You have successfully completed your Master's degree, would like to do a doctorate and already have an idea for a topic. The next step is an interview with your potential supervisor. Only then will you be added to our faculty's list of doctoral candidates and possibly enrolled on the doctoral programme. In addition, the question of funding must be clarified, which is quite a challenge. We will be happy to discuss the possibilities of doctoral funding in Germany and the EU in person.
Ongoing doctoral projects
Our doctoral students have exciting research projects in the fields of history and contemporary research. Regular dialogue and networking take place in the colloquia.
Contested Secularity - A discourse-analytical examination of the dispute between religious and secular actors over the religious-political arrangement of the State of Israel
Israeli society is characterised by various manifest lines of conflict. One of the most important complexes of problems is the ongoing dispute over the organisation of the religious-political arrangement. This is being conducted not only in the Knesset by secularist and religious parties, but also by a wide variety of extra-parliamentary groups against the backdrop of specific social reference problems. The doctoral project is dedicated to this complex of problems and examines the history of conflict between secular and religious interest groups over the cultural and religious policy agreements of the State of Israel. In order to do justice to the heterogeneity of the social reference problems and the actors grouped around them, the investigation is extended beyond the party-political level to include extra-parliamentary interest groups of different religious affiliations. In addition to analysing social reference problems and the actors involved, a systematic comparison between them is also being sought in order to take a closer look at previously neglected simultaneities and interactions between the participants - of the same and different religious affiliations. The research project thus fundamentally examines the social mechanisms and power constellations that constitute and perpetuate the religious-political arrangement of the State of Israel. Answering this question should enable a more differentiated view of the historical and social framework conditions of Israeli society and thus make a complementary contribution from religious studies to a truncated and often normative discourse.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Christoph Kleine
From (Judeo)Christian monotheism to the Germanic religion of the species. Ideas and concepts of religion in prehistoric research between 1918 and 1945 in the field of tension between science, ethnic ideology and church/state.
The starting point of this work is the question of the background to the creation of “Der Geist der Vorzeit” (1934) by the prehistorian Robert Rudolf Schmidt (1882-1950). With this publication, which was strongly influenced by völkisch-religious ideas and thus differed conspicuously from his other works, he wanted to make a contribution to a “Urgeistesgeschichte”, which can only be considered against the background of his work for the “SS-Ahnenerbe”.
Religious research by prehistorians took place at the latest with the establishment of the subject of prehistory at universities after the end of the First World War, when the origins of human culture and thus also those of religion were addressed. One example of this is the Viennese prehistorian Oswald Menghin (1888-1973). A national Catholic, influenced by Father Wilhelm Schmidt (1868-1954), the founder of the Viennese school of cultural theory, he wanted to provide archaeological evidence of a primordial monotheism at the beginning of human development.
First of all, an overview will be given of the scholars from various disciplines (or even laypeople) who dealt with prehistoric religion in general and Germanic religion in particular in the first half of the 20th century. The sharp increase in the number of publications on “Germanic topics” after 1918 stands in contrast to the actual poor source situation. What theories emerged and what significance did the religious affiliation of the individual researchers have? In terms of content, this is directly followed by an examination of the personal links between science and individual religious movements. With regard to the relationship between “SS-Ahnenerbe” and prehistory, further aspects and questions could arise with regard to research on religion, if one assumes the marginal importance of (pseudo-) religious research at the beginning of the institution of Ahnenerbe, whose actual goal was ideological education. With a focus on the “SS-Ahnenerbe”, the contributions of prehistorians to religious research and its reception will be analyzed and placed in the context of the völkisch movement.
Against this background, in addition to the question of the general political-ideological and ideological influence of prehistoric studies, the shift in the content of research from 1933 onwards towards a “species-specific” Germanic religion or the change in the significance of myth and religion research should also be examined.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Horst Junginger
The Bektashi Network in the Making of Modern Egypt: A Transnational History of (Post-)Ottoman Elites
This project is a transnational history of the (post-)Ottoman network of elites around the Bektashi lodge in modern Egypt. The intended research question is “What is the social, cultural and political significance of the Bektashi Sufi lodge in the early twentieth-century Cairo in the making of modern Egypt and in the running of transnational network(s) in the late and post-Ottoman domains?” Egyptian Bektashi network will be analyzed with regard to the composition of discursive, miraculous and economic power it is associated with and to the way that contributes to its strength and significance.
