Divine property: Solutions from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (A01)

• Subject Area: Religious Studies and Jewish Studies
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 424638267

The project explores various historical and conceptual foundations underlying the structural change of and through property. It is based on the hypothesis that ancient practices such as sacrificial offerings, prayer and pilgrimage, and theories attributing property rights to gods had far-reaching consequences: they provided a context in which to experiment with the concept of property, encouraged reflection on ownership structures, and turned ownership and the renunciation thereof into key aspects of religious practice. By analysing diachronic sources, the project explores the internal dynamism of that hypothesis and its contribution to the development of property as a concept.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 294: Strukturwandel des Eigentums
• Applicant Institution: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Jörg Rüpke; Professor Dr. Markus Vinzent