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 Prize 2023 of the Society for Protestant Theology. Reviewed by Marco Hofheinz, in: Theologische Literaturzeitung 12 (2022), 1218-1220; Benedikt Brunner, in: Ethik und Gesellschaft 1 (2025), https://doi.org/10.18156/eug-1-2025-rez-5.

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

• Dark green reformers? Reformed theology and the rights of nature, in: Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte. International Journal of Theology and Historical Studies, in: Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte. International Journal of Theology and Historical Studies 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 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. International Journal of Theology and Historical Studies 37 (2024), 55-67.
• 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 University 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.