Church History perceives the historical dimension of theology in a variety of ways and takes it seriously. It reminds of the fact that all sources used by the Christian faith, be it the Bible itself or teaching documents, have been created under certain historical conditions; that all sources want to be interpreted as documents of their time; and finally that those who study these sources are themselves entangled in historical contexts that influence their perception and interpretation. Thus, the history of the church ensures that all theological speeches and works are located in their historical context and thus relativised in their possible response. Its methods are quite similar to those of general history. Moreover, it is decidedly a theological discipline and thus embedded into the motive and function of theological science, theological teaching, theological proclamation. It takes account of that in a special way in its fields History of Theology and Confessional Studies, which both play an important role in Giessen research and teaching.
