"Intersections - intersectional theology"
Starting with courses in the 2026 summer semester, the Institute of Catholic Theology is offering an interdisciplinary annual topic "Intersections - intersectional theology" in the 2026/27 academic year.
Retraditionalizations in the church and society represent a current challenge for gender research, which we want to meet with a differentiated and broad-based approach in order to train future teachers of religion in a power-critical, gender-sensitive and theologically competent manner. At the same time as these traditionalist efforts, however, we have also noticed a growing awareness and increased interest in gender issues among students in recent years, which we want to address with this focus. This was confirmed in the analysis of the student questionnaire, the accompanying research of the previous project. An intersectional analysis that takes into account the dimension of gender, but also other forms of discrimination (class, race, etc.), can be more complex and informative than a one-dimensional analysis that is limited to gender aspects.
The focus on gender equality, which shaped many courses and other event formats as the 2023-2025 annual theme, met with lively interest from students, as our accompanying research suggests. In order to build on this and introduce students to a more complex analysis of discrimination that goes beyond the dimension of gender (although this should always be taken into account), we want to use the annual theme of intersectionality to focus on the interactions between different forms of discrimination.
Various studies have shown this: Interactions between different forms of discrimination are powerful. An intersectional approach is particularly important in religious education teacher training. On the one hand, for the students personally, as reflecting on their own biography, privileges and disadvantages can be enlightening. For their future professional practice, it is also important to reflect on personal (possibly structurally anchored) prejudices in order to avoid reproducing them when planning lessons and in contact with pupils. An intersectional approach takes into account the complexity of discrimination.
The annual theme is supported by various events:
Thematic focus of courses in the summer semester 2026 on the annual theme:
KTh-0000-S-011: Learning to read power relations. Intersectional Bible didactics in theory and practice (Tina Krasenbrink)
KTh-0000-S-012: Believing diversity - living inclusion: intersectional perspectives on religious education (Katharina Barth)
KTh-0000-S-022: Of robots, cyborgs, the earth's atmosphere and amoebas. Human-nature-technology relationships as a topic of theological ethics (Prof. Dr. Anna Maria Riedl, University of Bonn)
Further events:
- Conducting a religious education and theology study day in the winter semester 2026/27
