About me, Michael
Michael grew up in Austria and received his theological education in Germany, Sweden and the USA. He has experience of church work in Sweden and the USA and of the American and German systems of academic research and teaching. He returned to Sweden in 2017 after 19 years abroad. At the Unit of Research and Analysis, he is responsible inter alia for publication of the Church of Sweden’s English-language Church of Sweden Research Series.
Keywords
Intercultural theology, participation, post-colonial theory and theology, social theology, theology and migration, theology and ecology
CV
Affiliated Professor at the Stockholm School of Theology (since 2020)
Legally responsible publisher of the Church of Sweden Research Series (since 2020)
Researcher at the Church of Sweden’s Central Church Office in Uppsala (since 2017)
Vice-Dean, Reutlingen School of Theology (2013–2017)
Lecturer in Systematic Theology at Reutlingen School of Theology (2005–2017)
Ph.D., Drew University (2005)
Master of Philosophy, Drew University (2002)
Teaching assignments at Drew and Fordham Universities (2001–2002)
Work as pastor in Sweden and the USA (1992–1998 and 2003–2005)
Bachelor of Theology at Uppsala University (1992)
Upper Secondary School qualification, Linz/Austria (1983)
About my research
My research resulted in a book entitled “A Theology of Participation” (Eine Theologie der Teilhabe, Leipzig 2020) in which I explore participation in a broad sense. Rooted in an understanding of salvation as participation in the renewal of Creation, the book has a number of philosophical-theological reflections on a participatory God, analyses of participation as a reality in the everyday life of the Church (diakonia, communion, prayer, song etc.) and, lastly, theological perspectives on social participation in the migrant community.
A theology of participation in the climate crisis era
The perspective of participation continues to play a key role in my research, but my focus is broadening to embrace the ecological dimensions of participation. I explore how theology can contribute to a necessary paradigm shift in the role of humans in Creation. I am particularly interested in how human subjectivity relates to the rest of Creation. Can nature be attributed subjectivity and therefore rights? How does the participatory nature of human beings relate to behaviour on the social and ecological levels? And given the threats to the planet’s future in the Anthropocene, what is the temporal dimension of participation? What is participation from an eschatological perspective and how do the spatial and temporal dimensions of participation relate to each other?
Selected publications
Monograph
– Michael Nausner, Eine Theologie der Teilhabe (A Theology of Participation). Reutlinger Beiträge zur Theologie Vol. 2. Leipzig: Theologische Verlagsanstalt 2020.
Articles in journals, books and online (selection, since 2018)
– “Der Mensch als Erdwesen. Theologische Reflexionen über einen notwendigen Paradigmenwechsel.” In: auge. Amt und Gemeinde. Zeitschrift für evangelisch-theologische Impulse & Diskurse, 72. Year. Volume 1, 2023, 28–38.
– “Culture-Specific and Cosmopolitan Aspects of Christian Coexistence. A Postcolonial Perspective on Ecumenical Relations”. In: Religions 2022, 13, 896, online: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100896 (Peer review)
– “Eco-Justice as Mutual Participation? Towards a Theological Vision of the Mutual In-Dwelling of All Creation”. In: Doing Climate Justice. Theological Explorations, Paderborn/Leiden: Brill/Schöningh 2022, 101–120. Online: https://doi.org/10.30965/9783657795314_009 (Peer review)
– “Kulturspezifische und kosmopolitische Aspekte christlicher Koexistenz. Ein postkolonialer Blick auf ökumenische Beziehungen”, in: Ökumenische Rundschau, 70. Year. Volume 1, 2021, 57–70.
– “Vom Zusammenwirken alles Erschaffenen. Ein theologisches Plädoyer für die Weitung des politischen Raumes", in: Theologisches Gespräch, Jahrgang 45, Heft 1, 2021, 3–21 (Peer review).
– “Ökogerechtigkeit als gegenseitige Teilhabe. Versuch einer theologischen Vision der gegenseitigen Durchdringung alles Erschaffenen”, in: Amt und Gemeinde, 70. Year. Volume 1, 2021, 12–22.
– Zur Rezeption postkolonialer Theorie in der deutschsprachigen Theologie. Ein Literaturüberblick”, in: Jahrbuch für christliche Sozialwissenschaften No. 61/2020, 183–209. (Peer review)
– “Together Whole: A Participatory Understanding of Health from a Wesleyan Perspective", in: Wesley and Methodist Studies, The Pennsylvania State University Press, Vol. 12, No. 2, 2020, 179–189. (Peer review)
– “Difference Without Domination. Listening for Religious Attunement in Times of Polarisation” in: Lia D. Shimada (Ed.), Mapping Faith: Theologies of Migration and Community, London & Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers 2020, 124–134.
“Wer darf dazugehören? Anstöße Postkolonialer Theologie im Kontext der Migration”, in: Britta Konz, Bernhard Ortmann, Christian Wetz (Eds), Postkolonialismus, Theologie und die Konstruktion des Anderen (Postcolonialism, Theology and the Construction of the Other). Erkundungen in einem Grenzgebiet, Leiden/Boston: Brill 2020, 23–44 (Peer review).
Reviews
– Johannes Ljungberg, Alexander Maurits & Erik Sidenvall (Ed.). Cultures in Conflict: Religion, History, and Gender in Northern Europe c. 1800–2000. Berlin: Peter Lang 2021. In: Swedish Theological Quarterly 1/2022, 68–70.
- “Henning Wrogemann, Intercultural Hermeneutics (Intercultural Theology Vol. 1) Theologies of Mission (Intercultural Theology Vol. 2) A Theology of Interreligious Relations (Intercultural Theology Vol. 3) Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic Press 2016–2019”, in Mission Studies Vol. 38, 2021, 185–188.