Manfred L. Pirner holds the Chair of Religious Education and Didactics of Protestant Religious Education at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. He is also Director of the Research Center for Public Religious Education (RUPRE) and, together with Prof. Dr Michaela Gläser-Zikuda, Head of the Competence Center for School Development and Evaluation (KSE). He has worked for many years in the field of religious theory, empirical religiousness research and teacher research.