What Does Theology Do, Actually? Observing Theology and the Transcultural is to be the first in a series of 5 books, each presented under the same question - What Does Theology Do, Actually?, with vols. 2-5 focusing on one of the theological subdisciplines. This first volume proceeds from the observation of a need for a highly inflected trans-cultural, and not simply inter-cultural, set of perspectives in theological work and training. The revolution brought about across the humanities disciplines through globalization and the recognition of multiple modernities has introduced a diversity of overlapping cultural content and multiple cultural and religious belongings not only into academic work in the humanities and social sciences, but into the Christian churches as well.
About the Author: Sara Abdella-Kedir (M.A. in Analytic Theology; University of Aberdeen) teaches theology and theological ethics at the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She studies theology and identity, with a particular interest in gender and nationalisms. She is currently working on a textbook for the Ethiopian context on ethnic diversity and moral responsibility. Elorm Nick Ahialey-Mawusi (M.A. in Ecumenical Studies; University of Bonn) pastors the Living Generation Church in Hamburg. He served as the assistant coordinator of African Theological Training in Germany at the Academy of Mission at the University of Hamburg from 2011-2015, and as the director of African-European Theological Institute in Europe (AETIE) from 2013-2015. He has collaborated actively with the World Council of Churches (WCC), All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Association of Protestant Churches in Germany (EMW), Evangelical Lutheran Mission, and others on matters related to ecumenical relations, mission and intercultural theologies. Publications in the fields of ecumenical dialogue and ecclesiology in the context of migration include: "Reconciling the Odds: A Cross-Cultural Experience", in Ame?le Adamavi-Aho Ekue?, Pamela D. Couture, and Samuel George (eds.), For Those Who Wish to Hear: Emerging Theologians on Mission and Evangelism (World Council of Churches 2019), 31-42; and "Neo-Pentecostal Leadership of African Migrant Churches and the Abuse of Human Rights", in Theodor Ahrens/Werner Kahl (eds.), Gegen Gewalt: O?kumeniche Bewa?hrungsfelder (Leipzig: Evangelische Verlangsanstalt 2012), 183-193. Chukwuemeka Anthony Atansi (M.A., Master of Advanced Studies in Theology and Religion, S.T.L.; KU Leuven) is a research assistant at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. He also holds previous graduate degrees in philosophy (2007) and theology (2012) from Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu, an affiliate of the Pontifical Urban University, Rome. His areas of research interest include Christology, Contextual Theology, Theology of Liberation and Transformation, and Christianity and Social Transformation. His doctoral dissertation is entitled Christ the Image of Social Transformation: Towards a Transformative Christology in the African Context. The work systematically explores the theological and practical 326 Contributors significance of christological images, like healer, liberator and king for faith in Jesus Christ and societal transformation in Africa. Che-wai Chan (M. Ed., M.A. plus) is completing the Extended Master of Ecumenical Studies at the University of Bonn. Before he started his study in Bonn in 2018, he worked as a school teacher in Hong Kong for 37 years. He taught Chinese History and advocated in working on Christian Life Education. Doing theological studies, to him, is a pilgrimage in search of identity. Jayeel Cornelio (Ph.D. in Sociology; National University of Singapore) is Associate Professor and the Director of the Development Studies Program at the Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines. He is also Associate Editor of the journal Social Sciences and Missions and lead editor of the forthcoming Routledge International Handbook of Religion in Global Society. A sociologist of religion, he has written extensively on religious issues in relation to youth, politics, and development in the Philippines. Jayeel has held visiting posts at Lancaster University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Gottingen. Andrew DeCort (Ph.D. in Theology and Theological Ethics; University of Chicago) directs the Institute for Faith and Flourishing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he also founded and directs the Neighbor-Love Movement (www.balinjeraye.org). He has taught courses in ethics, theology, and Ethiopian studies at Wheaton College, the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology, and the University of Bonn. He is the author of, among other other works, Bonhoeffer's New Beginning: Ethics after Devastation (Lexington Books / Fortress Academic 2018); "On Human Flourishing: A Call for Public Responsibility in Contemporary Ethiopian Christianity", in Samuel Deressa and Josh de Keijzer (eds.), The Role of the Church in Fostering Democracy and Sustainable Human Development (Lutheran University Press, Forthcoming 2020); and editor of Donald Levine, Interpreting Ethiopia: Observations of Five Decades (Tsehai Press 2014). Martin Grassi (Ph.D. in Philosophy; University of Buenos Aires) is Professor at the Philosophy Department