EXC 2060:  Religion and Politics: Dynamics of Belonging and Non-Belonging

• Subject Area: Theology ; Ancient Cultures ; History ; Jurisprudence ; Social and Cultural Anthropology, Non-European Cultures, Jewish Studies and Religious Studies ; Social Sciences
• Term: since 2019
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 390726036

Since its inception in 2007, our Cluster of Excellence has turned the University of Münster into an international hub for outstanding interdisciplinary research on the relationship between religion and politics across epochs, cultures and world regions. The focus of our inquiries on the interrelation between religion and politics in the next funding period will be on the dynamics of belonging and non-belonging. Belonging denotes a socially significant relationship of “being part of”, “linking oneself to”, or “being associated with” an entity, be it a community or a place, or be it an ethnic group, a religious community, God, gods or goddess(es). Belonging and non-belonging are in a dynamic interplay. We are going to focus on four of these dynamics: the dynamics of making salient and leaving implicit, of claiming and denying, of integrating and fragmenting, and of exploiting and recognising belonging and non-belonging. We will study these dynamics and their entanglements with religion and politics in a trans-epochal way, ranging from Ancient Egypt to the present day, and in an interdisciplinary manner encompassing 25 disciplines from the humanities, law and the social sciences. In the next funding period, we will adopt a more comprehensive perspective on the diversity of religious phenomena than before by taking into account alternative forms of religiosity, such as esoteric practices or conspiracy theories, because dealing with such phenomena opens new perspectives on belonging and non-belonging which enhance the Cluster’s well-established focus on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In order to overcome Western biases regarding constructions of belonging and non-belonging, we will expand the regional focus of our work. While Europe and the Mediterranean world, including the Middle East, have been the pivotal regions of our research programme thus far, we will strengthen our engagement with sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, and include case studies from Eastern and South-East Asia in our research. With the new Campus of Theology and Religious Studies opening in 2025, the University of Münster will create a unique environment for our Cluster in which exchange between scholarly traditions from different religious backgrounds and non-denominational research on religion is facilitated. The new campus will host one of the world’s largest research libraries devoted to religion. We are going to benefit from this infrastructure to internationalise the Cluster’s research further and to establish a Centre for Advanced Studies on Religion and Politics as a pioneer project within the strategy of the University of Münster to found an Advanced Research College (ARC).

• DFG Programme: Clusters of Excellence (ExStra)
• Applicant Institution: Universität Münster
• Participating Institution: Ruhr-Universität Bochum; Technische Universität Dortmund; Universität Duisburg-Essen
• Spokespersons: Professor Dr. Wolfram Drews, since 2/2026; Professorin Dr. Ines Michalowski, until 1/2026; Professor Dr. Michael Seewald, until 1/2026
• Participating Researchers: Professorin Dr. Svenja Ahlhaus; Professor Dr. Thomas Bauer; Professor Dr. Hans Beck; Professorin Dr. Eve-Marie Becker; Professor Dr. Philip Bockholt; Professorin Dr. Franziska Dübgen; Professorin Dr. Dina El Omari; Professorin Dr. Regina Grundmann; Professor Dr. Nils Jansen; Professor Dr. Mouhanad Khorchide; Professorin Dr. Kristin Kleber; Professorin Dr. Angelika Lohwasser; Professorin Dr. Ulrike Ludwig; Professorin Dr. Silke Mende; Professor Dr. Christophe Nihan; Professor Dr. Thorsten Quandt; Professorin Dr. Astrid Reuter; Professor Dr. Bernd Schlipphak; Professorin Dorothea E. Schulz, Ph.D.; Professorin Dr. Ricarda Vulpius; Professor Dr. Hinnerk Wißmann; Professor Dr. Hubert Wolf