Dr María Pillar Aquino is Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at San Diego University. She studied at the Instituto Teológico de Estudios Superiores (ITES, Theological Institute of Superior Studies) of México City, accredited by the Pontifical Catholic University do Río Grande do Sul, Brazil (TheolBA and TheolLic). She obstained the doctorate in theology at the Pontifical University of Salamanca, Spain. She joined the University of San Diego in 1993. Her primary areas of teaching and research are liberation theologies, social ethics, and feminist theologies, with special interests in intercultural approaches, conflict transformation, and religious peacebuilding studies. Aquino’s research and scholarly works are infused by concerns about the function of religions and theologies in societal systems and human relationships, and about their implications for social justice and constructive change.
In addition to her more than fifty major book and journal articles, she has authored Our Cry for Life. Feminist Theology from Latin America (1993); La Teología, La Iglesia y La Mujer en América Latina (1994); Teología Feminista Latinoamericana (1998); has edited Aportes para una Teología desde la Mujer (1988); and co-edited of Theology: Expanding the Borders, with Roberto S. Goizueta (1998); Entre la Indignación y la Esperanza. Teología Feminista Latinoamericana, with Ana María Tepedino (1998); In the Power of Wisdom. Feminist Spiritualities of Struggle, with Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza (2000); The Return of the Just War, with Dietmar Mieth (2001); The Rights of Women, with Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza (2002); A Reader in Latina Feminist Theology. Religion and Justice, with Daisy Machado and Jeanette Rodríguez (2002); Reconciliation in a World of Conflicts, with Luis Carlos Susin (2003); and Feminist Intercultural Theology: Latina Explorations for a Just World, with Maria José Rosado-Nunes (2007). She has received various awards from prominent theological societies for her sustained commitment to women’s theological education, and is the recipient of an honorary doctorate in theology from the University of Helsinki, Finland.
Currently, Professor Pillar Aquino serves both on national and international editorial boards of prominent theological journals. Aquino has served as the first woman president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States, of which she is also a co-founder. She is internationally renowned for her pioneering work in Latin American and U.S. Latina feminist theologies of liberation.
Prof Edmund Arens
Edmund Arens holds the chair of Fundamental Theology at the University of Lucerne (Switzerland). He studied theology and philosophy at the Universities of Münster and Frankfurt and did his doctoral dissertation and his habilitation with Johann Baptist Metz. For several years he studied with Jürgen Habermas. From 1991-1996 he was Heisenberg-fellow of the German Research Foundation. In 1996 he became Professor at the University of Lucerne. Arens lectured in more than 20 countries. From 1981 till 1985 he was a member of the international study group „theology and communication“ installed by the World Association for Christian Communication (London); from 1984 till 1990 he served as coordinator of the annual course „Future of Religion“ at the Inter-University Centre of Postgraduate Studies in Dubrovnik. In 1992 he spent a term as visiting professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. From 2006 till 2010 he was president of the Association of German Speaking Professors of Dogmatic and Fundamental Theology. Since 2006 he is president of the Swiss section of the European Society for Catholic Theology. His publications include: Kommunikative Handlungen. Die paradigmatische Bedeutung der Gleichnisse Jesu für eine Handlungstheorie (Düsseldorf 1982); Bezeugen und Bekennen. Elementare Handlungen des Glaubens (Düsseldorf 1989); (ed.) Habermas und die Theologie. Beiträge zur theologischen Rezeption, Diskussion und Kritik der Theorie kommunikativen Handelns, (Düsseldorf 1989; 21989); together with O. John / P. Rottländer, Erinnerung, Befreiung, Solidarität. Benjamin, Marcuse, Habermas und die politische Theologie (Düsseldorf 1991); Christopraxis. Grundzüge theologischer Handlungstheorie (Freiburg 1992); (ed.), Habermas e la teologia. Contributi per la ricezione, discussione e critica teologica della teoria dell’agire comunicativo (Brescia 1992); (éd.), Habermas et la théologie (Paris 1993); The Logic of Pragmatic Thinking. From Peirce to Habermas (Atlantic Highlands, NJ 1994); (ed.), Gottesrede – Glaubenspraxis. Perspektiven theologischer Handlungstheorie (Darmstadt 1994); (ed.), Anerkennung der Anderen. Eine theologische Grunddimension interkultureller Kommunikation (Freiburg 1995); Christopraxis. A Theology of Action (Minneapolis, MN1995); (ed.), Kommunikatives Handeln und christlicher Glaube. Ein theologischer Diskurs mit Jürgen Habermas (Paderborn 1997); together with H. Hoping (eds.), Wieviel Theologie verträgt die Öffentlichkeit? (Freiburg 2000); Widerworte. Gedanken gegen den Zeitgeist (Luzern 2001); together with J. Mittelstraß / H. Peukert / M. Ries, Geistesgegenwärtig. Zur Zukunft universitärer Bildung, Luzern 2003; Gottesverständigung. Eine kommunikative Religionstheologie (Freiburg 2007); (ed.), Zeit denken. Eschatologie im interdisziplinären Diskurs (Freiburg 2010); (ed.), Gegenwart. Ästhetik trifft Theologie (Freiburg 2012).
