Peace, Trauma and Religion 3: Public theology

Course Objective 

• The student can name the different dimensions and the theological, ethical, and spiritual foundations of Public Theology (Political Theology) from broad ecumenical and inter-religious perspectives. The role of Religion in the public sphere within the different religious traditions will be tested as well as the (historical and political) obstacles and challenges to Ethics - especially from a postcolinial perspective. 
• Through this knowledge the student will be able to contribute to the ongoing discussion in the field of Peace & Justice Studies by taking part in the discussions in class. 
• The student is able to analyse ethical and theological questions arising from today´s political and societal challenges to conflict transformation – in manifold dimensions. 
• The student can transfer this knowledge to new or unknown circumstances of different contexts in order to test the potential of different approaches. 
• The student is able to integrate the knowledge and cope with the political, societal, and ethical complexities of each given context by comparing case studies. 
• The student is able to formulate judgments on the basis of the given information, taking into account the societal and ethical responsibilities involved. 
• The student can communicate conclusions growing out of the knowledge, motives and arguments in a clear manner to the other participants of the class. 
• The student is able to analyse the ethical “dilemmas” and to argue for and against different ethical approaches and their respective implications by writing a paper at the end of the course. 
• The student is able to perform independent and autonomous follow-up studies. 

Course Content 

The ongoing ecumenical/interreligious and postcolonial debate on “Public Theology” will be presented and discussed. This includes a theological understanding and different approaches to the public sphere as well as attempts to de-colonize theology and ethics. 

From different “testing fields” various contextual examples of the ongoing role of colonial mindsets and structures will be analyzed, deconstructed, and reconstructed. 

Additional Information Teaching Methods 

Lectures (including guest-lectures), student-presentations, discussions. 

Half of the course will be designed as a "summer-school", 4-8 September. Different methodological approaches will be presented to create an interactive space for learning.