About the person

I have been working at the Oldenburg Institute of Theology and Religious Education since 2012. Before that, I studied in Oldenburg (2007-2012) and at Union Theological Seminary in New York (autumn 2011). In my dissertation, I explored US theological ethics (especially the work of Reinhold Niebuhr and James H. Cones) - and reflected on the dialogue between theology and critical racism studies. As part of this research, I also worked at the Free University of Amsterdam (spring 2014).

In my post-doctoral project, I am working on reformed theologies of nature. As part of this project, I gave a seminar on "Reformed Theologies of Nature" at the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University in Atlanta in the autumn semester of 2022 and organised a workshop on "Decentering Whiteness in Environmental Theologies". In the summer semester of 2024, I was a Landhaus Fellow at the Rachel Carson Centre for Environment and Society at LMU Munich with 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 am also working on echoes and ecological transformations of Reformed theology in the U.S. environmental justice movement of the 1980s.

Memberships

• Rachel Carson Center 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 Protestant Reformed Church (since 2021)
• German Society for Missiology (since 2021)
• Cursor. Journal for Explorative Theology (Advisory Board) (since 2020)
• American Academy of Religion (since 2017)
• Network for religious education and theology critical of anti-Semitism and racism (narrt) (since 2016)
• Society for Protestant Theology (since 2013, board member since 2023)
• Interconfessional theological working group (since 2013)
• DFG network "Endure guilt. The church and its guilt" (2015-2018, completed)

Monograph

• The ambivalence of realism. Reinhold Niebuhrs theologische Ethik in rassismuskritischer Perspektive (Christentum und Kultur 18), Zurich 2022 (awarded the Ernst-Wolf-Preis 2023 of the Gesellschaft für Evangelische Theologie; reviewed by Marco Hofheinz, in: Theologische Literaturzeitung 12 (2022), 1218-1220).

Publications

• Topoi and Networks of the Religious Right. Verbindende Feindbilder zwischen extremer Rechter und Christentum, Bielefeld 2025 (together with Hans-Ulrich Probst, Karoline Ritter and Charlotte Jacobs).
• Learning experiences. Theologie als Beziehungsort im interkonfessionellen und interreligiösen Gespräch, Leipzig 2023 (together with Knut Wormstädt).
• hope_less. 6th issue of Cursor. Zeitschrift für explorative Theologie, online publication 2022/2023 (together with Julia Enxing, Jonathan Fischer-Woudstra, Katharina Ide, Rasmus Nagel and Frederike van Oorschot).
• Satisfactio. On the (im)possibilities of reparation, Leipzig 2019 (together with Julia Enxing).

Interviews

• Between progress and backlash. Young Protestant Theology in Conversation, Deutschlandfunk, Tag für Tag. From Religion and Society, 19 May 2025.
• Cross and lynching tree. How Black theologians interpret the Bible, Deutschlandfunk, From Religion and Society, 5 March 2025.
• 3 ½ Questions for: Dominik Gautier, in: Die Zeit 13 (2023), 41.
• Protestant Theology :Christianity as a Resource| Protestant Theology: Christianity as a Resource, in: Einblicke. The Research Magazine of the University of Oldenburg (2022/2023), 22-24.
• Critique of Racism as a Theological Demand. Dominik Gautier on Black Theology, Deutschlandfunk, Tag für Tag. From Religion and Society, 12 June 2020.

