Research Group »Religious Dynamics in the Past and Present«
An initiative at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften

The societal role of religion in the past and the present is being researched at Goethe University in many locations and from many perspectives – not only in the disciplines of theology and religious studies but also in philosophy, history, anthropology, sociology and in cultural studies. Against the backdrop of this already existing, multidisciplinary interest in religion-related research at the university, a group of scholars initiated the establishment of the research group »Religious Dynamics in the Past and Present« at the Forschungskolleg in the summer semester 2019. The goal of this group is to bring the diverse research being carried out on religion-related topics at the university to the international stage through networking and joint research activities.

In a first step, the group’s initiators intend to make the religion-related research at the university more visible. To this end, a preview of relevant events – conferences, guest lectures, lecture series, workshops – planned by the various professors will be regularly circulated in order to invite scholars of other disciplines to attend. In a further step, the idea is that joint events can also be planned on issues whose research will benefit from the interdisciplinary perspectives.

Among the »founding members« of the research group are Birgit Emich (history of the Early Modern Era), Roland Hardenberg (ethnology), Matthias Lutz-Bachmann (philosophy), Hartmut Leppin (ancient history), Thomas M. Schmidt (philosophy of religion), Dorothea Weltecke (medieval history) und Christian Wiese (philosophy of religion/Jewish studies). The group sees itself as an open forum at the university and warmly invites further interested colleagues from all disciplines to participate.