Office hours by appointment (please e-mail me)

Religion and Economy: Relationship between these two socially differentiated yet intertwined spheres, including from the perspective of the sociolgy of religion, history of religion, and economics

Religion and Modernity: religious authority and religious social forms; processes of institutionalization and differentiation

Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity: Worldwide growth, especially in Global South, as connected to social forms and religious worldview/beliefs/practices

Christianity in the USA: Evangelicals and Mainline Protestants; Latter-Day Saints (Mormons); American religion in the 20th century

Qualitative methods od data collection and analysis: interviews, observation, coding/categorizing, Grounded Theory, text/image sequence analysis, qualitative content analysis, discourse analysis

Since April 2022: Senior lecturer for the Sociology of Religion

April 2021 - March 2022: Interim Professor Study of Religions

January 2021 - March 2021: Academic Councilor

November 2019 - December 2020: Scientific Coordinator of the Graduate School Religious Plurality and Its Regulation in the Region (RePliR)

since April: 2017 Associate Editor of Entangled Religions, Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Religious Contact and Transfer

September 2016 - November 2019: Research associate at CERES

April – August 2016: Researcher and Lecturer, John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin

March 2016: Dr. phil., Sociology (summa cum laude), Graduate School of North American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Dissertation: Community and Individual in Late Modern Religion: Mainline Protestantism Between Tradition and Innovation. The Case of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

February 2013 – May 2015: Empirical research in Minnesota and Wisconsin, USA

October 2012 - March 2016: Doctoral Candidate at the Graduate School of North American
Studies, Freie Universität Berlin

December 2011 - September 2012: Office management, Department of Southeast Asian Studies,
Institute for Asian and African Studies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

April 2010 - November 2011: Public Affairs Consultant, dimap communications Berlin

June 2009 - March 2010: Event management assistant, Training for International
Diplomats, Auswärtiges Amt Berlin

February 2008 - May 2009: Freelance journalist

January 2008: M.A. (Magistra Artium), English Language and Literature, Political Science, Cultural Anthropology, University of Trier, Germany
M.A. Thesis: Images of the Self and Other in Chinese Canadian Literature

August – October 2007: Research stay at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

October 2006: Ethnographic methods training with the department of Cultural Anthropology at the University of Trier, Germany, in Vietnam

Summer semester 2025:

• Religion in the Urban Environment (MA/BA guided research project seminar)
• Religion and Nationalism (BA/MA seminar)
• Religion in Modernity: Europe, North America, the Middle East (MA/BA lecture)
• Einführung in Methoden der Religionswissenschaft (BA Seminar)

Winter Semester 2024/25

• "American Megachurches and their Self-Representation Online", B.A./M.A. seminar
• "Ringvorlesung Einführung in Religiöse Traditionen", B.A.-Vorlesung
• "Religion in der Moderne: Europa, Nordamerika, der Nahe Osten", B.A.-Vorlesung
• "Qualitative Empirical Methods in the Social Scientific Study of Religion", B.A./M.A. seminar

Summer Semester 2024

• "Transnational African Pentecostalism in Germany: Conducting Qualitative Research in Churches in the Ruhr Area", M.A. applied methods course (Lehrforschungsseminar)
• "Faith and the Vote: Religion in American Politics", B.A./M.A. seminar

Winter Semester 2023/24

• “The Christian Right in the USA: Conservative Religion Meets the Republican Party”, B.A./M.A. seminar
• "Religion in Modernity: Europe, North America, the Middle East", B.A./M.A. lecture
• "Qualitative Empirical Methods in the Social Scientific Study of Religion", B.A./M.A. seminar

Summer Semester 2023

• "The Black Church in Past and Present: African American Christianity as a Multidimensional Religious Tradition", B.A./M.A. seminar
• "Einführung in qualitative Methoden der Religionsforschung", B.A.-Seminar

Winter Semester 2022/23

• “Lehrforschungsseminar Religionsökonomie”, B.A.-/M.A.-Lehrforschungsseminar
• "American Mormons: An Introduction", B.A./M.A. seminar
• "Qualitative Empirical Methods in the Social Scientific Study of Religion", B.A./M.A. seminar

Summer Semester 2022

• “Einführung in die Religionsökonomie”, B.A.-/M.A.-Seminar
• "Religion in Modernity: Europe, North America, the Middle East", B.A./M.A. lecture

Winter Semester 2021/22

• "Global Charismatic Christianity", B.A./M.A. seminar
• "Theories and Approaches in the Social Scientific Study of Religion", B.A./M.A. seminar
• "Qualitative Empirical Methods in the Social Scientific Study of Religion", B.A./M.A. seminar
• Kolloquium B.A./M.A.

