Projekte

Forschungsschwerpunkt Missionssammlungen

Kultur- und Religionskontakt am Beispiel missionsgeschichtlicher Sammlungen

Forscherinnen und Forscher des CERES untersuchen zusammen mit Kolleginnen und Kollegen aus Museen und Universitäten die materielle Dimension kultureller und …

A Place at the Altar

Priestesses in Republican Rome

Her current project, A Place at the Altar: Priestesses in Republican Rome, demonstrates that priestesses had a vibrant and vivid …

Religiöse Globalisierung

In dem Projekt werden semantische und strukturelle Prozesse der religiösen Globalisierung in ihrer Wechselwirkung miteinander untersucht. Dabei kommt - unter …

"Those who say that everybody can be saved in his/her own Faith"

On the Suspension of Religious Exclusivity in the Age of Scholasticism

Latin Christianity is not generally understood as tolerant. On the contrary the history of the crusades and the inquisition have …

A Comprehensive Survey on Babylonian Jewry in the Sasanian Era

This project is perceived as part of a broader direction of reassessment of the socio-cultural life of the diverse religious …

A History of Religious Contacts between Jewish and Muslim Mysticism throughout the Ages

Spiritual Concepts and Ritual Practices

Achsenzeit

Ein Deutungsschema im Schnittpunkt soziologischer, religionswissenschaft­licher, kognitionsbiologischer und philosophischer Debatten

Untersucht werden soll erstens, inwieweit die Mängel des Deutungsschemas "Achsenzeit" in seiner ursprünglichen Konzeption durch Jaspers (Essentialismus, teleologische Geist-Metaphysik, Unabhängigkeit …

Altuigurische buddhistische Texte und deren uigurischen Auftraggeber

Nach ihrer Migration von der Mongolei in das östliche Tianshan (天山)-Gebiet in der zweiten Hälfte des 9. Jahrhundert nahm der …

Analysis of the Visual Language

The Buddhist Reliefs from Andhra, their Roman Elements and what Distinguishes them from Gandhara

Not even a single text remains from the flourishing Buddhist culture in Andhra. Today, only the stones survive. The project …

Angels’ Tongues and Witches’ Curses

Jewish Women and Ritual Power in Late Antiquity

Angels’ Tongues and Witches’ Curses discusses the development of Jewish magical and mystical traditions in the ancient world (ca. 250 …

Argument to the Senses in Post-Avicennian Dialectical Theory

This project will explore the modes and patterns of “argument to the senses” (ATS) in the proto- and early ādāb …

Artistic Media as Religious Attractors

Attraktion und Repulsion in religiösen Bildakten

Die okzidentale Metaphysik des Bildes, die aus verschiedenen religiösen Konfliktfeldern –Bilderkult und Verwerfung der Götterbilder im antiken Mittelmeerraum, Reliquien- und …

Attraktivität durch Ethik

Wechselwirkungen jüdischer, hellenistisch-römischer und christlicher Ethiken in der antiken Gesellschaft

Judentum wie Christentum trafen auf eine Faszination im römischen Reich gegenüber religiöser Bewegungen aus dem Osten. Aus diesem "alt-ehrwürdigen", geographisch …

Bar Hebraeus at the Mongol City of Marāgha

Interactions with the Philosophical Circle of al-Tūsī

The project focuses on the dialogical engagement of the West Syrian Maphrian, Gregory Barhebraeus (1226-1286CE), with Islamic philosophy; an engagement …

Begriffsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zum Wortfeld Religion im antiken und mittelalterlichen China

Das Projekt thematisiert vor dem Hintergrund der oben umrissenen Problematik prima facie im Wortfeld "Religion" angesiedelte oder aniedelbare Begriffe in …

Biblical Prophet and Confucian Sages

A Comparative Study

Bio-Politics, Public Life and Sovereignty: Focault, Arendt and Agamben

Bon, Buddhism and the Coproduction of Religion in early Tibet

This project seeks to research the mutual coproductions of Buddhism and Bon in early Tibet.  Broadly speaking, it takes as …

Borders of Orthodoxy and the Charm of False Learning in Korean Confucianism

The aim of the project is to analyze concepts of orthodoxy and heterodoxy in 16th century Korean Confucianism. Crucial questions …

Buddhist Diversity and Inter-regional Connectivity in Southeast Asia

The Intervention of Chinese Religious Syncretism

This project attempts to look at Buddhist diversity and inter-regional religious connectivity in Southeast Asia through the lens of Chinese …

Buddhist Narratives in Central Asia and China

In the propagation and spread of Buddhism throughout Asia, narratives in the form of ‘stories’ played an eminent role, both …

Characteristics of the Concept "Jonggyo"(Religion) and the Network of its Related Concepts in Modern Korea.

