The article sets out a critical assessment of recent public reactions in Germany upon taking in large numbers of refugees since 2015, which have been swaying between moralisation and resentment. In this situation, public theology should ask how hospitality is linked to the perceived identity of a society and to its perception of who belongs, and what role Christianity might play in these debates. Drawing on a phenomenological perspective within contemporary German philosophy (Bernhard Waldenfels), and contrasting this perspective with historical (...) and contemporary voices on migration within political philosophy (Georg Simmel, Michael Walzer), the article explores what the concepts of stranger, member and guest imply for the relation of ‘us’ to ‘the other’. From this, I derive a suggestion as to how Christian theology could contribute to a change in the self-perception of society, centred around the seemingly paradoxical concept of ‘belonging in not-belonging’. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie Jahrgang: 58 Heft: 2 Seiten: 149-175.

In public debates on moral or political issues between participants from different religious backgrounds, liberal and secular thinkers like John Rawls and Jürgen Habermas recommend to restrict oneself to free-standing reasons that are independent of their religious, social or cultural origin. Following German philosopher Matthias Jung, however, I argue that such reasons fall short of describing the relevance of the issue in question for the adherents of a specific religion or worldview. Referring to the debates in several European countries about (...) the hijab, I am showing how a deeper understanding of reasons as embodied in social practices and as embodied in individual biographies can help to disentangle such debates and to facilitate a dialogue on these issues. (shrink)

ZUSAMMENFASSUNGLuthers Äußerungen zu dem in seiner Majestät verborgenen Gott geben der Theologie bis heute Rätsel auf. Will man Luthers Aussagen nicht ihrer Schärfe berauben, um die Einheit im Gottesbegriff zu retten, so scheint die Konsequenz eines dualistischen Gottesbildes und eines Widerspruchs in Gott unvermeidlich. In Auseinandersetzung mit Luthers Ausführungen in De servo arbitrio und mit Eberhard Jüngels Interpretation dieser Ausführungen sucht der vorliegende Text einen Zugang zur Verborgenheit Gottes mit Hilfe des phänomenologischen Begriffs der Entzogenheit als eines Moments, das jede (...) Bezogenheit begleitet. Gottes schlechthinnige Verborgenheit wird dann verstehbar als eine Dimension im Gottesbegriff, die diesem notwendig zugehört und auf Gottes Offenbarung in Christus stets zu beziehen, von dieser aber zu unterscheiden ist.SUMMARYLuther's utterances on God's absolute hiddenness in his controversy with Erasmus of Rotterdam pose considerable difficulties for systematic theology. They inevitably seem to suggest a dualistic notion of God, if their radicality is to be maintained. In discussing some of the most famous passages from De servo arbitrio as well as Eberhard Jüngel's interpretation of these passages, I suggest to understand the notion of God's hiddenness in accordance with the phenomenological concept of withdrawal : Even God's full and complete revelation in Jesus Christ is accompanied by a dimension of inaccessibility that can only be approached from God as revealed in Jesus Christ but needs to be distinguished from it. (shrink)

Which role do emotions play in the formation of moral and political convictions? The contributions of this volume analyse the interplay of discursive and affective elements in the context of public assemblies. Experts from the fields of Catholic and Protestant theology, of philosophy, sociology, and political science point out how moral arguments work together on different levels: experienced as immediately convincing, embedded in social practices and reflected in moral reasoning. Thus, a non-discursive dimension of political ethics is brought to the (...) fore which has so far been neglected in Christian ethics. (shrink)