Located in the provincial capital Cairo, the lodge was home to a transnational Bektashi network with Turco-Albanian origin. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Cairene Bektashis enjoyed favors of Egypt’s rovincial dynasty of Turkish speaking Balkanians with whom they had regional, ethnic and linguistic commonalities. Focusing on the terms of the last two *baba*s (Sufi leaders) Mehmed Lütfî and Ahmed Sırrı in between 1901 and 1963, a social network analysis of the Bektashi network around the lodge will be made.
Relying on primary documents of the lodge itself and of Egyptian offices such as the Ministry of Endowments, Official Journal and Sufi Assembly, a multilevel analysis will be made. Focus of the analysis will be the Bektashi Sufi network’s workings, social class structure and place among other Sufi orders. Software will be used for analysis and visualization.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Markus Dreßler
When Healing Fails: Cognitive Dissonance and Factors of Resilience in Failed Religious Healings Using the Example of Christian Communities in Malaysia
As part of the DFG project ‘When Healing Fails: Cognitive Dissonance and Factors of Resilience in Failed Religious Healings’, the research project explores the question of which communicative strategies and narrative patterns Christian congregations develop in order to deal with the failure of religious healing. Based on Leon Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance, the research project focuses on believers' experiences of not being freed from suffering of any kind by the intervention of higher forces. What communicative strategies do religious communities use to deal with the expected dissonances? Can these be permanently resolved internally and can strategies for dealing with ‘disturbances’ of this kind - in the sense of immunisation - be identified?
As one of three field studies, the project is dedicated to congregations from the spectrum of evangelical Christianity in Penang, Malaysia. These operate within a society that is characterised by high diversity on many levels. Along east-west and peninsula-island dividing lines, strong disparities can be identified in terms of ethnic and religious organisation as well as the distribution of urban and rural populations. Since 1957, the constitution has determined the ethno-religious identity of the population and assures the ethnic groups grouped together as Bumiputra a claim to political leadership. There are diverse interactions between the ethnic groups of Malay, Chinese, indigenous and Indian origin. Embedded in an equally heterogeneous and fertile environment of animist, Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic traditions, Christianity in Malaysia is characterised by an equally complex exchange and field of tension. Christians are recruited from all ethnic and social groups and, not only with regard to the different healing traditions and concepts of the body, a diversity of liturgical inculturation can be observed.
At the beginning of the 20th century, three communities could be identified along labour market-specific dividing lines. In addition to the Malays as farmers and small landowners, the Chinese were the dominant force in the urban sector as workers in tin mines, and Indians as rubber tappers on the plantations. Constructed in the course of a divide-and-rule policy of the British, their colonial-mercantile endeavours went hand in hand with missionary activities from the beginning of the 19th century. Starting from the flourishing port and trading centres of Malacca and Penang - the latter was considered the unofficial centre of Chinese traders - Christian missionaries spread their faith across the provinces of Malaysia. As one of the oldest centres of Christian activity in Southeast Asia, Penang today offers a special religious and ethnic diversity and a high density of Christian communities of various denominations. In addition, Penang's local government allows the free practice of religion, including missionary activities, and in this respect - along with Sarawak and Sabah on Borneo - occupies a special position in Malaysia.
In this pluralistic environment of interreligious competition, it is assumed that the healing programmes offered by Christian communities must not only be measured by their success in whatever form. Internal communication strategies for dealing with and processing potential dissonance factors, such as failed healings, are also crucial. The aim of the project is to uncover and describe these resilient or resilience-promoting internal organisational communication structures.
Supervisor: Dr. Sabrina Weiß
Failed Healing in Latino Pentecostal Churches in California
As part of the DFG project ‘When Healing Fails: Cognitive Dissonance and Factors of Resilience in Failed Religious Healings’, the research project explores the question of which communicative strategies and narrative patterns Christian congregations develop in order to deal with the failure of religious healing. Based on Leon Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance, the research project focuses on believers' experiences of not being freed from physical or mental suffering by the intervention of higher powers. What communicative means are used to counter this dilemma? Do these strategies lead to dissonances being permanently resolved and do religious communities even develop resilience against them, i.e. are they able to ‘immunise’ themselves against such problems?