The term jonggyo (religion) was first used in Korea in the late 19th century when the Joseon government signed trade …

Christian Systems of Knowledge and the Historiography of the Tagalog Religion

Das Projekt analysiert transzendente und halb-transzendente Wesen der philippinischen Mythologie aus vorkolonialen Zeiten. Es geht von der Grundannahme aus, dass …

Conceptualization of Religion in the Enlightenment

Creating an Incorporeal Empire

The Process of “Transcending” the Mysore Kingdom through Interreligious and Intercultural Interaction

The project focusses on intersections and interactions between European and Indian notions of transcendence and immanence through the lens of …

Das Schicksal. Geschichte und Facetten eines religiösen Begriffs in der Neuzeit

Das menschliche Bedürfnis, im Lauf der Welt und im eigenen Leben den Plan einer höheren Macht verwirklicht zu sehen, um …

Das frühneuzeitliche Polnisch-Livland als Zone religiösen Kontaktes

Die östliche Ostseeregion war schon immer eine Grenzregion zwischen verschiedenen kulturellen, politischen und religiösen Einflusssphären. In der Frühen Neuzeit war …

Das sakrale Königtum als virtuelles Vorbild der Mysterienkulte?

Das vorliegende Forschungsprojekt beschäftigt sich mit dem Postulat einer Interdependenz zwischen dem sakralen Königtum und antiken Mysterienkulten, bei denen einer …

Debating Authorities

Gender and the Interpretation of Religion(s) in Colonial India

Configurations of religion(s) in colonial India are not only intrinsically connected to newly created political and legal frameworks, but also …

Demons, Evil, and Illness in the Babylonian Incantation Bowls

Many types of demons, both named and unnamed, appear as threats to human beings in the inscriptions on the Babylonian …

Der "spirituelle Konfuzianismus"

Ein Phänomen der Dialektik der Säkularisierung?

Nach dem Zusammenbruch des Kaiserreichs haben in China vor allem der Liberalismus und der Marxismus als politische Grundströmungen des westlichen …

Dhimma: The Status of Protection in a Mediterranean and Asian Context

This project will analyse a particular process of inter-religious contact that took place in the broad lands of Islam, from …

Die Ausbildung des Kollektivsingulars "Religion" im interkulturellen Vergleich

Das hier vorgestellte Projekt fragt nach den Entstehungsbedingungen des allgemeinen Religionsbegriffs in Europa in der frühen Neuzeit und nach seiner …

Die Bedeutung des Bibel- und Talmudkommentars Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaqi (Raschi) für das lateinische Christentum

Die Formierung von Reinheitskonzeptionen in der Tora und im Ezechielbuch als Voraussetzung einer kulturellen und religiösen Leitdifferenz im Frühjudentum

Das Projekt soll: a) die Reinheitskonzepte in der Tora und in Ez differenziert beschreiben und vergleichend analysieren, b) das exegetische …

Die Funktionen der Reinheitskategorie als Selbst- und Fremdzuschreibung in den christlich-islamischen Beziehungen des Mittelalters

Das vorliegende Projekt wird zentrale Bedingungen und Parameter des oben skizzierten Transformationsprozesses einer detaillierten Analyse unterziehen. Bereits bei einer kursorischen …

Die Macht der Freiheit

Säkularisierung als Ethos

Das Projekt schlägt eine genuin philosophische Variante des Säkularisierungsbegriffs vor, die von den üblichen Verwendungsweisen des Begriffs keineswegs abgedeckt wird, …

Die Sprache der Neo-Sannyas-Bewegung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in den 1980er Jahren

Im Rahmen eines Projekts zur Geschichte der Neo-Sannyas-Bewegung in Deutschland soll die Semantik der „Rajneesh-Times Deutschland", des zentralen Presseorgans der …

Die Verfügbarkeit des Unverfügbaren

Zur Gott-Mensch-Kommunikation in der Vormoderne

Das Projekt nähert sich dem Phänomen Religion aus einer kommunikationstheoretischen Perspektive. Im Anschluss an Erkenntnisse der jüngeren Religionsforschung wird Religion …

Diffusion of the Worship of Ancient Mesopotamian Deities along the Trade Routes

This project is being undertaken in order to contextualize ancient Mesopotamian religion in the broader geographical and chronological framework of …

Discourse Comparison

Revisiting the Comparative Method in the Study of Religion

This methodological project confronts longstanding and fundamental critiques of comparison in Religious Studies, constructively engages with major objections, and argues …

Diversität im deutschen Judentum des 19. Jahrhunderts

Studien zur Selbstverortung im Spannungsfeld von Tradition und Krise

Untersuchungsgegenstand ist das jüdische Selbstverständnis im 19. Jahrhundert, das sich innerhalb des beschriebenen Spannungsfeldes von äußeren und inneren Veränderungen in …

