Project Details
Projekt
"Only the one who knows is able to make the right decisions..." Theology and Civil Society in the Mirror of Review and Book Recommendation
Applicant
Professor Dr. Andreas Holzem, since 3/2022
Subject Area
Roman Catholic Theology
Term
from 2020 to 2024
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 410907407
After the Second Vatican Council, the function of instances of reading control and mediation changed fundamentally. It was no longer the isolation from harmful influences that stood in the foreground, but a "mature Christianity" in open encounter and confrontation with the "signs of the times". The presentation and discussion of contemporary theological and pastoral literature as well as publications on socially relevant topics will be analysed. Basic questions of the project are: What is the discourse about what Catholics read after the Council? How is this reading made accessible to them? What does this discussion about 'Catholic reading' reveal about perspectives on the relationship between church and society? With this subproject the literary genre of the book recommendation and the review is taken for the first time on a large scale as the basis of a religious and cultural historical analysis. Between the Council and the "Wende" the theological discourse and the view of society changed significantly in the sense of the research programme. The new discussion culture in the theological sub-disciplines and their mediation in the ecclesiastical and social public corresponds to an increase in inner-church criticism and counter-criticism. This also changed the practice of being Catholic. The horizon of thought and life includes more and more the confessional plurality of the Federal Republic of Germany. The "education revolution" is increasing the number of potential readers of theological works. Their knowledge is expected from committed members of the lay councils and becomes a prerequisite for structural change through participation. The protagonists of this change in practice should be taken into account: authors, reviewers, structures of process organization. Such transformations must be dealt with emotionally. This applies to the renewal of the liturgy, for example, or to discussions about denominational or cooperative schools, religious communication, or new forms of pastoral care. But also the reform bottleneck that occurred after the Würzburg Synod and the pontificate change to the long era of John Paul II, which was often perceived as a rollback, triggered emotional storms. Pluralisation was not to be had without conflict. The project investigates the reading landscape by indexing the content of discussion and review media. This results in aspects for a network analysis of authors and reviewers. Finally, it has to be shown how the theological currents are congruent with the phase model of social development.
DFG Programme
Research Units
Ehemaliger Antragsteller
Professor Dr. Joachim Schmiedl, until 3/2022 (†)