As one of three field studies, the project deals with (failed) healing in Pentecostal-charismatic churches in California, where the majority of the congregation are immigrants from Latin America. In Latin American Pentecostal Christianity, the topic of healing seems to play an even more central role than in Anglo-American churches and is also a more frequent trigger for conversions. Due to the strong growth of evangelical and Pentecostal churches in the region, migrants often arrive in the USA already as evangélicos/-as, ‘bringing’ their own religious beliefs with them. At the same time, there are indications that Protestants decide to migrate more often than Catholics and experience both spiritual and material support from their church communities during the migration process.
The focus on immigrants from Latin America and Latinos/as born in the USA is interesting not only because they are the largest (and majority Christian) minority group influencing the development of Christianity in the USA, but also because of the specific migrant perspective: on the one hand, poor access to healthcare is one of the greatest difficulties faced by urban migrants in the USA. At the same time, the examination of the everyday reality of Latino communities raises further aspects of healing from a Pentecostal Christian perspective: To what extent are issues of identity and adaptation negotiated through the theme of ‘healing’? Is the concept of divine healing limited to the alleviation of personal suffering or does it include, for example, the confrontation with addictions and violence as dangers for the communities? Are concrete everyday experiences of flight, migration and arrival part of the experiences that are dealt with through healing? The planned research therefore aims to examine possible connections between Christian healing, identity and experiences of migration and, in particular, to focus on experiences of lack of healing that have rarely been examined scientifically to date.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Sebastian Schüler
Negotiating Modern Sino-Muslim (Hui) Subjectivities, 1900-1960: Reforming Islamic religious episteme, piety, bodily knowledge, and economic relations in China
The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) governance towards Islam, which gained much international attention recently, seems to focus exclusively on the Uighurs in the Xinjiang region according to popular impressions. Yet, this disciplinary regime on Uighurs is one extreme manifestation of state involvements in a larger on-going negotiation and management of Muslims in modern China, which also involves Muslims of other ethnicities. The largest of them is the heterogeneous and widely dispersed Sinophone Muslims (herein Sino-Muslims) identified in the PRC as Huihui minzu or in short Huizu, i.e., the Hui ethnic-nationality. During the first half of the 20th century, Sino-Muslim (costal) urban male elites actively proposed and contested for a modern subjectivity that would reform their fellow Hui in the emerging Chinese nation-state. This project aims at a historical analysis of negotiations on aspects of modern Sino-Muslim subjectivities as advocated by early 20th century Hui elites in their print culture that corresponds to modern conditions such as nation/state-building, minority identification, secularism, civilizational competition, and dominations of scientific rationality and market economy. It thereby focuses on four major domains in which their subjectivities were rearticulated, namely, 1) shifts in religious sensibility from Sufi knowledge/speculative philosophies towards rational scripturalism alongside ritual minimalism and standardization; 2) the creation of modern habitus and episteme through modern education; 3) gendered piety and bio-medical bodily knowledge in response to secular national modernity; 4) material and commercial relations with modern market economy. These dynamics eventually crystalized into elements of the common rhetoric and repertoires on the disciplining/formation of minority Muslim subjects in modern China, which are reflected in the current party-states’ authorized discourses and policies.
In order to establish this discursive linkage, this project further asks how those ideas of modern Muslim subjectivity spread and crystalized across the discursive field of early 20th century China. By doing so, it further scrutinizes the processes of national integration and minority demarcation/discrimination concurrently pronounced or reflected in the remaking of Sino-Muslim subjects. It also asks to what extent these Chinese discourses on modern Muslim subjectivities drew upon and responded to their Chinese contexts and transnational Islamic development, for instance Chinese nationalism and Pan-Islamic modernism that emerged since the 19th century. Overall, by attempting a more nuanced and historically grounded analysis on the negotiations of Sino-Muslim modern minority subjectivity, this project supplements existing scholarship on Sino-Muslim identity, which focuses mostly on sameness/difference that the Hui had or is having with other communities or with cultural entities of Islam-ness and Chinese-ness, and their relevant demarcation/association processes and representations. Further, this study wishes to accentuate Chinese Muslim (historical) agencies that are overlooked by popular critiques on Chinese state’s treatments of Muslims.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Markus Dreßler
The new man between esotericism and socialism in Bulgaria
My doctoral project investigates Lyudmila Zhivkova (1942-1981) - one of the most influential female politicians of late socialism in Bulgaria and daughter of the leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party Todor Zhivkov (1911-1998). A brief look at Zhivkov's cultural policy reveals her dual role as a religious and political actor in Bulgarian society. Not only was she personally influenced by the theosophical teachings of Nicholas and Helena Roerich, Helena Blavatsky, Rudolf Steiner and Petar Dunov, but she also saw them as a means for the political realization of the “new socialist man” and tried to implement them on a national political level. In her political speeches at important congresses of the Bulgarian Communist Party, she used esoteric rather than Marxist semantics and promoted quasi-scientific institutes and research into parapsychology, hypnosis and clairvoyance. As the person responsible for the areas of culture, education, media, science, sports and publishing in Bulgaria, Zhivkova turned these institutions into centers of science and school education and integrated esoteric symbols into central buildings erected under socialism. She also maintained good relations with the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and organized exhibitions of Orthodox icons. These elements of its cultural policy, which contradicted the overall Soviet anti-religious agenda, caused domestic and foreign policy tensions. I will explore how this was possible in an atheist socialist country by analysing the (1) rhetorical, (2) material and (3) personal resources that Zhivkova was able to mobilize for this purpose.
