News Archive 2019

Gerd Althoff's new book collects fifteen of his more recent contributions, which elucidate the functioning of prestate societies. It examines how rules and political rituals governed behavior in the medieval power games between kings, churchmen and nobles.

A new image brochure presents the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics. Dynamics of Tradition and Innovation” to academics and the general public.

Münster legal historian Nils Jansen from the University of Münster’s Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” has presented the first comprehensive overview of the historical process by which law became an autonomous system in society, independent of religion, politics and science.

The aim of the conference “The Qurʾān in its Milieu of Origin” is to discuss scholarly methods for the contextual interpretation of the Qurʾān.

In “New Paths for Interreligious Theology” eleven scholars from five countries discuss Perry Schmidt-Leukel’s theory that religious diversity displays fractal structures.

The sociologists of religion Prof. Dr. Christel Gärtner of the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” and Prof. Dr. Gert Pickel of the University of Leipzig have published a new collection entitled “Schlüsselwerke der Religionssoziologie” (Key Works of the Sociology of Religion).

"Buddha Mind – Christ Mind" by religious studies scholar and theologian Perry Schmidt-Leukel is a Christian theological commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, an Indian Buddhist classic from the 7th or 8th century.

Sociologists from the University of Münster’s Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” are carrying out a study in Europe and Canada to determine how and why religion is transmitted to the next generation in some families and not in others.

As high as the importance of dynasties for pre-modern history was, so weak was generally their social unity. In his dissertation “Einheit im Konflikt” (Unity in Conflict), historian Lennart Pieper analyses the formation of dynasties between the 15th and 17th centuries using the numerous conflicts in the comital families of Lippe and Waldeck as examples.

The conference "From cultural translation to interreligious controversy" at the Cluster of Excellence adresses from 28 to 30 October Jerome Xavier’s (1549-1617) engagement with Mughal India and Safavid Persia.

Legal scholars Nils Jansen and Reinhard Zimmermann provide rule-by-rule commentaries on European contract law, dealing with its modern manifestations as well as its historical and comparative foundations.

The new volume "Gender and Violence in Historical and Contemporary Perspectives" covers a range of issues and phenomena around gender-related violence in specific cultural and regional conditions.

In his dissertation, the historian Tobias Hoffmann of the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” has examined the significance of trickery in the Middle Ages using the example of bishops’ and abbots’ vitae.

The volume “Normative Crises” has emerged from the interdisciplinary work at the Cluster of Excellence. It analyses the structure of normative crises and normative transformation processes, particularly in the religious and political fields.

The Catholic theologian Prof. Dr. Michael Seewald of the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” has published a new book, “Reform – Dieselbe Kirche anders denken (Reform – the Same Church, Another Thinking). In it he explores possibilities and limits of reforms in the Catholic Church.

Using a collage of statements and pictures, the German-language film “Open-air auditorium at the Cluster of Excellence Religion and Politics” provides an insight into the diversity of themes and perspectives that the Cluster of Excellence deals with when it comes to the focal points of “religious policy” and “religion and violence”.

The lecture series “Münsters Wissen frisch gezapft!” (Münster’s knowledge freshly tapped!) will take place for the second time from the 1st to the 3rd of July.

The political attitudes and actions of Jesuits in Chile between 1962 and 1983 are dealt with in a recently published monograph in Spanish by the historian Dr. Antje Schnoor. The book is a translation of her dissertation.

Theology students from the University of Münster met with politicians and representatives of the parties’ youth organisations in Berlin. The workshop on religious policy was chaired by the Protestant theologians Prof. Dr. Arnulf von Scheliha and Uta Elisabeth Hohmann.

The Protestant theologian and social ethicist Prof. Dr. Arnulf von Scheliha of the Cluster of Excellence has published a volume containing twenty articles on political ethics that shed light on the relationship between religion and politics.

The dissertation of the scholar of Islamic studies Cüneyd Yildirim deals with the Ottoman Sufi community of the Malāmatiyya, which was formed in the 19th century.

The new Collaborative Research Centre “Law and Literature”at the University of Münster will start on July 1. Legal scholar Prof. Dr. Fabian Wittreck from the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” is the centre’s deputy speaker.

In a public evening lecture in the Schloss Münster on 25 June, sociologist of religion Prof. Dr. James Spickard, from the University of Redlands, USA, will talk about “Thinking Beyond the West: Seeing Religions with Unaccustomed Eyes”.

Refugees who are more willing to take risks, are more likely to return favours and are convinced that they have their own lives under control integrate more quickly into society, as a recent study shows. Among the authors is the psychologist Prof. Dr. Mitja Back from the Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics" at the University of Münster.

The newsletter of the WWU Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics" has been published in time for the opening of the new funding phase. It presents the Cluster's new research programme and gives information about current research results, new publications and international conferences at the Cluster of Excellence.

The volume "Maps and Travel in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period", edited by Prof. Dr. Katrin Kogman‐Appel, professor of Jewish Studies, discusses the world as it was known in the Medieval and Early Modern periods, focusing on projects concerned with mapping as a conceptual and artistic practice, with visual representations of space, and with destinations of real and fictive travel.

The scholar of Arabic studies Prof. Dr. Thomas Bauer will discuss theses of his publication “Warum es kein islamisches Mittelalter gab” (Why There Were No Islamic Middle Ages) with researchers from history, philosophy and religious studies. The panel discussion on 25 April 2019 will deal with the benefits and disadvantages of epochal boundaries in a global historical perspective.

The Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics. Dynamics of Tradition and Innovation” at the University of Münster will open the new funding phase within the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments with a ceremony on 10 May, where the renowned Oxford University historian Prof Dr Lyndal Roper will deliver a keynote lecture on “Cranach’s Luther”.

Legal scholar Prof. Nils Jansen, speaker of the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”, Prof. Christopher Deninger and Prof. Mario Ohlberger from the Cluster of Excellence “Mathematics Münster, and the biochemist Prof. Lydia Sorokin from Cells-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence explain what they understand by the term “dynamic” in their research.

Islamic scholar Prof. Dr. Thomas Bauer is principal investigator in the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” and has been working hard to create a nuanced image of Islamic culture in Germany – often in difficult political times. In his portrait, the Leibniz Prize winner talks about ambiguity tolerance, clichés from the Arabian Nights and a forgotten Arab poet.

A research project at the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” has approached the voice in a religious context: scholars have studied the voice as a medium of religious communication, and have discovered in historical testimonies, as well as in literature and artwork from various religions and cultures from antiquity to the present day, what can be called “voices from beyond”.

The Mediävistenverband has awarded its Doctoral Dissertation Prize to the dissertation “Macht und Literatur bei Timuriden und Habsburgern” (Power and Literature with the Timurids and Habsburgs) by the German philologist Kristina Rzehak.

Even 100 years after the constitutional law of religion was adopted, legal scholars believe that it is still suitable for addressing new challenges such as the integration of Islam. The new public lecture series “Conditions of Religious Modernity. 100 Years of the Constitutional Law of Religion in Germany” starts on 2 April.

A new study by legal scholar Prof. Dr. Hinnerk Wißmann of the University of Münster’s Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” asks how “religious education for all” challenges the current constitutional law of religion.

Law scholar Prof Nils Jansen has been speaker of the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” since this year. In his portrait, he talks about his research on Spanish late scholasticism and its influence on today's law as well as the advantages of interdisciplinary work in the Cluster of Excellence.

With the Jewish studies scholar Katrin Kogman-Appel, the WWU succeeded in 2016 in bringing one of the most internationally renowned experts in this field to Münster. She enriches conversations about world religions, conversations for which the University offers ideal conditions, not least with the "Religion and Politics" Cluster of Excellence.

The Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” is to host in the summer semester the public lecture series “Conditions of Religious Modernity: 100 years of religious constitutional law in Germany”. The lectures will take place in lecture hall J3 of the Juridicum, Universitätsstraße 14-16, in Münster every Tuesday at 18.15 from 2 April to 9 July.

From 4 to 7 March, scholars from the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” will present their research findings at the second annual conference of the “European Academy of Religion” (EuARe) in Bologna.

The Protestant theologian Prof. Dr. Hans-Peter Großhans and the scholar of religious studies and theologian Prof. Dr. Perry Schmidt-Leukel have discussed Myanmar's tension-laden connections between ethnic and religious diversity at a conference in Yangon.

In her habilitation thesis, the scholar of religious studies Dr. Jutta Sperber examined the Christian-Muslim dialogues of the Vatican until the death of Pope John Paul II for elements that characterise man and his position before God and in the world.

Autobiographical writings have been a major cultural genre from antiquity to the present time. A new three-volume handbook, edited by literary scholar Prof. Dr. Martina Wagner-Egelhaaf, offers a comprehensive survey of theoretical approaches, systematic aspects, and historical developments in an international and interdisciplinary perspective.

In Vienna, the historian Dr. Sarah Thieme was awarded the “Irma Rosenberg Prize” 2018 for research on the history of National Socialism. She received the prize for her dissertation on the National Socialist Martyr Cult.

Just about fifty years ago, in its declaration on religious freedom at the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church programmatically dispensed with political coercion as a means of enforcing its claim to truth. In this volume the authors dispute how the Church came to its position.

The new volume on religion and decision-making of the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” examines religious decisions from antiquity to the present day. It is based on lectures given in two lecture series of the Cluster of Excellence.

The “bulwark myth” — whereby a region is imagined as a defensive barrier against a dangerous Other — has been a persistent strand in the development of Eastern European nationalisms. “Rampart Nations” uncovers the mutual transfers and multi-sided national and interconfessional conflicts that helped to spread bulwark myths through Eastern Europe.

Researchers from all over the world will meet from June 27th – 29th in Washington for the third session of the first theological trialogue ever between Buddhists, Muslims and Christians. At Georgetown University they will discuss concepts of salvific action, as the theologian and religious studies scholar Prof. Dr. Perry Schmidt-Leukel of the Cluster of Excellence explains.

The Protestant theologian and social ethicist Prof. Dr. Arnulf von Scheliha of the Cluster of Excellence has published a volume containing twenty articles on political ethics that shed light on the relationship between religion and politics.

At the public conference “PEACE. Theories, Images and Strategies from Antiquity to the Present Day” of the Cluster of Excellence, which will be held from 22 to 25 May 2018 in Münster, internationally renowned researchers will address the question in 21 lectures of why people throughout the ages wanted peace, but never succeeded in securing it in the long term. Over the next few weeks, the Cluster of Excellence will present key topics of the conference on the Internet and in the media.