Project Details
Projekt
Israel-related identity constructions of Christian-Neo-Charismatic organisations
Applicant
Dr. Hans-Ulrich Probst
Subject Area
Protestant Theology
Term
since 2025
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 555736334
The focus of this empirical research is on philo-Semitic and Christian-Zionist Israel-related identity constructions in selected Evangelical-Neocharismatic communities in German-speaking contexts. Such constructions will be made visible and analysed in a qualitative-empirical project through an ethnographic reconstruction and reflection of religious practices, discursive formations and social interactions. The analysis of Israel-related identity constructions will focus on various phenomena of human differentiation. Identity constructions of a neo-charismatic We-group, the image of Judaism and Israel projected there, and other recognisable human categorisations (gender, nationality, religious affiliation) will also be reconstructed and analysed. The project is informed by research findings from the US context, but refrains from simply highlighting similarities and differences between the two different religious-cultural contexts. Rather, the aim is to develop an independent practical-theological reflection on Israel-related identity constructions in neo-charismatic evangelicalism for the German-speaking contexts. Part of this examination will be on forms of political mobilisation and socio-political alliances with the extreme right, as they have been emphasised for Israel-related activities of Evangelicalism in the US context. For this practical-theological research, publications of neo-charismatic-evangelical communities will be used on the one hand; on the other, Israel-related events of these communities (church services, evangelically oriented Jewish festivals, Israel congresses, demonstrations against anti-Semitism) will be ethnographically analyzed by drawing on heuristics from practive theory. The aim is to develop an empirically saturated grounded theory of Israel-related identity constructions in the Evangelical-Neocharismatic context for it provides important insights for practical theology and empirical research in religion. The results will also be brought into conversation with research on anti-Semitism and right-wing extremism in the field of social and political sciences. Thus, the research project will not only fill an obvious research gap but also offer an important transfer between practical theology and the research on right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
