Dissertation and habilitation projects

Professionalization in theological conversations - to what extent are
students' personal theological questions important?
(working title)

The basic idea for the research topic arose from the large-scale project 'Professionalization through Networking (PRONET)', which is part of the Germany-wide 'Quality Offensive Teacher Education' funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. In brief, 33 sub-projects at the University of Kassel aim to improve and further expand teaching for teacher training courses. Protestant religious education is also part of PRONET and is concerned with the professionalization of students as part of the certified study profile 'Theological Conversations'.

At the heart of Theological Conversations is the promotion of independent theological thinking among children and young people. However, in order to be able to appropriately promote the independent thinking of children and young people in Theological Conversations, teachers themselves need a variety of different skills. Elisabeth Schwarz, for example, considers what she calls philosophical competence to be important for leading theological conversations: In the sense of a searching, inquiring, open attitude, teachers should be able to engage themselves in the question-worthy nature of theological topics. For students who conduct theological discussions, there is therefore a particular need to engage with theological questions themselves. But to what extent does this actually happen? And to what extent does personal engagement with theological issues possibly even change as a result of leading theological conversations?

Although there has been little research into actual student engagement with theological issues to date, studies by Andreas Feige, Hans Mendl, Christhard Lück and others have interestingly identified the desire to engage with theological issues as a key motivation for prospective teacher training students in theology / religious education. In contrast, there is a certain tension with these findings in another study by Mendl, in which young teachers criticize the fact that they are confronted with theological questions (theodicy, miracles, creation, ...) in everyday school life for which they have not been prepared by the university. According to Andreas Feige, there is therefore still a need for more detailed research in order to "get a comprehensive and typifying view of the variety in the content of the 'interest in basic theological questions'".

Such detailed research is the aim of the planned dissertation: with the help of a qualitative setting (grounded theory based on Juliet Corbin / Anselm Strauss and Kathy Charmaz), the significance of student theological questions will be investigated in more depth than has previously been done.

The dissertation focuses on the following questions:

I To what extent did students actually engage with theological, personally meaningful questions during their studies?

II What significance do students' own theological questions have against the background of leading theological discussions?

III What exactly do students understand by an 'interest in basic theological questions'? What personal meaning does this have for them?

Encouraging empathy and a change of perspective in interreligious encounters among primary school children - Considerations of approaches to beneficial effects supported by empirical research using the example of the university education program "Kinderakademie - Weltreligionen im Dialog" (working title)

Research agrees that interreligious empathy and interreligious change of perspective are highly complex and multi-factorial phenomena. Therefore, a clear definition of both terms does not yet exist.

The overarching aim of the planned dissertation is to initiate interreligious settings that should have the most efficient effect possible on deepening interreligious empathy and change of perspective in children.

Interreligious empathy and interreligious change of perspective is understood as the attempt to perceive members of different religious communities in a comprehensive way from different perspectives , to understand them and to deal with their biographies of life and faith. In a relationship that is as reciprocal as possible, the first step is to look at the specific other person, their religiosity and then to anticipate their religion - this means first looking at the person and then, in a second step, at their religious background. When we act empathetically and thoughts, feelings, attitudes and convictions become comprehensible, a change of perspective is inevitable. By looking at the other person, it is not only possible to discuss differences or similarities, but also one's own points of view, values and opinions and make them more bearable for one's own self.

Empathy and a change of perspective are therefore often "door openers" and are therefore a necessary prerequisite, especially for interreligious encounters, in order to allow further interreligious educational processes to grow. Among other things, they determine how fruitful or productive an interreligious dialog can be.

Based on this, the research work focuses on the concrete interreligious encounters of children in primary schools who participate in the university education program "Children's Academy - World Religions in Dialogue". The guiding principle of this project is to specifically strengthen and promote children's skills in interreligious empathy and changing perspectives. The initial question is therefore: How can this succeed?

The work would like to make suggestions for conditions for success in this regard. It is systematically structured with an academic and an empirical section, which then analyzes and combines the key findings of both. Methodologically, the work follows a multi-method approach, working with qualitative and quantitative elements in order to achieve a more comprehensive and valid picture. These investigations are carried out within the Children's Academy of World Religions. Ultimately, fundamental results should be derived from both the scientific and the empirical part, which will show conditions that have a beneficial effect on interreligious settings and in which interreligious empathy and change of perspective can grow in children.

"Needs of sustainable Protestant youth work, focused by the full-time and voluntary experts in the field of action" (working title)

The aim of the planned research work is the empirical investigation of field-specific expert knowledge. Protestant youth work is currently in a fragile state. Various factors are responsible for this, including demographic change resulting in the thinning out of the social infrastructure, the increase in commercial providers in the field of extracurricular youth work, changing school conditions, social change and the changing developmental tasks of young people as a result. In this respect, it seems essential for Protestant youth work to reflect on its origins, its genuine specifics, the particularities of the social situation and the resulting options for action.
Recent studies and publications on the topic of (Protestant) youth work, such as the German Youth Institute's survey "Growing up in Germany: Everyday Worlds" and "Bridges and Barriers - Young People on the Path to Protestant Youth Work", provide a good basis for partial aspects of the research topic, but these are rarely related to each other. They appear more like a "patchwork-like work of art", which is attractive due to the variety of shapes and colors, but a dominant theme remains hidden from the observer. Furthermore, the field-specific knowledge of the experts has so far only been partially acknowledged.
The research work focuses on the expert knowledge of the full-time and voluntary actors in the field of action. In guideline-based interviews, they are invited to discuss their perceptions of Protestant youth work - taking into account current needs. The guideline-based interviews are analyzed using grounded theory methodology. The aim is to relate the internal field knowledge to the fundamentals and specifics of Protestant youth work and to work out any potential for change that may arise. Richard Münchmeier's statement is a guiding principle in this regard: "The future of child and youth work cannot be planned without the perspective of young people."
The empirical survey hopes to gain new insights into the topic of sustainable Protestant youth work on the basis of the aforementioned questions, which can be worked out in particular through field-specific experience, knowledge of the real lifeworlds of young people, their individual challenges, regional specifics and other factors. Last but not least, it can be assumed that many experiments have already been carried out in the experimental field of Protestant youth work in order to position the field of action well for the future. In this respect, it is to be expected that some of these field trials contain the potential for action-guiding recommendations for the purpose of constituting sustainable Protestant youth work.

