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
25./26.06.2026 | Frankfurt

DGTF Conference 2026: Shifting Regimes, Changing Orders

Conference

Conference as part of WDC 2026 in collaboration with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Designtheorie und -forschung (DGTF), Kunstgewerbemuseum/Design Campus SKD and Design and Democracy

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Event
30.06.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Recht und Angst in Demokratien

Lecture

Vortrag von Benno Zabel (Universitätslehrer für Strafecht und Rechtsphilosophie der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt a.M., Forschungszentrum Normative Ordnungen der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt a.M.) im Rahmen der partizipativen Redenreihe "DenkArt_ Im Schmelztiegel der Angst"

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Event
09./10.07.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Democracy: Principles and Practice, Resilience and Innovation

Conference

Annual Conference of the Research Program "Zeitenwenden. Normative Ordnungen im Umbruch?" with Arthur Ripstein, Astrid Séville, John McCormick, Nadia Urbinati, Claudia Landwehr, Hubertus Buchstein and Peter Niesen.

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News
19.06.2026

Internationales Symposium würdigt Lebenswerk von Jürgen Habermas

Am Freitag, den 19. Juni 2026, würdigte das Forschungszentrum Normative Orders gemeinsam mit dem Suhrkamp-Verlag den verstorbenen Jürgen Habermas mit einem internationalen Symposium an der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt.

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Event
01./03.07.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Sexual Agency

Conference

A three-day conference about sexual agency, covering questions of autonomy, responsibility, power, consent, desire and embodiement. Organized by Manon Garcia and Milena Bartholain.

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News
18.05.2026

Videopodcast-Reihe „Our Planet, Our Health“ gestartet

Mit „Our Planet, Our Health“ startet eine neue Videopodcast-Reihe zu Fragen globaler Gesundheitsgerechtigkeit. Die Reihe, gehostet von Dr. Romina Rekers, ist eine Initiative des Global Health Justice Postdoctoral Programme (GHJ), gefördert von der Höppschen Stiftung.

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Publication
12.05.2026 | Online article

Disinhibited Informalization: Talk Radio, Bro Podcasts and the Aesthetics of Populism

Völz, Johannes (2026): "Disinhibited Informalization: Talk Radio, Bro Podcasts and the Aesthetics of Populism". In: b2o - boundary 2 online.

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Publication
22.04.2026 | Chapter

Körpergeschlecht und Selbstbestimmung

Britz, Gabriele (2026): "Körpergeschlecht und Selbstbestimmung". In. Mangold, Anna Katharina; Völzmann, Berit (Hrsg.): Gerechtigkeit als Thema der Rechtswissenschaft, Nomos, S. 41-48.

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