International Consultation part of a study project of the Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Theologie The project examines theological anthropology from intercultural, postcolonial, and liberationist perspectives by scholars of African, Asian, Latin American, European, and American descent. The study of theological anthropology has been dominated by the epistemology of colonial modernity, reflecting its race, class, gender, and heterosexual biases. It deconstructs the universalist anthropological claims and presents theological inquiries that are contextual, decolonial, interreligious, and inter/transcultural, using an intersectional approach and taking the construction of alterity seriously. The project is significant because current wars and conflicts have intensified the debates on moral and religious issues in/between religious communities and theologies, often intertwined with questions of identity, culture, and power. Changing geopolitics challenges the understanding of rules-based order, international relationships, human rights, and democracy. It is necessary to lift up new theological and interreligious anthropologies emerging from the socio-political margins. Different ways of learning and knowing must be honored, recognizing that cultural and religious memories and traumatic experiences can be expressed through art, poetry, narratives, and practices. Traditional Christian theology has been criticized as anthropocentric and androcentric, contributing to a variety of challenges, among others to the ecological crisis and climate emergency. The character of the international consultation in Münster is that of collegial sharing, each presenting on their area of expertise, of mutual exchange and collaborative reflection. The aim is to present and discuss papers that will then after this collaborative process be published in a joint volume.
