12/07/2025 08:30 - 10:45

HALL: Seminar Room 02

Proponent: Wisse M.

Speaker: Laagland Winder P., Opalka K., Wisse M.

If (systematic) theology is understood as reflection on faith and on questions of meaning and values in the light of the theological tradition, then theology has a relationship with current beliefs, lifeworlds and orientations. As simple as it sounds as difficult is it to determine how this relationship is concretely defined in contemporary systematic theology.
Internationally and in other disciplines of theology, the search for connections between the lifeworld and theological reflection has led to a variety of approaches: In approaches of "lived theology", "ordinary theology", "lived religion", "public theology", "narrative ethics", "liberation theology", "constructive theology" or even "pragmatist theology", the focus is shifting to the contemporary lifeworld as the starting point and subject of theology - often opposed to "dogmatic theology" or "Systematic Theology" understood as a only theoretical endeavour concerned with dogma and tradition.
An international working group initiated by PD Dr. Frederike van Oorschot (FEST) and Dr. Lea Chilian (Zürich) brings together theologians from these different strands to discuss the reference to the lifeworld in systematic theology. The aim is to specify the task, approach and contribution of systematic theological research in interdisciplinary discourse, the interplay of theological disciplines and within the broader empirical turn within the humanities and cultural sciences.
In this panel, working group members present specimens of 'inductive theology' from various perspectives, discussing both the methodological and epistemological presuppositions and key features of this approach, as well as concrete examples of inductive work.