Diakoniewissenschaft 2015 – 2018

Research and discussions on Diaconia have diversified in recent years due to economic and social changes. Nevertheless traditional main topics as fundamental principles and message of Diaconia or the mission and the function of deacons have persisted, but not unchanged. The following overview on new publications between 2015 and 2019 reflects on the changes of the classical topics and new areas and questions which modified the structure and the appearance of diaconal services since the beginning of this century. Radical changes have been caused by the introduction of a social market within the framework of asocial economy with the consequence of are structuring of the diaconal organization as social entrepreneurs with the central feature of a professional management providing governance and leadership. Development and problems in this regard are presented in the chapter »Governance – Führung – Organisation«. Religious pluralization, secularization and professional education have changed the ways employees resp. social workers see themselves und conceive their task. Service to Jesus and missionary aims have been replaced by the quality and therapeutic efficiency of the service. How can a diaconal organization preserve and further develop its religious roots so that their clients can experience them in a positive, even attractive way? Questions in this regard are discussed in the chapter »Diakonische Kultur – Haltungen und Handeln«. Inclusion is the overall aim and obligation of all service directed to people with disabilities of any kind since the United Nations agreed on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006/08. Discussions on the ways to correspond to this aim continue and also oblige the diaconal organizations and staff to radical changes. Therefore one of the following chapters is entitled »Inklusion – Menschen mit Behinderung«. The transformations mentioned above plus demographic change and digitalization call for new structures and forms in diverse areas of assistance. Change calls for innovation of social services. Therefore the European Union has created INNOSERV – SOCIAL PLATFORM ON INNOVATIVE SOCIAL SERVICES. In the chapter »Innovation – Change – Management« are presented some of the publications of researchers in Diaconia who are engaged with related projects. Eventhough the remaining chapters, the first on »Grundlagen und Gestalt« (= foundations and form) and the last on »Diakonat« (= diaconate) deal with traditional topics of the research on Diaconia and Christian Social Services, the actual contents show how the social and cultural changes have transformed the research in both areas. Pluralization and secularization have become elements of the foundation of Diaconia and have altered the professional self-conception of female and male deacons into providers of social, cultural and spiritual assistance.

CHRISTIAN ALBRECHT, Wozu ist die Diakonie fähig? Theologische Deutungen gegenwärtiger Herausforderungen. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2016, 203 S. – ROBERT BACHERT, Diakonischer Corporate Governance Kodex. Ein wertebasiertes Führungsinstrument in unternehmensethischer Reflexion (Veröffentlichungen des Diakoniewissenschaftlichen Instituts der Universität Heidelberg [VDWI] 56). Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2016, 471 S. – TOBIAS BRAUNE-KRICKAU, Reflexion und Anerkennung (Praktische Theologie in Geschichte und Gegenwart [PThGG] 17). Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2015, 342 S. – ALEXANDER DIETZ u. a. (Hg.) Corporate Governance in der Diakonie. Beiträge zur diakonischen Aufsichtsratspraxis und Kultur (Beiträge zur diakonischen Aufsichtsratspraxis und Kultur. Leiten. Lenken. Gestalten [LLG] 34). Lit Verlag, Berlin 2015, 192 S. – JOHANNES EURICH u. a. (Hg.), Ambivalenzen der Nächstenliebe. Soziale Folgen der Reformation (VDWI 60). Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2018, 239 S.