About me

I have been working at the Oldenburg Institute of Theology and Religious Education since 2012. Prior to that, I studied in Oldenburg (2007–2012) and at Union Theological Seminary in New York (autumn 2011). In my doctoral thesis, I examined US theological ethics (in particular the works of Reinhold Niebuhr and James H. Cone) — and reflected on the dialogue between theology and critical race theory. As part of this research, I was a visiting scholar at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (spring 2014).

In spring 2026, I completed my habilitation with the thesis ‘Reformed Theologies of Nature: Contributions to the Dialogue with the Environmental Humanities’ and the lecture ‘The Genders of Calvinism: Reformed Theology and Gender Order’. As part of this project, in autumn 2022 I led a seminar on ‘Reformed Theologies of Nature’ at the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University in Atlanta and organised a workshop on ‘Decentering Whiteness in Environmental Theologies’. In the summer term of 2024, I was a Landhaus Fellow at the Rachel Carson Centre for Environment and Society at LMU Munich, working on a project on ‘Nature Writing’ and Reformed theology. As a member of the DFG network ‘Bridging Black Freedom Struggles: German and U.S.-American Perspectives’, I have explored Reformed theology within the US environmental justice movement of the 1980s.

Memberships

• European Forum for the Study of Religion and Environment (Vice-Chair, since 2025)
• Rachel Carson Centre for Environment and Society at LMU Munich (since 2024)
• Colonial Continuities Oldenburg (since 2023)
• DFG Network ‘Bridging Black Freedom Struggles. German and U.S.-American Perspectives’ (2022–2025)
• Theological Committee of the Evangelical Reformed Church (since 2021)
• German Society for Missiology (since 2021)
• Cursor. Journal of Explorative Theology (Advisory Board) (since 2020)
• American Academy of Religion (since 2017)
• Network for Anti-Semitism and Racism-Critical Religious Education and Theology (narrt) (since 2016)
• Society for Protestant Theology (since 2013, board member since 2023)
• Interdenominational Theological Working Group (since 2013)
• DFG Network ‘Bearing Guilt: The Church and its Guilt’ (2015–2018, completed)

Monographs

• Reformed Theologies of Nature. Contributions to the Dialogue with the Environmental Humanities (in preparation).
• The Ambivalence of Realism. Reinhold Niebuhr’s Theological Ethics from a Perspective Critical of Racism (Christentum und Kultur 18), Zurich 2022. Awarded the 2023 Ernst Wolf Prize by the Society for Protestant Theology. Reviewed by Marco Hofheinz, in: Theologische Literaturzeitung 12 (2022), 1218–1220, and by Benedikt Brunner, in: Ethik und Gesellschaft 1 (2025).

Edited volumes

• Topoi and Networks of the Religious Right. Shared Enemies between the Far Right and Christianity, Bielefeld 2025 (in collaboration with Hans-Ulrich Probst, Karoline Ritter and Charlotte Jacobs).
• Learning Experiences. Theology as a Space for Relationships in Interdenominational and Interreligious Dialogue, Leipzig 2023 (with Knut Wormstädt).
• hope_less. Issue 6 of Cursor. Journal of Exploratory Theology, online publication 2022/2023 (in collaboration with Julia Enxing, Jonathan Fischer-Woudstra, Katharina Ide, Rasmus Nagel and Frederike van Oorschot).
• *Satisfactio*. On the (Im)possibilities of Redress, Leipzig 2019 (co-authored with Julia Enxing).

Interviews

• Between Progress and Backlash. A Conversation on Young Protestant Theology, Deutschlandfunk, Tag für Tag. From ‘Religion and Society’, 19 May 2025.
• The Cross and the Lynch Tree. How Black Theologians Interpret the Bible, Deutschlandfunk, From Religion and Society, 5 March 2025.
• 3½ Questions for: Dominik Gautier, in: Die Zeit 13 (2023), 41.
• Protestant Theology: Christianity as a Resource, in: Einblicke. The University of Oldenburg’s Research Magazine (2022/2023), 22–24.
• Criticism of racism as a theological imperative. Dominik Gautier on Black Theology, Deutschlandfunk, Day by Day. From ‘Religion and Society’, 12 June 2020.

