15.09.2014

6th International Bonhoeffer Colloquium »Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Concept of Theology«, October 30 – November 1, 2014. Hosted by the Institute of Hermeneutics and Philosophy of Religion, 
Faculty of Theology
, Kirchgasse 9, CH-8001 Zurich.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Concept of Theology
Since its beginning, Christian theology has been questioned by other academic disciplines about its method, subject, function, and truth. Different periods have developed different answers to these questions, always in conversation with the paradigm of science at that time. Nowadays secularization as well as the recurrence of religion challenge the relevance of Christian theology. Simultaneously, theology is seen as an important tool for analyzing the influence of religion on human self-understanding, social behavior or culture. Theological experience is of crucial importance for the development of an academic Islamic theology in Europe. Moreover, theologians themselves do not agree on the character and role of theology: Should theology still, as Karl Barth insisted, try to talk about God, or is its subject the human religious consciousness? Does theology differ from other disciplines in subject and method, or is it a cultural or historical science?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s challenges were different from ours. The colloquium asks: Can his concept of theology, e. g. as being a reflection on the essence of faith or as relying on Christological insights, nevertheless be helpful nowadays? The conference aims at unfolding Bonhoeffer’s way of doing theology, his understanding of method, function and essence of theology and at relating these to current debates on the concept of theology.
The International Bonhoeffer Colloquia are organized by Stephen Plant, Christiane Tietz, Ralf K. Wüstenberg, and Jens Zimmermann.


Thursday, October 30, 2014
3.00–3.15 Opening of the Colloquium
3.15–4.45 Michael DeJonge: After the Crisis of Scientific Theology: Bonhoeffer and the Barth-Harnack Debate
4.45–5.15 Coffee break
5.15–6.45 Andreas Hunziker: On the Difference of Philosophy of Religion and Theology. Bonhoeffer’s Alternative to the Understanding of Theology as »Kulturwissenschaft«

Friday, October 31, 2014
9.30–11.00 Clifford J. Green: Theology and Autobiography. The Interaction of Psychology and Theology in Theological Anthropology and Soteriology
11.30–1 pm Ralph Kunz: Life Together instead of Lonesome Study? On the Relation of Practice of Faith and Study in Bonhoeffer’s Theology
1–3 pm Lunch break
3.00–4.30 Christiane Tietz: Theology as a Function of the Church?
4.30–5.00 Coffee break
5.00–6.30 Michael Roth: On the Starting Point of Christian Ethics

Saturday, November 1, 2014
9.30–11.00 Michael Mawson: How does God Suffer? Moltmann and Bonhoeffer on the Nature of Theological Language
11.00–11.30 Coffee break
11.30–1 pm Yuki Shimada: Considering Dietrich Bonhoeffer as Theologian in the Context of Pre-World War Two Japan
1–3 pm Lunch break
3.00–4.30 Jason Lam: Sino-Christian Theology as a Test Case of Bonhoeffer’s Religionless Christianity
4.30–5.00 Coffee break
5.00–6.00 Muna Tatari: Developing Islamic Theology in a Western Context: Fruitful Possibilities and Potential Obstacles of the Reception of Bonhoeffer’s Theology within this Process


Prof. Dr. Michael DeJonge, Tampa
Associate Professor in Religious Studies at the University of South Florida

Prof. Dr. Clifford J. Green, Boston
Professor Emeritus of Theology and Ethics at Hartford Seminary, Connecticut

PD Dr. Andreas Hunziker, Zurich
Senior Assistant at the Institute for Hermeneutics and Philosophy of Religion at the University of Zurich

Prof. Dr. Ralph Kunz, Zurich
Professor of Liturgy, Counseling, and Religion and Gerontology at the University of Zurich

Prof. Dr. Jason Lam, Hong Kong
Research Fellow at the Institute of Sino-Christian Studies Hong Kong

Dr. Michael Mawson, Aberdeen
Lecturer at the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen

Prof. Dr. Michael Roth, Bonn
Adjunct Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Bonn

Dr. Yuki Shimada, Tokyo
Adjunct Lecturer at the Sophia University and Meijigakuin University in Tokyo

Dr. Muna Tatari, Paderborn
Research Assistant at the Center for Comparative Theology and Cultural Studies at the University of Paderborn

Prof. Dr. Christiane Tietz, Zurich
Professor of Systematic Theology at the Institute for Hermeneutics and Philosophy of Religion at the University of Zurich


Please register for the conference before September 15, 2014 by sending an E-Mail to Liliane Frei (lilianefrei@theol.uzh.ch). She also provides information for housing. The conference itself is free of charge.