Compassion as lived Mitleidenschaft
Maike Maria Domsel, University of Cologne, Germany

5 – 6.30pm

According to the Christian tradition, God reveals Himself especially in places where people are touched by the suffering of others and where compassion in the sense of “Mitleidenschaft” is lived. In German “Mit” means “with” and “leiden” = “to suffer”. The word ending “schaft” comes after nouns in the German language when their totality is to be expressed. Numerous studies exist that examine the social component of suffering, while the religious dimension is left out. In this paper I explore how compassion may be instilled in students by sensitising them to the suffering of others. Working in the Christian tradition, I consider how compassion as lived Mitleidenschaft and religious commitment may be related and support one another.

Maike Maria Domsel, is teacher of Catholic religious education and French at the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Gymnasium in Bonn, substitute professor for religious education at the University of Duisburg-Essen / lecturer at the University of Cologne. She studied Catholic theology and Roman studies in Bonn and received her doctorate in dogmatics from the Cologne University of Catholic Theology in 2019.

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