A radical present A commentary on the current constellations and perspectives of academic Catholic theology

Abstract

Where is academic Catholic theology situated in the German-speaking countries? What is its position? If we want to avoid moralising stances, we can turn to topological approaches: Where are we, those who practice theology, located? What are the power structures within which we operate?
The core question that determines the position of our discipline must be answered first: Is theology’s main concern the academic process that is applied to its subject matter, or how its subject matter can be academically processed? Only the latter is worthwhile for religion and its existential meaning.
This Nietzschean question presupposes that we have moved beyond an antiquated or even monumentalising and triumphal preservation of tradition. It also presupposes that we have abandoned a critical academic habitus that might not succumb to the fallacies of traditionalism or might not commit the crimes of repression, but still perpetuates intellectual self-affirmation and rests on the laurels of having won its battles, although not conclusively.
This essay reflects on the power constellations that shape theology’s place within society, the university and the church. It also looks to the future and asks what the path of a decolonised, academic theology could look like – a theology that returns to what it once was: the authentic teaching of the Gospel and the stimulating disruption of at times disruption-resistant academia.