Former Fellow

Ingolf Dalferth

Professor of Philosophy of Religion, Claremont Graduate University, USA

Research project:
“Deus praesens: God and the present in philosophical theology”

Project description:
In a major strand of Western philosophical theology, God and the present are dynamically linked. The present cannot be thought without God, and God cannot be thought without his presence. Only a present God deserves to be called “God”, and a God who is not present cannot be God. Without God’s presence nothing would be possible, and nothing would be actual, nothing would be there and no one else would be present. If there is a God, then God is to be thought in such a way that God is present to every presence. But what does this mean? How is God’s presence different from other presences? How does this go together with the widespread feeling that God is not present, but absent, not accessible, but hidden? What do we understand by “presence” and “the present”, and how does this relate to presence (Anwesenheit) and absence (Abwesenheit), to givenness and perceivability, to accessibility and hiddenness? These are some of the questions I want to pursue during my stay at the FKH. (Ingolf Dalferth)

Events:

November 5, 2020, 11 a.m.
Fellow Colloquium at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften of the Goethe University
“In God We Trust”

November 12, 2020, 7 pm
Evening lecture
The illusion of immediacy. On a misunderstood mode of the lifeworld

  • Biografische Angaben

    Ingolf Dalferth is Danforth Professor of Philosophy of Religion at Claremont Graduate University and Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Zurich. From 1998 to 2012 he was Director of the Institute for Hermeneutics and Philosophy of Religion at the University of Zurich. He has been honored with numerous invitations to renowned research institutions, including as Hulsean Lecturer at the University of Cambridge, Samuel Ferguson Lecturer at Manchester University, Bapsybanoo Marchioness of Winchester Lecturer at the University of Oxford, Fellow at the Collegium Helveticum in Zurich and at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. The University of Copenhagen and the University of Uppsala awarded him honorary doctorates. Dalferth is or was editor of many journals and book series, including Theologische Literaturzeitung, Hermeneutische Untersuchungen zur Theologie, Philosophy of Religion and Theology and Claremont Studies in Religion.
  • Publikationen

    – Sünde: Die Entdeckung der Menschlichkeit. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt 2020. – Die Kunst des Verstehens. Grundzüge einer Hermeneutik der Kommunikation durch Texte. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2018. – Creatures of Possibility: The Theological Basis of Human Freedom. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic 2016. – Transzendenz und säkulare Welt, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2015 (engl.: Transcendence and the Secular World: Life in orientation to ultimate presence, übersetzt von Jo Bennet, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2018). – Radikale Theologie. Glauben im 21. Jahrhundert. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt 2010 (engl.: Radical Theology: An Essay on Faith and Theology in the Twenty-First Century. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press 2016). – Hoffnung (Grundthemen der Philosophie). Berlin: de Gruyter 2016. – Selbstlose Leidenschaften. Christlicher Glaube und menschliche Passionen. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2013. – Malum. Theologische Hermeneutik des Bösen. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2008. – Die Wirklichkeit des Möglichen. Hermeneutische Religionsphilosophie. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2003

News from the research center

Event
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Shifting Visions of Peace and Security

Panel Discussion, Lecture Series

Podiumsdiskussion im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times” mit Lisbeth Zimmermann (Goethe University/Normative Orders), Antonia Witt (PRIF), Siddarth Tripathi (University of Erfurt). Moderation: Jonas Wolff (Goethe University/PRIF/Normative Orders).

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Event
03.02.2027 | Frankfurt am Main

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Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Ingvild Bode (University of Southern Denmark)im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times”.

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Event
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International arms control in a world of uncertainties

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Malte Göttsche (TU Darmstadt/PRIF) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times”.

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Event
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Enabling Authoritarianism: UN Peacekeeping and the Politics of Authoritarianism

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Sarah von Billerbeck (University of Reading) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times”.

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Event
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Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Maria Mälksoo (Copenhagen University) (Goethe-Universität/PRIF/Normative Orders) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times”.

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Event
18.11.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

The Case for (Neo)colonialism: Neotrusteeship in International Relations as the ‘Imperial Mind’ of the ‘Colonial Present’

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Nick Lemay-Hébert (Manchester University) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times”.

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Event
28.10.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Postliberal vs. liberal Perspectives on Peace and Security and Crises

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Prof. Dr. Christopher Daase (Goethe-Universität/PRIF/Normative Orders) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times”.

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Event
02.02.2027 | Frankfurt

Klassenjustiz, race und abolitionistische Demokratie

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Prof. Dr. Daniel Loick (Amsterdam) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung "Ist das Recht am Ende?" im Wintersemester 2026/2027. Organisiert von Klaus Günther und Benno Zabel.

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Event
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Nach der Normativität. Zum Verhältnis von Politik und Recht unter komputationalen Bedingungen

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Prof. Dr. Sabine Müller-Mall (Frankfurt am Main) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung "Ist das Recht am Ende?" im Wintersemester 2026/2027. Organisiert von Klaus Günther und Benno Zabel.

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