Divine Kingship in Medieval Sri Lanka

Dynamics in Traditions of Power and Virtue in South Asia

Divine kingship was an influential and widespread trope across medieval southern Asia. My project examines literary representations of Sri Lankan …

Divine Transcendence and Immanence in Antiquity

The application to antiquity of the study of the evolving of the distinction between immanence and transcendence as triggered by …

Doctrina Machumet

Die Fragen des Juden Abdia an den Propheten Muḥammad in christlicher Tradition

Eine kritische Edition des lateinischen Textes auf der Grundlage der relativ zahlreichen Handschriften sowie der beiden Erstdrucke steht noch aus …

Dynamiken des religiösen Feldes im Kontext des frühen Buddhismus

Das Augenmerk liegt auf der Promotion des religiösen Angebots durch frühe Buddhisten in einem umkämpften religiösen Feld. Modern ausgedrückt, es …

Early Buddhists and their Ascetic Others

The Questions of Contact and Boundary Negotiations

The research project examines the dialogic influence of ascetic others, in particular the Jain other, on the early Buddhist monastic …

Early Modern Visual Systems of Religious Encounter

A Comparative Study

The project shall investigate visual strategies elaborated in early modern Europe in order to facilitate communication between Christians and non-Christians …

Ein Ort für sich allein

Pilgerschaft und Territorialansprüche in der russischen Uralregion

In einem multikulturellen Umfeld und besonders unter Bedingungen imperialer Herrschaft birgt Pilgerschaft die Möglichkeit für Individuen und Gruppen in sich, …

Encounters of Christianity with Korean Religions during 1875 - 1915

Entangled Rituals in Late Antiquity

The regular, sometimes daily ritual for divine cult statues in Egypt, Greece and other regions of the ancient Mediterranean goes …

Europäische Religionsgeschichte aus komparativer Perspektive

Evolution and Present Dynamics of Conflicting Religious Cosmologies in East Tibet

The project concentrates on the evolution and present dynamics of two conflicting religious cosmologies in East Tibet: the Tibetan indigenous …

Forging Faith

Ambivalent Globalization and Innovative Ritual in Hindu Temple Publics of Bangalore

Forging Identity and Shifting Boundaries

The Role of the Smiths within the Changing Religious Landscape of Early Medieval European Societies

The research to be carried out during the project will continue on-going investigations into the interaction between the Germanic and …

Formation and Diffusion of the Karaits

Formen der buddho-konfuzianischen Interaktion im vormodernen Korea

Die erste Phase des Projektes ist einer Fallstudie unter dem Arbeitstitel "Erfahrene oder gezwungene coincidentia oppositorum? Hybride Ansätze im frühen …

Freethinking in Arab and Islamic History

There is a good deal of research in this field, both in Arabic and in European languages. This research output …

Fremdheit und Religion der Seeleute

Xenosophie in der Schweiz und Religion/en auf See als empirische Ressourcen für die Transzendenz-Immanenz-Unterscheidungsdebatte

Die beiden Projekte – eines zur Fremdheit in interreligiösen Begegnungen und das andere zur Religion in maritimen Kulturen – repräsentieren …

From Orthopraxy to Orthodoxy – Christian Influences on Yezidism in the Diaspora?

The Discourse on Canonisation, Standardisation and Unification of Tradition among Yezidis in Western Europe

The Yezidi religious tradition, both sacred texts and priestly learning, has been transmitted orally in a non- or semi-literate milieu …

Gender, Islamic Normativity and Cultural Critique in the Arab Region

Focusing on issues of gender and sexual difference as schemes for reconfiguring Islamic normativity, the project studies the shaping of …

Genealogy of Religious Discourse in Modern Japan

Gesellschaft ohne "Religion"?

Religionsbegriff und Religionspolitik in der japanischen Geschichte

Ausgehend von der "Erfindung" von "Religion" in der Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts soll der Bedeutung des Fehlens eines modernen Begriffs …

Ghost Images of Modernity

Encounters between Buddhists, Christians, and Psychical Researchers in 19th and Early 20th Century Japan

Gods, Heroes and Cults in Bronze Age Central Asia

Reflexion, Transformation and Continuity of Old Near Eastern Beliefs

The research topic of this project is the examination of the representations of the gods and supernatural mixed beings of …

Gush Emunim und Hamas

Interdependente Evolution zweier fundamentalistischer Bewegungen in einem Konfliktfeld

Zunächst sollen die beiden Bewegungen Gush Emunim und Hamas getrennt voneinander analysiert werden hinsichtlich ihrer strukturellen, ideologischen und strategischen Charakteristika …

Herrscherhöfe des Mittelmeerraums als interreligiöse Begegnungsräume im Mittelalter

Kaum anderswo trafen seit archaischer Zeit unterschiedliche Religionen so unmittelbar aufeinander wie im Mittelmeerraum. Vor allem in diesem für die …

Hieronymus, das "Alte" Testament und die Juden

In dem Projekt sollen mindestens die folgenden drei Bereiche bearbeitet werden: a) Hieronymus und jüdische Traditionen in der Literatur seit …

Hittite Texts and Greek Religion

Interaction, Borrowing, Analogy

Understanding of the religions of the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia has been transformed over the last 150 years by …

How to Negotiate “Sacrifice” and “Idolatry” in Religious Encounters

Identifying the Native Religious Informants of Catholic Missionaries in Early Modern South Asia

In the 16th century, when the Jesuits first reached South India, they discovered that its religious landscape was too …

How to exhibit Religion?