Essays

• Maria Sibylla Merian. Reformed Piety between Art, Ecology and Colonialism (in preparation).
• The Genders of Calvinism. Reformed Theology and Gender Order (in preparation).
• Protestant Spirituality of Creation. A Search for Traces in the Reformed Tradition, in: Julia Enxing/Klaus Vellguth (eds.), Being Creation Together. European Spiritualities of Creation in Dialogue, Ostfildern 2026 (submitted).
• Dark Green Reformed? Reformed Theology and the Rights of Nature, in: *Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte. International Journal of Theology and History*, vol. 38 (2025), 104–115.
• The Sacrament of Wild Berries. Echoes and Ecological Transformations of Reformed Theology in the Work of Henry David Thoreau, in: Evangelische Theologie 85 (2025), 368–385.
• No Plants in Worship. Observations on the Anti-Ecological Stance of the Religious Right in the USA, in: Topoi and Networks of the Religious Right. Shared Enemies: The Far Right and Christianity, Bielefeld 2025 (co-edited with Hans-Ulrich Probst, Karoline Ritter and Charlotte Jacobs), 77–95.
• ‘Common Grace’. Neo-Calvinist Traces in the Work of Reinhold Niebuhr and Their Significance for Ecological Theology, in: Kai-Ole Eberhardt/Marco Hofheinz/Hans-Georg Ulrichs (eds.), Neo-Calvinism. European Formations and Networks of a Transnational Theological Movement (submitted in September 2024).
• ‘Theology of Israel and the Doctrine of Creation. Ecological-theological reflections following Willie James Jennings’, in: Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte. International Journal of Theology and History 37 (2024), 55–67.
• Karl Barth’s Love for Creation. An Ecological-Theological Reflection, in: Dominik von Allmen-Mäder and Matthias Käser (eds.), … Like a Bird in Flight. A Commentary on Karl Barth’s ‘Introduction to Protestant Theology’, Zurich 2024, 419–435.
• Cosmic Realism. Marilynne Robinson as a Dialogue Partner for a Reformed Theology of Creation, in: Sabine Hübner and Kim Strübind (eds.), Breaking Boundaries. Festschrift for Andrea Strübind on her 60th Birthday, Berlin 2023, 329–344.
• John Calvin’s Aesthetics of Nature. Reflections on a Little-Noticed Tradition in Reformed Theology of Creation, in: Dominik Gautier/Knut Wormstädt (eds.), Learning Experiences. Theology as a Space for Relationship in Interdenominational and Interreligious Dialogue, Leipzig 2023, 12–25.
• Theocentrism as a ‘dangerous memory’. Notes on an under-represented conceptual model in the anthropocentrism debate (in collaboration with Astrid Heidemann and Gregor Taxacher), in: Ökumenische Rundschau 3 (2021), 318–332.
• Political Theology of Grief. The Problem of the ‘Unmournable’ in US Cross Theologies, in: Mikkel Gabriel Christoffersen/Dennis Dietz/Lisanne Teuchert (eds.), Feeling Wounded. Systematic-Theological Perspectives on the Connection between Wounding and Emotion, Tübingen 2022, 207–217.