Summer Semester 2021

• "American Evangelicalism Yesterday and Today", B.A./M.A. seminar
• “Theorien und Ansätze der Religionswissenschaft“, B.A.-Seminar
• "Einführung in qualitative Methoden der Religionsforschung", B.A.-Seminar
• Kolloquium B.A./M.A.

Winter Semester 2020/21

• "Religion in Modernity: Europe, North America, the Middle East", B.A./M.A. lecture

Summer Semester 2020

• "Religion und Gender - Schlaglichter auf religionsgeschichtliche und gegenwärtige Transformationsprozesse", B.A.-/M.A.-Seminar

Summer Semester 2019

• "Religiöse Autorität Online und Offline in Christentum und Islam", B.A.-/M.A.-Seminar
• "Religion in der Moderne: Europa, Nordamerika, der Nahe Osten", B.A.-Vorlesung

Winter Semester 2018/19

• „Religionsökonomische Ansätze in der Religionswissenschaft“, B.A.-/M.A.-Seminar
• „Charismatische Religionen in den USA und Westeuropa: theoretische und empirische Herangehensweisen“, B.A.-/M.A.-Lehrforschungsseminar (Universität Münster)

Summer Semester 2018

• „Mapping Religion: Kartierung charismatischer Kirchen im Ruhrgebiet“, B.A.-/M.A.-Lehrforschungsseminar
• „Amerikanische Megakirchen aus religionswissenschaftlicher und theologischer Perspektive“, B.A.-/M.A.-Seminar

Winter Semester 2017/18

• "Faith and the Vote: Religion in American Politics", B.A./M.A seminar
• "Religion in der Moderne: Europa, Nordamerika, der Nahe Osten", B.A.-Vorlesung

Summer Semester 2017

• „‘Made in the U.S.A.‘: Charismatische amerikanische Religionen und ihre Verbreitung in Nordrhein-Westfalen“, B.A.-/M.A.-Lehrforschungsseminar

Winter Semester 2016/17

• "On the Right End of the Spectrum: Conservative Religion in Contemporary America", M.A. seminar
• „Die amerikanische Religionslandschaft im 21. Jahrhundert”, B.A.-Seminar

Summer Semester 2016

• “Community and Individual in American Society”, M.A. seminar (Freie Universität Berlin)
• “When Religion Returns Home – Charismatic American Faith in Contemporary Germany”, M.A. seminar (Freie Universität Berlin)

Winter Semester 2015/16

• “Evangelicals, Mainliners, and Black Protestants: Varieties of Protestant Faith in America Yesterday and Today”, B.A. seminar (Freie Universität Berlin)

Winter Semester 2014/15

• “American Protestantism in the 21st Century – Changes and Continuities”, B.A. seminar (Freie Universität Berlin)