During the period of the fellowship I was hoping to deepen my research focus on "Religion and Art? Contemporary Interpretations …

Im Bann der Schlange

Altorientalische Schlangenvorstellungen und -kulte im Spannungsfeld inter- sowie intrareligiöser Kulturkontakte vom 3. bis zum 1. Jts. v. Chr.

Eine historische Darstellung der Entwicklung von Schlangensymbolik und Schlangenkulten im Vorderen Orient bei gleichzeitiger Beachtung der Entfaltung kosmologischer Vorstellungen soll …

Immanent Transcendence?

Negotiations of Religious Space between Japan and the West

Architecture, especially religious architecture, is a means to negotiate the threshold between the Profane and the Sacred, between immanence and …

Immanenz und Transzendenz in den ästhetischen Darstellungen des Schlafes zwischen Antike und Moderne

Trotz der zahlreichen Kenntnisse, welche die Schlafforschung heute zur Verfügung stellt, ist der Schlaf, womit wir das Drittel unserer Lebenszeit …

Imperial Preceptor Chos rgyal ’Phags pa Bla ma as a Tantric Adept in the Mongol Yuan Dynasty

’Phags pa bla ma Blo gros rgyal mtshan (1235-1280), the first Imperial Preceptor of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), was …

Institutionalisation of Islam in Germany

This research project deals with the institutional transformations that Islam is undergoing in Germany. The study focuses on several empirical …

Interferences between Theology and the Sciences in the Formation and Diffusion of early Islamic cosmological Models

This project is a long-term research endeavor whose chief aim is to shed light on the sources, structure, function, and …

Intertextuality in the Transmission of Rational Traditions in the Religious Science of Islam from Safavid Iran to Northern India in Early Modernity

Intra-Religious Encounters and Formation of the Religious Field in the Post-Soviet Central Asia

Das Hauptziel des Projekts stellt die Analyse der Rolle offizieller und nicht-offizieller türkisch islamischer Organisationen bei der Formierung und Expansion …

Iskandar der Prophet

Alexander the Great, conqueror, second Achilles and self-proclaimed son of a god, is one of the most prominent common heroes …

Jesuit Missions in South Asia during the 16th-18th century

Jewish Warriors in Distant Lands

Imagining the Ten Lost Tribes in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods

This project will examine Jewish, Christian, and Muslim imaginings about the ten lost tribes in conjunction with the development of …

Jews, Judaism, and their Imaginaries in Late Antique and Early Medieval Georgia

Jewish communities have existed on Georgian territory since the turn of the first and second centuries AD. Soon thereafter, in …

Katholische Missonen in der frühen Neuzeit

This book-project, tentatively entitled 'Global Catholic Missions and the Expansion of Europe, 1500-1800', will analyze the relationship between the maritime …

Komparatistik und Theorie der Religionsgeschichte

Es ist die Absicht des Projekts, anhand der Arbeiten der anderen Teilprojekte des Internationalen Kollegs tertia comparationis zu erarbeiten, auf …

Kontinuität und Transformation antiker Religionen im Christentum

Das politisch-religiöse Konzept des Christentums mit all seinen Anschlußoptionen, die in verschiedenen Epochen zunächst der europäischen Geschichte dem gesellschaftlichen und …

Late Antique Religious Literacies between the Eastern Mediterranean and North-Africa

"Late Antique Religious Literacies between the Eastern Mediterranean and North-Africa" explores how the use of books as vehicles of ideas …

Legenda Aurea

Ein religionswissenschaftlicher Kommentar

Da in der Legenda Aurea unterschiedliche Traditionsströme zusammenfließen und dabei die alt- und neutestamentlichen Apokryphen einen wichtigen Zweig der Herausbildung …

Legendary Accounts and Buddhist Monasteries

An Archaeological and Art-historical Reassessment of Ancient Buddhist Ruins in the Khotan Oasis (Xinjiang, China)

This research project aims at investigating the role of pictorial representations of Buddhist legendary accounts as possible conveyors of information …