"Students advise students in the Kassel research workshop 'Theological Conversations'. Investigations of reflection discussions and impulses for a student mentoring concept." (working title)

Under the direction of Prof. Dr. Petra Freudenberger-Lötz, the so-called research workshops "Theological Conversations with Children and Young People" were implemented into university teaching as part of the practical school studies. Students are given the opportunity to engage intensively with the concept of child and youth theology as part of the research workshop. The individual professionalization of students and making a "research contribution to the further development of the profession" are seen as the primary goals of the FoWe. The students' professionalization process is characterized by a spiral-shaped interrelationship of planning, practical action, reflection and the continuous consideration of academic discourse. Since 2014, students have received support from student mentors. Each team of two is assigned a student mentor. The students receive intensive support from their mentor throughout the semester. This includes a weekly reflection meeting, which forms the core of a complex advisory system. The reflection meetings not only represent progress with regard to the professionalization of Theological Conversations, but also promote the students' ability to reflect, which is crucial for the development of their teaching personality. In order to ensure a certain level of quality assurance, the mentors take part in mentor training, which is intended to contribute to the development of their counselling skills.

However, the question arises as to what constitutes a reflective conversation in order to promote or activate the students' ability to reflect and thus advance their professionalization in the field of theological conversations. The focus of the planned dissertation is therefore on investigating the internal structure of reflective conversations for the professionalization of student teachers in the area of theological conversations and the resulting consequences for mentor training.

Promoting interreligious learning processes among learners and teachers - An explorative design developed at a vocational school (title of work)

Today, Germany is characterized by a multitude of different religious beliefs. As a result, people come into contact with a wide variety of religions and cultures in all areas of life. This religious and cultural diversity is also reflected in the classroom. Learners of different faiths meet particularly frequently in schools and classrooms. Due to this fact, schools are the most important place for integration. The responsibility for schools and individual teachers, especially religious education teachers, is therefore very great and very challenging.

This raises the question for me of how interreligious learning can be appropriately implemented in schools and how openness towards other religions can be supported. The existing religious and cultural diversity should be used in the BRU to promote interreligious and intercultural skills. As a result, it is necessary to develop competence-oriented teaching that takes into account the resources of the learners. It is essential that learners can build on their existing knowledge structures and acquire new knowledge on this basis. Every learner has their own biography and, accordingly, their own prior knowledge. In order to take all this into account, however, religious education teachers need many different skills.

Due to the great importance of promoting interreligious skills, I would like to conduct an empirical study to determine the extent to which interreligious skills can be promoted among learners and teachers with the help of a skills-oriented teaching unit.

How exactly could such a teaching unit or religion project be designed so that interreligious competencies and independent learning processes are taught and put into practice at school and in the BRU in particular?

I would like to take a closer look at these questions with the help of a comprehensive religion project. Specifically, the food traditions in the monotheistic religions will be addressed and dealt with in detail from different perspectives. I decided to do this because the topic of "food traditions" is very close to everyday life and every learner has already gained experience with the topic in different ways. Food and drink affect everyone on a daily basis and therefore there can hardly be a more elementary topic for learners than food and drink.

Habilitation thesis on responsible action (title still to be determined).

In my research work, I deal with the phenomenon that knowledge often does not lead to action. This is particularly relevant for ethical questions. People often act against their ethical convictions: They are against child labor, for example, but keep buying products that were produced with it. For example, children work in the coltan mines in the Congo, ruining their health, and the coltan is built into smartphones, which are bought and used without hesitation. Children are sold as child slaves on the cocoa plantations of the Ivory Coast, where they work from morning to night without schooling for the chocolate that we enjoy without hesitation. Although most people believe that people should be paid appropriately for their work, they buy clothes that are produced in Bangladesh or China, for example, under conditions that are anything but humane: i.e. the workers do not receive a living wage with which they can feed their families, they often cannot send their children to school, they have no health or pension provision, they work without protection with substances that are harmful to their health, etc. So we can speak of modern slave labor and assume that for one person from Western countries with an average consumption pattern, around 40-60 people perform slave labor. This is not a populist exaggeration. The working conditions in many countries from which our consumer goods originate are catastrophic.

Why are we constantly buying these products instead of alternatives (which do exist!)?

The same phenomenon can be found in our treatment of creation: for example, millions of animals are kept in industrial factory farming in Germany alone every year. Thousands of them spend their entire lives in cramped conditions and without daylight, only to be slaughtered in slaughterhouses on a piecework basis. Factory farming is a major factor contributing to global warming, a large proportion of the feed used to fatten animals comes from countries where a large proportion of the population suffers from hunger, etc. People are aware of these conditions and actually reject them, yet they still buy and consume meat from factory farming, for example.

The list of problematic consumer behavior could be extended many times over. These are just a few striking examples.

Why is it that people pay little attention to acting responsibly in their daily consumption, i.e. why do they give little thought to where the products they buy come from? Why do they often make little effort to live in such a way that people and the environment are not exploited? Why do they buy so few fairly produced products?

How can we encourage people to take responsibility and live and consume according to their ethical convictions, etc.?

These questions are particularly important for theology and the training of religious education teachers.

As Christians, are we not particularly called upon to act responsibly?

Shouldn't theology also deal intensively with such questions?

How can these questions be integrated into theology studies and the training of religious education teachers? How can students be prepared to implement topics such as responsible action in schools?

These are the questions I am investigating in my research work.

Interreligiousness in university religious education teacher training. A qualitative study on how students deal with the question of truth in the plurality of religions

There is a broad consensus among researchers that we live in a world in which several processes are simultaneously taking effect in our society and influencing people's religious lives: Secularization, individualization and pluralization. In this contemporary situation, individuals are repeatedly forced to choose and position themselves. Encounters with different world views take place on a daily basis in people's everyday lives, and so-called patchwork religions emerge from the pluralistic religious offerings.