of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina and Research Assistant at the Buenos Aires National Academy of Sciences and the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research of Argentina (CONICET). From 2018-2020, he was an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow at the Institut fur Hermeneutik at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms- University of Bonn. Further research stays include University of Oxford and Universitat Bonn as an Oxford-Templeton Latin-American Fellow (2016) and in Universite La Sorbonne (Paris I-Pantheon) within the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (2019). He has written several books, including: "Ignorare Contributors 327 Aude! La existencia ensazada" (2012); "(Im)posibilidad y (sin)razon: La filosofia, o habitar la paradoja" (2014); "La comunidad demorada: Ontologia, Politica y Teologia de la vida en comun" (2017). His current book project is a philosophical study of spirit and life in relation to political theology. Eberhard Hauschildt (Dr.theol. in Practical Theology; Ludwig-Maximillians- University of Munich) is Professor of Practical Theology at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn. His areas of research expertise include ecclesiology and pastoral care, including intercultural and interreligious pastoral care. He is currently a principal investigator in the DFG-FOR2686 research group "Resilience in Religion and Spirituality". Publications include: Alltagsseelsorge. Eine sozio-linguistische Analyse des pastoralen Geburtstagsbesuchs (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1996); (with Uta Pohl-Patalong) Kirche verstehen (Gutersloher Verlagshaus 2016); (with Uta Pohl-Patalong) Kirche (Gutersloher Verlagshaus 2013); (with Claudia Schulz and Eike Kohler) Milieus praktisch. Analyse- und Planungshilfen fur Kirche und Gemeinde (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2008); and (with Claudia Schulz and Eike Kohler) Milieus praktisch II. Konkretionen fur Helfendes Handeln in Kirche und Diakonie (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2010). Florian Hohne (Dr. theol. in Systematic Theology [ethics]; Friedrich- Alexander-Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg) is Research Assistant in Systematic Theology at the Humboldt University of Berlin. His teaching and research focus on current debates in theological ethics, with special emphases in public theology and digitalization. Recent publications include: Offentliche Theologie. Begriffsgeschichte und Grundfragen (EVA 2015); Einer und Alle. Personalisierung in den Medien als Herausforderung fur ein offentliche Theologie der Kirche (EVA 2015); (with Jonas Bedford-Strohm and Julian Zeyer-Quattlender [eds.]) Digitaler Strukturwandel der O?ffentlichkeit. Interdisziplina?re Perspektiven auf politische Partizipation im Wandel (Nomos 2019); (with Heinrich Bedford-Strohm and Tobias Reitmeier [eds.]) Contextuality and Intercontextuality in Public Theology (LIT 2013). Inja Inderst (Practical Theology; RFW University of Bonn) is a research associate in practical theology in the Protestant Theological Faculty of the University of Bonn. Her main research interests are prison pastoral care, pastoral care and ethics. Evan Kuehn (Ph.D. in Theology; University of Chicago) is a metadata specialist at Atla and interlibrary loan coordinator at North Park University, and has taught in the humanities and the history of philosophy at the University of Chicago and Trinity International University. He is the author of Troeltsch's Eschatological Absolute (Oxford University Press, 2020) and (with Matthew Ryan Robinson) Theology Compromised: Schleiermacher, Troeltsch, and the 328 Contributors Possibility of a Sociological Theology (Lexington Books / Fortress Academic 2019). His current work is focused on the development of ontologies and methods adequate to researching emerging problems in theology and the humanities more generally. Dogara Ishaya Manomi (Ph.D. in New Testament; Johannes-Gutenberg- University of Mainz) is currently a lecturer in the Department of Linguistics and Bible Translation / Department of Biblical Studies at the Theological College of Northern Nigeria. Between March-April 2020, he was a visiting researcher at the Tyndale House, Cambridge. His research interests include New Testament interpretation and application, biblical ethics (historical, contemporary, and methodological), virtue ethics, and African ethics. His doctoral dissertation, which was awarded the prestigious Johannes Gutenberg University Dissertation Prize in 2019, conducted an interdisciplinary and comparative study of biblical ethics and virtue ethics theory. Dr. Manomi also leads the Initiative for Victims' Educational and Economic Development in Northern Nigeria. Constantin Plaul (Dr.theol. in Systematic Theology; Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg) is Research Associate at the Institute of Systematic Theology at the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg. He is the author of Verstehen und Religion im Werk Wilhelm Diltheys. Theologische Dimensionen auf kulturphilosophischer Grundlage (Mohr Siebeck 2019). He has edited several recent volumes on theology and social transformations, including: (with Anne Kafer und Florian Priesemuth) Der reformierte Schleiermacher. Pragungen und Potentiale seiner Theologie (DeGruyter 2020); (with Malte