Local Religion Meets the Ideals of the Elite

The Interplay of Rhetoric and Social Realities in Late Antiquity

The research project will focus on the interaction between the spheres of popular religiosity and the religion defined and controlled …

Mantra and Dharani in the Religious Traditions of Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism

While the great religious, philosophical and narrative works produced in India are widely known for the most part, and have …

Mapping Modern Magic(k)

Weitestgehend unterhalb des wissenschaftlichen und multimedialen Radars floriert seit einigen Jahrzehnten ein globalisierter Diskurs zeitgenössischer selbstreferentieller „Magier", die eine in …

Mapping the Global Middle Ages Through Computer Simulation

The discipline of medieval French literature has been slower than others (compared to other European languages or to fields other …

Martyrs, Mystics, and Muslims in the Medieval World

The place of martyrdom within late medieval Latin Christianity has received relatively little attention. Scholars such as James Ryan have …

Meanings and Symbology of the Sense of Smell in some Zhiguai Texts

Mission Encounter and the Formation of China’s Local Knowledge of Religion

This project situates the beginning of China's modern conception of "religion" in the context of the nineteenth-century mission encounter. Rather …

Monotheism and Globalization

Towards a Theory of Religious Expansion and Conflict

Muslims as Heretics in Spanish Medieval Sources

When the Iberian Peninsula became part of the Umayyad Caliphate in the 8th century, the response to Islam by Byzantine …

Mutual Adaptations and Borrowings in the Relationship Between Buddhism and Daoism in Medieval China

Negotiating Co-existence of the Buddhism, Vaiṣṇavism and Śaivism

An Examination of Inter-Religious Dynamics in Early Medieval Magadha

Apart from being the most powerful state formation (mahājanapada) in the early historic period, the Magadha region (situated in south …

Neues Testament und Mysterien

Dieses Projekt will nicht allein nach sprachlichen und inhaltlichen Motiven der Mysterien im Neuen Testament fragen. Es soll den Befunden …

Neuordnungen des Wissens in Korea in der Auseinandersetzung mit der "Westlichen Lehre"

Um die Perspektivbegrenzung des Religionsbegriffes westlicher Genese zu unterlaufen, unternimmt dieses Projekt, die Geschichte der koreanischen Auseinandersetzung mit dem Christentum …

Nyang ral nyi ma 'od zer's (1124-1192) Codifications of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism

Exploring texts of Nyang ral nyi ma 'od zer's seminal bKa' brgyad bde gshegs 'dus pa (Eightfold Buddha Word, …

Orthodox Christian and Islamic Anti-Westernism from a Comparative Perspective

Anti-Westernism, both in its historical and contemporary forms, is a widespread and multi-dimensional phenomenon with a variety of manifestations (e.g., …

Osiris im religiösen Feld in der späteren Kaiserzeit

My research project with the KHK investigates the cult of and discourses about Osiris in the Later Roman empire as …

Othering, Otherness, and the Other in the Avestan Texts

The project deals with an interdisciplinary study of the concept of "Othering, Otherness and the Other" in Avestan texts, especially …

Plants, Magic & Medicine in the Indian Ocean and the Work of Garcia de Orta

Luís de Camões – a debaucher, Indian Ocean rover, and Renaissance poet - was among Orta's close friends in Goa, …

Politics and Religion Between the 8th and 11th Century in Central Asia, Tibet and Song China

Portuguese Encounters with Buddhism in the 16th and 17th Centuries

The imperial and religious projects of the Portuguese in early modern Asia brought about some of the earliest sustained contacts …

Postsecularism in European and Asian Contexts

Process Anthropology

A New Methodology for the Study of “Religion”

Inspired by the religious dynamics model formulated by the KHK and drawing on work in new materialism, actor-network-theory, and science …

Re-creating Religious Tradition in Northern Iraq

The Scripturalization of Yezidi Religion

My research studies the transformation of Yezidi oral religious tradition into a bookish religion in Northern Iraq, triggered by the …

Reinheit und Unreinheit im Neuen Testament unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der "Tempelreinigungsperikope(n)" und des ersten Korintherbriefes

Das Forschungsprojekt bearbeitet neutestamentliche Reinheitskonzepte und damit verbundene Identitätskonstruktionen in literarischer, historischer, kulturanthropologischer und sozialer Hinsicht. Anhand der "Tempelreinigungsperikope" rekonstruiert …

Religion and Identity in Hungary and the Iberian Peninsula

Religion as a Culturo-Immunological System

Discussions and disputes about the reality, role and importance of analytic constructs such as ‘world-view’, ‘religious tradition’, or ‘culture’ seem …

Religion of the Third Reich

Transformation of Religion from the 19th to the 20th Century: The Innerworldly Eschatology

Drawing the basic lines of the project ‘Religion of the Third Reich’, one will soon encounter the discussion whether the …

Religiosität und religiöse Indifferenz als "zweite Natur"

