For as long as she can remember, Britta Baumert knew one thing: she wanted to become a teacher. Having reached that decision while still at school, it initially did not seem so important what she would teach rather than the fact that she would teach at all. Although she was raised Catholic and active in parish life as a child and teenager, religion classes at school did little to inspire her. She also viewed the Church with a healthy degree of skepticism. Catholic theology, in other words, was not the obvious path.
And yet it was theology that eventually led her to a professorship in Practical Theology and Religious Education at Goethe University Frankfurt. Her work today spans the many settings in which people encounter the Catholic faith: parish communities, schools, and moments of personal crisis when pastoral care is sought, for example in hospitals or prisons. At the same time, she studies how faith and religious knowledge can be taught effectively – from early childhood education and adult learning to religious education in schools.
For Baumert, religion classes are closely linked to the freedom of religion guaranteed by Germany’s Basic Law. “To make use of that right, people also need a basic level of religious education,” she says. To her, engagement with existential questions is a fundamental human need. School subjects such as Christian or Muslim religion, as well as ethics and comparative religion, can provide an appropriate framework for that reflection. There is also a cultural dimension. “European societies are deeply shaped by religion. Literature, architecture, music and the visual arts are full of religious references. Without some understanding of religion, an important part of cultural literacy remains out of reach,” she explains.
Theology as an Open Academic Discipline
Baumert first encountered theology as a scholarly discipline while studying teacher education at the Technical University of Dortmund. The experience surprised her. “While most subjects required us to master the basics through rote learning, in theology, we were encouraged from the outset to think for ourselves. I found that amazing,” she recalls. Baumert remembers engaging critically and creatively with texts, wrestling with the major questions of life and faith, and developing her own arguments. “From the beginning, I experienced theology at university as a free academic discipline,” she says. “It was never about obediently absorbing church doctrine.”
It was also during this period that she realized how much academic work suited her. She remained committed to her original ambition of teaching but refined what that would mean in practice. After completing her doctorate, she undertook the standard teacher-training phase required for German schools yet chose not to enter the school system. Instead, she decided to pursue a career in research and higher education. Baumert first held a junior professorship at the University of Vechta before joining Goethe University in late 2022 – initially in an interim capacity, then as a full professor.
Today, Baumert wants her students to develop the same habits of independent and critical thinking that shaped her own academic path. Future teachers, she says, should be able to lead classes that go far beyond simply working through a textbook. That also means being ready for difficult questions from pupils. “Children rarely ask only for factual information. They ask moral and existential questions: Why, in the story of the Flood, did so many animals die alongside human beings when they had done nothing wrong?” Responding thoughtfully to questions like these is an essential part of good teaching.
Cooperation at University and in Schools
One of Baumert’s research priorities is cooperative denominational religious education – an approach in which Catholic and Protestant traditions are taught together. Here, too, she sees continuity with her own studies in Dortmund, where lecturers from Catholic and Protestant theology regularly offered joint courses and students moved naturally between both fields. A similar model now exists in many schools. “Where Catholic and Protestant pupils are taught together – supported by teachers from both traditions – schools respond to changing realities, including the fact that fewer children now belong to a Christian church.” At the same time, Baumert adds, such formats can help young people understand the internal diversity of Christianity.
Baumert is also engaged with newer areas of practical theology. She is continuing her research on queer-sensitive pastoral care, focusing on forms of spiritual support that explicitly include LGBTQ+ believers. In parallel, she follows with great interest the major faculty research project on power and abuse, where she sees important connections to her own work. What has stood out to her since arriving in Frankfurt is the collegial atmosphere and strong culture of cooperation. Even the slightly surreal experience of delivering an online appointment lecture during the Covid-19 pandemic has long since faded into the background.
Stefanie Hense
