- Born 1947 in Erlangen, raised in West Berlin (French Gymnasium) and Grünstadt/Palatinate (Leiniger Gymnasium)
- Ordained theologian in the Palatine Church
- Dr. theol. (Tübingen), Dr. phil. (Heidelberg), Dr. theol. habil. (Tübingen)
- Professor, University of Tübingen (1983–87)
- Professor of Reformed Theology, University of Münster (1987–91)
- Beginning in 1990, invitations to named lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary, Harvard Divinity School, Yale Divinity School, Emory University, Loyola University Chicago, Valparaiso University, New College Edinburgh, University of Stellenbosch, North-West University, Soongsil University Seoul, Seoul Theological University, University of St. Petersburg, St. Tikhon University Moscow, Beijda University, Renmin University of China, Hong Kong Baptist University, Taiwan Theological Seminary, etc.
- 1991–2013 Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Heidelberg
- Since 2013 Senior Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Heidelberg
- Guest professorships: 1984 Honorary Research Fellow at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion, Divinity School der University of Chicago; 1985 McMaster University; 1988, 1995, 1997 and 1999 Princeton University; 2001 Harvard University, 2008 Cambridge University (UK), 2013 Law School, Emory University
- Additional appointments at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and Princeton Theological Seminary
- 1996–2006 Director of the International Academic Forum, University of Heidelberg
- 1998–2004 member of the Grants Committee on Research Training Groups of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- 2003 offer to accept an appointment as director of the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey
- 2004 Dr. theol. h.c., University of Debrecen; appointment to the Board for Theology of the Evangelical Church in Germany; member of the directorate of the Heidelberg Center for American Studies (HCA); election as judge on the Constitutional Court of the Evangelical Church in Germany
- 2005 Executive Director of the Research Center for International and Interdisciplinary Theology (FIIT Heidelberg)
- 2006 conferment of the University Medal of the University of Heidelberg
- 2006 acceptance into the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
- 2007ff. organizer of numerous international and interdisciplinary research projects at the FIIT as well as of the John Templeton and the Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise
- 2008 acceptance as External Member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters
- 2013 Dr. phil. h.c., North-West University, South Africa
- 2015 Honorary Professor at the Seoul Theological University
- 2016 Karl Barth Award
- Gifford-Lectures 2019/20 in Edinburgh
- 2020-2023 Herausgabe von 10 Bänden mit John Witte, Stephen Pickard, Jürgen von Hagen, Piet Naudé und William Schweiker zum Thema “Character Formation, Ethical Education, and the Communication of Values in Late Modern Societies”