Johannes Hoff is a German Christian philosopher, theologian and university professor. Born in

Trier Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...

, Hoff completed his doctorate and habilitation at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

in 2006 and is currently senior research associate at the van Hügel Institute of the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

(UK) and honorary professor at the Department of Theology and Religion of

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

. Until 2018, he has been professor of philosophical theology at Heythrop College (

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

). Previously he has been teaching at St David's Catholic College in Wales and at the University of Tübingen. His research builds on the performative turn of the phenomenological tradition and the emergence of a natural realism in the post-analytic tradition of Anglophone philosophy and theology."Liturgical Turn: Gottesrede in einer post-digitalen Welt"
In: Viertbauer, Klaus; Schmidinger, Klaus (eds.): ''Glauben denken. Zur philosophischen Durchdringung der Gottrede im 21. Jahrhundert'', WBG: Darmstadt 2016, 61–81; Johannes Hoff
"The Analogical Turn. Responses to John Betz, Michael E. Moore, Matthew Moser, and Daniel O'Connell
. Virtual Symposium on ''The Analogical Turn'' in the ''Syndicate Theology'' from the 27th of April to the 11th of May 2015, 51–59. Hoff interprets the loss of orientation in today's late modern societies as the symptom of a spiritual crisis that can be traced back to the technological and artistic revolutions of the Renaissance and late medieval Scholasticism. His arguments extend the genealogical hermeneutics of

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how ...

Michel de Certeau Michel de Certeau (; 17 May 1925 – 9 January 1986) was a French Jesuit priest and scholar whose work combined history, psychoanalysis, philosophy, and the social sciences as well as hermeneutics, semiotics, ethnology, and religion. He was know ...

Henri de Lubac Henri-Marie Joseph Sonier de Lubac (; 20 February 1896 – 4 September 1991), better known as Henri de Lubac, was a French Jesuit priest and cardinal who is considered one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century. His writin ...

John Milbank Alasdair John Milbank (born 23 October 1952) is an English Anglican theologian and is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham, where he is President of the Centre of Theology and ...

and Charles Taylor. The aim of his work is to retrieve the unity of spiritual practice, science and culture found in philosophers of the premodern and particularly the Dominican tradition (e.g. in

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...

and

Meister Eckhart Eckhart von Hochheim ( – ), commonly known as Meister Eckhart, Master Eckhart Yet, the modern conviction that we are autonomous subjects disguised that fact that our life has become increasingly governed by bureaucratic strategies of surveillance and control. According to Hoff, the digitisation of these strategies reveals their true character: The disenchantment of the Enlightenment tradition has turned into a kind of bad magic that needs to be counterbalanced by a sacramental re-enchantment. Since we had stopped inhabiting a disenchanted world, we would need to rethink the old tradition of the Discernment of Spirits: "Our smartphones have a 'magic life' of their own – be it that they afford a life that we appreciate, or that they nudge us into a life that we abhor. This challenge requires us to recover our ability to distinguish between idolatrous attachments and the prudent use of 'magic objects' that is consistent with our natural desire to transform our life for the better." Hoff's earliest publication build on the philosophies of

Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...

and

(''Spiritualität und Sprachverlust'', 1999) as well as on the Renaissance philosophy of

Nicholas of Cusa Nicholas of Cusa (1401 – 11 August 1464), also referred to as Nicholas of Kues and Nicolaus Cusanus (), was a German Catholic cardinal, philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and astronomer. One of the first German proponents of Renai ...

(''Kontingenz, Berührung, Überschreitung'', 2007). This stream of his research culminated in his book ''The Analogical Turn: Rethinking Modernity with Nicholas of Cusa'' (2013), which was publicly discussed in 2016 in an online symposium of the Syndicate Network. Related to this research are his publications on the concept of performativity in Augustine, Dante, the Renaissance, Romanticism and modern avant-garde art, and his collaboration with leading representatives of contemporary art, such as

Christoph Schlingensief Christoph Maria Schlingensief (24 October 1960 – 21 August 2010) was a German theatre director, performance artist, and filmmaker. Starting as an independent underground filmmaker, Schlingensief later staged productions for theatres and festivals ...

."Leben in Fülle. Schlingensiefs Dekonstruktion der (Post-)Moderne". In: Susanne Gaensheimer (ed.), ''Deutscher Pavillon 2011. 54. Internationale Kusntaustellung La Biennale Di Venezia''. Venice: Kiwi 2011, pp. 213–223. In accordance with the above spiritual tradition, Hoff rejects in these writings the modern 'myth of the given' and argues that the truth has always the character of a 'truth event'. While it could never be secured, it could always only be gradually actualized whilst we are speaking and acting.

Selected articles

"Iconicity and the Anamorphosis of Social Space. Retrieving Nicholas of Cusa's Political Pneumatology"
in: Dürr, Walther; Vergauwen, Guido; et al. (eds.), ''Veni, Sancte Spiritus! Theologische Beiträge zur Sendung des Geistes''. ontributions to the mission of the spirit(Münster: Aschendorff 2018). *"Diesseits von Theismus und Pan(en)theismus: Orthodoxie in einer Post-digitalen Welt". e-thinking the False Dualism between Theism and Pantheism: Orthodoxy in a Post-digital AgeIn: Nitsche, Bernhard; Stosch, Klaus von, Tatari, Muna (eds.): ''Gott – Jenseits von Monismus und Theismus?" (Paderborn: Schöningh 2016), 291–309
"Life in Abundance. Schlingensief's Deconstruction of (Post-)Modernism"
In: Susanne Gaensheimer (ed.), German Pavilion, 2011. 54th International Art Exhibition La Biennale Di Venezia. Venice: Sternberg Press 2011, pp. 215–225.
"Self-Revelation as Hermeneutic Principle? The Rise and the Fall of the Kantian Paradigm of Modern Theology"
In: Conor Cunningham; Peter M. Candler (eds.), ''The Grandeur of Reason: Religion, Tradition and Universalism'', London: SCM 2010. *Hampson, P. J.; Hoff, J., "Whose self? Which unification? Augustine's anthropology and the psychology-theology debate." In: ''New Blackfriars'' (2010)
Abstract

"German Theology in Contemporary Society"
In: ''Modern Believing'' (special issue, ed. by Johannes Hoff) 50/1 (2009), 2–12.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoff, Johannes Catholic philosophers 21st-century German Catholic theologians Living people German male non-fiction writers Year of birth missing (living people)