*Funding by the German National Academic Foundation 2020-2023*
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Horst Junginger
Problematic, vague, questionable? - Robert Hertz and the Durkheimian concept of the soul. An investigation into the interpretation and significance of the study on the collective representations of death.
Robert Hertz had dedicated himself to a sociological study of religion, which has hardly received any significant reception to date. This is one of the reasons why the questions and theses as well as the significance of his study on collective conceptions of death are still misjudged. In this respect, the invariably unfavourable assessments of the author's treatment of the concept of the ‘soul’ speak for themselves and introduce the title of this dissertation.
My thesis is that the supposed weakness of the study is actually its strength. In addition to the fact that Hertz makes a significant contribution to the clarification of the terms ‘collective consciousness’ and ‘representation’ with this treatise, he operationalises a sociological concept of the soul that was successively developed in the Durkheim school and which is decisive both for the phenomenon of social death and for the social theory on which it is based.
The content of this dissertation is an exegesis of the entire text, an analysis of the theory and methodology of the study, as well as its synthesis with around 20 selected contributions by Durkheim, Mauss and Hubert, taking into account programmatic, methodological and thematic changes of orientation. This dissertation thus deals with characteristic research foci of the group in its development from the theory of the heterogeneity of the social and the individual to the theory of the authority of collective representations.
From this perspective, some common but inaccurate assessments of the religious sociological thinking of this group of authors can be revised; verified assessments, on the other hand, can be developed further.
Keywords: rites of transition as a communicative problem; dynamics of social integration and disintegration; core representations of collective consciousness; limits of social systems of order; economy of the social; identity constructions; dépense; taboo; sacré; myth; classification systems; solidarity; participation; transgression; passion; celebration; anthropology of modernity
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Dr. Hubert Seiwert
Neopaganism of European origin in Mexico City
The subject of this dissertation project is religious phenomena in Mexico City that can be categorised as neopaganism of European origin. The aim is to find out how these forms of neo-paganism are conceptualised. Of interest is how they are adapted, interpreted and lived in a non-European context, as well as the question of the extent to which this involves religiosity, as some of the phenomena of research interest incorporate religious aspects in a context that is not necessarily religious, such as art or sport.
Mexico is a country dominated by Catholicism and the majority of beliefs and religious practices can be categorised as Christian. Apart from this, there is a wide range of alternative religions of various origins, for example of Afro-American origin, new religious movements and the religions of the more than sixty indigenous peoples of Mexico, on which a large number of scientific works have been published. The various currents of neopagan religiosity in the Mexican capital, which range from Wicca and Asatheism/Asatru to goddess spirituality and its hybrid forms or mere integration into individual spirituality, represent a field that has so far been largely unexplored. Their presence is visible both digitally - on relevant Facebook groups and websites - and in themed locations such as the Salem Witch Store and Coffee, at community events, celebrations of the annual festivals and workshops on various neo-pagan practices.
Using a research design based on grounded theory, the sources of information of neo-pagan ideas, their interpretation and adaptation in everyday life as well as the interaction with the corresponding worldviews will therefore be analysed.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Sebastian Schüler
Religious policy during the French Revolution From schism to the Concordat
In contrast to approaches that interpret the emergence of secular states as processes of rationalisation, approaches based on sacred theory indicate that the emergence of ‘modern’ nation states - which is illustrated in this study using the example of the French Revolution - was accompanied by phenomena that are analogous to the founding of religious orders in the Axis period.
