Study Group „Conversion: Breaks, Switches and Contact Zones in the Religious Field“ (until 2012)

The study group “Conversion: Breaks, Switches and Contact Zones in the Religious Field” is interested in examining more closely and in discussing, on the basis of primary sources and secondary literature, the phenomena of changing denomination and of religious conversion as well as syncretistic incidents from Antiquity to the present. The aim is to trace across the ages the different religious incidents that are associated with the transition and change of religious identity and to expound possible breaks and continuities. The title already indicates the ambivalence of attributions that have for many years found their way into the scientific canon. However, even established and by now understood terms and paradigms – such as that of conversion – are to be put up for discussion again in order to question their relevance and validity across the ages.

In addition, the study group offers its members the possibility to directly connect with the study group’s topic through their own research projects, presenting them in one of the meetings. Moreover, a workshop is being planned in the long term, which is to bring together members of the study group with external researchers for a day of intensive discussion.