Diocese of Aachen and RWTH Continue to Endow Hemmerle Professorship

The Diocese of Aachen and RWTH have agreed to continue the Hemmerle Professorship, which is concerned with “Interdisciplinary Questions of Theology, Natural Sciences and Technology.” From April 1, 2018, this endowed professorship is slated to enrich the teaching and research offerings of the RWTH faculty of Arts and Humanities year-round for a time period of five years initially.

  Copyright: © Bistum/Steindl Bishop Dr. Dieser (on the left) and RWTH Rector Prof. Schmachtenberg (on the right) have agreed to continue the endowed Hemmerle Professorship.

“This close collaboration between RWTH and the Diocese of Aachen, between University and Church, is an ideal starting point to look at questions concerning the natural sciences and technology also from a theological-ethical perspective and to interconnect the different disciplines,” Helmut Dieser, the bishop of Aachen, emphasized on the occasion of his first visit with RWTH Rector Ernst Schmachtenberg after taking office. “I am thankful that this is possible at one of the most renowned universities in Germany,” the Bishop continued.

“We are very happy about the esteem shown to us by the Diocese, which is further underlined by the agreement to continue the Hemmerle Professorship. We all are confronted with great challenges – on one hand driven by technological changes such as the digital transformation and on the other by the growing social inequality within our society. Through fostering a better understanding between faith and science we will help surmount these challenges,” the Rector of RWTH explained.

The Hemmerle Visiting Professorship was created in 2008 by former Aachen Bishop Dr. Heinrich Mussinghof as an endowed professorship. Since then, selected renowned scholars have been devoting themselves to participate in interdisciplinary discourse between theology and the natural sciences for one semester per year. The endowed professorship honors the deceased Aachen Bishop Klaus Hemmerle (1929-1994), who was very involved in this discourse and who was awarded an honorary doctorate from the RWTH Faculty of Arts and Humanities for his dedication on May 20, 1988.

Source: Press and Communications