The aim of this dissertation project is to look beyond the sacralisation of the nation to examine how the plural religious field - including the respective local consequences - was integrated into the state in France during the Revolution. The starting point for this is the political reform of the Catholic Church in France, which led to a schism with Rome in 1791. However, it is also important to investigate the extent to which the non-Catholic religious communities were able to exercise their right to religious freedom and what tensions this led to both with the dwindling establishment of the Catholic Church and with the state. In research on the French Revolution, non-Catholic religious communities have so far remained largely underexamined in overall accounts (Rita Hermon-Belot).
The hoped-for added value of the work lies in demonstrating that the concept of secularity is merely one among other models that were politically experimented with during the French Revolution. Accordingly, the religious-political achievement of the Revolution did not consist in a specific type of secularity, but in a sequence of different models whose common feature was that only those religious communities whose actors recognized the sacred supremacy of the state were considered legitimate by the state.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Sebastian Schüler
An Analysis of Seyyed Javad Miri’s Intellectual Contributions to Pluralism, Religion, and Identity
This study examines the intellectual development of Seyyed Javad Miri, a modern Iranian philosopher, emphasizing his perspectives on diversity, religion, and identity. Miri's ideas present a critical alternative to dominant religious narratives amid the persistent erosion of Islamic discourses in Iran. This study aims to ascertain whether Miri's pluralistic vision offers a feasible discourse for resolving the socio-political and cultural impasses in Iran by examining the evolution of his views and the elements that influenced his intellectual development.
Miri's intellectual contributions stem from a unique blend of sociological research and philosophical reflection, drawing inspiration from various sources, particularly Iranian reformist intellectuals like Ali Shariati. This study will analyze how Miri’s framework contests prevailing religious paradigms and presents novel avenues for addressing identity and plurality in a highly fragmented society.
The research seeks to illuminate Miri’s philosophical development and critically evaluate whether his pluralistic approach might provide an alternative narrative in a context when conventional Islamic discourses have diminished in significance. This study aims to enhance broader discussions regarding the influence of religion on identity and the potential of pluralism as a mediator between clashing ideological currents in Iran and beyond.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Markus Dreßler
Transmission of tradition and collective memory in Alevism on the basis of religious-philosophical chants
Until around the middle of the 20th century, Turkish-, Kurmancî- and Zazakî-speaking Alevi tribal groups lived mainly in remote areas of Anatolia and were linked together through the organization of families (ocak), which were considered sacred and ensured the continuity of religious culture for centuries, primarily through the oral transmission of knowledge relevant to identity. The spiritual masters (dede, pir, baba) were responsible for the education and religious practice of their adepts (talip), whereby religious-philosophical chants, the so-called deyiş and nefes, alongside some written manuscripts, fulfilled an important medial function in the transmission of religious worldview, historical retracing and ideal legitimization of the tradition.
The research project aims at a hermeneutic approach to the deyiş/nefes as traditional media of the Alevis, whereby the overarching question is which identity-forming potentials can be attributed to the texts with regard to the communication of religious self-understanding. The work consists of a theoretical-conceptual and an empirical-analytical part.
The first part deals with the reception of the Alevi singing tradition in Turkish-language research discourse from the early 20th century onwards from an ideology-critical perspective and discusses the paradigms commonly used in this discourse with regard to their conceptual scope. Based on approaches from memory theory, media studies and cultural studies, the foundations for an alternative new conception of the singing tradition will then be discussed, which aims to go beyond the horizon of previous research on the subject of deyiş/nefes.
In the second part of the thesis, a qualitative text analysis of poems from the period between the 16th and 19th centuries will be used to work out areas of the Alevi understanding of self and tradition.
