Engaged ecumenism and its “lived theology”. A multi-perspective empirical exploration

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Stefan Altmeyer; Professor Dr. Henrik Simojoki
• Subject Area: Protestant Theology ; Roman Catholic Theology
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 519883130

The research project aims to empirically explore the perspectives of ecumenically engaged actors in a multidimensional and multimethodical way and to reconstruct these perspectives as “lived theology”. The intention is to give these perspectives greater conceptual weight in the discourses of ecumenical theology as well as in the ongoing efforts to support and foster ecumenical engagement. The project is based on the assumption that the diagnosis of a crisis that has long been prevalent in theological assessments of the current ecumenical situation is partly due to a gap in representation. From a practical-theological perspective, it is noticeable that the grassroots level of ecumenical encounter and dialogue (mainly sustained by women), is weakly represented in the German-language ecumenical discourse. This corresponds to a conspicuous lack of empirical research in the field of ecumenical theology. Thus, there exists a gap in research on the everyday level of ecumenical engagement, towards which many contributions and concepts of ecumenical theology are developed. A complex research design ensures that the voice of the “ecumenical basis” is captured, interpreted and enforced in a sufficiently differentiated way. The theoretical framework of the project is determined by sociological and educational research on voluntary engagement, by frame semantics as a theory of linguistic meaning and by the - still rather blurry - concept of “lived theology”, which has so far been hardly empirically grounded and hence will be specified criteriologically. The focus is on 1) social manifestations and structural conditions of ecumenical engagement, 2) explicitly articulated positioning of the actors and 3) implicit framings relevant for such articulation. “Lived theology" is thus determined both in terms of content and reconstructed in its perceptual, expressive, and resonance dimensions. In its empirical operationalisation, the project follows a sequential multi-methods design in which quantitative and qualitative approaches as well as statistical, content-analytical and corpuslinguistic evaluation methods are combined. To ensure reliable field access, cooperation agreements were made with three Working Groups of Christian Churches (Arbeitsgemeinschaften Christlicher Kirchen), Catholic (arch)dioceses and Protestant regional churches from the metropolitan regions of Berlin, Munich and Rhine-Main. The results of the research project are to be presented and discussed in a project publication. Additionally, the empirical and hermeneutical findings will be discussed together both with experts of ecumenical theology and with ecumenically engaged practitioners.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants