Ethics and Aesthetics
Moral Epistemology
Hermeneutics
Theology and Culture
Epistemology/Theology of Faith and Religion
Theological Anthropology
Current Projects
My current project explores the concept of faith (πίστις) at the intersection of biblical exegesis, historical theology, and systematic theology. Drawing on the Epistle to the Hebrews — the only New Testament text to offer an explicit definition of faith — I examine faith as an epistemically humble posture of hope and perseverance under conditions of uncertainty, irreducible to strictly christological or propositional categories. This new project focuses on dogmatic questions but has points of connection to my previous research interests in ethics and aesthetics and perceptual dimensions of moral and religious orientation: just as moral perception is constituted through a cultivated aisthesis rather than abstract reasoning, I think faith in Hebrews emerges not as doctrinal assent but as a resilient, embodied stance toward „the unseen“. So both projects try to argue for a historically situated, epistemically modest account of human orientation — whether moral or religious — that takes the contingency of its articulations seriously without surrendering its claim to truth.
Curriculum Vitae
Fellowships, Prizes and Grants (selection)
(Since 10/2026) Martin Buber Society of Fellows Postdoctoral Fellowship, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
(07/2022) Nomination for the Teaching Award of the Protestant University of Applied Sciences Freiburg for the seminar Political Philosophy in the Master Peace Education program
(07/2020) Gutenberg Teaching College Prize for “Music, Ethics and Reality. A kinship analysis based on the works of John McDowell” as the best final paper at the University of Music Mainz (HfM Mainz)
(04/2020 - 04/2023) Junior Fellow of the Gutenberg Academy Fellows Program (GAFP) of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
(05/2019) Merit scholarship from the Hessian Luther Foundation
(09/2018) Award by the Advisory Board of the Protestant-Theological Faculty of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Teaching and Academic Appointments
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz:
- (WiSe 25/26) Lecturer in the Magister Theologiae study program (Catholic and Protestant Theology)
- (Since 24/25) Lecturer in Systematic Theology (Dogmatics and Ethics) in the Master“s program “Protestant-Theological Studies”
- (02/2020 – 07/2023) Doctoral candidate at Johannes Gutenberg University, Faculty 01: Protestant and Catholic Theology (Protestant-Theological Faculty), Univ.-Prof. Dr. Michael Roth
Protestant School Leipzig (Evangelisches Schulzentrum Leipzig):
- (Since 03/2023) Teacher for Protestant Religion and Music at the (academic) secondary school (Gymnasium)
Protestant University of Applied Sciences Freiburg (Evangelische Hochschule Freiburg):
- (2020-2025) Lecturer in (Social) Ethics, Political Philosophy and Systematic Theology in the degree program: Religious Education (BA/MA), Social Work (BA) and Peace Education (MA)
- (03/2020 – 02/2023) Research Fellow/Associate of the Peace Institute with teaching responsibilities in the BA/MA Religious Education, BA Social Work and MA Peace Education program
Education
(06/2024) Second State Examination (Zweites Staatsexamen) for secondary school teaching
(07/2023) PhD (Doctor of Theology, Dr. theol)
(10/2021) International training: Transformative Peace Education at the Berghof Foundation
(02/2020) Master of Education/ Erstes Staatsexamen in Protestant Religious Education, Educational Sciences and Music (major: piano, minor: voice) at the University of Music Mainz (HfM Mainz)
(01/2018) Bachelor of Education
(2013 - 02/2020) Magister Theologiae
Publications
All publications listed here have been published in German
Monographs / Edited Volumes
Funk, Konstantin: "Ethics — An Aesthetic Perspective on the World. An investigation of the aesthetic moment in moral orientation." Hamburg 2025 (publishing house: Meiner Verlag).
Peisker, Ulrike; Funk, Konstantin (eds.): "I see something you don’t see. Questions of moral, aesthetic, and religious phenomenology", Vol. 36 of the series Theologie/Kultur/Hermeneutik, Leipzig 2024 (Publishing house: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt).
(In Progress:) Interdisciplinary edited volume with Prof. Dr. Magdalena Zorn (musicologist/Frankfurt): "All a Matter of Taste? Interdisciplinary Arguments for a Realism of Meaning".
Articles, Essays and Book Chapters
Funk, Konstantin: “The Whole of Reality and the Natural Sciences. Can one rationally think God?” In: Mainzer Evangelisch-Theologische Zeitschrift 01/2021. pp. 40–51.
Funk, Konstantin: “‘One must reckon with human feelings.’ On the significance of emotion and empathy in peace-ethical reflection.“ In: Harbeck-Pingel, Bernd; Schwendemann, Wilhelm (eds.): Menschen Recht Frieden (Evangelische Hochschulschriften Freiburg, Vol. 10). Göttingen 2022. pp. 47–75.
Funk, Konstantin: “From Stranger to Neighbor. Empathic perception as a starting point for peace ethics.” In: Wissenschaft und Frieden (4/2022). pp. 38–40.
Funk, Konstantin: “‘Neighborly love, the mother of all wars?’: Opportunities and limits of an ethics of compassion as peace ethics.” In: Wissenschaft und Frieden (1/2023). pp. 48–51.
Funk, Konstantin: “Peace Education as a School of Perception.” In: Journal für politische Bildung (13/1). Frankfurt am Main 2023. pp. 28–33.
Funk, Konstantin; Hinrichs, Karen: “Peace can be learned! On the conception of the Master’s programme Peace Education at the Protestant University of Applied Sciences Freiburg.“ In: Journal für politische Bildung 4/23.
Funk, Konstantin: “John Dewey and Peace. Pragmatistic ideas for peace ethics.” In: Harbeck-Pingel, Bernd; Hinrichs, Karen; Schwendemann, Wilhelm (eds.): Diskurse und Differenzen. Friedensethische Perspektiven, Vol. 16 of the series Erinnern und Lernen. Texte zur Menschenrechtspädagogik. Berlin 2023. pp. 302–326.
Funk, Konstantin: “Between Subjectivity and Objectivity. The concept of contingency as a modal figure in ethics and aesthetics.” In: Peisker, Ulrike; Funk, Konstantin (eds.): I see something you don’t see. Questions of moral, aesthetic, and religious phenomenology, Vol. 36 of the series Theologie/Kultur/Hermeneutik, Leipzig 2024. pp. 91–118.
Funk, Konstantin / Peisker, Ulrike: “Introduction.” In: Peisker, Ulrike; Funk, Konstantin (eds.): I see something you don“t see. Questions of moral, aesthetic, and religious phenomenology, Vol. 36, Leipzig 2024. pp. 7–20.
Funk, Konstantin: “Are Ethics and Aesthetics One?” In: Mainzer Evangelisch-Theologische Zeitschrift 2/2023. pp. 11–17.
Presentations (selection)
(18/11/2022) Lecture & Workshop in Karlsruhe: “What Do We Actually Mean by Conscience? A Concept Revisited in Light of Military Service and Conscientious Objection”
(18/11/2022) Conference on Peace Ethics at the Protestant University of Applied Sciences Freiburg: “John Dewey and Peace. Pragmatistic ideas for a peace ethics”
(14 & 15/01/2022) Systematics seminar Mainz: “Ethics — An Aesthetic View on the World. An investigation of the aesthetic moment in moral orientation”
(03/09/2022) Information event Peace for Future: On the conception of the Master’s program Peace Education/Friedenspädagogik.
(10/01/2020) Systematics seminar Mainz: “The significance of emotion and the problem of reality in ethics. A plea for a narrative situational ethics using a kinship analysis of ethics and music with special reference to John McDowell“s analogy of values and secondary qualities”