• Black Theology and the Question of Hope. A Transnational Dialogue between James H. Cone and Jürgen Moltmann, in: Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte. International Journal of Theology and History 1 (2020), 112–119.
• In Search of an Anti-Racist Theology in Germany. On the Presence of Black Theology in the Works of Jürgen Moltmann, in: Ökumenische Rundschau 3 (2020), 387–398.
• Walter Rauschenbusch’s Theology of the Cross. A Postcolonial Reflection, in: William H. Brackney and David P. Gushee (eds.), In the Shadow of a Prophet. The Legacy of Walter Rauschenbusch, Atlanta 2020, 177–189.
• Can Christ Speak? A Postcolonial Reflection on Christology, in: Britta Konz/Bernhard Ortmann/Christian Wetz (eds.), Postcolonialism, Theology and the Construction of the Other. Explorations in a Borderland, Leiden 2020, 90–99.
• Irritability. A theological reflection on critical-emancipatory religious education, in: Claudia Gärtner and Jan-Hendrik Herbst (eds.), Critical-Emancipatory Religious Education. Discourses between Theology, Education and Political Education, Wiesbaden 2019, 403–419.
• Identity in Question. A Theological Reflection, in: Julia Enxing/Dominik Gautier (eds.), Satisfactio. On the (Im)possibilities of Reparation, Leipzig 2019, 283–289.
• ‘You know my disgrace, shame and humiliation’ (Ps 69:20). Reflections critical of dominance on inclusive religious education (with Britta Konz), in: Julia Enxing and Katharina Peetz (eds.), Contritio. Approaches to Guilt, Shame and Repentance, Leipzig 2017, 16–35.
• ‘We stand there in shame’. Christological reflections on shame — with Karl Barth and James H. Cone, in: Ulrike Link-Wieczorek (ed.), Entangled in Guilt, Trapped by Shame? New Perspectives on Sin, Salvation and Reconciliation, Neukirchen-Vluyn 2015, 127–136.
• Why the Church Is (or Is Not) a Pacifist. Reinhold Niebuhr’s ‘Christian Realism’ and John Howard Yoder’s ‘Politics of Jesus’, in: Johanna Rahner/Andrea Strübind (eds.), Encounters — Responses. Essays on the Modern Question of God, Contextual Theology and Ecumenism, Leipzig 2015, 56–69.
• ‘The Cross and the Lynching Tree’. The theology of the cross according to James H. Cone, in: Ökumenische Rundschau 2 (2015), 198–206.
• A Reflection on the ‘Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace’ from the Perspective of Reconciliation Theology — with Karl Barth and Reinhold Niebuhr, in: *Ökumenische Rundschau* 1 (2015), 79–88.
• Sin, Guilt and Racism in Reinhold Niebuhr’s ‘Christian Realism’, in: Julia Enxing (ed.), Guilt: Theological Explorations of an Uncomfortable Phenomenon, Ostfildern 2015, 276–289.
• Reinhold Niebuhr’s ‘Christian Realism’, the ‘Social Gospel’ and the Reality of Racism, in: Zeitschrift für Theologie und Gemeinde 1 (2013), 168–180.

