German term (edited): seine Reflexionsgestalt

The increasingly secular nature of society has led to a loss of acceptance for the Christian faith and (by association) for its ratiocinative manifestation, theology.

ratiocination (EN) = Reflexion
http://www.dict.cc/englisch-deutsch/ratiocination.html

ratiocination (plural ratiocinations)
1. Reasoning, conscious deliberate inference; the activity or process of reasoning.
2. Thought or reasoning that is exact, valid and rational.
3. A proposition arrived at by such thought.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ratiocination

ra•ti•oc•i•na•tive adj.
Of, relating to, marked by, or skilled in methodical and logical reasoning.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ratiocinative

Gestalt {f}
shape
guise [appearance]
cast
stature
form
gestalt (psych.)
http://www.dict.cc/deutsch-englisch/Gestalt.html


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Note added at 5 hrs (2013-06-17 20:01:18 GMT)
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Reflexion(DE): reflection (EN)?

‘Reflecting’ on religion is an activity that might be appropriate for a poet. Academics who make a living from researching and analysing the phenomenon of religion (i.e. theologians) would not be pleased to be told that they were merely ‘reflecting’ on their area of specialisation.

I have been asked to come up with a solution that has fewer syllables (presumably on the basis that those attending or subsequently reading the lecture might be challenged by ‘big words’): its more learned guise

The increasingly secular nature of society has led to a loss of acceptance for the Christian faith and (by association) for its more learned guise of theology.

The given context suggests that the author may be worried about the diminishing role and standing of theology in universities.


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Note added at 10 hrs (2013-06-18 00:37:15 GMT)
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or to put it another way:
the Christian faith (which you don't have to be an intellectual to profess) and its academic counterpart, theology (in which you can get a professorship)