Andrea Bieler

Andrea Bieler is a Protestant theologian and Professor of Practical Theology at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Basel. Her research interests include the interface between practical and intercultural theologies, migration and religion, memory and religion and the transformation of violence, and the phenomenon of vulnerability. In After Violence: Religion, Trauma and Reconciliation (Evangelische Verlangsanstalt, 2011), Bieler (et al.) consider the potential for religious texts, symbols, and rituals practices to play a constructive role in the aftermath of traumatizing violence. Bieler (et al.) investigate the meaning of aging in diverse geographical and cultural contexts in Religion and Aging: Intercultural and Interdisciplinary Explorations (Evangelische Verlangsanstalt, 2017). In her most recent book, Bieler (et al.) explore religious discourses and practices of hospitality in the context of migration. Bieler is currently the Principal Investigator of the project Conviviality in Motion, Exploring Theologies and Practices of Multiethnic Christian Congregations in Europe, which explores conviviality of multiethnic Christian communities in Switzerland, Italy, and Germany. Prior to her appointment in Basel, Bieler was Professor of Practical Theology at the Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal, Professor of Theology and Religion and Full Professor at the Pacific School of Religion and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. She was also a member of The Enhancing Life Project at the University of Chicago (2016–2018), which focused on the human capacity to enhance life by imagining a future in the aftermath of atrocities. Bieler has produced, together with Ralph Bieler, two educational films: Healing of Memories in South Africa (2017) and Remembering Violence: Risky Pedagogies and Contested Aesthetics (2014). Bieler was educated at the Universities of Marburg, Amsterdam, and Hamburg. She received her Ph.D. at the University of Kassel.