Encyclopaedia entries

• James H. Cone, in: Biographical-Bibliographical Church Encyclopaedia XLIX (2026), 283–286.
• Critique of Racism (dogmatic), in: Online Encyclopaedia of Systematic Theology (SysLex), https://doi.org/10.15496/publikation-107466.

Reviews

• Tilo Wesche, The Rights of Nature: On Sustainable Ownership, Suhrkamp: Berlin 2023, in: Intercultural Theology: Journal of Missiology 1 (2024), 259–261.
• Peter D. Browning and Marco Hofheinz (eds.), Protestant Ethics in the USA in the 20th Century: An Annotated Reader, Kohlhammer: Stuttgart 2023, in: Theologische Literaturzeitung 4 (2024), 347–348.
• Peter Eisenstadt, *Against the Hounds of Hell. A Life of Howard Thurman*, University of Virginia Press: Charlottesville 2021, in: *Journal of Southern History* 1 (2022), 184–185.

Further readings

• Rethinking Love for One’s Neighbour. A workshop on the work of Jürgen Moltmann from a critical perspective on racism and an ecological perspective, in: Andreas Schüle (ed.), Who, Then, Is My Neighbour? The Commandment of Love for One’s Neighbour as a Theological Guide in Times of Hostility and Violence, Leipzig 2026, 111–114.
• In Search of an Alliance. Critique of Racism, Ecology and Theology, in: Journal of the United Evangelical Mission 2 (2023), 24–25.
• Read – See – Click. Notes on Christian Ethics (with Ariane Dihle), in: Ethics and Teaching 4 (2023), 64–65.
• Conference Report: Decentering Whiteness in Environmental Theologies, 4 November 2022, McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
• Critiquing anti-Semitism as a task in higher education pedagogy – Institute of Theology and Religious Education at the University of Oldenburg (in collaboration with Carina Branković, Ariane Dihle, Rebecca Hedenkamp, Friederike Henjes, Joachim Willems), in: Lower Saxony’s State Commissioner against Anti-Semitism and for the Protection of Jewish Life (ed.), Jewish Life in Lower Saxony — vibrant, valuable and enriching. Second Annual Report (2021). Hanover 2022, 85–92.
• Racism and the Question of God. Learning from Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, in: Religion 5—10 46 (2022), 16–19.
• Original Sin: Racism. How Black Theology Interprets Racist Violence, in: Pubilk-Forum 12 (2020), 28–31.
• In Search of a Theology Critical of Racism: The Example of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in: Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste (ed.), Sermon Guides and Resources for the Congregation, Berlin 2020, 38–39; also in: Oldenburg Journal of Religious Education, 1 (2020), 2.
• Ideas for theological and religious education practice. Fragments critical of racism and anti-Semitism (in collaboration with Nina Schmidt and Christian Staffa), in: Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste (ed.), Sermon Guides and Materials for the Congregation, Berlin 2020, 36–37.
• On the Responsibility of Protestant Theology in the Face of Anti-Semitism and Racism. An Opening for Discussion (contribution), Oldenburg 2019
• Reflections on the Difficulty of Reparation (Foreword, co-authored with Julia Enxing), in: Julia Enxing/Dominik Gautier (eds.), Satisfactio. On the (Im)possibilities of Reparation, Leipzig 2019, 5–6.
• Foreword (co-authored with Christian Staffa, Nina Schmidt, Aline Seel and Rainer Möller), in: epd Documentation 12 (2019), 4–6; also in: Evangelical Academy of Berlin et al. (eds.), Identity. Power. Harm. Theological Perspectives Critical of Racism, Berlin 2019, 3–5.
• Theology as Blues. On the Death of James H. Cone, at: feinschwarz.net. Theological Feature, 3 May 2018; also in: Ökumenische Rundschau 3 (2018), 426–429; also in abridged form in: Black Theology, in: Religion betrifft uns 4 (2020), 10.
• Identity and Irritation, at : feinschwarz.net. Theological Feature, 16 June 2017.
• School as a Space for Projection (together with Thomas Geier, Christian Staffa and Mehmet Can), in: epd-Dokumentation 24 (2017), 39–40; also in: Evangelische Akademie zu Berlin et al. (eds.), Identity. Power. Wounding. Theological Perspectives Critical of Racism, Berlin 2019, pp. 35–37.
• What Can Be Done to Get Rid of the White Christ? Anti-racist Learning with the Young Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in: Evangelical Academy of Berlin et al. (eds.), Before God, All People Are Equal. Contributions to Anti-racist Religious Education and Theology, Berlin 2016, 25–29; also in: *Zeitschrift für Theologie und Gemeinde* 1 (2018), 128–130; abridged version also in: Ralf Koerrenz/Jana Müller (eds.), *Black, White, Multicoloured. Skin and Other Colours (Learning to Think Politically through Religion and Ethics), Göttingen 2021, 36; Centre for Pedagogy and Theology of the Evangelical Regional Church in Württemberg (ed.), Together—Hold Fast! Practical Ideas for an Anti-Racist Religious Education, Centre for Pedagogy and Theology of the Evangelical Regional Church in Württemberg (eds.), Stuttgart 2021, 62.
• Conference report: ‘Us’ and the ‘Others’. Explorations at the intersection of postcolonialism and theology, on: H-Soz-Kult. Communication and specialist information for the historical sciences, 24 November 2016.
• Ascension and Critique of Power, on: feinschwarz.net. Theological Feature Section, 4 May 2016.