Prospective teachers therefore live in a functionally differentiated society that is characterized by multi-layered religious plurality (diversity of religions and denominations as well as the diversity of individual faith practices), individualization (individual beliefs are created syncretically from the range of religions on offer) and de-traditionalization (breaking away from tradition). Prospective religion teachers in particular are faced with the special challenge of making these three processes fruitful for their own (religious) teacher identity and finding sustainable answers to religious questions for themselves, which in turn can be embedded as authentic testimonies in school lessons.

The question of truth is a prominent question for one's own (religious) life: Why do so many religions exist (in Germany/Europe/around the world) that (all) claim an absolute or relative truth for themselves? How can a personal answer be formulated in the tension between one's own (non-)religiosity and the tolerance demanded by society with regard to the religions' claim to truth and thus also to salvation? The planned dissertation project will use a qualitative study to work out whether and what viable answers students of the Protestant religion have found to the coexistence of religions and thus their often sole claims to truth. Which types can be classified? And to what extent can these types be linked to other dimensions of interreligious competence? For teacher training, it is important to know which attitudes and stances lecturers encounter during this phase in order to be able to respond to them appropriately. Ultimately, this study should also make it possible to identify links between university teaching in the area of interreligious learning and the effects of this on students in order to be able to formulate consequences for university teacher training.

"... because you already know your own opinion"
The metacognitive dimension of learning in religious education using the example of theologizing (working title)


In children's theology, children's statements in theological discussions are primarily considered from a theological or religious education perspective at the level of content. The aim is therefore to perceive, take up and promote the children's questions and their interpretations. In my research project, the metacognitive dimension of theologizing will now come into focus.

The importance of metacognitive skills for learning is well known. Metacognition plays a role in research, in didactic approaches and increasingly also in teaching - from as early as first grade. However, observations during teaching consultations and further training courses show that this is less the case in religious education than in other subjects. Hardly any questions are asked about how children explain their learning or what ideas they have to influence their learning. However, this does not mean that children do not think about their learning and have no explanations for how they learn or how learning can succeed for them, or why they do things the way they do.

While Elisabeth Hennecke (2012) basically asks what children learn in religious education lessons during their primary school years and are able to do at the end, this study aims to shed light on the children's perspective on their own learning. For this reason, nine to twelve-year-old children are given space to think about their own learning and to share their thoughts and explanations. Based on the open question "How do children talk about their learning and skills when theologizing and which aspects are discussed?", the aim is to reveal children's explanations and theories, as well as metacognitive skills as such.

In order to get as close as possible to the children's concrete thoughts, the data collection should be as close as possible to the actual lessons. After a teaching project on the Trinity, in which theologizing plays an important role, the children talk to each other in circle discussions or group discussions.
A suitable theoretical frame of reference for this is grounded theory, which is also used to evaluate the data. One advantage of this approach is seen in the fact that a theory is generated through intensive engagement with the material itself. The circular approach ultimately results in permanent reflection both with regard to the study as a whole and in relation to its sub-steps. This corresponds to the open question and enables a slow and gradual recognition.

The aim of the study is to be able to make statements about what is important to children when they think and talk about their learning and skills, as well as how they explain these to themselves. Finally, based on the results and insights, the challenges and implications for religious education will be discussed.

Completed supervised doctorates:

1. Ulrike Szlezak: Religious Education. Biographical studies within the horizon of Oser/Gmünder's stage theory and consequences for religious education (2008)
 

2. Christina Lange: Dietrich Bonhoeffer in religious education (2008)
 

3 Isabel Schneider-Wölfinger: Listen while talking. On changing perspectives and competence-oriented teaching in children's theology (2008)
 

4 Meike Rodegro: "Between Big Bang and Creation." An empirical study in religious education at upper secondary level (2009)
 

5. Ina Bösefeldt: Gender specifics of the understanding of God and relationships with God of eight boys and eight girls growing up in a predominantly non-denominational context (2009)
 

6 Anke Kaloudis: Keeping the horizon open - religious didactics from a religio-philosophical perspective (2012)
 

7. Nina Rothenbusch: Studentische Gottesvorstellungen - Empirische Untersuchungen zur Professionalisierung der Wahrnehmung (2012)
 

8 Annike Reiß: Young people interpret New Testament miracle narratives. Results of the research workshop "Theological conversations with young people" (2013)
 

9 Karina Möller: "The chemistry has to be right for the divine experience." Personal experiences of God by high school students from a youth theological perspective (2014)
 

10 Daniel Faßhauer: "Church, youth, internet." The regional church of Kurhessen-Waldeck on the internet - accessibility and involvement of the younger generation after confirmation by means of a special homepage (2015)
 

11 Alina Bloch: Interreligiosity in university religious education teacher training. A qualitative study on how students deal with the question of truth in the plurality of religions (2017)
 

12 Damaris Knapp "...because you already know your own opinion." The metacognitive dimension of learning in religious education using the example of theologizing. (2017)
 

13 Werner Meyreiß: The competent child. (2018)
 

14 Heike Regine Bausch: Faith in the performance context of religious education. Theologizing about the doctrine of justification in the upper secondary school (2019)
 

15. Marie-Sophie Kitzinger: Counseling concept of the Kassel research workshop Criteria of successful reflection discussions and practical testing of student mentoring (2020)
 

16 Johanna Kallies-Bothmann: Ideas of death and the Christian hope of resurrection in the field of youth theology (2020)

Completed supervised habilitations:

1. Prof. Dr. Britta Konz: On the reconquest of time. Eingedenken-lernen im Religionsunterricht (2015) Ms. Konz is now Professor of Religious Education at the University of Dortmund.

2. Prof. Dr. Stefan Piasecki: Redemption through annihilation?! Entertainment, fascination with technology and patterns of religiousness in video games - an explorative study at the intersection of religious education, social sciences and game studies (2014) Mr. Piasecki is now Professor of Sociology and Political Science at the HSPV North Rhine-Westphalia

Gender specifics of the understanding of and relationship to God of eight boys and eight girls growing up in a predominantly non-denominational context (May 2009)

Since April 2005, I have been working on the evaluation of the "Rostock long-term study on children's understanding of and relationship with God in a predominantly non-denominational context". Prof. Dr. Anna-Katharina Szagun was responsible for the content, methodology and organization of the study, which began in 1999. My focus in the evaluation of the long-term study is the 'gender question': Are there differences in the religious development of boys and girls from Rostock? And if so, what form do they take? To date, research has come to the conclusion that there are gender-specific differences in religious development. However, in order to be able to describe and analyze these in more detail, there is a lack of detailed long-term observations. In addition, the group of boys and the group of children who grow up in a predominantly non-denominational context are only very marginally represented in previous research. These two research desiderata are addressed by the structure of the thesis.

