Center for the Study of Paradoxes

Paradoxes occur in many different settings and contexts. They may pertain to different aspects of our existence and can be approached from various angles. They may appear in the form of everyday problems, contradictions, challenges, absurdities, nonsense or meaninglessness or in existential ambiguities. They may have varied epistemic status, ontological dimensions and existential meaning. In our approach we are concerned with the connection between various perspectives on – and conditions of – the emergence of paradoxes. E.g. a theological paradox can be derived from psychological conditions that are not themselves paradoxical and vice versa.

This systematic theological approach to paradoxes draws on sources from the history of Christian theological reflection. In particular, it draws on the recent developments in post-dialectical and contextual theology. The center has a particular emphasis on recently developed phenomenology; hermeneutics and psychoanalysis with specific focus on the critical, contextual, embodied and inter-subjective turn within these approaches. Thus the center engage the issue of paradoxes by means of contemporary intersubjective and constructive systematic theology.

The center for the Study of Paradoxes is engaged in exploration and clarifications of contemporary paradoxes through projects in the following areas:

1. The study of existence and lifestyle

2. The study of Church and liturgy

3. The study of social reality and innovation

This approach engages Christian practices and liturgical practices as forms of life that are embodied, mediated and perceived, and experienced as ambiguous or even contradictory. The center’s approach presupposes that the Christian forms of communication cannot be isolated from their existential and societal contexts. This approach studies and analyzes in particular Protestant ecclesial and liturgical communication in its varied forms by drawing on the history of liturgical practice, ecclesial sociology and theory of ritual practice: i.e. church services, the handling of sacraments and other ecclesial practices. Thus the approach entails the study of a number of paradoxes related to the Christian practice and communication, such as the tension between presence and absence, the distinction between form and matter, and between direct and indirect communication as well as the tensions between distinct forms of communication such as the use of analog and digital media.