Chair on Ethics and Spirituality
The first professor at the Chair of Ethics at Utrecht Theological University (formerly: Kampen) was Jochem Douma. He gave this chair broad national and international appeal. In 1998 Ad de Bruijne (1959) succeeded him, first as associate professor and since 2008 as professor. On that occasion the designation of the chair was broadened to “Ethics and Spirituality.
The subject of ethics focuses on reflection on the design of the good life and on the boundary between good and evil in lifestyle. This also happens in philosophy and in various professional sciences, but within theology this reflection is in the light of the knowledge of God and his works and words. In that theological perspective, by the way, philosophy and other sciences are integrated. Ethics concerns the great social issues of our time, but equally the daily choices in personal life practice. It is about ecology, social inequality and justice, war and peace and technology, but equally about money spending, community building, nutrition, medical-ethical choices and relationship questions. Urgent practical issues are also regularly brought to the chair from church and society.
Areas of interest
A core area of research within the chair concerns questions of society and the responsibility of church and Christians in this regard. Therefore, there is much attention to public theology and to political theology.
A second field of attention lies in the area of relationship formation and sexuality. There has been reflection on questions of marriage, cohabitation and divorce. Publications have appeared on homosexuality and gender. A PhD track is also focused on the latter theme.
A third area emerges with regard to recent developments around Artificial Intelligence and the transhumanist and posthumanist ideals and risks that often attach themselves to it. In the latter regard, a cross connection emerges with research on gender and also with current ecological challenges.
There are also a series of smaller areas of interest: ethical hermeneutics (especially the question of in what way the eschatological kingdom of God guides ethics), ministerial ethics and the spirituality of the minister.
The Ethics and Spirituality chair is affiliated with the Neo-Calvinism Research Institute. This means that when dealing with the fields of interest, the thinking of Abraham Kuyper, Herman Bavinck and later Neo-Calvinists is always in the picture. This has resulted in several publications that contribute to the continuation and renewal of the Neo-Calvinist tradition and its conversation with other theological movements.
