Professor dr. Perry Schmidt-Leukel

Perry Schmidt-Leukel (born 1954) is Professor of Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology at the University of Muenster/Germany and Director of the Institute for Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology. He is one of the Principal Investigators of the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”, University of Muenster. He holds degrees in Theology (Diploma) and Philosophy (Master). He received his PhD from the University of Munich (1992). His habilitatio (1996) was in Systematic Theology, Ecumenical Theology and Religious Studies. Before he came to Muenster, he taught at the Universities of Munich, Innsbruck and Salzburg and was Professor of Religious Studies and Systematic Theology at the University of Glasgow (2000-2009). In 2015 he presented the prestigious Gifford Lectures at Glasgow University.
Schmidt-Leukel is internationally renowned as one of the leading proponents of a pluralist theology of religions. His main research interests are in the fields of inter-faith relations, Buddhist-Christian dialogue, theologies of religions in the various religious traditions and interreligious theology. Schmidt-Leukel published more than 30 books in German and English. Among his more recent English publications are: Buddha Mind – Christ Mind. A Christian Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, Leuven: Peeters 2019; God Beyond Boundaries. A Christian and Pluralist Theology of Religions. Muenster – New York: Waxmann 2017; Religious Pluralism and Interreligious Theology. The Gifford Lectures – An Extended Edition. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books 2017. Buddhist-Christian Relations in Asia. St. Ottilien: EOS Editions 2017; Interreligious Comparisons in Religious Studies and Theology (co-ed. with A. Nehring). London – New York: Bloomsbury Academic; Buddhism and Religious Diversity, 4 volumes, Abingdon – New York: Routledge 2013.