Überlegungen zur Naturalisierung des Säkularisierungskonzepts

Religious Conversions between Asia and Europe

A Semiotic, Historical,and Digital Approach to Religious Contacts

This proposed research project is part of a larger ethnographic project on recent so-called mass conversions of Iranian refugees to …

Religious Encounters between Jews and Reformed Christians

The Case of Hizzuk Emunah

Hebrew anti-Christian polemical literature represents a rather rigid genre, most of the texts being written as polemical compendia where repeating …

Religious Garment in the Jesuit Mission to Japan

This project aims to analyse the use of garments in the early-modern Jesuit mission in Japan (1549-1639), both in official …

Religious Pluralism and Contention in Chosŏn Korea

After Buddhism and Confucianism were introduced to the Korean peninsula around the same time they coexisted peacefully for about a …

Religious Transfer and Cultural Diversity in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia and Beyond

Rnying ma Transmission in the Tangut Empire

The Tangut Version of the Vairocana Legend

Römische Kultur, Religion, Literatur und Kunst im Zeitalter des Augustus

Sakralisierung und Desakralisierung in der arabisch-islamischen Sprachkultur im 20. Jahrhundert

Das beantragte Teilprojekt soll die Wechselwirkungen des Säkularen und Sakralen in der arabischen Sprachkultur im 20. Jahrhundert behandeln. Ausgangspunkt ist …

Seeing, Touching, Holding, and Tasting Sacred Texts

This project focuses on ritualizations of scriptures that effect the senses of sight, touch, and taste, or, at least, kiss. …

Self-Reflection in the Transmission of the Rival’s Message

Reading Umayyah b. Abi Salt’s Poems

The project focuses on reading Umayyah’s poems and its treatment by early Muslim authors in the formative period of Islam. …

Senses and Metaphysics in Korean Confucianism

The aim of the project is to analyze the place and role of senses in the philosophical framework of Confucian …

Sensory Devotion and Inter-religious Encounters

Shared Festivals in Kerala (South India)

Sensory Devotion and Inter-religious Encounters: Shared Festivals in Kerala (South India) seeks to probe into the nature of multi-culturalism in …

Shared Sacred Landscapes and Social Forgetting in Cyprus and Turkey

This project develops the concept of social forgetting by examining its relation with changing sacred landscapes. The researcher enquires into …

Sharing Common Figures, Notions and Concepts

Moses and Children of Israel in the Stories of the Hebrew Bible/OT, the Rabbinical Midrash, the Syriac Exegesis and in the Qur’an

This project explores the question of continuity in the Abrahamic religious traditions and their common heritage. Therefore, Judaism, Christianity and …

Sinophilia, Historical Writing, and Political Propaganda in Eighteenth-century England

Thomas Gordon and his ‘Republican’ Catechism

In 1918, J.M. Bullock, who was the first person to attempt a “biographical bibliography” of Thomas Gordon (ca.1692-1750), complained that …

Spice as Soteriology

The Transcendent signification of 'bola' and 'kakkola'

A characteristic feature of Buddhism and Hinduism practised in the tantric mode is a complex metaphorical discourse, much of which …

Spuren des Monotheismus in der materiellen Kultur?

Veränderungen im religiösen Symbolsystem in der formativen Phase des vorhellenistischen Judentums in der Eisen III-Zeit und der Perserzeit

Das Projekt untersucht die Veränderungen im ikonographischen Symbolsystem Israels / Palästinas der Zeit zwischen Judas Eigenstaatlichkeit (587 v. Chr.) und …

Structure and Interpretation

A Semiotic Approach to Language and Action as a Foundation for a Theory of Religion

The project is directed at the design of an integrated theory of action and language, using the paradigm of interpretation …

Studien zur interreligiösen und interkulturellen Genese der Sunna

Reinheit und Gebet

Die leitende Hypothese, von der das Projekt zur Interkulturalität der Sunna ausgehen soll, nimmt ebenfalls eine bereits der Entstehung des …

Sufi Tariqah in Contemporary Muslim World / Naqshbandiayh Sheikhs and Ideas in Western Sumatra

The problem of studying the syncretistic religious traditions deals with transferring and preserving of ancient knowledge in Islamic mystical institutions, …

Syriac and Malayalam Sources found in India about the Period of the Early Portuguese Missions during the 16th and 17th Century

Säkularisierung und Weltlichkeit

Eine vergleichende Studie zur Begriffsgeschichte

Taming Demons

The Invention of Religion in Japan

In 1853, American warships appeared off the coast of Japan. Ultimately, the Americans forced the Japanese government to sign a …

Taoism, Meditation and the Wonders of Serenity

From Latter Han to Tang

Taoism has always emphasized mental serenity and has maintained that good effects will come about from it.  To be serene …

