Department of Catholic Theology and Religious Education

Our Department’s research focus is guided by the aim of combining practical reflection on subject-specific didactics with well-founded academic research. Consequently, the members of the Institute engage intensively in the academic discourse within their respective theological disciplines, focusing specifically on areas such as biblical anthropology, a systematic reflection on positions in the history of theology, and the significance of religion in everyday life. These research priorities are complemented by work in the fields of didactics and religious education, with particular emphasis on biblical didactics, biographical learning, the didactics of dogmatic topics, and religious education in a context of diversity. Further details can be found on the individual pages of the lecturers at the Institute.

Michael Quisinsky: Being young – being Catholic – being European Link

Michael Quisinsky: Thomas Aquinas 800 Years – or: the attempt to think ‘more than everything’. Link

Universal history of salvation in and through concrete histories of salvation. Living and thinking a differentiated unity between personal dignity and relational ontology. In: Katharina Karl, Martin Kirschner, Joost von Loon (eds.), Performing Christianities. The Capacity for Differentiation of the Christian in a Planetary Context (Transformation Transdisciplinary 4), Baden-Baden 2024, 339–358. Link

Alexander Weihs: The contribution of religious education to the task of fostering democracy in schools, in: entwurf. Concepts, ideas and materials for religious education (2026), pp. 6–10

Alexander Weihs: Climate Protest and Hope for the Future. The Climate Crisis and the Diversity of Approaches in Religious Education, in: Markus Mühling and Birgitta Annette Weinhardt (eds.), Climate Change as a Societal Challenge. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on a Comprehensive Crisis Phenomenon (Yearbook of the Karl Heim Society, Vol. 35, 2024), Peter Lang Publishers, Berlin 2025, pp. 101–132

We are involved in a wide range of degree programmes offered by our university. The focus is on degree programmes designed to train future primary and secondary school teachers in Catholic religious education. In addition, the Institute is involved in the Master’s programmes in Geragogy (part-time), Intercultural Education, Migration and Multilingualism, in the foundation course for teacher training, and in various areas of adult education and socio-cultural discourse.

Silas Brutscher

Jonas Gehring

Jonas Herzog

Helen Just

Kiara Windisch

Prof. Dr Ursula Schumacher has not been working at the Karlsruhe University of Education since 1 August 2022, but is now based at the University of Lucerne. She can be contacted at the following email address: ursula.schumacher@unilu.ch