The Potentials and Problems of a Theological Foundation of Tolerance

Tolerance is a necessary pre-condition for the welfare of pluralistic and democratic societies. But a tolerant attitude can hardly be enforced by public political institutions, for personal virtues of tolerance develop in contexts of different religious or philosophical worldviews and depend on their convictions and creeds. However, in fact, those convictions and creeds often generate intolerance and disapproval regarding people with different convictions, life styles and values.
Nevertheless, religions do imply potentials for tolerance, which should be highlighted. Therefor, Hartmut Rosenau, Liv Steinebach and I elaborate these potentials with regard to Christianity in a specific protestant and reformatory perspective. In order to reach a consistent theological theory of tolerance, that is compatible with other fields of tolerance research, we use the disapproval-respect model developed by social-psychologist Bernd Simon. Our aim is to develop motives and limitations of tolerance in Christian dogmatics and ethics with special regard on the underlying anthropology, its epistemic as well as ontological implications.

The project is part of the DFG research unit 5472: "The Difficulty and Possibility of Tolerance: The Multifaceted Challenges of the Concept and Practice of Tolerance"