Leibniz Prize for Theologian Michael Seewald
The German Research Foundation (DFG) has awarded the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize to the Catholic Theologian Prof. Michael Seewald from the University of Münster for his outstanding research. With a value of 2.5 million euros, the Leibniz Prize is the most valuable German research prize. In its citation, the DFG underlined Michael Seewald’s achievements in the field of dogma history and hermeneutics. “With his advocacy – historically and critically underpinned and systematically reasoned – of the mutability of dogma while preserving tradition, he has succeeded in building a bridge between opposing camps in Catholicism. This makes him a key figure in the hermeneutics of dogma decisively shaping the current theological debates on reform, changing faith and tradition.”
Michael Seewald received the news from Bonn this morning (December 11) while he was sitting in a café on the Boulevard Raspail in Paris after having given several lectures and having participated in a seminar for doctoral students. “I am delighted to receive this award,” he said. “The Leibniz Prize provides a powerful impetus for the entire team at our ‘Religion and Politics’ Cluster of Excellence in view of the upcoming assessment. And I am just as delighted that theology at German universities will be strengthened overall by the award.”
The Rector of the University of Münster, Prof. Johannes Wessels, emphasised the importance of the prize for both Michael Seewald and the University. “For many years now, Michael Seewald has already been numbered amongst the leading experts on Catholic theology. He is a highly regarded, much esteemed colleague both nationally and internationally. The Leibniz Prize is the well-deserved reward for his work, which has been outstanding in so many ways. Not only the Institute, the faculty and its students, but also the University as a whole will profit by it – by the impetus it will give us, for example, for the current Excellence competition. The entire Rectorate is proud of Michael Seewald for this impressive award.”
At the same time, the Rectorate is very pleased that Prof. Wolfram Pernice from the University of Heidelberg has also received a Leibniz Prize. In 2015 Pernice had accepted a professorship at the Institute of Physics at Münster University, and he is still affiliated with the University as an Adjunct Professor. He is also a member of the “Intelligent Matter” Collaborative Research Centre
Prof. Michael Seewald
From 2005 to 2009 Prof Michael Seewald (37) studied Catholic Theology, Philosophy and Political Science in Tübingen, Pune (India) and Frankfurt am Main. In 2011 Seewald, a native of Saarbrücken, completed his doctorate in theology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Four years later there followed his habilitation and lecturing qualification for Dogmatics and Ecumenical Theology – also at Munich University. Since 2017 he has been teaching and doing research at Münster University as Professor of Dogmatics and the History of Dogma.
Michael Seewald has been Principal Investigator at the ‘Religion and Politics’ Cluster of Excellence since 2017 and its spokesperson since 2022. This year he also became a Permanent Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin. In 2016 the University of Innsbruck and the Karl Rahner Foundation awarded him the Karl Rahner Prize for theological research; one year later the German Research Foundation and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research awarded him the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize.
In his research, Seewald focuses on theories of dogmatic development and the theology of the Enlightenment (late 17th to early 19th centuries).
The Leibniz Prize
The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize is awarded annually and is the most important research prize in Germany. Every year up to ten prizes may be awarded, each worth 2.5 million euros. The aim of the Leibniz programme is to improve the working conditions for outstanding researchers, expand their opportunities for doing research, remove the burden of administrative workloads, and make it easier for them to take on younger, particularly qualified researchers. Awards are made solely on the recommendation of third parties. The decision on who receives an award is made by the DFG’s joint committee. This year, 142 applications were submitted, from which the committee selected ten prize-winners. The Leibniz prizes will be presented on 19 March 2025 in Berlin. Michael Seewald is the eleventh person from the University of Münster to be awarded a Leibniz Prize. Last year, mathematician Prof. Eva Viehmann was a recipient.