The first part of the thesis lays the theoretical foundation. This means, first and foremost, that there is an intensive examination of the concepts of God and gender. In the second step, a methodology was developed that endeavors to do justice to the qualitative data collected in the long-term study. The combination of theory, the current state of research and methodology leads to a list of questions. On the one hand, there are questions about the relationship and communication behavior of the adolescents and, on the other hand, questions about their own understanding of gender and the gender of God. The evaluation of the data under the specific questions leads to the creation of so-called profiles of the adolescents. The profiles reflect the development of their understanding of God and their relationship with God in a concentrated and gender-specific form.

In the final step, the insights that emerge from the profiles of the adolescents are then brought into discussion with the previous research results in order to contribute to the understanding of the gender-specific characteristics of boys' and girls' understanding of and relationship with God.

"Between the Big Bang and Creation". An empirical study in religious education at upper secondary level

Research question and objectives

Using the example of scientific world creation theories and biblical creation narratives, the connection between young people's preconceptions and individual evaluation strategies was investigated. The aim of the data collection and analysis was to test how pupils (hereafter abbreviated to SuS) determine the relationship between science and faith and whether the structural types of relationship determination discussed in scientific theory can be empirically measured in the mode of conflict, separation and dialog? The measurement instruments are based on British and German studies in this area.

In order to familiarize young people with different levels of "truth" (Schweitzer 2003) and to open up the opportunities and limits of dialogue (Barbour 2003; Kropač 1999; Polkinghorne 2001), thinking in complementarity (Reich 1995, 1996, 2001) was to be promoted by means of a teaching unit. The following research questions were the guiding principles:

1. what influence do variables such as attitudes, interests as well as religiosity exert on the development of strategies of agreement on the subject of the "Big Bang" and "Creation"?

2. can mediation strategies on the relationship between science and theology be promoted?

Methodological approach

Firstly, a closed questionnaire was used at three survey points before and after the series of lessons (pre-, post- and follow-up test). The questionnaire was partly designed as a replication study (Gibson 1989, 1996; Rothgangel 1999). In a preliminary study of 200 pupils, the data were tested and analyzed for reliability and validity using SPSS 12.

Secondly, data was collected within a qualitative setting in which the pupils participating in the main study presented their respective points of view on the basis of open sentence beginnings. The actual teaching events were documented by means of video-based participant observation. The decisive sections of the videotaped lesson sequences were transcribed. The evaluation of the pupils' texts as well as the evaluation of the transcripts was carried out on the basis of qualitative content analysis (Mayring 2003, 2005).

The dissertation has been published by kassel university press in the series "Beiträge zur Kinder- und Jugendtheologie" (ed.: Petra Freudenberger-Lötz):

www.uni-kassel.de/upress/publi/schriftenreihe.php

Student conceptions of God - Empirical studies on the professionalization of perception

During an elaborate qualitative research process, three categories of student conceptions of God were identified. These three categories refer to "Christian-triune", "theistic or deistic" and "esoteric-transcendent" conceptions of God. These three types could be clearly distinguished from each other in terms of their abilities within three competence-relevant dimensions. From a religious education perspective, an increasing competence from the "esoteric-transcendent" to the "Christian triune" concept of God could be recognized in all dimensions.

A general competence-oriented, training-critical consideration of the results showed that the initial competences or prerequisites of students at the beginning of theology studies differ greatly from one another.

The results within the question on the theological dimension (individual, theoretical and theological knowledge of the student) give rise to the assumption that too many students have too little knowledge or a low level of religious education.
The evaluations of the religious pedagogical dimension (ability to link theological knowledge with religious pedagogical action) showed a genuine effort on the part of the students, but this was not sufficient for goal-oriented religious pedagogical action.
The results within the self-reflective dimension indicated that a large proportion of the students were fundamentally willing to critically examine their own views and actions and also appeared to be searching for religious orientation.

The results show that many students cannot be assumed to have a stable religious identity of their own. Against this background, the question arises as to how students can teach religious education in a competence-oriented manner in the future and enable children and young people to acquire orientation parameters for interpreting the world from a Christian perspective. According to recent studies, students are very consciously turning to theology studies in their search for answers to their religious questions and are dependent on the university to provide impulses for their individual religious development. Under these conditions, university education is of great importance within the religious education process of students.

Keeping the horizon open - religious didactics from a religio-philosophical perspective.

Illustrated by the question: Is man a "homo religiosus?" (secondary level II).

Protestant religious education is currently facing various challenges. It must position itself within the current educational debate (educational concept, educational standards, competencies), incorporate the consequences of secularization (loss of importance of institutionalized religion) and globalization (clash of different religions) into its didactics and align itself with the religiosity and development of young people if it is to have any meaning for pupils on their path to adulthood. In the school landscape, it takes a variety of forms, including denominationally separate or cooperative, religious studies or religious history lessons, regardless of models that go beyond this, in which its denominational character is barely recognizable, such as the "Hamburg Religious Education for All" or LER lessons in Brandenburg.

The dissertation "Keeping the horizon open - religious didactics from a philosophy of religion perspective" aims to develop a didactic model for Protestant religious education that focuses on the philosophy of religion, taking into account the above-mentioned challenges. While conventional religious education is positioned between educational science and Protestant theology, in the concept developed here the philosophy of religion becomes the "reference science" of educational science because it represents an adequate form of responding appropriately to the challenges mentioned above. The dissertation, with its focus on content in the context of the research situation, therefore shows, on the one hand, possible connections to the concept of "children's philosophy" and "children's theology" and, on the other hand, makes clear connections to the elementarization concept of Wolfgang Klafki or Karl Ernst Nipkow.

