Prof. Dr. Reiner Anselm

Ethical Theology, which is also represented by this Chair, (professorship) is traditionally found within the framework of Systematic Theology under the title of ,Dogmatics and Ethics‘. It takes as its main theme the way to conduct one‘s life and the development of a common reality of life. Historically, the topic is especially interested in the transformation of the Christian tradition to its present-day state. In order to understand, to form and to critically accompany the process of transformation, ethical theology aims to create a theologically-informed theory of community while taking into account the theories both of church and individual piety. Ethical theology also concerns itself with the basic questions of the relationship between faith and knowledge or of religious certainty and political formation; for example, individual teachings which have taken on greater meaning for the conduct of one‘s life such as creationism, anthropolgy and ecclesiology. On this basis the orienteering power of Christian faith works itself out in the various themes of material ethics. The emphasis in research and teaching is a fundamental theory of church and Christianity in the community, as well as other more concrete questions of marriage and family, media, politics and community, as well as the welfare and social work of the church. The close dialogue with social philosophy and the social sciences, the natural sciences as well as the theological subjects (especially history of Christianity and practical theology) are self-evident and indispensable.