Essays

• The sacrament of wild berries. Echoes and Ecological Transformations of Reformed Theology in the Work of Henry David Thoreau (to be published in "Evangelische Theologie" in 2025)
• No plants in worship. Observations on the anti-ecological position of the religious right in the USA, in: Topoi und Netzwerke der religiösen Rechten. Verbindende Feindbilder zwischen extremer Rechter und Christentum, Bielefeld 2025 (co-edited with Hans-Ulrich Probst, Karoline Ritter and Charlotte Jacobs), 77-95.
• "Common Grace. Neocalvinist Traces in the Work of Reinhold Niebuhr and their Significance for Ecological Theology, in: Kai-Ole Eberhardt/Marco Hofheinz/Hans-Georg Ulrichs (eds.), Neocalvinismus. European Formations and Networks of a Transnational Theological Movement (submitted in September 2024).
• Israel-theological doctrine of creation. Ecological-theological reflections following Willie James Jennings, in: Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte. Internationale Zeitschrift für Theologie und Geschichtswissenschaft 1 (2024) (submitted in November 2023).
• Karl Barth's Love of Creation. Eine ökologisch-theologische Überlegung, in: Dominik von Allmen-Mäder/Matthias Käser (eds.), ... wie ein Vogel im Fluge. A commentary on Karl Barth's "Introduction to Protestant Theology", Zurich 2024, 419-435.
• Cosmic Realism. Marilynne Robinson as a dialogue partner of a reformed theology of creation, in: Sabine Hübner/Kim Strübind (eds.), Entgrenzungen. Festschrift for Andrea Strübind on her 60th birthday, Berlin 2023, 329-344.
• John Calvin's Aesthetics of Nature. Reflections on a little-noticed tradition of Reformed creation theology, in: Dominik Gautier/Knut Wormstädt (eds.), Lernerfahrungen. Theologie als Beziehungsort im interkonfessionellen und interreligiösen Gespräch, Leipzig 2023, 12-25.
• Theocentricity as a "dangerous memory". Notes on an underrepresented model of thought in the anthropocentric discussion (together with Astrid Heidemann and Gregor Taxacher), in: Ökumenische Rundschau 3 (2021), 318-332.
• Political theology of mourning. The Problem of Unpardonability in US-American Theologies of the Cross, in: Mikkel Gabriel Christoffersen/Dennis Dietz/Lisanne Teuchert (eds.), Verletzt fühlen. Systematic-theological perspectives on the connection between injury 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 Historical Studies 1 (2020), 112-119.
• In Search of a Theology Critical of Racism 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/ David P. Gushee (eds.), In the Shadow of a Prophet. The Legacy of Walter Rauschenbusch, Atlanta 2020, 177-189.
• Can Christ speak? Eine postkoloniale Überlegung zur Christologie, in: Britta Konz/Bernhard Ortmann/Christian Wetz (eds.), Postkolonialismus, Theologie und die Konstruktion des Anderen/ Postcolonialism, Theology and the Construction of the Other. Erkundungen in einem Grenzgebiet / Exploring Borderlands, Leiden 2020, 90-99.
• Irritability. Eine theologische Überlegung zur kritisch-emanzipatorischen Religionspädagogik, in: Claudia Gärtner/Jan-Hendrik Herbst (eds.), Kritisch-emanzipatorische Religionspädagogik. Discourses between Theology, Pedagogy 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 shame, disgrace and dishonour" (Ps 69:20). Dominance-critical reflections on inclusive religious education (together with Britta Konz), in: Julia Enxing/ Katharina Peetz (eds.), Contritio. Approaches to Guilt, Shame and Remorse, Leipzig 2017, 16-35.
• "We stand there as ashamed". Christological reflections on shame - with Karl Barth and James H. Cone, in: Ulrike Link-Wieczorek (ed.), Verstrickt in Schuld, gefangen von Scham? New perspectives on sin, redemption and reconciliation, Neukirchen-Vluyn 2015, 127-136.
• Why the church is (not) a pacifist. Reinhold Niebuhr's "Christian Realism" and John Howard Yoder's "Politics of Jesus", in: Johanna Rahner/Andrea Strübind (eds.), Begegnungen - Entgegnungen. Contributions to the Modern Question of God, Contextual Theology and Ecumenism, Leipzig 2015, 56-69.
• "The Cross and the Lynching Tree". James H. Cone's theology of the cross, in: Ökumenische Rundschau 2 (2015), 198-206.
• A theological reflection on reconciliation in the "Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace" - 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.), Schuld. Theological Explorations of an Inconvenient 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 article

• James H. Cone, in: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (submitted).
• Rassismuskritik (dogmatisch), in: Onlinelexikon Systematische Theologie (SysLex) (submitted).

