Welcome to the Centre for Theological Gender Studies!

Feminist Theology and Theological Gender Studies are cross-disciplinary endeavours in theology. They reflect upon the relevance of sex and gender for Biblical, Historical, Systematic and Practical Theology as well as the structures in which theology is practiced. Regarding methods and content, they are situated in theology as well as in gender studies. In the interest of both, they support gender sensitivity and gender equality in theology and in the Church.
Feminist Theology and Theological Gender Studies have a long tradition in Münster. Since the end of the 1970s, there is research and teaching in the field of Feminist Theology at our faculty. Besides the Centre for Theological Gender Studies with a focus on Church History in Bonn, the Centre for Theological Gender Studies in Münster is the only Catholic-theological institution at a university in Germany that reflects on gender-perspectives in all theological disciplines. Moreover, it provides a comprehensive library that is under continuous development in cooperation with the Diocesan Library Münster.

Regina Elsner holds the 9th Herlinde Pissarek-Hudelist Lecture at the University of Innsbruck

How fair is “just peace”? Gender as a gap in church peace policy

On November 21st, Prof. Dr. Regina Elsner gave the 9th Herlinde Pissarek-Hudelist Lecture at the Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Innsbruck. In her guest lecture, which will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the faculty's lecture hall I (Karl-Rahner-Platz 3), she will address the question: How fair is the “just peace”? Gender as a gap in church peace policy. 

Against the specific background of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, Regina Elsner addresses in her lecture why the church's fear of appropriating the concept of gender as a category of justice undermines the idea of ​​"just peace" and thus church peace policy in times of global polarization around values makes it almost impossible.

The Herlinde Pissarek-Hudelist Lecture was launched by the “Sophia forscht” initiative, the group of women working in science at the Catholic Theological Faculty in Innsbruck, to publicly discuss gender-specific issues in theology and philosophy.

New publication: AGENDA anniversary volume

The women's theology network ‚AGENDA - Forum of Catholic Women Theologians‘ is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. We send warm congratulations and would like to point out the anniversary volume "Ewig wahr? Zur Genese und zum Anspruch von Glaubensüberzeugungen", edited by Prof. Dr. Gunda Werner, Prof. Dr. Saskia Wendel and Dr. Jessica Scheiper.

From their respective theological perspectives, the authors deal with conflicts between theology and the Magisterium and discuss fundamental theological questions with a view to current events in church politics.

The heads of our Centre for Theological Gender Studies, Prof. Dr. Marianne Heimbach-Steins and Prof. Dr. Judith Könemann, as well as member of the Centre Prof. Dr. Monika Bobbert are also represented with contributions.

Further information on the anthology can be found on the publisher's website.

Diversity awareness has grown in many societies, not least thanks to the struggles for recognition and against gender, sexual, racial and ethnic discrimination. At the same time, marginalizing discriminatory tendencies are on the rise again. Christian theology that claims public relevance has to take responsibility in this regard. An international symposium on the topic of “Theology: Biographical - Contextual – Intersectional” from 20 to 21 October 2022, organized by the Centre for Theological Gender Studies at the Faculty of Catholic Theology in Münster, was dedicated to this issue.

This volume provides contributions and results of the conference, in particular different modes and conditions of receiving intersectionality theologically and making it fruitful for theological thinking. The volume presents (auto-)biographical approaches from different geographical, cultural and religious contexts (including West Africa and the Philippines) as well as theoretical reflections on the theological appropriation of intersectionality. Furthermore, they suggest perspectives on how to develop theological intersectionality research and for an in-depth examination of its methodological and hermeneutical prerequisites.

To the volume on the publisher's website