News and Press Releases 2026

With its principle of “Sola Scriptura” (Scripture alone), the Reformation movement of the 16th century made a radical claim: the Bible should be the sole and unambiguous source of what is authoritative in Christianity. But does this claim actually hold water? How clear is the Bible? Historian Volker Leppin from Yale University will address this question and the Reformation conflicts that arose next week at the University of Münster’s Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”. The public lecture is titled “How clear is the Bible? Authority and Argument in the Reformation Dispute over Truth”.

Alfred Bodenheimer, Director of the Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Basel and professor of Jewish literary and religious history, is the 2026 Hans Blumenberg Professor at the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” in Münster. He will speak at the Cluster on Tuesday 16 June 2026 on how historical and, in part, biblical events or models of behaviour are used to justify Jewish actions today.

Religion and social change in medieval societies are the focus of a symposium marking the 60th birthday of historian Prof. Dr. Wolfram Drews, spokesperson for the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics.” The conference, featuring presentations by scholars of medieval history, Islamic studies, Jewish studies, and Byzantine studies, examines religion in its dynamic context and relates it to broader processes of change in medieval societies. The colloquium “Dynamics of the Religious: On the Relationship Between Religion and Social Change in the Middle Ages” will take place from April 23 to 24, 2026.

The research project ‘News from China? –  Knowledge-ressources, Knowledge-acquisition and Knowledge-transfer of Missionaries in China in the 19./20. Century’ at the Cluster of Excellence ‘Religion and Politics’ addresses the key question of for what purpose and in what context Christian missionaries acquired so-called ‘knowledge of China’ during the period in question. Sinologist and project leader Kerstin Storm and doctoral candidate Lisa Kerl report on their work with the sources and their findings on how knowledge was transferred to individuals, groups and institutions across nations.

Egyptologist Angelika Lohwasser from the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” is studying the relationship between cult and kingship in the ancient kingdom of Kush, Egypt’s southern neighbour. Since Kush was annexed to Pharaonic Egypt as a colony in the 2nd millennium BCE, later periods also show many Egyptian influences there. As a result, researchers have a strongly Egyptian or Egyptological perspective on Kushite culture and religion. In this interview, Lohwasser talks about how she takes a new, non-Egyptian perspective on the kingdom of Kush, and in particular the relationship between the Egyptian god Amun and the Kushite god Apedemak.

The research project led by Islamic studies scholar Philip Bockholt at the Cluster of Excellence ‘Religion and Politics’ focuses on one of the most important religious text genres in Islamic culture: Arabic-Ottoman translations of works of Quranic exegesis (Arabic: tafsīr). In this interview, he discusses why translations from Arabic into Turkish were so significant, what adaptations can be observed in the texts during the process of translation, and what role these translations played in disseminating religious knowledge.
 

Indonesien zählt zu den vielfältigsten Ländern der Welt – in geografischer, gesellschaftlicher und auch religiöser Hinsicht. Mit über 17.000 Inseln und mehr als 270 Millionen Einwohnerinnen und Einwohnern steht der Inselstaat vor besonderen Herausforderungen, gleichzeitig spielt das Archipel eine immer wichtigere Rolle in regionalen und globalen Zusammenhängen. Im Interview über ihre Indonesien-Forschung spricht die Religionswissenschaftlerin und evangelische Theologin Simone Sinn vom Exzellenzcluster über vergangene und gegenwärtige Konflikte, die Kolonialvergangenheit des Landes und die Rolle von Religion in der indonesischen Verfassung.

How did forms of belonging develop in ancient Greece, and which role did Amyklaion play as a central hub in Laconia? Historian Hans Beck's Research project, “Belonging in/to Laconia. An archaeohistorical study on the Sanctuary of Apollo at Amyklai and its surroundings”, at the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” explores this question. The subject of the study is the hill of Agia Kyriaki, 5 km south of Sparta, which has long been associated with the ancient cult center of Apollo Amyklaios. The research complements excavations that have been taking place on site for more than 20 years.