Dr Kurt Hellmich Prize for Regina Elsner

ZOiS researcher and theologian Dr Regina Elsner has won this year’s first prize of the Dr Kurt Hellmich Foundation for her dissertation “The Russian Orthodox Church and the challenge of modernity: historical milestones and theological options in the confrontation between unity and diversity”. The award, worth 1,000 euros, was presented at the University of Regensburg. In her dissertation, Regina Elsner looks at the tension between Church and society in 21st-century Russia, with a focus on the Russian Orthodox Church’s historically evolved perspective on renewal and diversity. In her research project at ZOiS, Dr Elsner is studying the social and ethical discourse of the Russian Orthodox Church between theological sovereignty and political adaptation.

The Dr Kurt Hellmich Foundation is based at the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Regensburg and promotes the study of ecumenical theology. It pursues this objective by conferring awards for research studies on ecumenical theology submitted as a doctoral or post-doctoral thesis at a theological faculty of a German university. The awards are presented by the Dean of the Faculty of Catholic Theology of the University of Regensburg and are based on an appraisal by a jury.