The didactic approach described here for Protestant religion will be exemplified and tested for its practical suitability using a teaching module from secondary level II(Is man a "homo religiosus?"). In other words, with the help of concretely designed and evaluated teaching processes, the question of which educational processes are triggered in pupils with the help of a religio-philosophical approach will be investigated.

Young people interpret New Testament miracle narratives. Results of the research workshop "Theological conversations with young people" (working title)

In recent years, children's theology has been given a clear profile thanks to numerous research projects; primary and elementary levels in particular have been investigated. However, theologizing with young people at secondary level has been virtually unexplored. The aim of the study is to gain insights into the theological thinking (and speaking) of pupils in adolescence in order to draw conclusions for a concept of youth theology. The transition from primary to secondary school is characterized by the beginning upheaval in pupils' thinking and world view: The magical imaginary world of the child changes into the scientific explanatory model of the adolescent.

In the encounter with biblical miracle narratives during this age phase, this transition and the conflicts associated with it come to light. By the middle of lower secondary school, the scientific world view has generally completely replaced the magical ideas of childhood - with the consequence that young people either think of God as external, i.e. not intervening in worldly events, or as a feeling within themselves. However, the biblical stories of miracles tell of God's intervention in the world; the New Testament's understanding of reality leaves no doubt about God's ability to act in and on the world. It is therefore to be expected that the study of miracle stories touches on an essential breaking point in the faith of young people. However, it also touches on central theological questions that lead into Christian dogmatics: Who is Jesus? (Christology); Who does Jesus save? (Soterology); What is man before God? (theological anthropology). For this reason, the topic of miracles seems suitable for entering into a discussion with young people about their ideas of God and Jesus Christ as well as their (expected) doubts.

Due to the lack of or limited research on youth theology and the didactics of miracles in lower secondary education, only open and preliminary questions can be formulated for the research project. These questions are to be pursued within the framework of the research workshop in religious didactics at the University of Kassel, which was founded in the summer semester of 2008 (title: Research workshop "Theological conversations with young people"). The concept of the Kassel research workshop builds on the experiences of the Karlsruhe research workshop on theological conversations with primary school children. As part of the Kassel research workshop on theological conversations with young people, around 10 students teach pupils from an 8th grade class in small groups. In the spirit of action research, the students learn to adopt a research-based attitude towards their own lessons. They transcribe decisive teaching sequences, which they reflect on together with the lecturers under certain questions. Going through this cycle of action and reflection contributes to the professionalization of the students. In addition, the work in the research workshop is linked to an overarching research assignment: Due to the characteristic process orientation of the research workshop, preliminary findings with regard to theory generation are named and influence the further course of the research work.

The aim of the project is to provide a first empirically collected and object-anchored research contribution to youth theology. Furthermore, research on the didactics of miracles in secondary education is to be advanced.

Listen while talking. On changing perspectives and competence-oriented teaching in children's theology (August 2008)

Children's philosophy and children's theology are closely related. Coming from the field of children's philosophy, I was initially interested in what children's theologians actually do. I took a closer look at three representatives: Rainer Oberthür brought philosophy and children's questions into religious education, Anton Bucher was primarily concerned with the empirical study of children as theologians and coined the term child theology, Petra Freudenberger-Lötz also focused on the professionalization of teachers.

In addition to children's philosophy as a pioneer for children's theology, the change of perspective, recent childhood research and constructivism should also be seen. Whether one can actually see the world through the eyes of children, as called for at the 1994 Kirchentag, was therefore a central question and can only be answered in the affirmative to a limited extent.

However, this question cannot be dispensed with when designing religious education lessons, so that children's theology has been incorporated into religious education concepts, not as a concept but as a fundamental attitude towards pupils. The aim is to perceive, recognize and promote the children's own theological interpretations and ways of thinking.

This was followed by the question of the teacher's competencies in order to be able to design a child-theological religious education lesson. Finally, I used several teaching examples from the publications on children's theology to examine whether these competencies can be derived from the descriptions. This is not possible for all competencies at the same time, but depends on the intention of the authors. Sometimes it is the preparatory skills, sometimes the discussion skills or the overall design.

This results in the need to also present the less successful passages in order to make it easier for readers to get started with children's theology. Furthermore, supporting systems, such as a cartography according to topics and the possible and actual interpretations of the pupils, are useful for preparation in order to promote children's theological thinking and to relieve teachers in their everyday work.

The work is published by kassel university press: http://www.upress.uni-kassel.de/online/frei/978-3-89958-882-8.volltext.frei.pdf

Religious Education. Biographical studies within the horizon of the stage theory according to Oser/Gmünder and consequences for religious education (January 2008)

Our lives today are characterized by strong processes of change. We have to react quickly to change. Children and young people in particular therefore need to feel safe and secure in order to be able to cope with the demands placed on them.

What significance does religion have in the context of their self-development? Is a religious upbringing important and - if so - what should it look like?

Based on four biographies (1. the psychotherapist Tilmann Moser, 2. the writer Christine Brückner, 3. the theologian Fritz Reber and 4. the singer Xavier Naidoo) and their comparative portrayal, it is worked out how religion is experienced and lived in each case.

The stage theory according to Fritz Oser and Paul Gmünder ("Der Mensch. Stufen seiner religiösen Entwicklung", 4th ed. 1996) is used to classify the results.

In borderline situations of life, in which contingency management is at stake, sometimes surprising religious reaction and interpretation patterns come into play. What consequences can be drawn from the results for today's religious education processes?

In summary, we can speak of the demand for authenticity in religious education. In conclusion, characteristics are shown that meet this demand.

The work is published by kassel university press: http: //www.upress.uni-kassel.de/online/frei/978-3-89958-395-3.volltext.frei.pdf

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in religious education (January 2008)

In my work I have investigated whether and how Dietrich Bonhoeffer is the subject of religious education. The work consists of two parts, an empirical study and didactic-methodological considerations.

The empirical study revealed that Bonhoeffer is mentioned in various thematic contexts in the majority of curricula for Protestant religion and in a number of textbooks and teaching materials for secondary levels I and II.