Lectures

• Between Attentiveness and Extraction. Maria Sibylla Merian and the Ambivalence of the Reformed Tradition, 7–9 May 2026, conference: Religion, Extractivism and Green Colonialism in Europe, University College Stockholm.
• A Black Environmental Gospel. Reformed Theology and the Environmental Justice Movement, 10–12 April 2025, conference: Bridging Black Freedom Struggles. German and U.S.-American Perspectives, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• Anti-ecological hate speech as a challenge for theology, Evangelical Women’s Work, 29 November 2024, Oldenburg.
• Should We Ask Plants for Forgiveness? A Reformed Thought Experiment, Synod of the Evangelical Reformed Church in Bremen, 16 November 2024, online.
• Calvinism and Climate Racism. A Look at the US Ahead of the Elections, After-Work Talk organised by the Evangelical Reformed Church, 4 November 2024, online.
• Walking, Picking Berries, and Struggling for Justice. On Henry David Thoreau’s Theological Ethics, Seminar: Literature and Environment (Anupama Mohan), 24 September 2024, Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur, online.
• A Theology of Wild Berries. Henry David Thoreau, Calvinism, and Environmental Justice, Conference: Rachel Carson Centre Research Forum, 24 July 2024, LMU Munich.
• The Anti-Ecological Stance of the Religious Right. A Challenge for Church Educational Work, closed-door conference of the Education Department of the Oldenburg Church, 22 May 2024, online.
• ‘Common Grace.’ Traces of Neo-Calvinism in Reinhold Niebuhr’s theological ethics, Conference: Neo-Calvinism. European Formations of a Transnational Theological Movement, 29 February to 2 March 2024, Wuppertal Church University.
• ‘At the World’s Communion Table.’ An eco-theological perspective on Henry David Thoreau, Conference: Non-violence as a non-conformist way of life put to the test, 3–5 November 2023, University of Hamburg.
• Building Theological Bridges. Experiences in German–US Dialogue, ‘American Theology’ Working Group, 12–13 October 2023, Philipps University of Marburg.
• Can We Encounter God in Nature? Insights into the Field of Ecological Theology, ‘Blickwinkel’ series (Public Science), 25 May 2023, University of Oldenburg.
• Nature as a Contemporary Witness. Anti-Semitism and anti-racism-critical impulses for an ecological theology, 11 May 2023, Wuppertal Church University.
• Evangelical, liberal, radical. Christian traditions in the USA, Oldenburg Evangelical Students’ Fellowship, 11 January 2023, Oldenburg.
• The Doctrine of Creation—from an Israel-theological, postcolonial and ecological perspective, Conference: The Culture of Remembrance Under Scrutiny. Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Light of the Historians’ Dispute 2.0, 14–16 December 2022, online.
• Decentering Whiteness in Environmental Theologies. An Outline, Conference: Decentering Whiteness in Environmental Theologies, 4 November 2022, McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University, Atlanta.
• Environmental Racism as a Challenge for Theology, Evangelical Women’s Work, 1 July 2022, Papenburg Historical and Ecological Education Centre.
• The Ambivalence of Realism. Reinhold Niebuhr’s Theological Ethics from a Critique of Racism Perspective, Annual Conference of the German Society for Missiology (DGMW), Research Panel, 7–9 October 2021, Berlin.
• Political Theology of Grief. The Problem of the ‘Unmournable’ in US Cross Theologies, Conference: Feeling Wounded. Systematic-Theological Perspectives on the Connection between Wounding and Emotion, 5–7 February 2021, online.
• Response to Tripp Fuller, workshop: ‘Saving God from Tyranny. An Author-Meets-Critics Roundtable on Tripp Fuller’s “Divine Self-Investment. An Open and Relational Constructive Christology’, 20 January 2021, available as: Homebrewed Christianity Podcast (3 June 2021).
• Queer Christianity. Theological Reflections on Sexuality, Gender and Race, SCHLAU Lower Saxony, 31 October 2020, online
• No Peace Without Justice. Racism as a Challenge for Christians (not only in the USA), 12 November 2020, Friedensdekade Oldenburg.
• Racism as a Challenge for Theology and the Church, 14 October 2020, Catholic Academy Dresden-Meissen
• Theology of the Cross. Reflections critical of anti-Semitism and racism, narrt symposium, 19 June 2020, online.
• Interwoven Theologies. Remarks on James H. Cone’s ‘Black Theology’ and Jürgen Moltmann’s ‘Theology of Hope’, workshop: ‘Freedom Then, Freedom Now’. An Interdisciplinary and Transnational Dialogue on the US Civil Rights Movement, 29–30 November 2019, University of Oldenburg.
