Project Details
Projekt
EXC 212: Religion and Politics in Pre-Modern and Modern Cultures
Subject Area
History
Term
from 2007 to 2018
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 39235621
Seen from the perspective of the "post-secular age", the relationship between politics and religion appears in a completely new light. Following upon the far-reaching deconstruction of the historical "master narratives" of modernisation and secularisation, the historical cultural sciences (in the broadest sense) face the challenge of adapting to the new situation in order to help clarify and deal with contemporary problems. We take it for granted that, in order to accurately evaluate present-day developments, the historical long-term perspective and the diachronic examination of various cultures will also be indispensable in the future. But to this end, historical questions of comparative religion must be expanded and newly formulated, and traditional process categories based upon the Christian West need to be reconsidered.
Starting from the interdisciplinary experiences gathered from new approaches to the cultural sciences at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Muenster, the cluster of excellence will bring together the existing capabilities in the departments of history, theology, law and social and cultural sciences. This will enable a readjustment of the relationships between religion and politics in various pre-modern and modern cultures. The goal is to expand the horizon of possibilities for evaluating present-day problems through a more precise understanding of pre-modern structures and, moreover, to enter into discussion with a broader public.
The area of investigation extends from pagan, Jewish and Christian antiquity through the Jewish, Christian and Islamic Middle Ages and the religious pluralisation in the early modern period up to the present. To structure this area systematically, we will direct our interest to four dimensions in which the relationship between religious and political community can be described historically and comparatively:
(1) Normativity,
(2) Staging,
(3) Integrative procedures,
(4) Violence.
Starting from the interdisciplinary experiences gathered from new approaches to the cultural sciences at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Muenster, the cluster of excellence will bring together the existing capabilities in the departments of history, theology, law and social and cultural sciences. This will enable a readjustment of the relationships between religion and politics in various pre-modern and modern cultures. The goal is to expand the horizon of possibilities for evaluating present-day problems through a more precise understanding of pre-modern structures and, moreover, to enter into discussion with a broader public.
The area of investigation extends from pagan, Jewish and Christian antiquity through the Jewish, Christian and Islamic Middle Ages and the religious pluralisation in the early modern period up to the present. To structure this area systematically, we will direct our interest to four dimensions in which the relationship between religious and political community can be described historically and comparatively:
(1) Normativity,
(2) Staging,
(3) Integrative procedures,
(4) Violence.
DFG Programme
Clusters of Excellence
Applicant Institution
Universität Münster
Participating Institution
University of Copenhagen
Centre for the Study of the Cultural Heritage of Medieval Rituals; Princeton University
Department of History; Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA)
Facultad de Derecho; Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies; Stanford University
The Europe Center; The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)
Centre for the Study of the Cultural Heritage of Medieval Rituals; Princeton University
Department of History; Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA)
Facultad de Derecho; Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies; Stanford University
The Europe Center; The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)
Spokespersons
Professor Dr. Detlef Pollack; Professorin Dr. Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger, until 3/2015
Participating Researchers
Professor Dr. Reinhard Achenbach; Professorin Dr. Helene Basu; Professor Dr. Thomas Bauer; Professor Dr. Wolfram Drews; Professor Dr. Karl A.E. Enenkel; Professor Dr. Peter Funke; Professor Dr. Thomas Großbölting; Professorin Dr. Regina Grundmann; Professor Dr. Thomas Gutmann; Professor Dr. Johannes Hahn; Professorin Dr. Marianne Heimbach-Steins; Professorin Dr. Silke Hensel; Professor Dr. Nils Jansen; Professor Dr. Mouhanad Khorchide; Professorin Dr. Angelika Lohwasser; Professor Dr. Peter Oestmann; Professor Dr. Ulrich Pfister; Professor Dr. Michael Quante; Professor Dr. Hans-Richard Reuter; Professor Dr. Marco Schöller; Professorin Dr. Martina Wagner-Egelhaaf; Professor Dr. Ulrich Willems; Professor Dr. Hubert Wolf