The focus is on poetic forms of representation by comparing formulations in terms of political imagination, socio-ethical regulation, metaphysical foundation and ideal-historical legitimization of the religious tradition in an intertextual comparison. The master-disciple relationship (pir-talip ilişkisi) will form the guideline of the analysis and serve as a point of orientation for the elaboration and discussion of the main topics mentioned. It is assumed as an ideal construct for the interpretative horizon in order to undertake a function-oriented treatment of the text examples in the context of the dynamic transmission of tradition and to interpret forms of representation as rhetorical strategies that strengthen the binding nature of the received word in the confrontation between the lyrical ego and the recipient.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Markus Dreßler
The confrontation of the Buddhists of East Asia with “original Buddhism” as an intra-religious encounter using the example of modern Korea
Summarizing presentation of the research topic, research question and hypotheses of the dissertation for the award of the doctoral degree
The Buddhist landscape in Korea is becoming increasingly diverse at the beginning of the 21st century. The Buddhist public is also showing an astonishing openness and accessibility to encountering and engaging with the teachings and practices of non-Mahāyānic so-called “southern” or “original Buddhism” in the form of Theravāda or Pāḷi Buddhism. Pāḷi Buddhism, which in terms of doctrine and practice is conceivably far removed from Mahāyāna Buddhism and within or closely related to Chan/Zen/Sŏn Buddhism, to which Buddhism in Korea belongs in its mainstream.
After an initial exploration of relevant source materials and general observations, the encounter of Korean Buddhists with Theravāda and the closely associated category of “original Buddhism”, which is hardly familiar to them but appears to be particularly original and certainly also has the appeal of the exotic, is extremely diverse and ranges from pragmatic recourse to set pieces of Theravāda- Buddhist meditation exercises and scriptures from the Pāḷi canon, to individual or organized pilgrimages to Buddhist sites in South and Southeast Asia, to actual identification with “Southern Buddhism” through self-chosen devotion to a Theravāda monk from abroad active in Korea or even by joining the “Han'guk T'erawada Pulgyo”, the Theravāda organization officially founded on Korean soil in 2008.
But can this multifaceted transgression of long-established boundaries within Buddhism really take place so uncritically and without conflict? In the current Korean debate, terms such as “multi-Buddhist situation” (ko. tabulgyojŏk sanghwang多佛敎的狀況) and the like are already in circulation, with which Buddhists (and non-Buddhists) who are sensitive to these changes in contemporary Buddhism in Korea attempt to conceptualize the dynamics described and position themselves within them. The core question of the dissertation is how the encounter and confrontation of Korean Buddhists with non-Mahāyānic, non-Sinitic Buddhism (as a religious reality of South and Southeast Asia on the one hand and as a written testimony in the Pāli canon on the other) can be seen as a symptom of a search for religious “origins” or “unadulterated” primal forms. “unadulterated” original forms and the corresponding reformulation of one's own basic attitudes, which can be found in modernity across all-regional and religious borders. Of course, it is also interesting to see what is special about the developments in the case of Descorean Buddhism and what this tells us about its inner constitution as a community of discourse and customs as well as its modern change of form.
In addition, there are secondary follow-up questions, such as what information the history of this encounter gives us about characteristic features of Korean Buddhism, which is mainly represented by the Taehan PulgyoCho-gyejong 大韓佛敎曹溪宗, and about the self-positioning of its ordained members and lay followers within the world of Buddhism, which seems to have great urgency in a time of increasingly confusing globalization effects, de- and relocalization processes and shifts in authority in the Korean religious landscape, and to what extent the statement that this pluralization of Buddhism in Korea is really taking place in a special or even unique way can be agreed or disagreed with. The central hypothesis of the thesis is that a historical derivation of the specific structure and identity of Korean mainstream Buddhism makes it possible to understand and explain its surprising relative openness and plurality as a complex dynamic of appropriation and demarcation within the modern repositioning of Korean Buddhism in the “world of Buddhism” or in “global Buddhism”.
