fiit-broschuere2024 - Flipbook - Seite 71
In ten international and interdisciplinary consultations and book
publications, the circulation of power and hierarchies of values in late
modern pluralistic societies are analyzed. The influence of religion on
character development, ethical education, and the communication of
values in late modern pluralistic societies, the influence of the economy on these, and the influence of law, science, the family, education,
the media, the military, medicine and health care, and politics all have
been examined from numerous perspectives.
Prof. Welker conceived the project with John Witte Jr., a legal scholar and director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at
Emory University. The other main editors of the volumes were the
Australian Stephen Pickard, professor at Charles Sturt University and
former director of the Australian Center for Christianity and Culture
in Canberra; the Bonn macroeconomist Jürgen von Hagen; the ethicist
William Schweiker, Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago; and Prof. Piet Naudé, theologian and dean emeritus of
Stellenbosch Business School. The volume titled The Impact of Health
Care on Character Formation ... was published in 2023 by Prof. Welker
with the Heidelberg physician Prof. Dr. Dr. Eva Winkler.
Many people still understand pluralism to mean simply the multicolored individuality in our societies and the wealth of groups, initiatives, and associations in our civil societies. The value of this confusing
“plurality,” which seems chaotic to many, becomes clear to us when
autocratic political and religious forces seek to eliminate or equalize
the free media, control the legal system, and interfere with free sci71