dr. Sjoerd Mulder

Bio

I am a systematic theologian with special interest in the social and public aspects of religion. 

I obtained my PhD in 2020 with research on the praxis-oriented ecclesiology of Casel, Guardini and De Lubac in comparison with contemporary authors John Milbank, Stanley Hauerwas and Nicholas Healy. This was published in 2022 as The Turn to the Church in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries: A Promising Ecclesiology (Routledge, 2022). I have taught systematic theology and religious studies at K.U. Leuven, and am currently assistant professor of systematic theology at Tilburg University. 

I am also a regularly contributor to the daily newspaper Trouw, with interviews of theologians and reviews of popular books on religion and spirituality.  

Expertise

My current research focuses on ecclesiology, catholic social thought and political theology. 

I am especially interested in the relationship between church and state, and the various conceptions of that relationship in different forms of political and theological thought. How, for example, do Putin, Orban and other populists claim to protect a Christian heritage? To what extent do certain theologies in fact encourage this form of populism? What ideas about society and democracy are implied in the 'synodal path' in the Roman Catholic Church? What does it mean for Western society that christianity as a religion is in decline? What are the implicit theological commitments in our modern secular society? So many interesting questions, and so little time for research!

Teaching

My current courses are: 

• Ecumenism
• Theological method
• Catholic social teaching
• Ecclesiology

Courses

• Fundamental Theology: Ecumenics & Theol.
• Research Methodology in Theology
• Catholic Social Thought in Cont. Society
• Dogmatiek: kerk, liturgie en sacramenten
• Methods of Hermeneutic Research

Collaboration

I am initiator of the Tilburg Network for Catholic Social Thought and Political Theology: an interfacultary, multidisciplinary research network that seeks to relate academic reflection to actual debates by organising yearly seminars and bringing together policy makers with academic researchers such as theologians, sociologians and philosophers. 

Top publications

1. De kerk als potentiële belichaming van sociale kritiek - Het voorbeel…

   Mulder, S. (2020). De kerk als potentiële belichaming van sociale kritiek: Het voorbeeld van Emmanuel Katongole. Tijdschrift voor Theologie, 60(4), 343-‌359.

2. The Turn to the Church - A Systematic Investigation of the Contempora…

   Mulder, S. (2020). The Turn to the Church: A Systematic Investigation of the Contemporary Turn to the Church in Postliberal Theology in Comparison with the Ecclesiological Renewal in the Roman Catholic Theology of the Interbellum. [Doctoral Thesis, Tilburg University]. [s.n.].

3. Practical Ecclesiology for a Pilgrim Church - The Theological Motives…

   Mulder, S. (2018). Practical Ecclesiology for a Pilgrim Church: The Theological Motives behind Healy's Ethnographic Turn. Ecclesiology, 14(2), 164-184.

4. Henri de Lubac’s wending naar de kerk

   Mulder, S. (2019). Henri de Lubac’s wending naar de kerk. Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift, 73(3), 223-233.

5. John Milbank

   Mulder, S. (2022). John Milbank. In M. Poorthuis, & W. Veen (Eds.), De Moderne Theologen (pp. 48-55). Boom.