Christine Helmer (Ph.D. Yale) is the Peter B. Ritzma Professor of Humanities at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where she is also Professor of German and Professor of Religious Studies. In 2017 she was awarded an honorary doctorate in theology from the University of Helsinki for her work on the German reformer, Martin Luther, as well as for her commitment to theology as an important contributor to the intellectual life of the university. Professor Helmer is a historian and theologian of Christianity. Her work is focused on German intellectual history with primary interest in the philosophy and theology of Martin Luther; the philosophy and theology of Friedrich Schleiermacher; and the flourishing of scholarship on Luther and on religion in early twentieth-century Germany, known as the Luther Renaissance. She is also interested in questions of religious knowledge; theology’s relation to the modern study of religion, and the humanities, more broadly; theology and critical theory; and religion and the arts.
Professor Helmer’s recent writing has been collaborative. Both she and Professor Amy Carr co-authored Ordinary Faith in Polarized Times: Justification and Justice (Baylor University Press 2023). This book reflects a deep concern with the polarization among Christians today. Professors Helmer and Carr develop a theological model of the Beloved Community in order to show that Christian identity is based on faith in Christ, not on political affiliation. The recognition of a foundational ecclesial identity in Christ then supports the work of seeking justice between those who disagree. Two chapters in the book–chapter 4 on abortion and chapter 5 on faith in politics–test out the practices of depolarizing on ethical issues that Professors Helmer and Carr describe. The book is intended to be read and studied by Christians of different political affiliations so that they can better understand each other and work together for justice.
Professor Helmer’s scholarship on Luther focuses on the question of the kinds of medieval philosophical resources Luther deployed in articulating his understanding of Christian doctrines, particularly the Trinity and Christology. Her book, The Trinity and Martin Luther, first published in 1999 and published in a revised second edition in 2017, is considered a foundational text, alongside the work of Graham White, charting a research trajectory that sees Luther’s theological thinking to be closely intertwined with philosophy, particularly logic, semantics, and metaphysics. Professor Helmer is the editor of The Medieval Luther, an open access volume that documents the interdisciplinary results of scholars contributing to this research program. Research on how early modern theologians make generative use of medieval philosophy is attractive to scholars from around the world, who discuss their work during the monthly meetings of the “Logic&Luther” group that Dr. Helmer convenes.
Professor Helmer’s book, How Luther Became the Reformer, documents a crucial focus of her scholarship on late nineteenth and twentieth-century German intellectual history in addition to explaining why access to a philosophically attuned late medieval Luther has been prohibitive. This book shows how a confluence of factors in Germany–theological, academic-historical, political, and cultural–contributed to the construction of Luther as modern German Protestant that shaped the modern study of religion.
Professor Helmer is known for her collaborative and international work. She is the founder of the “Lutheran Scholars Network” that meets regularly at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion. Throughout her career she has hosted scholars at conferences she has organized and has facilitated research trajectories in the areas of Luther studies; Schleiermacher studies; biblical theology and reception; and religious studies. Her many edited (and co-edited) volumes document the range of her interdisciplinary thinking in addition to her affinity for creating exciting and rigorous academic discussions.
Professor Helmer has taught at the Claremont School of Theology; Harvard Divinity School; Boston College as Visiting Corcoran Chair (2017-2018) in the Center for Christian-Jewish Relations at Boston College; and the University of Chicago Divinity School. Her research has been supported by generous colleagues in addition to the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD); the Institute for European History in Mainz, Germany; the Humboldt Foundation; the Helsinki Collegium of Advanced Studies and the EURIAS (European Institutes of Advanced Study) Fellowship; the Philosophy and Theology of Intellectual Humility Project, based at Saint Louis University; the Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion at the University of Chicago Divinity School; and Northwestern University.
Professor Helmer is Associate Chair of Willard Residential College. She adores her Northwestern undergraduate students, and focuses her courses on key religious thinkers in western thought; topics in Christianity (such as love, freedom, truth, music, liturgy); religion and sports; and contemporary theology. Her graduate courses focus on critical theory and religion. She welcomes applications to the Ph.D. program through the Department of German.
Photo courtesy Veikko Somerpuro