Prof. Dr. Johannes Weth

Academic and professional career

 

Academic background

• Studies of Protestant Theology at the Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal 1994-1997 and at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum 1997-2000. First church exam, Düsseldorf 2000, second church exam, Düsseldorf 2003
• Studies of Fine Arts and Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Düsseldorf 1995-1999 (graduation as a Master Fellow of Prof. Markus Lüpertz) - Postgraduate Scholarship of the Academy 1991-2001
• PhD 2021 at the Protestant Faculty of the Philipps University of Marburg with Prof. Dr. Malte Dominik Krüger. Dissertation Thesis Topic: Weltweite Kirche vor Ort. Interkulturelle Ekklesiologie im Anschluss an Wolfhart Pannenberg und Jürgen Moltmann [Worldwide Church locally. Intercultural Ecclesiology in reception of Wolfhart Pannenberg and Jürgen Moltmann].

 

Occupational history

• 1994-2001: Several stays in India. Involvement in the establishment of a community based project called "Bethel Ashram" in Tamil-Nadu, South India, in cooperation with Kindernothilfe and the "Churches Council for Child and Youth Care" (CCCYC) in Bangalore.
• 1997: Political-theological initiative "Helmut kommt." [Helmut is coming]
• 1999-2006 Establishment of the church planting and social work project "Sommerhotel Habicht" in a socially deprived area in Düsseldorf-Rath with the aim of bringing church and social work into productive complementarity. Winner of the Youth Culture Award Nordrhein-Westfalia in 2002.
• 2001-2003 Vicariate at the ev. Thomaskirche, Düsseldorf / Pastor's Seminary in Wuppertal
• 2003-2007: Pastor of the Protestant Church in Rhineland (EKiR): 50% at the Office for Church Development and Missionary Services (GMD) in strategic consulting and management of the Christ Camp e.V. in Krefeld (now Kirschkamper Hof e.V.); 50% parish work at the ev. Thomaskirche in Düsseldorf and in the previously mentioned church planting project.
• 2005: Ordination as Protestant pastor in the Thomaskirche Düsseldorf
• 2007: Founding member, chairman of the board and managing director of the ecumenical Werner Pfetzing Foundation Himmelsfels in Spangenberg, North Hesse. Since 2007, responsible for the development and stabilization of the intercultural-ecumenical work of the foundation.
• 2017-2021: Theological research asspciate at Hans von Soden Institute, Marburg.
• Since October 2022: Professor for Systematic Theology and Hermeneutics in an Intercultural Perspective at FIT.

 

Research focusses

• Ecclesiology and church theory in an intercultural perspective
• Fundamental research interest in re-perspectivizing classical topoi of dogmatics such as Christology, soteriology and eschatology in the context of contemporary intercultural and glocal challenges of theology and church and in opening them up productively in collaborative teaching and research processes, thus overcoming eurocentric one-sidedness.
• Basic questions of intercultural hermeneutics, especially with regard to bible-reception, the fundamental relationship of reason and faith as well as in questions of the theological attainment of knowledge in the field of tension between God's revelation and human experiences of earthly realities.
• Questions of interculturally balanced communication and collaboration in teaching and research. This presupposes that power imbalances and Western discourse sovereignties are critically reflected and also consciously set aside at times.
• Basic approach: The intercultural perspectivization of systematic theology cannot be understood merely as an ingredient that is added to the predefined content in an additive or descriptive way, but rather requires the fundamental and critical reflection of the processes of cognition, teaching and learning as well. Positively speaking, it means the attentive and appreciative moderation of diverse knowledge of those involved in the discourse, regardless of their academic degrees.

Memberships

• Since 2007: Chairman of the Board of the Werner Pfetzing Foundation Himmelsfels, Spangenberg, North Hesse
• Since 2009: Extraordinary member of the EKD Conference for the Affairs of International Churches and Congregations (KAMIG)
• Since 2017: Member of the research network "Migration Churches"
• Since 2018 member and since 2022 management of the network of intercultural church development "Gemeinde auf Augenhöhe" - www.gemeinde-auf-augenhoehe.de
• Member of the German Society for Missiology (DGMW) since 2021
• Since 2022: Chamber for Mission and Ecumenism of the Evangelical Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck (EKKW)
   

About me

I am a Protestant theologian and professional artist. I contribute to the FIT work especially the experience of 15 years of an intercultural community at Himmelsfels in learning and living in Spangenberg.

I am a passionate preacher, storyteller and an inventor. My heart is dedicated to the vision of letting the one body of Christ from all nations and skin colors become visible together even in the local context. Together with my international brothers and sisters I stand up for overcoming the divisions and borders between cultural imprints in church as well as in society.

My theological interest is to overcome one-sided perspectives and culturally dominant patterns of explanation in theology. I understand theology as encouragement and freedom to think responsibly before the forum of God and the world. The vitality of this reasoning comes from the ever new and fruitful confrontation of the biblical tradition and the experienced reality of the world. Understood in this way, theology can become the guarantor and enabler of a wideness that the church is in need of in order to overcome old demarcations and false convictions in its present.