The didactic and methodological considerations show ways in which interest in Bonhoeffer can be awakened in the classroom, which in my opinion is most successful when life-world reference points are shown. Various biographical and theological points of reference are presented and ways of encountering Bonhoeffer in his poems and his portrayal in art, music and film are shown.

The work is published by kassel university press: http: //www.upress.uni-kassel.de/online/frei/978-3-89958-439-4.volltext.frei.pdf

Ideas of death and the Christian hope of resurrection in the field of youth theology (working title)

In the field of youth theology, there has not yet been any major research on the subject of death and resurrection. Although there are some studies that deal with the eschatological ideas of young people (overall, the ideas of children are more widely researched than those of young people and there is a lack of differentiation in terms of age, development and school levels), they do not focus on the field of youth theology. These studies show that the resurrection is often inaccessible and dubious for young people. The question arises as to how this topic can be made accessible to young people. Death is not necessarily present in everyday life, but rather in borderline situations. Especially in adolescence, the image of God and concepts of death are in a state of upheaval. On the one hand, young people are strongly oriented towards the present; on the other hand, they become aware of the finiteness and vulnerability of their own lives during adolescence.
According to Friedrich Schweitzer, a distinction has emerged in the theology of, with and for young people. Up to now, youth theological research has primarily emphasized one dimension. The planned dissertation is intended to develop and research this threefold definition of youth theology using the example of the topic of death and resurrection.
After a preceding intensive academic study of the subject area, the death concepts of young people will be investigated in a teaching unit in a ninth grade of a grammar school in Kassel with the aim of entering into the process of theologizing with the pupils. The question of interest is to what extent belief in the resurrection is integrated into the pupils' (after)death concepts. Of interest here is which ideas of death exist among the young people, how the change from childhood belief to youth belief takes place in relation to this topic, to what extent the young people succeed in thinking in a complementary way and which Christian beliefs are actually reflected in their interpretations. In addition, it will be investigated to what extent the topic of resurrection is evident in the young people's own lives and experiences, to what extent the hope associated with belief in the resurrection from a Christian perspective becomes personally meaningful and relevant to the pupils' lives and whether it can function as a coping strategy for dealing with contingency. The transcribed classroom discussions will be analyzed in accordance with grounded theory and a theory will be developed on this basis that is committed to both theological guidelines and relevance for young people.
New insights can be expected in three respects: a) It can be shown in an exemplary way how the three dimensions of theologizing are intertwined in planning, implementation and reflection. b) Conditions for success for the thematization of the sensitive and significant topic of death and resurrection can be shown on the part of the teachers and on the part of the learners. c) A contribution is to be made to the discussion about the possibilities and limits of subjective experience of hope (using the example of the hope of resurrection) in the context of religious education.

Redemption through annihilation ?!
Entertainment, fascination with technology and patterns of religion in video games - an explorative study at the intersection of religious education, social sciences and game studies
Stefan Piasecki

Computer and video games are considered to glorify violence, or at least to trivialize violence, and are also associated with a decline in academic performance and school massacres. In the public debate, video games appear to be a potentially dangerous medium in which young people in particular can lose themselves. It is only recently that video games have increasingly been ascribed positive characteristics.

At the same time, social networks are growing as technology-supported socialization incubators, new parts of life are being "e-commercialized" and processes and problem-solving mechanisms developed in and for video games are spilling over into the real world; this has recently been referred to as the process of "gamification". "Augmented reality" describes the insertion of data and information from virtual information and communication networks into real-world perception. Knowledge transfer and behavioral control can be "fun".

Nevertheless, people still believe. Life decisions are made on the basis of assumptions and hopes and against a background of fears. Who answers these existential questions today? In any case, as Gräb seems to agree, religion is not only found in churches today, but also elsewhere - not least in the media. However, religion is primarily and still related to the "big questions" - and these are not only the themes of the Bible or films, but also those of video games, as they are traditionally places full of myths, riddles, legends and religion.
The first games confront players with moral decisions. Content and experiential frameworks are no longer determined by predefined scripts and technical conditions and limitations; they are increasingly the result of free human decisions and actions in otherwise increasingly extensive game worlds. The traditional boundaries between (fictional) games and the (real) world are becoming blurred. Virtually all technical devices today allow some form of play. Computer or video games report back automatically and provide information about current events in the game world via the smartphone, for example.
So if games can spill over into the living world and influence behavior and thinking, it is time to consider who actually develops these games and with what intentions.

Based on classic communicator research, the following questions are asked:
- Who generates certain emotions in viewers and users, disseminates content and conveys values, and with what intention?
- What (learning, educational, entertainment, etc.) results are intended?
- What roles do religion, denomination and one's own ideological convictions play?

In a study conducted at the Berlin Games Academy, young game developers were asked about their ideological views for the first time.

This work addresses relevant questions from a religious education and social science perspective, taking into account findings, theories and other aspects of media theory and reception research, and brings them to the attention of game developers in the hope that a wider range of content will point out new or related topics to the individual specialist discourses and make them connectable. How people receive media, what effects this has, how it changes their lives and behavior, what forms of life develop or die out in real and virtual social spaces and how these living spaces are shaped and how they shape them back appears to be a task with an interdisciplinary thrust. Theology, social sciences, pedagogy, psychology and the young science of game studies are to be brought more into conversation through this explorative work.

"Church, youth, internet. " The Regional Church of Kurhessen Waldeck on the Internet - Reaching and involving the younger generation after confirmation by means of a special homepage

Based on the major break in contact between young people and the church after confirmation, the question arises as to how young people can continue to be addressed after confirmation. The focus of the work is on the currently central medium of the Internet and the possibilities it offers to address young people with a special website and keep them in contact with the church. The Evangelical Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck is used as an example to examine this. In the context of the theoretical preliminary considerations, it becomes clear that the church should make use of the opportunities offered by the Internet in accordance with its public relations mandate - especially as young people are considered to be media youth when looking at the target group. As the primary medium of everyday life and leisure, the web is of great importance in contemporary youth life. At the same time, changes in the religious attitudes of adolescents are becoming clear, which are characterized by individualization and a loss of attachment to the church, in addition to the typical age-related slumps.

