Friedrich Heckmann (theologian)

Friedrich Heckmann (* 1953 ) is professor of theology, social and business ethics at the University of Hanover .

Live and act

After graduating from the old-language Wilhelm-Dörpfeld-Gymnasium in Wuppertal in 1973, Heckmann studied Protestant theology and philosophy at the universities of Münster , Zurich and Erlangen from 1973 to 1977 . He then worked as vicar (1978/79) and pastor (1980/81) in the parish of Oberweimar near Marburg , before moving to the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen as a research assistant from 1982 to 1986 . In 1985 he was with the dissertation: opinions on the Sunday work as a contribution ecclesiastical social ethics in the 19th century and labor Sunday rest doctorate .

From 1986 to 1994, Heckmann worked as a student pastor and university chaplain at the Technical University of Braunschweig and the other universities in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Braunschweig . At the same time he held teaching positions in the field of engineering ethics and the criticism of economics and technology. In 1995 he was appointed to a professorship for theology and social ethics in the social affairs department of the Evangelical University of Applied Sciences in Hanover . Since 2007 he has been teaching at Faculty V, Diakonie, Health and Social Affairs at the University of Hanover . Heckmann teaches and researches questions of ethics in the context of social work, business ethics in the context of economics, ecology and globalization as a question of ethics and ethos formation. In addition, his teaching deals with questions of the end of life (dying and death, mourning and life), Christian-Islamic dialogue, the principle of subsidiarity and the reformulation and normativity of the welfare state. In the ethics of social work and for social work, Heckmann draws on virtue ethics and the philosophy of the art of living in order to bring his concept of ethos formation into the ethical discourse in social work.

Heckmann is a member of various committees and associations - u. a .: European Research Society for Ethics - Societas Ethica, Working Group Ethics and Social Work in the German Society for Social Work (DGS), Prackenfelser Kreis, Braunschweig Pastors' Association, Friends of the Waldensian Church e. V., Vision, association for social and ecological communication.

In addition to teaching at the university, he is also active in continuing education. His focus is on ethics as the art of living. Important topics include a. Ethics and theology in social work, the climate catastrophe and dealing with dying and death, grief and life. He works with methods of psychodrama, primary therapy, meditation, playback theater and organizational development.

Publications (selection)

• Working hours and Sunday rest: Statements on Sunday work as a contribution to church social criticism in the 19th century. Essen 1986 (online)
• Economy from below. Self-help and cooperation Heilbronn 1997 (with E. Spoo)
• Transitions - approaches to one's own death. Göttingen 2011 (with C. Burbach)
• Generation issues. Theological Perspectives on Society in the 21st Century, Göttingen 2007 (with C. Burbach)
• Orientation for social work. The philosophy of the art of living or the necessity of ethos formation for social work. In: Verena Begemann u. a. (Ed.): Shaping social practice. Orientations for successful action, Stuttgart 2011
• Wisdom and Practical Theology, Göttingen 2014
• Verena Begemann, Friedrich Heckmann, Dieter Weber (eds.): Social work as applied ethics. Positions and Perspectives for Practice, Stuttgart 2016.
• Verena Begemann, Christiane Burbach, Dieter Weber (eds.): Ethics as the art of living. Festschrift for Friedrich Heckmann, Stuttgart 2018

Web links

• Literature by and about Friedrich Heckmann in the catalog of the German National Library
• Website at the University of Hanover