Jewish Theology as a Science in the Context of Post-Shoah Germany (Preprint, earlier version)

This is an earlier preprint version of a scholarly article forthcoming in the journal Theology and Science, scheduled for publication in Fall 2026.

The paper examines the contested institutionalization of Jewish theology at public universities in Germany, with particular focus on the founding and subsequent crisis of the School of Jewish Theology at the University of Potsdam. Drawing on Paul Feyerabend’s critique of scientific method, Sheila Jasanoff’s notion of political culture, and Philip Kitcher’s concept of systems of public knowledge, the paper offers a contextual and practice-oriented analysis of theology as a scientific discipline in a secular, pluralist democracy.

The analysis does not advance claims about individual conduct or adjudicate unresolved legal or administrative processes, but reconstructs institutional dynamics and epistemic norms shaping the contemporary status of academic Jewish theology in Germany, and related debates and controversies.

With explicit permission from the publisher and the journal editor, this preprint is made publicly available to ensure overdue scholarly transparency, to invite open discussion, and to provide long-term documentation of research conducted in a highly politicized and institutionally sensitive field. It also establishes a stable, citable record for reference in other forthcoming publications on the topic, since the revised and final version of this paper—reflecting further editorial and peer-review processes—is not scheduled to appear in Theology and Science until Fall 2026.

Professor Walter Homolka was invited by the editor of Theology and Science to publish a response to this paper, to be considered for publication in the same forum.

Readers are advised to cite the final published version once it becomes available. The present version should not be treated as the version of record.