative Ethics, Empiricism), or from hermeneutical theology?
- Relation between empiricism and other approaches to the world (empiricism as verification of individual perception of the world, critique of empiricism as task of ST)
WORKSHOP 3 ABDUCTION THEOLOGY BETWEEN THE THEOLOGICAL DISCIPLIN
SEPTEMBER, 17-19 2024
- How do the entanglements of empirical, hermeneutical, and normative issues are related in the theological disciplines?
- Are there opportunities for constructive ways of “division of labor” between ST and PT?
- How are the historical disciplines involved in these questions?
- What competencies do systematic theologians need?
The working group is supported by the Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Theologie. As a working group of the Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Theologie/Fachgruppe Systematische Theologie, the group is open to interested members of the WGTh.
If you are interested to participate, please contact PD Dr. Frederike van Oorschot (FEST).