Therefore, a comparative outlook on the situation in other classical Mahāyāna countries in East Asia is also useful and necessary, whereby research on the above-mentioned or similar encounter constellations in Asia is only just beginning, as is the case for Korea, to which the dissertation project presented here would like to make a fundamental contribution.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Christoph Kleine
Lessing's “Education of the Human Race” as a historical-philosophical model of secularization
The Education of the Human Race by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing - first published in its entirety in 1780 - is a historical-philosophical model of secularization that responded to the challenge posed to established European religious traditions by rapid modernization processes at the end of the 18th century. Based on Lessing's productive reception of Enlightenment philosophy, it presents the concept of the abolition of religion as a process of secularization, which was new for its time and provides a historical foundation for the critique of religion. With regard to modern theories of secularization in the study of religion, Lessing's model can be understood as their philosophical “prehistory”, insofar as conceptual basic assumptions of religious-historical theory formation, which are still controversially discussed today, were prefiguratively developed in it and subsequently brought to fruition in the history of effects. In order to make this conceptual depth of the Erziehungsschrift plausible, its philosophical premises and their transformation in Lessing's thinking must be reconstructed and explicated in terms of the history of ideas. On this basis, the hitherto unexplored impact of The Education of the Human Race on subsequent conceptions of history - centrally that of Hegel - and thus its general significance for modern concepts of secularization can be traced.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Horst Junginger
The confrontation of the Buddhists of East Asia with “original Buddhism” as an intra-religious encounter using the example of modern Korea
Summarizing presentation of the research topic, research question and hypotheses of the dissertation for the award of the doctoral degree
The Buddhist landscape in Korea is becoming increasingly diverse at the beginning of the 21st century. The Buddhist public is also showing an astonishing openness and accessibility to encountering and engaging with the teachings and practices of non-Mahāyānic so-called “southern” or “original Buddhism” in the form of Theravāda or Pāḷi Buddhism. Pāḷi Buddhism, which in terms of doctrine and practice is conceivably far removed from Mahāyāna Buddhism and within or closely related to Chan/Zen/Sŏn Buddhism, to which Buddhism in Korea belongs in its mainstream.
After an initial exploration of relevant source materials and general observations, the encounter of Korean Buddhists with Theravāda and the closely associated category of “original Buddhism”, which is hardly familiar to them but appears to be particularly original and certainly also has the appeal of the exotic, is extremely diverse and ranges from pragmatic recourse to set pieces of Theravāda- Buddhist meditation exercises and scriptures from the Pāḷi canon, to individual or organized pilgrimages to Buddhist sites in South and Southeast Asia, to actual identification with “Southern Buddhism” through self-chosen devotion to a Theravāda monk from abroad active in Korea or even by joining the “Han'guk T'erawada Pulgyo”, the Theravāda organization officially founded on Korean soil in 2008.
But can this multifaceted transgression of long-established boundaries within Buddhism really take place so uncritically and without conflict? In the current Korean debate, terms such as “multi-Buddhist situation” (ko. tabulgyojŏk sanghwang多佛敎的狀況) and the like are already in circulation, with which Buddhists (and non-Buddhists) who are sensitive to these changes in contemporary Buddhism in Korea attempt to conceptualize the dynamics described and position themselves within them. The core question of the dissertation is how the encounter and confrontation of Korean Buddhists with non-Mahāyānic, non-Sinitic Buddhism (as a religious reality of South and Southeast Asia on the one hand and as a written testimony in the Pāli canon on the other) can be seen as a symptom of a search for religious “origins” or “unadulterated” primal forms. “unadulterated” original forms and the corresponding reformulation of one's own basic attitudes, which can be found in modernity across all-regional and religious borders. Of course, it is also interesting to see what is special about the developments in the case of Descorean Buddhism and what this tells us about its inner constitution as a community of discourse and customs as well as its modern change of form.
In addition, there are secondary follow-up questions, such as what information the history of this encounter gives us about characteristic features of Korean Buddhism, which is mainly represented by the Taehan PulgyoCho-gyejong 大韓佛敎曹溪宗, and about the self-positioning of its ordained members and lay followers within the world of Buddhism, which seems to have great urgency in a time of increasingly confusing globalization effects, de- and relocalization processes and shifts in authority in the Korean religious landscape, and to what extent the statement that this pluralization of Buddhism in Korea is really taking place in a special or even unique way can be agreed or disagreed with. The central hypothesis of the thesis is that a historical derivation of the specific structure and identity of Korean mainstream Buddhism makes it possible to understand and explain its surprising relative openness and plurality as a complex dynamic of appropriation and demarcation within the modern repositioning of Korean Buddhism in the “world of Buddhism” or in “global Buddhism”.
