Professional Background and Activities 

After finishing graduate studies in theology (M.Th.) and serving the German speaking Congregation St. Miguel at Caracas, Venezuela, I was ordained a Lutheran minister in 1978 and soon afterwards called on the teaching staff of the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary (TTS Arasaradi) at Madurai, India. There I stayed until 1983, teaching New Testament (mostly in Tamil) and Lutheran Theology; the editon of 'Selected Writings of Luther in Tamil' (2 vols., Maduari 1990/1994) being a fruit of this time. On return I joined the German Institute for Medical Missions at Tubingen, Germany, as their theological consultant and hospital chaplain. This brought me to the study of medical missions (thereby earning a D.Th. degree) and to actively engage in the dialogue between medicine and theology on a national level. In 1992 I was called by the University of Hamburg, Germany, as a senior lecturer and research scholar to the 'Institute of Missions, Oecumenics and Religions'. My scholarly work concentrated mainly on medical missions, religions and healing as well as on reflections on the body, embodiment and incarnation, while at the same time I had to deal with the inter-religious dialogue and the history and theology of the ecumenical movement. After the 'Habilitation' (D.th.habil.) and some years of service as a 'Privatdozent' at the university I joined the 'Center for Health-Care Ethics' of the Lutheran Church of Lower Saxony at Hannover, Germany, before coming to Valparaiso University where in 2001 I was inducted into the John R. Eckrich University Chair in Religion and the Healing Arts.

Starting off as a church historian and now engaged in the interdisciplinary crossover of theology, faith, medicine and genetics my numerous articles in (mostly peer-reviewed scholarly) national and international journals as well as my books represent the broad variety of themes which challenged me so far along the way of my life's journey.

I am member of various scholarly national and international associations and participate in a couple of national and international research-projects.  Presently the main focus of my research is on the 'Hermeneutics of the Body', as well as on the value shift in ethical decision making as it relates to genetics and medicine.