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Univ.-Prof. DDr.

Kurt Appel

Since 2011, Kurt Appel, DPhil., DTheol., has been a Professor for Philosophy of Religion and Fundamental Theology at the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Vienna. He is Speaker of the interdisciplinary Research Centre “Religion and Transformation in Contemporary European Society” (University of Vienna).
He has been Visiting Scholar at the Facoltà teologica dell'Italia Settentrionale (Milan) in 2004, Visiting Professor at the Facoltà teologica dell'Emiglia Romagna (Bologna) in 2009, at the Facoltà teologica dell'Italia Settentrionale (Milan) in 2010, at the Waldenser-University in Rome in 2016; Visiting Professor for Theoretical Philosophy at the Dipartimento di lettere e di filosofia, Università di Trento in 2017; Visiting Professor for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Denver in 2020; Visiting Professor for Philosphy of Modernity at the University of Perugia 2022.
Recent Publications: K. Appel (Ed.), In Praise of Mortality. Christianity as a New Humanism, Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory, Issue 20.2 (Spring 2021), Whitestone Publishing: Stonewood 2021. Trinità e apertura di Dio, tradotto da Marco Casadei (Al di là del detto 89), Pazzini Editore: Rimini 2021. (versione tedesca: Trinität und Offenheit Gottes, 2016) (peer reviewed)

Current News 

2024

Hegel's Concept of the Cosmic Body and the Absolute Reflections on the Written and Unwritten Body Based on the Science of Logic

Kurt Appel


in: Rebekka A. Klein / Calvin D. Ullrich (Eds.), The Unthinkable Body. Challenges of Embodiment in Religion, Politics, and Ethics.


Religion in Philosophy an Theology 130


Mohr Siebeck: Tübingen 2024, 195-220



Der Schluss von Hegels "Enzyklopädie"

Kurt Appel


in: Violetta Waibel / Christian Danz / Jürgen Stolzenberg (Eds.), Metaphysik des Konkreten und der Geschichtlichkeit. Systeme der Vernunft 1821-1854


System der Vernunft. Kant und der deutsche Idealismus (Band VI)


Verlag Meiner: Hamburg 2024, 53-80


Die Kontingenz der Begegnung. Maria von Magdala und die Begegnung des Absoluten

Kurt Appel


in: Massimo Recalcati / Cristina Guarnieri / Giuseppe Armogida, La contingenza dell'incontro. Pensare l'evento tra filosofia e psicoanalisi , paradosso (2023/1)


Il Poligrafo: Padova 2024, 61-78


This article explores the contingency of the encounter between Jesus of Nazareth and Mary Magdalene that occurs at Jesus’s tomb. This article interprets two important passages from the Gospel of Mark (Mk 16, 1-8) and the Gospel of John (Jn 20, 11-18) to reflect more deeply on this encounter. In Mark’s Gospel, the result of the encounter is the reference to a never-derivable and unrepresentable beginning, on which the text of Mark is built. The Gospel of John, which refers to Mark, concretizes this as the beginning of love and the covenant partnership between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, which becomes representative for all those who encounter Jesus. It is a contingent encounter because there is no external necessity. We can never realistically expect to meet a dead person again in this world, but the encounter between Mary and the risen Jesus exemplifies a contingency that ends in the freedom of love.

Recognition, Irony, and Faith

Kurt Appel


in: Pavol Bargár / Peter Jonkers (Eds.), The Faith and Beliefs of "Nonbelievers"


Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change Series VIII, Christian Philosophical Studies, Volume 24


The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy: Washington 2024, 151-162


With contributions by Charles Taylor, Grace Davie, José Casanova u.a.


[Open Access]


In The Faith and Beliefs of “Nonbelievers,” an international team of sociologists, theologians, and philosophers explores the phenomenon of a globally growing segment of the world’s population that has broken with all forms of organized religion. Sociologists call these people “nones.” This segment has proven to be very diverse and has been understudied and underreflected, especially in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The purpose of this book is to provide religious and public leaders and opinion-makers with tools to better understand the current changes in religiosity and to overcome the prejudices between believers and nonbelievers.


Eternity Between Space and Time.
From Consciousness to the Cosmos

Ines Testoni / Fabio Scardigli / Andrea Tolino / Gabriele Gionti

DeGruyter: Berlin/Boston 2024


Among others with contributions from Roger Penrose, Gerard 't Hooft and Massimo Cacciari


Contribution by Kurt Appel

The Eighth Day. Biblical Time as Openness of Chronological Times, 163-172

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111313610-014

Pensare oggi il tempo e il suo oltre

Kurt Appel


in: Associazione Teologica Italiana (Eds.), Questo tempo e il suo oltre. Aggiornamento sull'escatologica


Edizioni Glossa: Milano 2024, 19-33


The text traces the biblical notion of time based on the idea of the seventh day. The seventh day, which is celebrated on the Sabbath and on Christian Sunday, is not simply a chronological indication of time, but rather refers to the transcendent dimension of a time that must not be reduced to a sequential series of present moments. It contains the promise of a future in which the world and individual and collective human action will have proven to have been meaningful. In a second step, building on Leibniz and Hegel, the article attempts to show that even a philosophical understanding of time cannot be limited to scientifically measurable time, but is open towards a future that cannot be reduced to a continuation of the present.


NEWEST EDITION:

TGF-News 17 (Summer Semester 2024)


The department "Theologische Grundlagenforschung" of the University of Vienna would like to present the latest news from the department as well as from the research centre "Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society" (RaT), with which the department works closely.


[TGF-News 17]