Dr María Pillar Aquino is Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at San Diego University. She studied at the Instituto Teológico de Estudios Superiores (ITES, Theological Institute of Superior Studies) of México City, accredited by the Pontifical Catholic University do Río Grande do Sul, Brazil (TheolBA and TheolLic). She obstained the doctorate in theology at the Pontifical University of Salamanca, Spain. She joined the University of San Diego in 1993. Her primary areas of teaching and research are liberation theologies, social ethics, and feminist theologies, with special interests in intercultural approaches, conflict transformation, and religious peacebuilding studies. Aquino’s research and scholarly works are infused by concerns about the function of religions and theologies in societal systems and human relationships, and about their implications for social justice and constructive change.
Edmund Arens holds the chair of Fundamental Theology at the University of Lucerne (Switzerland). He studied theology and philosophy at the Universities of Münster and Frankfurt and did his doctoral dissertation and his habilitation with Johann Baptist Metz. For several years he studied with Jürgen Habermas. From 1991-1996 he was Heisenberg-fellow of the German Research Foundation. In 1996 he became Professor at the University of Lucerne. Arens lectured in more than 20 countries. From 1981 till 1985 he was a member of the international study group „theology and communication“ installed by the World Association for Christian Communication (London); from 1984 till 1990 he served as coordinator of the annual course „Future of Religion“ at the Inter-University Centre of Postgraduate Studies in Dubrovnik. In 1992 he spent a term as visiting professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. From 2006 till 2010 he was president of the Association of German Speaking Professors of Dogmatic and Fundamental Theology. Since 2006 he is president of the Swiss section of the European Society for Catholic Theology. His publications include: Kommunikative Handlungen. Die paradigmatische Bedeutung der Gleichnisse Jesu für eine Handlungstheorie (Düsseldorf 1982); Bezeugen und Bekennen. Elementare Handlungen des Glaubens (Düsseldorf 1989); (ed.) Habermas und die Theologie. Beiträge zur theologischen Rezeption, Diskussion und Kritik der Theorie kommunikativen Handelns, (Düsseldorf 1989; 21989); together with O. John / P. Rottländer, Erinnerung, Befreiung, Solidarität. Benjamin, Marcuse, Habermas und die politische Theologie (Düsseldorf 1991); Christopraxis. Grundzüge theologischer Handlungstheorie (Freiburg 1992); (ed.), Habermas e la teologia. Contributi per la ricezione, discussione e critica teologica della teoria dell’agire comunicativo (Brescia 1992); (éd.), Habermas et la théologie (Paris 1993); The Logic of Pragmatic Thinking. From Peirce to Habermas (Atlantic Highlands, NJ 1994); (ed.), Gottesrede – Glaubenspraxis. Perspektiven theologischer Handlungstheorie (Darmstadt 1994); (ed.), Anerkennung der Anderen. Eine theologische Grunddimension interkultureller Kommunikation (Freiburg 1995); Christopraxis. A Theology of Action (Minneapolis, MN1995); (ed.), Kommunikatives Handeln und christlicher Glaube. Ein theologischer Diskurs mit Jürgen Habermas (Paderborn 1997); together with H. Hoping (eds.), Wieviel Theologie verträgt die Öffentlichkeit? (Freiburg 2000); Widerworte. Gedanken gegen den Zeitgeist (Luzern 2001); together with J. Mittelstraß / H. Peukert / M. Ries, Geistesgegenwärtig. Zur Zukunft universitärer Bildung, Luzern 2003; Gottesverständigung. Eine kommunikative Religionstheologie (Freiburg 2007); (ed.), Zeit denken. Eschatologie im interdisziplinären Diskurs (Freiburg 2010); (ed.), Gegenwart. Ästhetik trifft Theologie (Freiburg 2012).