The Buddha and the Drum

Shamanism and Buddhism in the Himalaya

The research project deals with a specific case of religious encounter: the one between shamanism and Buddhism in the Himalayan …

The Circulation of Divinities

Modes of Borrowing in the Depiction of Pantheons

The Colours of Idolatry

Comparative Religion, Race Labelling, and Emotions in Early Modern Accounts of ‘the Religious Other’

In 1741, a bowdlerized version of Jean Frédéric Bernard and Bernard Picart’s Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples …

The Conception of the Soul in Early Medieval China

Traditional religion in China centered on offerings and sacrifice made to gods and ancestors, and the dead were assumed to …

The Concepts of “Tradition” and “Purity” in Interactions between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (late 16th – 17th centuries)

Situated on the boundary between Western and Eastern Christianity and bordering the territories controlled by the Ottomans, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was …

The Cult of Astare in Egypt

The Desert Origins of God

Experience and Materiality of Desert Cult in the Southern Levant and Northern Arabia

This research project aims to study the experience, material culture, and social background of the cultic practices of the peoples …

The Dialogical Dimension of Confucianism as a Religious Tradition

Confucianism has already been widely regarded as a religious tradition and taught at Western, if not only American, universities. But …

The Dimensions of Sound in Islam

Travelling Aesthetics

The Dimensions of Sound in Islam – Travelling Aesthetics explores the meanings and functions the Islamic religion ascribes to the …

The Emergence of Religious Pluralism in Ancient Rome

The Evolution of Religious Ideas as Symbolic Markers

During my stay at KHK I will work on the emergence and function of religious ideas as symbolic markers. I …

The Evolving of the Distinction between Transcendence and Immanence as triggered by Intra- and Interreligious Encounter

The project is connected to a new edition, (English) translation and extensive commentary of the “Records of the Western Regions” …

The Expansion of Buddhism in Central Asia

The Figure of the “Great Goddess” in the Near Eastern and Egyptian Contexts

A Nodal Point for Transfers of Conceptions of the Divine and a Paragon of Interreligious Permeability: The Export of Egyptian Hathor to the Eastern Mediterranean and its Encounter with Local Entities and Concepts, from the 3rd Millennium B.C.E. onward

The Formation of Mahāyāna Buddhism

There have been many attempts at explaining the origin, formation and early development of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Often they are characterized …

The Gospel of John and "the Jews"

The Johannine "Ιουδαιοι" Revisited

The Hellenistic Buddhism of Asia

Religious Proselytism in Intellectual History

The methodological orientation of this work takes the intercourse between Hellenism and Buddhism as a reciprocal, synchronic process of conversion …

The Impact of Central Eurasian Religious Traditions on European and Asian Religions

My research project focuses on the main Central Eurasian religious ideas, especially in connection to the comitatus relationship (the sociopolitical …

The Interchange of Western Christmas Practices with East Easian Religions

The Introduction of Liturgical Poetry into the Karaite Prayer Book

From Moses ben Abraham Dar’i to Aaron ben Joseph

The research aims to unravel the liturgical setting of Karaite liturgical poems before and simultaneously with the redaction of the …

The Labyrinth of Jericho

Between Jews and Christians, Image and Interpretation

The Labyrinth of Jericho: Between Jews and Christians, Image and Interpretation explores the widespread Medieval and early Modern manuscript tradition …

The Metaphorization of Sacrifice in Second Temple Judaism

Preliminary Mapping and Key Issues

The present research analyzes and compares various types of sacrificial metaphors found in the Hebrew Bible (especially Psalms and Prophets) …

The Modern, the Anti-Modern and the Religious

With the growing awareness of the importance of ‘religion’ in the modern world, the debate about this complex notion becomes …

The Mongol Empire and the History of Religion

The Pahlavi-Literature in Its Context

The Interreligious Contacts of Islamic and Zoroastrian Scholars in the 9th and 10th Centuries and the Genesis of the Pahlavi-Literature

The project aims to find out the motives of Zoroastrian priests in their literary production in the first centuries of …

The Power of Ritual

Medieval Esoteric Buddhism in Japan

The Prohibition and the Survival of Christianity in East Asia in a Regional Perspective (17th to 19th Century)

The Prophecies of Agaton in the Context of Other Medieval Apocalyptic Traditions

The Reception of Hindu Religious Thought in Muslim India, with a Focus on Dārā Šikōh’s Majma‘ al-baḥrayn

The process of translation of Sanskrit sources into Persian must be reckoned among the great cross-cultural enterprises of mankind. It …

The Scripture within the Scripture

Chinese Strategies for the Phagocytosis of Foreignness in “Buddho-Taoist” Texts (4th - 9th Century)

This research project intends to contribute to a better approach to the formation and development of the so-called “Buddho-Taoist” texts …

