A note on the name
In everyday English, “thisworldly” tends to mean focused on the material, indifferent to the spiritual. Here it means something different. Thisworldly takes seriously that every act of thinking — including theological, mystical, and ethical thinking — happens in this world: from within concrete bodies, languages, histories, conflicts, joys. There is no view from nowhere. To think thisworldly is not to refuse the transcendent; it is to honour the place from which we reach for it.
Why Thisworldly exists
Thisworldly is a space I’ve wanted for a long time. Here I want to make what I deal with in my research accessible to a broader audience. I want to write about topics that move me in a way that is understandable without losing depth. At the same time, there are many questions that only appear on the margins of my academic work or have no place there at all.
What I mean by “thisworldly”
When I say “thisworldly”, I mean that the starting point is always this world. It’s about what people actually experience, not about an abstract idea of faith that floats above their lives. It’s about their bodies, their stories, their relationships and conflicts, about pain and joy, about hopes and disappointments. For me, theology doesn’t begin in “heaven” but here.
I want to develop a theology that takes the natural sciences and other sciences seriously. They shouldn’t be argued away when they are uncomfortable, nor should they only appear when they happen to confirm what one already believes. Instead, their insights should be part of the foundation on which I work theologically. The concerns, conflicts and hopes of people in the 21st century are equally part of it.
At the same time, this is not just about classical theological topics. On Thisworldly I also write about films, series, video games, anime and cartoons. These media interest me not only because they entertain, but because they tell stories in which many questions are reflected that also move theology and philosophy. I try to read these subjects with a theological eye.
What you can expect on Thisworldly
What you won’t find here: a fetishism for halal/haram questions for their own sake. It’s not about classifying every detail of everyday life as permitted or forbidden. You also won’t get simple recipes for complex topics. Many questions have no definitive answer, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise.
Thisworldly is not a fatwa page, and I don’t take on the role of a mufti who makes your decisions for you. Even a supposedly “liberal” variant of this role interests me little, because I find the term “liberal” problematic in connection with faith anyway. In my theology and my understanding of faith I try to recognize and overcome such authoritarian structures and hierarchies instead of reproducing them in a new form.
What you can expect here is an experimental space for questions and other perspectives. The texts are meant to open doors to viewpoints that may be unfamiliar or irritating. You’re not supposed to simply adopt them, but to examine them, rub up against them or even reject them. It’s important to me that new images and ways of thinking emerge at all.
Thisworldly wants to provide space for doubt and ambivalence. For many people, faith is no longer something that simply stands firm, but a movement that changes. Here, uncertainty may occur without having to be immediately resolved. New images of God, the world and humanity may be tried out without them having to be immediately sorted as right or wrong.
Thisworldly is not a place where you’re supposed to learn how to believe once and for all. You won’t get a complete guide to a “correct” religious life here. Instead, it’s a place where you can think about what we call “God”, about how we live together, and about what this world is and what it does to us.