Against this background, the study analyzes the current state of the state church website, which has been in existence since 1996. In addition to a professional appearance, the site is designed for adults in terms of content and design. Meanwhile, the existing site does not offer adequate content or appealing offers for young people. This picture is confirmed by an overview of other Christian websites that do not offer any content for this age group and thus clearly show the need for action.

Based on this existing gap, a two-part quantitative and qualitative empirical survey focuses on the target group itself. In addition to two questionnaires, which were collected throughout the Hersfeld church district (2013; 419 confirmands surveyed), two guided small group discussions deepen and confirm the findings. The interdisciplinary survey revealed a high level of interest among adolescents in a special youth website, which would be used by more than half of the survey participants. In addition to the wishes of the young people, suggestions and correlations are also collected and potentials are presented which further underpin the positive attitude. Such a site is desired by the majority and could therefore reduce the interface after confirmation.

Overall, the evaluations of the empirical surveys reveal eight impulses for action that are necessary to maintain contact between young people and the church: Both the confirmation period and previous forms of participation are important and require greater focus. The transitions between the confirmation period and the subsequent youth period should also be more fluid. Furthermore, a website created especially for young people after confirmation is necessary, which enables participation and takes into account the wishes of the young people. At the same time, the website should have a unique selling point in terms of religious guidance, as this is possible via such a website. In addition to a website that offers a wide range of services, an overall concept should be developed that also includes other family members. Taking these impulses into account, a youth website can be used fruitfully to help maintain contact in the long term. The work thus underlines the great potential that the Internet and a youth homepage can offer for the church and its youth work.

The dissertation has been published by kassel university press in the series "Beiträge zur Kinder- und Jugendtheologie" (edited by Petra Freudenberger-Lötz):

http://www.upress.uni-kassel.de/katalog/schriftenreihe.php?Jugendtheologie.htm

"The chemistry has to be right for a divine experience."
Personal experiences of God by sixth form students from a youth theology perspective

"Do young people verbalize personal experiences as experiences of God?" I first asked myself this question after observing a lesson as part of the research workshop in a sixth form course. It not only motivated me to further explore the topic of the experience of God, but also became the central research question of my dissertation.
In an empirical research project, I finally investigated the question by explicitly asking the majority of religiously socialized sixth form students about their personal experiences of God using impulse texts and evaluating them based on grounded theory.
In dialog with high school students about their personal experiences of God, insights were gained for a theology by, for and with young people. The starting point is a survey and evaluation of the students' positions as a theology of young people. I dealt with the theoretical foundations and practical work of youth theology as well as different positions of the religious education and systematic theological tradition on the concept of experience under theology for young people. On the basis of both, I was able to conclude and present theoretical and practical teaching considerations on the topic of experiencing God as a theology with young people. With the help of the three core theses "Experiences of God are experiences of faith, experiences of life and experiences of relationships", some of the findings of current and past developmental psychological theories and religious education studies could be critically questioned, falsified or verified. For practical purposes, it was important for me to show how theologizing with young people, which has a cognitive one-sidedness but only a few content-related methodological approaches to transcend the cognitive, can be enriched with its affective dimension by means of experience-oriented concepts to create holistic learning so that young people can achieve "cognitive clarity and emotional security". This seems essential against the background of a predominantly scientific world view, which many young people bring with them - as also described in the title of the thesis.
My results, which I place in the current religious education debate on multifaceted individual aspects of the subject area of the experience of God, should be seen as an impulse for future research work in youth theology.

My dissertation has been published by kassel university press in the series "Beiträge zur Kinder- und Jugendtheologie" (edited by Petra Freudenberger-Lötz) in volume 34.

Faith in the performance context of religious education.
Theologizing about the doctrine of justification in the upper secondary school

Questions:
Is the basic didactic approach of theologizing particularly suitable for bringing up the doctrine of justification in such a way that it becomes an identifying feature of faith for learners in the performance context of the upper secondary level? Which competencies corresponding to the core curriculum for the Gymnasiale Oberstufe in the subject of Protestant religion are acquired in the process? What can be assessed as an achievement in the process of theologizing within the framework provided by the KCGO (2016)? When theologizing about the doctrine of justification, is the discrepancy between imparting performance-oriented knowledge and developing a personal attitude of faith overcome?

Objective:
Using the doctrine of justification as an example, I would like to work out that a dogmatic topic in its scientific dimension not only serves the didactic attitude of theologizing in the upper school to assess performance, but also becomes relevant for the life of the learners. The project is committed to the school context and is based on a teaching project. At the same time, however, it focuses on the resulting perspectives of individual piety, which are always implied by the learners anyway. I would like to investigate whether and how the basic didactic attitude of theologizing in the context of performance-oriented religious education brings up the "iustitia Dei" in such a way that God, in the sense of Paul Tillich, can be experienced by the pupils as the ground of being.

One aim of my teaching project is to impart the knowledge that enables both theologically appropriate reflection on the doctrine of justification and the assessment of performance in a sixth form course. Equally important is the other goal: to shape a Christian, empowering attitude to life in the learners, which opens up a fearless encounter with the challenges of the reality of life beyond school. Reflecting on this Christian-strengthening attitude to life while theologizing about justification by grace in faith leads - according to my thesis - to the development of a religious identity. Religious identity is the harmony of the individual view of the world and of one's own life with the message of the Gospel. The doctrine of justification is the systematic presentation of the gospel in a condensed form.

When theologizing about the doctrine of justification, head and heart flow into a cognitive and experiential process. It finds its form in an individual religious language ability. It becomes public in the discussion between learners and teachers in the context of religious education. Pupils' religious language skills lead to the development of a religious identity that enables them to discover the doctrine of justification as a link back to the triune God and the resulting possibility of self-confident individual freedom of decision and action in dealing with the challenges of life. I consider the discovery of this freedom to be a specific competence in religious education, which is developed as religious human formation in theologizing about the doctrine of justification. In the theologizing examination of the doctrine of justification, the material to be acquired cannot be separated from the liberating message it holds for learners.

