Dr. De Roest, Professor of Practical Theology at PThU in Groningen, is an expert in the field of missionary dynamics in churches, worldwide, in Western Europe and in the Netherlands. His research focuses on pioneer planting, ecclesial events like The Night of the Churches, Christian community formation, missional communication of the Christian faith, social capital and social cohesion, church closures, interreligious dialogue at grassroots level.
Dr. Van den Toren, Professor of Intercultural Theology at PThU in Groningen, arrived in Groningen after 8 years of teaching in French-speaking Africa followed by 8 years at Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford. The experience of teaching theology in a non-western cultural environment deeply influenced by African Traditional Religion and Islam and marked by poverty and injustice has profoundly influenced his theological understanding and approach. It has deepened his confidence in the vibrancy, power and relevance of the Christian faith.
Dr. De Lange, Professor of Ethics at PThU in Groningen has expertise in the field of theological ethics (especially the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer) and philosophical ethics (hermeneutics, Simone Weil). His current research focuses on aging studies from a theological and philosophical perspective. What does it mean to age well? Questions concerning the fundamental anthropology of aging and the applied ethics of care for the elderly are covered.
Dr. Merz is Professor of New Testament at PThU in Groningen. Her main focus is early Christianity, specifically its literature and its history in the context of the ancient world.
Dr. Korpel is Associate Professor in Old Testament Studies at PThU in Groningen. Her publications concern Old Testament exegesis, Canaanite and Israelite religion and ancient Hebrew epigraphy. She is well-known for her research on metaphorical language describing the divine in Ugarit and the Bible.
As a sociologist of religion, Dr. Marten van der Meulen, Assistant Professor of Practical Theology at PThU in Groningen, focuses on christian communities. He studies churches in new suburbs, migrant churches, village churches and many other types of churches. His research expertise includes, but is not limited to: protestant churches in the Netherlands, evangelicalism and pentecostalism, migrant churches, civil society and social capital, secularisation ad methodology
Dr. Mulder is Assistant Professor of Women’s and Genderstudies Theology at PThU in Groningen. Her expertise is in the field of processes of attribution of religious authority and the role of gender in these processes; envisioning church communities as communities of equals where irreducible difference is respected; and feminist envisionings of the good life.
In his teaching Dr. Pleizier, Assistant Professor of Practical Theology at PThU in Groningen, concentrates on the fields of preaching and pastoral care, embodying two primary phenomena in Christian ministry: speaking and listening. The biblical text, the Christian tradition, human lifes, and the current context are intertwined in these communicative-religious practices.
Dr. Meijers, Assistant Professor of Diaconal Theology at PThU in Groningen, has a background in contextual theology and the history of Christianity in the 19th and 20th century. Before joining the PThU in 2017, she worked as a journalist for radio and print media and published on populism and religion in the European public forum. She wrote a PhD about the debate on the South African apartheid in the Dutch protestant churches and is currently developing research projects on issues related to Church and Society in the diaconal field, like sustainability, urban inequality and table fellowship. p.e.m.meijers@pthu.nl