D. Kruger, Christian Polke, Arnulf von Scheliha) Freiheit Denken: Protestantische Transformationen in der Gegenwart (Peter Lang 2020); and (with Marianne Schroter and Christian Senkel) Fundamentalismus. Vom Reiz des Einfachen in Religion, Politik und Wissen (Mitteldeutscher Verlag 2020). He is currently writing a book on protestant media ethics in a digital age. Esther D. Reed (Ph.D. in Theology; University of Durham, UK) is Professor of Theological Ethics at the University of Exeter, UK. Her research interests centre around the concepts of responsibility and citizenship - with particular reference to the many and complex issues associated with globalization, international law, human rights, social justice and citizenship, artificial intelligence and autonomy in weapons systems. She has written on Theology for International Law (2013) and The Ethics of Human Rights: Contested Moral and Theological. Her most recent book, The Limits of Responsibility: Engaging Dietrich Bonhoeffer in a Globalizing Era (2018), is about the concept of responsibility in an age when connections between agent, act and consequence fall apart. Contributors 329 Cornelia Richter (Dr.theol. in Systematic Theology; Philipps-University of Marburg) is Professor of Systematic Theology and Hermeneutics in the Protestant Theological Faculty of the University of Bonn, where she currently leads the transdisciplinary research group "Resilience in Religion and Spirituality" (DFG-FOR2686). She has authored and edited numerous books and articles, including recently: Bodenloses Vertrauen. Performanzphanomen in Humanwissenschaften und Theologie (Forthcoming from Mohr Siebeck); Die Religion in der Sprache der Kultur. Schleiermacher und Cassirer - Kulturphilosophische Symmetrien und Divergenzen (Mohr Siebeck 2004); (with Dietrich Korsch [eds.]) Die heilende Kraft des Sinns. Viktor E. Frankl in philosophischer, theologischer und therapeutischer Betrachtung (Kohlhammer 2018); (ed.) Ohnmacht und Angst aushalten. Kritik der Resilienz in Theologie und Philosophie (Kohlhammer 2017). Matthew Ryan Robinson (Ph.D. in Theology and Religious Studies; Northwestern University) is Research Associate in the Protestant Theological Faculty of the University of Bonn, where he works at the intersections of Systematic Theology, Intercultural Theology and Religious Studies. Recent publications include: Redeeming Relationship, Relationships that Redeem: Free Sociability and the Completion of Humanity in the Thought of Friedrich Schleiermacher (Mohr Siebeck, 2018); (with Evan F. Kuehn) Theology Compromised: Schleiermacher, Troeltsch, and the Possibility of a Sociological Theology (Lexington Books / Academic Fortress 2019); (with Kevin Vander Schel [eds.]), Beyond Tolerance: Schleiermacher on Friendship, Sociability and Lived Religion (De Gruyter 2019). He is currently writing a book on hospitality and friendship in relation to theological method. He organizes the What Does Theology Do, Actually? project and book series. Hadje Cresencio Sadje (M.A. in Ecumenical Studies; University of Bonn) is an associate member of the SOAS Center for Palestine Studies, University of London, UK. In 2016, Mr. Sadje obtained M.A. degrees in Crosscultural Theology degree at the Protestant Theological University, The Netherlands, and in ecumenical Studies from the University of Bonn. He is currently a graduate student in in Theology and Religious Studies at the Evangelical Theological Faculty in Leuven, Belgium. In the world of practice, he has worked with the Christian Peacemaker Team Greece, Caritas Brussels, World Student Christian Movement-Europe (WSCM-Europe), EAPPI-World Council of Churches (WCC), Society for Intercultural Pastoral Care and Counseling, PeaceBuilders Community Philippines, and Pananaw Pinoy. Eva Youkhana (Ph.D. in Sociology; Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University Frankfurt) is Acting Director and Deputy Professor in the Department for Political and Cultural Change, Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn, where she works on migration, religion, development, and 330 Contributors human-nature relationships in Colombia, Ecuador and Spain using actor network theory and spatial theory. Recent publications include: "Die Untersuchung von Akteursnetzwerken in der kritischen Stadtforschung", Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen 1, no. 32 (2019): 123-138; "Los espacios religiosos de los migrantes latinoamericanos y el poder politico de los santos: la Virgen del Cisne en Madrid", in: Francesco Romizi (ed.): Migrantes peregrinos. Trayectorias identitarias de la diaspora ecuatoriana en el espacio catolico transnacional. (Editorial Abya Yala 2018); (with Claudia Leifkes and Tomas Leon-Sicard) "Epistemic Marginality, Higher and Environmental Education in Colombia". Gestion y Ambiente 21, no. 2 (2018): 15-29; and (ed.), Border Transgression: Mobility and Mobilization in Crisis (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht UniPress 2017). Gianna Zipp (Dr. theol. in Church History; Johannes-Gutenberg-University of Mainz) is Research Associate in Church History at the Theological Faculty of the University of Greifswald. Her research focuses, on the one hand, on Lactantius, early Christian persecution, and the development of ecclesial history writing and, on the other hand, on post-WWII Protestantism, Gender and socalled "leftist Christianity."