Reviews

• Tilo Wesche, The Rights of Nature. Vom nachhaltigen Eigentum, Suhrkamp: Berlin 2023, in: Intercultural Theology. Journal for Missiology 1 (2024), 259-261.
• Peter D. Browning/Marco Hofheinz (eds.), Protestant Ethics in the USA of the 20th Century. Ein kommentierter Reader, Kohlhammer: Stuttgart 2023, in: Theologische Literaturzeitung, submitted.
• 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 texts

• 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 (together with Ariane Dihle), in: Ethik und Unterricht 4 (2023), 64-65.
• Conference report: Decentering Whiteness in Environmental Theologies, 4 November 2022, McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University, Atlanta/Georgia, U.S.A.
• Antisemitism Criticism as a Didactic Task for Higher Education - Institute of Theology and Religious Education at the University of Oldenburg (together with Carina Branković, Ariane Dihle, Rebecca Hedenkamp, Friederike Henjes, Joachim Willems), in: Lower Saxony State Commissioner against Antisemitism 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.), Predigthilfe und Materialien für die Gemeinde, Berlin 2020, 38-39; also in: Oldenburger Magazin für Religionspädagogik, 1 (2020), 2.
• Impulses for theological and religious education practice. Fragments critical of racism and anti-Semitism (together with Nina Schmidt and Christian Staffa), in: Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste (ed.), Predigthilfe und Materialien für die Gemeinde, Berlin 2020, 36-37.
• On the Responsibility of Protestant Theology in the Face of Anti-Semitism and Racism. An opening for discussion (collaboration), Oldenburg 2019
• Thoughts on the difficulty of reparation (foreword, together with Julia Enxing), in: Julia Enxing/Dominik Gautier (eds.), Satisfactio. On the (im)possibilities of reparation, Leipzig 2019, 5-6.
• Foreword (together with Christian Staffa, Nina Schmidt, Aline Seel and Rainer Möller), in: epd-Dokumentation 12 (2019), 4-6; also in: Evangelische Akademie zu Berlin et al. (ed.), Identity. Power. Violation. Racism-critical theological perspectives, Berlin 2019, 3-5.
• Theology as blues. On the death of James H. Cone, on: feinschwarz.net. Theologisches Feuilleton, 3 May 2018; also in: Ökumenische Rundschau 3 (2018), 426-429; abridged also in: Schwarze Theologie, in: Religion betrifft uns 4 (2020), 10.
• Identity and irritation, on: feinschwarz.net. Theological feuilleton, 16 June 2017.
• Schule als Projektionsraum (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.), Identität. Power. Violation. Racism-critical theological perspectives, Berlin 2019, 35-37.
• What to do to get rid of the white Christ? Learning critical of racism with the young Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in: Evangelische Akademie zu Berlin et al. (eds.), Vor Gott sind alle Menschen gleich. Beiträge zu einer rassismuskritischen Religionspädagogik und Theologie, Berlin 2016, 25-29; also in: Zeitschrift für Theologie und Gemeinde 1 (2018), 128-130; abridged also in: Ralf Koerrenz/Jana Müller (eds.), Schwarz-Weiß-Bunt. Haut und andere Farben (Politisch denken lernen mit Religion und Ethik), Göttingen 2021, 36; Pädagogisch-Theologisches Zentrum der Evangelischen Landeskirche in Württemberg (ed.), Zusammen-Halt! Praxisimpulse für eine rassismuskritische Religionspädagogik, Pädagogisch-Theologisches Zentrum der Evangelischen Landeskirche in Württemberg (ed.), Stuttgart 2021, 62.
• Conference report: "We" and the "Others". Explorations in the borderland of postcolonialism and theology, in: H-Soz-Kult. Communication and specialist information for the historical sciences, 24 November 2016.
• Himmelfahrt und Herrschaftskritik, on: feinschwarz.net. Theological feuilleton, 4 May 2016.

