GRK 1553:  Religious Nonconformism and Cultural Dynamics

• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology, Non-European Cultures, Jewish Studies and Religious Studies
• Term: from 2009 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 82142759

The Research Training Group combines research projects on religious nonconformism in different geographical areas and historical periods. “Religious nonconformism“ is understood as behaviour or belief, which deviates from a society’s dominating religion(s) and thus is sanctioned negatively. Indicators for such negative sanctions are instances of social or judicial discrimination, repression or persecution. Religious nonconformism in the shape of prophecy (as discussed by Max Weber), heresy, sects or discriminated religious minorities occurs in every complex society.
The central thesis of the Research Training Group is that religious nonconformism is not just some arbitrary deviation from concepts of meaning and ways of life in a given society but an essential element of the religious field. Religious nonconformism constitutes a potential resource of alternative meaning and orientation and is, therefore, an element of cultural tension and dynamics. The Research Training Group is arranged along three lines of interest: (1) the tension between religious nonconformism and conformity, i.e. the dominant forms of (religious) orientations and ways of life. More or less, this tension results in conflicts ranging from discrimination to suppression on the one side and from verbal disapproval to violent rebellion on the other; (2) the innovative potential and the transforming dynamics of religious nonconformism; (3) the social structure, the interconnectedness and the (self-)representation of nonconformist groups and milieus.
The Research Training Group places the analysis of religious nonconformism within an interdisciplinary and comparative framework. The cooperation between comparative religion, area studies, historical disciplines and the social sciences provides an academic environment, which offers the doctoral students an opportunity to pursue and discuss their research in a comprehensive trans-cultural and theoretical context. The educational concept of the Research Training Group combines the supervision and training of the doctoral candidates on a high academic level with their deep involvement in a corporate interdisciplinary research project. It thus provides a significant surplus compared to traditional forms of doctoral training and supervision within the limits of a single academic discipline.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Universität Leipzig
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Hubert Seiwert
• Participating Researchers: Professorin Dr. Angelika Berlejung; Professor Dr. Klaus Fitschen; Privatdozent Dr. Thomas Hase; Professor Dr. Adam Jones; Professorin Dr. Catharina Kiehnle; Professorin Dr. Verena Klemm; Professor Dr. Manfred Rudersdorf; Professor Dr. Per K. Sørensen; Professorin Dr. Monika Wohlrab-Sahr