• ‘Nobody Knows My Name’. Racism, Sexuality and Religion in the Thought of James Baldwin, Evangelical Women’s Work, 27 September 2019, Oldenburg.
• Process Theology as Social Critique, 14 September 2019, Evangelical Women’s Organisation, Halle.
• Racism, Identity, Christianity. Critique and Emancipation from an Anti-Racist Perspective (Response), Conference: Back to the Future? Critique and Emancipation in Political and Religious Education, 15–16 March 2019, Dortmund Technical University
• Walter Rauschenbusch’s Theology of the Cross. A Postcolonial Reflection, conference: The Legacy of Walter Rauschenbusch, 9–11 April 2018, Mercer University, Atlanta, Georgia.
• Professionalism in the Face of Racism: A Theological Perspective, Conference: Right-wing Extremism and Racism as a Challenge for the Church and Congregations, 15–16 January 2018, Missionsakademie Hamburg.
• The Challenge of Epistemic Violence. A Postcolonial Reflection on the Doctrine of Reconciliation, Conference: Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), 18–21 November 2017, Boston, Massachusetts.
• Religious Education Critical of Anti-Semitism and Racism (together with Britta Konz), conference: Educational Strategies against Anti-Semitism in the Context of Anti-Racist Education, 28–30 August 2017, Evangelical Academy Loccum.
• Critique of Racism and the Reformation. Reading from texts of the 16th and 21st centuries followed by a discussion (in collaboration with Theresa Pieper), Wittenberg, 8 August 2017.
• ‘The Irony of American History.’ Reformation-inspired elements in Reinhold Niebuhr’s theological ethics, series: Luther in America. A series of lectures in the Reformation Year 2017, 16 May 2017, Freiburg.
• The Church in a Racist Context. A Theological Perspective on Criticism of Racism, meeting of the Centre for Migration Education and Cultural Studies (CMC), 14 December 2016, Oldenburg.
• The Right to Have a Say and the Challenge of Listening. A Political-Theological Perspective on the History of the US Civil Rights Movement, 19 October 2016, Catholic Academy Stapelfeld.
• Does the Earth Have a Right to a Say? Ecological-theological reflections with a focus on anti-racism, 28 September 2016, Catholic Academy Stapelfeld.
• Theses on anti-racist religious education, narrt symposium, 11 July 2016, Protestant Academy in Berlin
• Enduring Entanglements. Anti-racist theology and religious education, Conference: Right-wing extremism as a challenge for education, 18–19 June 2016, Evangelical Academy Hofgeismar.
• The Cross and Shame. Reflections on Inclusive Religious Education (in collaboration with Britta Konz) – Conference: Guilt and Shame in Reconciliation Processes, 14–15 December 2015, University of Oldenburg.
• Getting Rid of the White Christ. An Invitation to Think Critically about Racism with the Young Bonhoeffer, Conference: All People Are Equal Before God. Racism as a Topic in Religious Education, 20–22 November 2015, Evangelical Academy, Berlin.
• ‘The Terrible Beauty of the Cross’. Reflections on the theology of shame following James H. Cone, Conference: Theology in Discourse, 16–17 April 2015, University of Oldenburg.
• Sin, Guilt and Racism in Reinhold Niebuhr’s ‘Christian Realism’, conference: Guilt as a Challenge for Theology and the Church, 30 May to 1 June 2014, University of Münster.
• Karl Barth and Reinhold Niebuhr on Reconciliation in Amsterdam 1948, seminar: Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace. Spiritual Roots for an Ecumenical Journey, 10 April 2014, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
• Racism as Sin. Reflections following Marjorie H. Suchocki and Reinhold Niebuhr, 18 December 2013, University of Oldenburg.
• Protestantism and Racism, seminar: Right-wing Extremism and Religious Education, 8 October 2013, University of Osnabrück
• Sin and Responsibility in Racist Contexts, Conference: Man before God between Sin and (Social) Responsibility, 1–3 August 2013, University of Hamburg.
• Reinhold Niebuhr’s ‘Christian Realism’, the ‘Social Gospel’ and the Reality of Racism, Conference: The ‘Social Gospel’ Movement and its Reception. A Forgotten Legacy of Baptism?, 2–4 November 2012, Elstal Theological University.
• Political-theological reflections on the imagery of the US civil rights movement and its ‘misrepresentation’, conference: Identity after Conflict, 16–19 October 2012, University of Oldenburg.