Lectures

• 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, Evangelische Frauenarbeit, 29 November 2024, Oldenburg.
• Should we ask plants for forgiveness? A Reformed thought experiment, Synod of the Protestant Reformed Church in Bremen, 16 November 2024, Online.
• Calvinism and climate racism. A look at the USA before the elections, After-Work-Talk of the Protestant Reformed Church, 4 November 2024, Online.
• Walking, Picking Berries, and Struggling for Justice. On Henry David Thoreau's Theological Ethics, Seminar: Literature and Envrionment (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 Center Research Forum, 24 July 2024, LMU Munich.
• The Anti-ecological Position of the Religious Right. Eine Herausforderung für die kirchliche Bildungsarbeit, Retreat of the Education Department of the Oldenburg Church, 22 May 2024, Online.
• "Common Grace." Neocalvinist Traces in the Theological Ethics of Reinhold Niebuhr, conference: Neocalvinism. European Formations of a Transnational Theological Movement, 29 February to 2 March 2024, Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal.
• "At the communion table of the world." An ecotheological look at Henry David Thoreau, conference: Nonviolence as a nonconformist way of life put to the test, 3-5 November 2023, University of Hamburg.
• Building theological bridges. Experiences in the German-U.S. dialogue, "American Theology" working group, 12-13 October 2023, Philipps-Universität Marburg.
• Can we encounter God in nature? Insights into the field of ecological theology, series "Blickwinkel" (Public Science), 25 May 2023, University of Oldenburg.
• Nature as a contemporary witness. Antisemitism- and racism-critical impulses for an ecological theology, 11 May 2023, Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal.
• Evangelical, liberal, radical. Christian traditions in the USA, Evangelische Studierendengemeinde Oldenburg, 11 January 2023, Oldenburg.
• Creation theology-israel theological, postcolonial, ecological, conference: Culture of remembrance on the test bench. Interdisciplinary perspectives in the face of the Historikerstreit 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, Evangelische Frauenarbeit, 1 July 2022, Historisch-ökologische Bildungsstätte Papenburg.
• The Ambivalence of Realism. Reinhold Niebuhr's theological ethics in a racism-critical perspective, Annual Conference of the German Society for Missiology (DGMW), Research Panel, 7-9 October 2021, Berlin.
• Political theology of mourning. The Problem of Unmournability in US-American Theologies of the Cross, conference: Feeling Wounded. Systematic-theological perspectives on the connection between injury 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. Theology 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, Peace Decade 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 U.S.-American Civil Rights Movement, 29-30 November 2019, University of Oldenburg.
• "Nobody knows my name". Racism, Sexuality and Religion in the Thought of James Baldwin, Evangelische Frauenarbeit, 27 September 2019, Oldenburg.
• Process theology as social criticism, 14 September 2019, Evangelische Frauenarbeit, Halle.
• Racism, identity, Christianity. Criticism and emancipation from a racism-critical perspective (response), conference: Back to the future? Critique and Emancipation in Political and Religious Education, 15-16 March 2019, Dortmund University of Technology
• Walter Rauschenbusch's Theology of the Cross. A Postcolonial Reflection, Conference: The Legacy of Walter Rauschenbusch, 9 to 11 April 2018, Mercer University, Atlanta/Georgia.
• Racism-critical professionalism. A theological perspective, conference: Right-Wing Extremism and Racism as a Challenge for 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.
• Antisemitism- and racism-critical religious education (together with Britta Konz), conference: Bildungsstrategien gegen Antisemitismus im Kontext antirassistischer Bildung, 28 to 30 August 2017, Evangelische Akademie Loccum.
• Criticism of racism and reformation. Reading from texts from the 16th and 21st centuries and subsequent discussion (together with Theresa Pieper), Wittenberg, 8 August 2017.
• "The Irony of American History." The Reformation in Reinhold Niebuhr's theological ethics, Series: Luther in America. A lecture series in the Reformation Year 2017, 16 May 2017, Freiburg.
• Church in racist circumstances. A theological perspective on the critique of racism, Meeting of the Center 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 look at the history of the US civil rights movement, 19 October 2016, Katholische Akademie Stapelfeld.
• Does the earth have a right to a say? Ecological-theological reflections with a critical accent on racism, 28 September 2016, Katholische Akademie Stapelfeld.
• Theses on religious education critical of racism, narrt symposium, 11 July 2016, Evangelische Akademie zu Berlin
• Enduring entanglements. Racism-critical theology and religious education, conference: Right-wing extremism as a challenge for education, 18-19 June 2016, Evangelische Akademie Hofgeismar.
• Cross and shame. Reflections on inclusive religious education (together 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 of racism with the young Bonhoeffer, conference: All men are equal before God. Racism as a topic of religious education, 20 to 22 November 2015, Evangelische Akademie zu Berlin.
• "The terrible beauty of the cross". Schamtheologische Überlegungen im Anschluss an James H. Cone, conference: Theology in Discourse, 16-17 April 2015, University of Oldenburg.
• Sünde, Schuld und Rassismus im "Christlichen Realismus" Reinhold Niebuhrs, conference: Schuld als Herausforderung für Theologie und Kirche, 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, Free University of 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 circumstances, conference: Der Mensch vor Gott zwischen Sünde und (sozialer) Verantwortung, 1 to 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 to 4 November 2012, Elstal Theological University.
• Political-theological reflections on the images of the US civil rights movement and its "misrecognition", conference: Identity after Conflict, 16-19 October 2012, University of Oldenburg.