Queer in the rectory: the pastoral-theological relevance of non-heteronormative life forms of pastors
Final Report Abstract
In pastoral theological discourse, the relation between individual lifestyle and the development of an individual theological identity among pastors and chaplains who identify as part of the LGBTIQ+ community has been understudied, with the exception of the research projects by Florence Häneke (2025) and Verena Kroll (forthcoming), although some time has passed since the first public "outings" of gay pastors with disciplinary consequences in the 1980s. Current debates about concepts of ministry within pastoral theology and within church focus on role and understanding of the pastoral ministry in multi-professional teams on the one hand, and on the reform of education for the pastoral ministry in view of declining student numbers on the other. Concepts of life and work in the ministry are usually an expression of the interests of ecclesial synodal bodies and the expectations of people in local congregations, who closely link ministry, profession, and person with the idea of an exemplary Christian lifestyle and reflect current socio-cultural discourses on norms and values. Wolfgang Steck describes the parsonage as the "ideal form of integral religious practice" (2000 - own translation). The expectations placed on pastors to be authentic can sometimes weigh heavily on their shoulders (Klessmann refers to the pastoral office as a "total role", 2012) and significantly limit their opportunities for individual lifestyle choices. Nevertheless, questions of lifestyle have been dealt with more in theological ethics than in the context of a theory of pastoral professions. From a professional theory and pastoral theological perspective, the research project investigates the (profession related) biographical experiences that pastors explicitly attribute to their sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or lifestyle, and their (pastoral) theological reflection on these experiences. How do personal experiences with desire, coming out processes, partnership, and sexuality, etc. influence theological reasoning in preaching, community work, and pastoral care? Does the presumed pressure to be authentic have an effect on the focus of the pastoral profession? The research project pursued this questioning approach of a contextual and experience-based theology by conducting guided interviews with 15 ordained ministers from various churches within the EKD, who identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, and/or queer. The collected material was examined using Documentary methodology (Bohnsack) aiming at identifying possible (habitual) practices of the interviewed pastors in dealing with heteronormative expectations and structures in the pastoral ministry. The initial results of the study on the topics of "pastors as religious subjects", "pastors and their relationship to the congregation and church leadership", as well as topics that arose in the theoretical arm of the project, were discussed with international experts, researchers, and pastoral professionals, as well as those in training, at an expert workshop (2022) and an expert symposium (2023) under the umbrella theme of "The significance of queer lifestyles for the professional practice of the pastoral ministry". Of particular concern was the creation of a space in which researchers and practitioners could engage in constructive and critical dialogue with one another. Participants in the symposium were recruited via the project's social media arm. The results of the symposium were documented and published in an open access volume under the title of the research project. Additional projects were undertaken to study the relationship between individual spiritual well-being of lsbtiq* church professionals and the experience of communal acceptance or discrimination.
Publications
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Care-Ethik und Care-Ökonomie: Resonanzen zu Elisabeth Conradi und Mascha Madörin in der praktischen Theologie. Sorge – Care, 61-68. Brill | Schöningh.
Roser, Traugott
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Diskriminierungserleben und geistliche Trockenheit. Zusammenhänge von Erleben von Ehrfurcht/Dankbarkeit sowie von Akzeptanz und Wertschätzung in ihrer Religionsgemeinschaft von Menschen aus der LGBTQI+ Community, in: Büssing A., Dienberg T (Hg.), Innehalten. Vom Einfluss ehrfürchtigen Staunens auf das Wohlbefinden, Regensburg: Friedrich Pustet, 69–82
Roser T. & Büssing A.
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gender*/queer. Semantisches Bedeutungsspektrum im kirchlichen Kontext, in: ZPTh 44:1 (2024), 9-26
Judith Könemann & Traugott Roser
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Missbrauch und Exklusion Zur Notwendigkeit einer Rückbesinnung auf den Pfarrberuf als theologischem Beruf. Christsein 978-3-374-07728-1, 159-172. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt.
Roser, Traugott
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Perception of Acceptance and Discrimination Among the LGBTQI + Community in their Churches and its Association with Spiritual Dryness: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Study in Germany. Journal of Religion and Health, 63(6), 4397-4423.
Büssing, Arndt; Starck, Lorethy; van Treeck, Klaus & Roser, Traugott
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Queer im Pfarrhaus. Queer Studies. transcript Verlag.
Burja, Katrin & Roser, Traugott
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Shameless Pride. Coming-out als evangelischer Entschämungsakt. Freiheit – Liebe – Gelassenheit, 265-276. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt.
Burja, Katrin
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Non/Normative Faith. Peter Lang Verlag.
Wiedlack, Katharina; Birey, Tegiye & de Vries, Patrick
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„Man gesteht – oder man wird zum Geständnis gezwungen.“ (Michel Foucault): Gender- und Lebensformen-Diversität als Thema der Lebenskunst, in: P. Bubmann & T. Roser (Hg.), (Un-)Endlich leben. Theologie im Dialog mit Philosophie, Pädagogik und Therapeutik. Berlin 2025, 167-180
Traugott Roser