The Theatrical Space of Beliefs

Transcendence and Immanence in Roman-Catholic and Shi'a-Islam: From Napoli to Rasht

This project examines the theatrical spaces of holy graves in Shi'a Islam and Roman Catholic Christianity and the rituals connected …

The Virgin Mary and the Expansion of Spanish Christianity in the Old and New Worlds (10th - 17th Century)

This project examines the dynamics of Christian and non-Christian identities as they were expressed through the Virgin Mary in the …

The Visualization of the Dharma

New Perspectives of the Origin and the Meaning of the Jina Image and the Beginning of Jain Image Worshipping

It is remarkable, that especially from Jainism an image tradition originated, since it was said to be an ascetic order, …

The Zoroastrian Cult and Doctrine of Fire

Trade Networks and the Early Transmission of Buddhism throughout and beyond South Asia

This project addresses historical and economic contexts for the movement of Buddhism across geographical and cultural boundaries between South Asia …

Traditional Religions of the Desecularizing State

Buddhism, Christianity, and Shamanism in Post-Soviet Buriatia

Over the second half of the twentieth century Buddhism and Christianity developed from limitedly tolerated practices that contradicted Soviet modernity …

Transformation of Traditional Indigenous Religions of Siberia under Buddhist and Esoteric Influence

The project aims at studying the post-Soviet transformation of indigenous religious traditions in Tuva and Altai republics of Russian Federation. …

Transformationen buddhistischer Selbstrepräsentationen im globalen Kontext

Dieses Projekt will diese Lücke schließen. Es untersucht die Transformationsprozesse in der Selbstreflexion und der Selbstrepräsentation der Buddhisten Südostasiens während …

Typologie der Religionskontakte im Alten Testament

Im Rahmen dieses Projektes soll eine Gesamtübersicht unterschiedlicher literarischer Konstellationen von Religionskontakten im Alten Testament erarbeitet und diese einer systematischen …

Una sit religio

Die philosophische Forderung nach dem Kollektivsingular Religion bei Lull, Cusanus, Spinoza, Hamann und Herder

Aufgabe des Projektes ist eine phänomenologische Deskription eines Grundbegriffes abendländischer Argumentationsstrategien in der intellektuellen Auseinandersetzung mit anderen religiösen Traditionen. Es …

Unfulfilled Prophecy and False Prophets in the Old Testament and its Cultural Environment

Which prophetical declarations and advices will hold true? Prophecy was an important transcultural aspect of politics and power struggles in …

Veränderungen im westphönizischen "Pantheon" unter dem Einfluss der Kulturkontakte mit Griechen und Etruskern sowie der Vorherrschaft Karthagos (im 6.-4.Jh.)

Da die o.g. Phänomene noch nicht umfassend und kaum unter religionsgeschichtlichen und soziologischen Aspekten untersucht sind, soll dieses Desiderat mit …

Vom „Dach der Welt“ nach Deutschland?

Die Wahrnehmung, Aneignung und Abwehr asiatischer Spiritualitäts- und Religionsformen in Deutschlands seit den 1970er Jahren

Wechselwirkungen jüdischer, hellenistisch-römischer und christlicher Ethiken in der antiken Gesellschaft

Im Rahmen des Forschungsjahres 2008-2009 soll der Schwerpunkt der Arbeit am vorliegenden Projekt einerseits auf der Frage des sog. Todesrechts …

Westrom und Ostrom

Zwei Welten im Gespräch

When two Religious Traditions interact

A Case Study of Islam in South Asia

During these eleven centuries, Muslim theology, philosophy, mysticism, and jurisprudence had undergone enormous changes. Many schools and sects had emerged …

Zur Konstitution und Identitätslogik der klassischen normativen Systeme Chinas

Zwangsmigration und Neue Identitäten in einem vernetzten Zeitalter

Eine Fallstudie der Massenbekehrung muslimischer Flüchtlinge zum Christentum

Dieses Projekt untersucht die Zentralität der Religion in der Integration von Flüchtlingen in die deutsche Gesellschaft und konzentriert sich auf …

Ḥunayn b. Isḥāq und Ādāb al-falāsifa im Kontext

Die frühe Abbāsidenzeit als Zeitalter der Übersetzung

Ādāb al-falāsifa, eine Anthologie der gnomischen Weisheit, die Ḥunayn b. Isḥāq (d. 260/973) zugeschrieben wird, zählt zu den erfolgreichsten …

‘Religion’, ‘Religions’, ‘Religiosity’ and the Hindu-Catholic Encounter in Goa

‘You Are Twinned with the Spirit’

Re-reading a Christian Non-Canonical Text in Light of Jewish, Eastern-Christian, Manichaean Practices and Scriptures

This project deals with a less known Christian non-canonical  writing, mainly known as Revelation of the Magi (Landau 2008). The …