Angela Berlis

Angela Berlis (born July 3, 1962 in Munich ) is an Old Catholic theologian and priestess .

She received at Pentecost in 1996 as one of the first two women in the Old Catholic Church of Germany , the ordination . She currently teaches the history of Old Catholicism and general church history at the Department of Christian Catholic Theology at the Theological Faculty of the University of Bern . Since 2010 she has been leading the interdepartmental Liturgy Competence Center at the University of Bern together with David Plüss .

Life and academic background

Angela Berlis attended the Viktor von Scheffel School in Blumberg (Baden) from 1968 to 1972 and then switched to the Fürstenberg High School in Donaueschingen, where she graduated from high school in 1981. From October 1981 to October 1988 she studied theology at the universities in Bonn and Utrecht. On 26 November 1988 she was the first woman in Germany from the Old Catholic Bishop Sigisbert force to Deaconess consecrated.

A vicariate in the old Catholic St. Engelmundus parish IJmuiden / Netherlands followed, in 1990 she was appointed parish administrator. At the end of 1991 she moved to the Old Catholic Seminar at the University of Bonn as a research assistant. From 1996 she was also director of the episcopal seminar "Johanneum" and pastor of the old Catholic students at the University of Bonn.

On 27 May 1996 she received in Christ Church at Constance, together with Regina Pickel-Bossau from the Old Catholic Bishop Joachim Vobbe the priesthood .

In 1998 she did her doctorate at the (Roman Catholic) theological faculty of the University of Nijmegen on the early stages of German Old Catholicism. At the same time she was involved as a co-founder of the International Working Group for Old Catholicism Research, which was launched in the same year .

Between 2000 and 2003 she worked as a research assistant at the Dominican Study Center for Theology and Society in Nijmegen; Subsequently, until the end of 2007, she held a research position in modern church history at the (Roman Catholic) theological faculty of the University of Tilburg and worked on the subject of "Abolition of the obligation to celibacy in the Old Catholic Church". At the same time, since September 2000, she has been a lecturer in practical theology (pastoral care and community development) at the Old Catholic seminary at the Faculty of Theology (since January 1, 2008: Department of Theology of the Humanities) at the University of Utrecht , of which she became director in 2002.

From January 1, 2006 to September 30, 2009 she was 'bijzonder hoogleraar' (corresponds to an associate professor) for old Catholic church structures including the history and teaching of the old Catholic churches at the theological (since January 1, 2008: humanities) Faculty of Utrecht University.

Since August 1, 2009, she has been an associate professor, and since January 1, 2012, she has been a full professor for the history of Old Catholicism and general church history at the Department of Christian Theology at the Theological Faculty of the University of Bern . She is the successor to Urs von Arx .

From 2007 to 2011 she was President of the European Society for Theological Research of Women. Since 2011 she has been Vice President of the Swiss Theological Society (SThG). From 2000 to 2012 she was co-secretary of the Anglican Old Catholic International Coordination Council (AOCICC), and since 2004 she has been a member of the International Roman Catholic / Old Catholic Dialogue Commission (IRAD).

Angela Berlis publishes in the fields of Old Catholicism Research, General Church History, Ecumenical Theology, and Women and Gender Studies. Your research on the history of Old Catholicism includes: a. the discussion about celibacy and the marriage of priests, the role of women in the development phase of German-speaking Old Catholicism, and the commented publication of correspondence from leading Old Catholic personalities. As part of the international research project “The Bible and Women. An exegetical-cultural-historical encyclopedia ”together with Christiana DeGroot (Calvin College, Grand Rapids, USA) she is publishing a volume on the interpretation of the Bible by women in the 19th century.

Angela Berlis is u. a. Editor-in-chief of the International Church Journal (IKZ) and member of the International Editional Board of the Swiss Journal of Religious and Cultural History .

Works

• Dissertation: Women in the process of becoming a church. A historical-theological study of the early phase of German Old Catholicism (1850–1890) (= Contributions to Church and Cultural History, Vol. 6). Lang, Frankfurt a. M. u. a. 1998.
• Add. with Charlotte Methuen (ed.): Feminist Perspectives on History and Religion - Feminist Approaches to History and Religion - Approches féministes de l'histoire et de la religion (= Yearbook of the European Society for Theological Research of Women 8). Leuven 2000.
• Care of the soul does not tolerate division. Ignaz von Döllinger (1799–1890) and the question of celibacy. In: Annali di studi religiosi 6 (2005), pp. 249-281.
• Add. with Koenraard Ouwens, Jan Visser, Wietse van der Velde, Jan-Lambert Wirix-Speetjens : De Oud-Katholieke Kerk van Nederland. Leer en Leven. Zoetermeer 2000.
• Add. with Annick Yaiche (Ed.): Bumpy paths, persistent steps. Dr. Ilse Brinkhues on her 80th birthday. Bonn 2003.
• Add. with Manuela Kalsky (Ed.): Everyday Transzendenz . Postmodern views on God. Munster 2003.
• Add. with Matthias Ring (ed.): Throwing anchor in heaven. Guesses about the Church in the Future. Festschrift for Bishop Joachim Vobbe . Bonn 2007.
• Brothers in the episcopate - friends for life. Joseph Hubert Reinkens (1821–1896) and Eduard Herzog (1841–1924). In: Internationale Kirchliche Zeitschrift 101 (2011), pp. 176–200.
• Ignaz von Döllinger and the Anglicans. In: Stewart J. Brown, Peter Nockles (Eds.): The Oxford Movement: Europe and the Wider World, c. 1830-c. 1930. Cambridge 2012, pp. 236-248.
• Add. with Anne-Marie Korte, Kune Biezeveld (Ed.): Everyday Life and the Sacred: Re / configuring Gender Studies in Religion. Brill, Leiden - Boston 2014.

literature

• Joachim Vobbe: Go to my brothers. On the priestly mission of women in the church. Letter from the Bishop to the parishes of the Catholic Diocese of Old Catholics, February 1996.
• Joachim Pfützner (Ed.): They should be priestesses ... The first priestesses of the old Catholic Church in Germany. Prehistory, congratulations, texts and pictures, press reports, disputes. Rosenheim 1997.

Web links

• Literature by and about Angela Berlis in the catalog of the German National Library
• Employee website University of Bern
• European Society for Theological Research of Women
• Liturgy Competence Center at the University of Bern

Individual evidence

1. ↑ www.liturgik.unibe.ch
2. ↑ http://www.theol.unibe.ch/christkath/iaaf.html ( Memento from January 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ [1]
4. ↑ [2]