03/07/2026 17:20 - 19:30

HALL: Parenzo - A20

Contact: Fehige Y.

Chair: Fehige Y.

Across Europe, confessional theology occupies a contested place within public universities. Historically grounded in Wissenschaft, it now operates within arrangements involving state authorities, religious communities, and public funding. This panel invites papers addressing the question: under what institutional, epistemic, and political conditions can Jewish theology plausibly function as a scientific discipline within democratic systems of public knowledge? Public universities shape epistemic legitimacy, transparency, accountability, and academic freedom through governance structures, appointment procedures, curricular authority, and funding within a system of public knowledge.


In addition to three invited papers, the panel is open to solicit fresh perspectives. We welcome submissions engaging this question with particular attention to the institutionalization of Jewish theology at the University of Potsdam (2013) as an analytically illuminating case. The panel aims to include graduate students and early-career scholars, alongside established scholars.


We welcome papers that address, for example:
(1) Conceptual foundations — whether "Jewish theology" is a coherent category, and how it relates to Jewish studies.
(2) Institutional and normative questions — whether "Jewish theology" is better situated within a public university or in rabbinical seminaries/independent institutes, and the trade-offs this entails for academic freedom, confessional integrity, professional formation, and public accountability.
(3) Comparative case studies — contrasting Potsdam with rabbinical seminaries and Jewish academic institutions elsewhere (in Europe and beyond).
(4) Analytically framed studies of Potsdam's crisis since 2022 — focusing on governance, legitimacy, integrity norms, and public trust, rather than adjudicating personal responsibility or institutional failures.


Submissions from STS, Jewish studies, philosophy, law, political theory, and history are welcome.