1994-1996Education and employment as assistant nurse
- at Diakonissenkrankenhaus Stuttgart
- internship at the Stuttgart hospice and
- at residential aged care facility in Versailles/Paris
- voluntary social work in Lancashire, England
1996-2003 Studies in Theology and Philosophy
- Sprachenkolleg der Evangelischen Landeskirche Württemberg in Stuttgart
- Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen
- Dormition Abbey and Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
- Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
2003 MA in Theology, University of Tübingen2003-2006 PhD-student at the Institute for Hermeneutics and Philosophy of Religion, University of Zürich.
Research stays at
- Center for Subjectivity Research, University of Copenhagen
- Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre, University of Copenhagen
- Franz Rosenzweig Minerva Research Centre for German-Jewish Literature and Cultural History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Faculty of Theology, University of Hamburg
June 2006 PhD dissertation
“God’s (Non)Phenomenality and the Problem of Theodicy”
Febr. 2007 PhD in Systematic Theology (summa cum laude),
University of Zürich
Sept. 2009 Habilitation thesis
“Vertrauen und Versuchung”, University of Zürich
March 2010 Venia legendi in Systematic TheologyPrivatdozentin at the Faculty of Theology, University of Zürich
Academic employment
2000-2001 Research assistant/Tutor (Church History),
University of Heidelberg
2001-2002 Research assistant (New Testament),
University of Tübingen
Spring 2004 Research assistant (Philosophy of Religion),
University of Zürich
2006-2007 Assistant research professor at the Danish National Research Foundation: Center for Subjectivity Research, University of Copenhagen
2007-2010 Postdoctoral research fellow
Center for Subjectivity Research, University of Copenhagen
2010 Associate professor
Department of Systematic Theology, University of Copenhagen
2010-2018Professor with special responsibilities
in Ethics and Philosophy of Religion, Department of Systematic Theology, University of Copenhagen
2014-2019 Founding director of CJMCCenter for the Study of Jewish Thought in Modern Culture, University of Copenhagen (see also https://joediskinfo.dk/om-joedisk-informationscenter/cjmc-center-the-study-of-jewish-thought-in-modern-culture)
Summer 2020 Visiting professor (Vertretungsprofessorin) Institut für evangelische Theologie, University of Duisburg-Essen
Sept. 2020- Professor of Ethics and Philosophy of Religion
School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University
Individual grants and fellowships
1997-2003 9-semester scholarship at Evangelisches Stift in Tübingen
1999-2000 Grant from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for an academic year in Jerusalem
2004-2006 2-year PhD stipend from Ev. Studienwerk e.V. Villigst, Germany
20052-month short-term research grant from the Minerva Foundation for a research stay at the Franz Rosenzweig Minerva Research Centre for German-Jewish Literature and Cultural History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
2007-2009 2-year postdoctoral research grant from The Danish National Research Foundation: Center for Subjectivity Research (CFS), University of Copenhagen
2009-2010 14-month postdoctoral research grant from the Velux Foundation, Denmark, as part of the collective research project “Trust, Conflict, Recognition”
Nov. 2009 Research stay at San Cataldo, Italy, financed by University of Copenhagen
2010-2013 3-year postdoctoral research grant from the Carlsberg Foundation, Denmark (only 11 months’ funding out of 36 months’ approved funding was utilized due to secured salary)
2017-2018 Semper Ardens Fellowship within the Humanities and Social Sciences from the Carlsberg Foundation, Denmark
April 2019 Visiting researcher at the Department of Education and the Department of Philosophy, Religion, and History, Agder University, Kristiansand, Norway
2019-2020 10-month fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, Bad Homburg & Goethe University Frankfurt
2020-20215-month fellowship at the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies, Hamburg University (due to the pandemic, I could only spend a couple of weeks in Hamburg)
Nov. 2024 2-week stipend for writing retreat in San Cataldo, Italy
2024-25 1-month fellowship at Polin Institute, Åbo Akademi University, Finland
Copyright Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften Bad Homburg. Photo by Stefanie Wetzel (October 2019)
Awards and distinctions
2009 The John Templeton Award for Theological Promise from the University of Heidelberg through FIIT: Forschungszentrum Internationale und Interdisziplinäre Theologie / Research Institute for International and Interdisciplinary Theology
2013 Elite Research Award from the Danish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education
Nov. 2018 Visiting researcher at the Philosophy Department, University of Melbourne, Australia
Jan. 2019Visiting researcher at the Franz Rosenzweig Minerva Research Centre for German-Jewish Literature and Cultural History, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
Summer 2019 Visiting researcher at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies
2021-2024 Adjunct professor, Faculty of Theology, University of Berne, Switzerland
Participation in international and interdisciplinary research endeavors
2006-2012 Research fellow at the Danish National Research Foundation’s Center for Subjectivity Research(CFS), University of Copenhagen (main disciplines involved: various traditions within philosophy, theology, ethics, psychology and psychiatry)
2008-2011 Core member of the project “Trust, Conflict, Recognition” at CFS, University of Copenhagen (main disciplines involved: philosophy of religion, philosophy of emotion, ethics, theology, sociology)
2009-2013 Contributing to the project “Phenomenology of Religious Life” at Oxford University and University of Copenhagen (main disciplines involved: philosophy of religion, ethics, Christian theology, Hindu studies)
2009-2013 Planning, implementing and acting as steering group member of the project “In-visibilis: Visibility and Transcendence in Religion, Arts, and Ethics” (University of Copenhagen and Institute for Iconicity, University of Rostock; main disciplines involved: church history, systematic theology, philosophy of religion, ethics, art history and visual studies)
2011-2012 Contributing to the development of a new MA program in Counselling/Pastoral Care at the University of Copenhagen (main disciplines involved: practical theology, systematic theology, psychology, psychiatry, sociology)
2014-2016 Affiliated researcher of the project “Self-Understanding and Self-Alienation: Existential Hermeneutics and Psychopathology” (University of Copenhagen and Psychiatric Center Hvidovre; main disciplines involved: philosophy, psychology, psychiatry, trauma studies)
2014-2019 Founding Director of CJMC: Center for the Study of Jewish Thought in Modern Culture, University of Copenhagen (main disciplines involved: theology, philosophy, literary studies, psychology, psychiatry, history, media theory, cultural studies)
2019-2020 Contributing to the LOEWE SCHWERPUNKT "Religiöse Positionierung: Modalitäten und Konstellationen in jüdischen, christlichen und islamischen Kontexten" (Goethe Universität Frankfurt; main disciplines involved: Jewish studies, Christian theology, Islamic studies, philosophy)
Since 2020 "Forschungsnetzwerk E. Levinas" (initiated and coordinated by the Universities of Hannover-Hildesheim, Regensburg, and Kath. Akademie Schwerte)
2021-2025 Member of the international DFG-Network Religion and the Emotions (initiated and coordinated by Humboldt University Berlin)
2022-2025 Member of the international DFG-Network Reasons of the Heart: On the Concept, Rationality and Moral Function/s of Religious Emotions in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (initiated and coordinated by Goethe-University Frankfurt and Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften Bad Homburg)
