The Bible and its didactics - Gender Studies / Masculinity Studies

The ongoing research and publication activities were and are flanked by the following medium and longer-term research activities and third-party funded projects as well as Old Testament qualification work:

1st DFG project "From the Incarnation of the Logos to the Incorporeality of his Body. John's interpretation in the aphthartodoketic dispute and its prehistory" (WE 4122/4-1)

The three-year DFG project was concluded in 2025 with the international conference "His flesh did not see corruption (Acts 2:31). Patristic conceptions of Jesus' body and their foundations in the New Testament" in Siegen. The project and the conference were conducted by Prof. Dr. Hans-Ulrich Weidemann (University of Siegen) together with Dr. Ute Possekel (Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, MA). The volume of essays and the monograph are currently being prepared.

2nd sub-denomination Gender Studies/Masculinity Studies

In 2016, Prof. Dr. Hans-Ulrich Weidemann acquired a partial denomination "Gender Studies/Masculinity Studies" as part of the state program "Promotion of Denominations in Gender Research" of the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Research of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Siegen professorship is networked with several international projects. These currently include the international and interdisciplinary project "The Bible and Women. An Encyclopaedia of Exegesis and Cultural History"(https://www.bibleandwomen.org/) and the "Handbuch Theologische Genderforschung" (HThG), which is edited by Prof. Dr. Marianne Heimbach-Steins and Prof. Dr. Judith Könemann at the University of Münster and will be published by Springer Verlag from 2027(https://www.uni-muenster.de/FB2/tff/forschen/forschungsprojekte.html). The holder of the professorship in Siegen is also part of the "core team" of the Center for Critical, Interdisciplinary and Interreligious Masculinity Research (AKIIM) at the Center for Islamic Theology at the University of Münster (see https://www.uni-muenste r.de/ZIT/Religionspaedagogik/AKIIM/index.html) and is a member of the Academic Advisory Board of Gender Studies at the University of Siegen (Gestu_S). Together with Prof. Dr. Mathias Winkler (Regensburg), Hans-Ulrich Weidemann is also working on the volume "Männlichkeit" for the series TOBITH (Topoi Biblischer Theologie / Topics of Biblical Theology) published by Mohr Siebeck.

3. commentary on the so-called Pastoral Epistles (1Tim, 2Tim, Tit)

Prof. Dr. Hans-Ulrich Weidemann is preparing a commentary on the so-called Pastoral Epistles for the series Ökumenischer Taschenbuchkommentar (ÖTK). Together with Prof. Dr. Stefan Krauter (Zurich), he has initiated the "Colloquium Pastorale", which has been held annually since 2021, in order to network with other colleagues working on the Pastoral Epistles at various stages of their careers.

4 The commentary on the St. John Passion in the early church (NTP)

For the international reception history project Novum Testamentum Patristicum (NTP), of which he has been a member of the editorial board for several years, Prof. Dr. Hans-Ulrich Weidemann, together with Prof. Dr. Andreas Hoffmann (Augustine) and PD Dr. Nestor Kavvadas (Oriental authors), has compiled the volume on the commentary on the St. John Passion (John 18-19) in the early church. The focus was not only on the main content-related statements, but also on the interpretation techniques and exegetical methods of the ancient authors. The volume was published at the end of 2024(https://de.vr-elibrary.de/doi/book/10.13109/9783666500800); follow-up volumes are being planned.

5th habilitation project "War rhetoric and belief in election. An exegetical study of Deut 7"

Deuteronomy 7, part of the paraenetic framework of the book of Deuteronomy, is known above all for two contrasting statements: on the one hand, a relentless war rhetoric that orders the merciless extermination of all foreign peoples in the land (vv. 1-5, 16-26), and on the other, a touching assurance that Israel is loved by God and chosen as a holy people (vv. 6-15). But how are these two themes connected? Can one of the two be identified as the actual theme of Deut 7 or do they stand unconnected next to each other? What rhetorical function is fulfilled by the coexistence of the rhetoric of war and the belief in election? How are these statements linked within the book of Deuteronomy and what references are there to law texts from the book of Exodus and to war texts from the book of Joshua? In what historical context was Deut 7 written, what was the text originally intended to achieve and how has it been expanded over the centuries? Dr. Tobias Schmitz's habilitation project (mentor: Prof. Dr. Christian Frevel, Bochum) is dedicated to these and other questions. On the one hand, it investigates the functioning of Deut 7 as a literary and rhetorical unit and, on the other hand, the content of the text on the rhetoric of war and the belief in election in the Old Testament against the background of its emergence in the respective historical contexts and as part of the so-called Hexateuch (books of Genesis to Joshua). The study is thus decidedly both synchronic and diachronic.

Scientific communication

Scholarly communication in society and the church is an important concern of the staff at the Siegen professorship. This includes regular lecturing and further education work in parishes and adult education. A current example of the communication of exegetical findings in pastoral work is the interpretation of the sign stories of the Gospel of John for the Ecumenical Bible Week 2025. Prof. Dr. Hans-Ulrich Weidemann is also a member of the editorial board of "Bibel und Kirche", the journal of the Katholisches Bibelwerk e.V. (Stuttgart).