On the reconquest of time.
Learning to remember in religious education

The work "On the reconquest of time" is a contribution to the current discourse on remembrance based on the Judeo-Christian tradition. It explores the possibilities of a specifically theological approach to history and memory in religious education that does not lead back to concepts of salvation history. Based on Hartmut Rosa's thesis of the history of acceleration in the modern age, the work looks at young people's experience of the present and the processes of experience formation. This shows that the processing of experiences into genuine experiences (W. Benjamin) and the development of historical awareness are fundamental to the process of identity formation and must be supported by conscious reflection processes in school lessons. For this purpose, the concept of learning to remember is developed in the work, in an interdisciplinary discourse. Learning to remember builds on the theological foundations of theologizing with young people and combines this with elements of aesthetic education, in particular the search for artistic traces. Creative design processes open up opportunities for pupils to find their way into theologizing through remembering and also to "communicate" experiences and thoughts that they are not (yet) able to articulate verbally. Learning to remember paves the way for an attitude of generativity, which should later enable pupils to establish new cultural carriers and take responsibility for future generations. They are placed at the center as subjects of memory and included in the process of shaping communicative and cultural memory. religious education in particular can question a one-sided orientation towards progress, the profitable, the feasible and the optimizable, and religion can be experienced as an interruption to everyday life. Biblical remembrance, according to a central thesis of the work, is a reflection in the perspective of hope that questions life with all its apparent self-evidence. It is intended to irritate and encourage a rethink and responsible action. In the best case scenario, the encounter with the past and its transmission results in something new, productive and transformative. The biblical zachor! Remember! aims to release ethical impulses for shaping the present and the future. It is about shaping the space of the present and future in the face of the past. The aim of learning to remember is also to create space for the hope that there can and will be a better world and for the experience that God suffers with us and is present in our suffering. Especially in religious education lessons, pupils can address hopes and fears and experience relief by making it clear that although people are responsible, they can also hope for a reconciliation that takes place outside of themselves.

"The competent child..."

In his dissertation, the author describes and analyzes the anthropological CONCEPTION of the construction of the image of the child as a competent child in the Hessian Education and Upbringing Plan. At the same time, the analysis refers to the socio-pedagogical, developmental-psychological and religious-pedagogical background of this construction. The Hessian Education and Upbringing Plan (BEP) is a framework plan for the educational area of daycare centers and elementary school and covers the age range from birth to the age of 10 with regard to children. The plan is intended as a steering instrument for all educational institutions involved in the upbringing of a child in the sense of a steering instrument for the dissemination of a changed view of the educational opportunities for children in Hesse.

Social-pedagogical, developmental-psychological and religious-pedagogical influences in the creation of the plan are analyzed and evaluated in terms of their effects, scope and influence on the plan.

The concept of the "competent child", which is included in the BEP as a fundamental anthropological construction, goes back to a presentation by the psychoanalyst Dornes, who in his work presents a synopsis of psychoanalytical ideas on child development and developmental psychological observations and considerations. Integrated into this concept of the "competent child" were observations by Stern (interactions between mother and child are exclusively social in nature), the concept of attachment, which is based on the work of Bowlby and his successors and is based on the event of the loss of the mother (figure) as well as the recourse to the work of Piaget with the theorem of genetic cognition.

The BEP is based on the position of the dyad (child-mother or child-educator). This definition should be expanded by utilizing the concept of "intermediate space", which was first formulated by Winnicott. This refers to the fact that children often use a transitional object, a teddy bear, a stuffed toy or similar, which serves as a defense against anxiety. For adults, these transitional objects belong to the outside world, but for children they do not belong to the inner world. Culture and religion can be located in this resulting "intermediate space". In this intermediate space, stories are created that can be linked to other stories. This includes the development of memory as a social construction; the beginning of one's own biographical narrative and the development of one's own religious ideas.

The BEP aims to facilitate the early education of children. This includes openness to new ideas and establishing one's own point of view. The efforts presented in the BEP to shape early education are set in the context of the post-modern era, which addresses the diversity of all areas of life. In the post-modern era, it is not knowledge that is ultimately problematic, but non-knowledge. Education and upbringing should lead to humanity and religious sensitivity. Education plans are signposts, but not the way. The path in the present with a claim to the future is walked together by adults and children and requires the courage to walk on rough terrain.

English:

The author describes and analyzes in his thesis the anthropological conception of the image of the "competent child" in the Education and Development Programme of the state of Hesse in the Federal Republic of Germany (Bildungs- und Erziehungsplan des Landes Hessen). The Program sees the child as a competent child. In his analysis the author refers to the background of this conception based on social education as well as developmental and religious implications which led to the current formulation of the programme.

The Education and Development Program provides the framework for curricula of various institutions dealing with the care and education of children from birth to the age of 10 (from kindergarten through primary school). The main concern of the Programme is to further development and motivation, not only while caring for the children during their time at the particular institution, but also to further their ability to speak, to read, even to write, and to start exploring the world as it is.

The notion of the "competent child" is a fundamental anthropological construction based on the theoretical work of the psychoanalyst Dornes of Frankfurt/Main, Germany. He combines psychoanalytical theory and the so-called "baby watching" approach to observe and reflect the given behavior of a mother and her child. "Baby watching" is based on the research of Stern and other psychologists working in the field of developmental psychology. Also integrated into this theory are the findings of Jean Piaget (genetic epistemology) and John Bowlby (attachment theory).

The theoretical position of the program is bifocal: child and mother (or a substitute figure, such as the teacher). But the analysis suggests that the view of the Program should be broader in the sense that a transition object, for example, should be integrated. This means that children often need a doll, a teddy bear, a cuddly blanket or the like when they go to bed, the function of which is the reduction of fear during the absence of the mother. The transition object also opens the "intermediate space" which makes way for a broader understanding of culture and religion, not only for the children, but for all who deal with the matter.

The Program is based on the concepts of post-modernity and post-modern knowledge. But this is only half of the picture, because knowledge is not the problem of post-modernity. The problem is the lack of knowledge. The narratives that shape our lives are living narratives, always changing. The relationship of transcendence and immanence in human life is both expressed and experienced through narrative. Even with such a program we are obliged - and free - to live in the creative tension of our limitations and uncertainty. That is what religious education in the field of infant education should be.