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Historical theology

Seminar for Catholic Theology

We explore historical theology and church history, the people of the past and their answers to the big questions of life. Old texts and old languages make our hearts beat faster. Theological texts, archaeological finds or historical works of art, church buildings, literature or music can be both the starting point and the content of our reflections. We consider how best to methodically get to the bottom of historical religious phenomena and work with classical historical methods as well as methods from the digital humanities.

History has made theology and the church what they are today. We look for historical traces of being Christian and being church, traces of theological activity and the struggle to shape Christian life. We try to understand these traces of the past from their contexts and make them fruitful for current theological discourse.

Dr. Monnica Klöckener
Bibliothek der Kirchenväter

News from the professorship

Sanctitas

Habilitation of Dr. Sebastian Hanstein completed

We congratulate our colleague Dr. Sebastian Hanstein on completing his habilitation in Ancient Church History and Patrology at the Catholic Theological Schools of the University of Bonn!

Aksum Diss.

Publication of the dissertation "Studies on the history and religious history of Aksum" by Niklas Bend

In October 2025, Niklas Bend's dissertation "Studien zur Geschichte und Religionsgeschichte Aksums" was published by Steiner-Verlag as the 32nd volume in the series "Altertumswissenschaftliches Kolloquium".

Das Uni-Gebäude auf dem Campus Adolf-Reichwein-Straße bei Sonnenuntergang mit umliegender Landschaft und Hügeln im Hintergrund

New staff members in historical theology

Tagung Erfurt

Conference "Living with death" in cooperation with the University of Erfurt

What helps people to live with the inevitability of their own death and the death of their fellow human beings? This question was explored at a joint interdisciplinary conference organized by the Department of Historical Theology at the University of Siegen (Monnica Klöckener) and the Department of Ancient Church History at the University of Erfurt (Notker Baumann). Scholars from Catholic and Protestant church history, ancient history, classical philology and archaeology examined the memory of the deceased, the philosophical examination of death and the hope of the afterlife as comforting aspects that contribute to shaping life under the conditio humana of mortality in textual testimonies and material sources.
The conference was accompanied by a guided tour of the two columbaria in the All Saints' Church and the Magdalen Chapel in Erfurt. The results of the conference are expected to appear in the ZKG at the end of 2026. You can find the program here

What helps people to live with the inevitability of their own death and the death of their fellow human beings? This question was explored at a joint interdisciplinary conference organized by the Department of Historical Theology at the University of Siegen (Monnica Klöckener) and the Department of Ancient Church History at the University of Erfurt (Notker Baumann). Scholars from Catholic and Protestant church history, ancient history, classical philology and archaeology examined the memory of the deceased, the philosophical examination of death and the hope of the afterlife as comforting aspects that contribute to shaping life under the conditio humana of mortality in textual testimonies and material sources.
The conference was accompanied by a guided tour of the two columbaria in the All Saints' Church and the Magdalen Chapel in Erfurt. The results of the conference are expected to be published in the ZKG at the end of 2026. You can find the program

hereWhat helps people to live with the inevitability of their own death and the death of their fellow human beings? This question was explored at a joint interdisciplinary conference of the Department of Historical Theology at the University of Siegen (Monnica Klöckener) and the Department of Ancient Church History at the University of Erfurt (Notker Baumann). Scholars from Catholic and Protestant church history, ancient history, classical philology and archaeology examined the memory of the deceased, the philosophical examination of death and the hope of the afterlife as comforting aspects that contribute to shaping life under the conditio humana of mortality in textual testimonies and material sources.
The conference was accompanied by a guided tour of the two columbaria in the All Saints' Church and the Magdalen Chapel in Erfurt. The results of the conference are expected to be published in the ZKG at the end of 2026. You can find the program

here

What helps people to live with the inevitability of their own death and the death of their fellow human beings?

 

Interdisciplinary Advanced Seminar of Historical Theology Siegen in Bonn

During the lecture-free period, the already established interdisciplinary advanced seminar of historical theology with the Ancient Church History of the Catholic Theological Schools of the University of Bonn and the Ancient History of the University of Siegen took place again.

Research profile

Page currently under construction.

Main areas of research
  • Death and consolation in the early church
  • Biblical interpretation, especially in the time of the early church
  • Origen and his reception
  • Environmental history in antiquity, environmental history
  • Writings of the so-called Corpus Caspari
  • Scientific-theological writing and university didactics, especially church history didactics
  • Digital humanities

The team

Monnica Klöckener

Dr. Monnica Klöckener

Vertretungs- und Gastprofessor*in
Monnica.Kloeckener@uni-siegen.de
+49 271 740-4374
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Freya Schauerte

Sekretariat Vertretung
freya.schauerte@uni-siegen.de
+49 (0)271 / 740-2138
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Dr. Sebastian Hanstein

PD Dr. Sebastian Hanstein

Research assistant
sebastian.hanstein@uni-siegen.de
+49 271 740-5456
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Dr. Niklas Bend

Research assistant
niklas.bend@uni-siegen.de
+49 271 740-2148
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