Therefore, a comparative outlook on the situation in other classical Mahāyāna countries in East Asia is also useful and necessary, whereby research on the above-mentioned or similar encounter constellations in Asia is only just beginning, as is the case for Korea, to which the dissertation project presented here would like to make a fundamental contribution.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Christoph Kleine
Benjamin Raßbach
Landscapes of Resistance – Sacred Places im Sinjar (Iraq) and the ISIS Genocide against Yezidis, 2023
Thomas Krutak
The Imagination of Conversion in India: Religious Freedom Laws, their Colonial Legacy and their Impact on Christianity in the 21st Century, 2021
Markus Vollert
Between integration and retreat. The legal conflict over the Twelve Tribes. A case study on the state's handling of religious non-conformism in Germany, 2021
Jörg Albrecht
From “kohlrabi apostle” to “Bionade-Biedermeier”. On the cultural dynamics of alternative nutrition, 2019
Jeannine Kunert
Der Juden-Könige zwei - On the German-language discourse on Sabbatei Zwi and Oliger Paulli. In addition to systematic observations on the religious studies category of the end times and socio-discursive interactions, 2018
Inna Feigina
Religion and Change: Jewish Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union, 2017
Christiane Altmann
Authentic Judaism or dangerous messianism? The controversy surrounding Chabad Lubavitch's meshichists in the USA, 2016
Christian Espig
“Social morphology” as a methodological approach to local religious studies using the example of the Principality of Reuß ä.L., 2016
Judith Zimmermann
“Socialism as active sociology.” The relationship between politics and social science in the Durkheim school using the example of Robert Hertz from a religious studies perspective, 2015
Moritz Deecke
Biography & Ecstasy. Extra-ordinary consciousness in narrative reconstruction, 2015
Ute Wegert
The Secularism Debate in India: Indigenous Tradition or Hegemonic Concept?, 2015
Sarah Jahn
Religion - Law - Administration. An examination of the legal practice of positive religious freedom in the penal system of the Federal Republic of Germany, 2015
Christiane Königstedt
Religious non-conformism and secularism - cultural conflicts over “religion” using the example of the Guerres des Sectes in France, 2014
Daniel Eißner
Religiously conspicuous craftsmen around 1700. On religious self-empowerment in the early modern period, 2014
Nicolas Broy
The religious practice of the Zhaijiao (“vegetarian sects”) in Taiwan, 2014
Bernadett Bigalke
From Aura to Yoga: The Leipzig alternative-religious scene around 1900 using the example of the international theosophical fraternization, 2013
Anna-Konstanze Schröder
Conversion experience as an intersection of psychological and sociological research perspectives on the conversion process. A psychological approach to religion for religious studies and a new conversion theory, 2013
Johannes Graul
Nonconformist religions in the sights of state power. An investigation using the example of the Mazdaznan religion in the German Empire on the basis of Saxon police and administrative files, 2012
Johanna Lüdde
The functions of the conversation of Chinese students in Germany on Christianity (Protestant style) using the example of a Chinese Christian community in a major German city, 2011
Jeong Hwa Choi
Religion as world conscience. Rudolf Otto's Religiöser Menschheitsbund and the interplay of religious studies and religious encounters after the First World War, 2011
Katharina Neef
Sociology for the domination of culture. On the emergence of German-language sociology from social reform, 2010
Zhejun Yu
Popular Religion in the Mirror of Civil Society Theory: God Salutation Procession in Shanghai during the Republic Period, 2010
Hanno Willenborg
“For feeling in its primal sense is ...” The classical theories of emotion by Charles Darwin, Wilhelm Wundt, William James and William McDougall in comparison with Rudolf Otto's emotion-centered religious theory of the numinous, 2010
Claudia Wustmann
The “enthusiastic maids” - Central German prophetesses in radical pietism at the end of the 17th century, 2008
Frank Neubert
Charisma and social dynamics: Religious studies using the example of Śrī Rāmakrṣṇa and Svāmī Vivekānanda, 2005
Maximilian Oettinger
The Curse - On the Dynamics of Final Sanctioning in Sacred Societies of the Jewish and Christian Tradition, 2005
Lutz Rogler
The Search for a “Progressive Understanding of Islam”: Studies on the Discourse and Practice of a Group of Islamic Intellectuals in Tunisia, 2004
Thomas Hase
Civil Religion. Religious Studies Reflections on a Theoretical Concept Using the Example of the USA, 2000
Andreas Christmann
The fasting month of Ramadān and the end-of-fasting festival cid al-ƒitr in Damascus - On the social impact of Islamic rituals and aspects of traditional change, 1998
Alema
Relations between Afghanistan and Germany in the years 1919 to 1929, 1994