Selected Presentations

• August 2025: “The United States a Christian Nation? Fundamentalist Evangelical Political Engagement under Donald Trump.” XXIII International Association for the History of Religions World Congress, Krakow, Poland.
• July 2025: “Marketization Processes in Pentecostal-Charismatic Megachurches: The Transformation of Social Forms of Religion in United States Christianity.” 38^th Conference of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion, Kaunas, Lithuania.
• May 2025: “Conservative Evangelicals and the Christian Right in the USA during Donald Trump’s Second Presidential Term.” Inaugural lecture, Department of Social Sciences, Ruhr University Bochum
• February 2025: “Religions as economic players in the spiritual marketplace: Producing, selling, funding – and profit-making?” (invited keynote). Workshop Managing Sufi Lodges and Shrines: An Exploratory Approach Towards a Contribution to Religion and the Economy, Universität der Bundeswehr München
• May 2024: “Neopentecostal Prosperity Theologies and the Marketization of Religion: The Immanentization of Salvation” (invited). Workshop The History of Religion(s) as the History of Transformation, Université Fribourg, Switzerland
• April 2024 - "(Neo-)Pentecostal Megachurches: Prosperity Theologies and the Marketization of Religion." Symposium "'Jesus is Victor!' Evangelical Theologies from Social Scientific and Psychology of Religion Perspectives," Ruhr University Bochum.
• September 2023 - "Authors Meet Critics: Lehrbuch Religionsökonomie", with Kianoosh Rezania. XXXV. Conference of the German Association for Religious Studies, Bayreuth.
• March 2023 - "Social Forms of Religion in Charismatic Christianity: Introduction and Overview." Conference Social Forms of Religion in American Christianity Yesterday and Today, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany.
• May 2022 - "Social Forms in Global Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity: A Key to Understanding Its Growth?" Digital workshop Mapping Religious Studies, hosted by the German Association for Religious Studies.
• March 2021 - "Joel Osteen's Prosperity Gospel and the Enduring Popularity of America's 'Smiling Preacher'." Conference Speaking to God and the World - Ritual and Social Dynamics of Religious Speech, Humboldt University Berlin and Max Planck Institute for Human Development Tübingen
• Sep 2020 - "Change of Religious Social Forms in American Mainline Protestantism: The Example of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America." Research Cloud Competition of Religious Social Forms Workshop, Excellency Cluster Religion and Politics, University of Münster
• Nov 2019 - "Religion and Popular Culture in American Lutheranism as Compared to Conservative Evangelicalism." Sociology of Religion Section of the German Association for Sociology, Annual Conference Religion and Popular Culture. Institute for Sociology, Technical University Berlin.
• Mar 2019 - "Gospels of Prosperity and Simplicity. Explaining Variation in the Protestant Moral Economy", Working Group Religion and Economy Workshop Religion and Property. Center for Religious Studies, Ruhr-Universität Bochum.
• Feb 2019 - "Religious Authority and the Self-Representation of Neoconservative German Christians Online", Interdisciplinary Conference Internet, Authority, and Religious Contact. Center for Religious Studies, Ruhr-Universität Bochum.
• Sep 2018 - "Religiöser Wandel durch glokale Innovation: Der Fall der Vineyard Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz", 39th Congress of the German Sociological Association (DGS): Komplexe Dynamiken globaler und lokaler Entwicklungen, Göttingen.
• Sep 2018 - "Neo-Charismatics in Germany and Switzerland: On the Periphery of Organized Christianity", Public Lecture at the the University of Missouri's Religious Studies Department, Springfield (USA).
• Sep 2017 - “Modes of Reflexivity and Religious Communication.” EASR 2017 Annual Conference: Communicating Religion. Leuven, Belgium.
• Aug 2017 - “The Morphogenesis of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.” 112th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association: Culture, Inequalities, and Social Inclusion Across the Globe, Montréal, Canada.
• Oct 2016 - “Shifts in American Protestantism and the Changing U.S. Religious Landscape.” Interdisciplinary Conference Still “God’s Own Country”? Religion and the 2016 American Presidential Elections, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
• Sep 2016 - “Organisatorischer Wandel in rückläufigen religiösen Organisationen in den USA: Spätmoderne Veränderungsprozesse im Mainline Protestantism.“ 38th Congress of the German Association for Sociology (DGS): Geschlossene Gesellschaften, Bamberg.
• Apr 2015 - “Liturgical Traditionalism and Spiritual Vitality. Transforming Congregational Practices in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.” Fifth International Conference on Religion and Spirituality in Society: Social Movements and Faith, Berkeley, CA.
• Jan 2015 - “Structure, Agency, and Social Change: Margaret Archer’s Theory of Analytical Dualism and Morphogenesis.” Graduate Colloquium Sociology, John-F.-Kennedy-Institute for North America Studies, Free University Berlin.
• Jul 2014 - “The Emerging Church Movement in the USA as a Critical Response to the Neoliberalization of Religious Organizations.” XVIII ISA World Congress of Sociology: Facing an Unequal World. Challenges for Global Sociology. Yokohama, Japan.
• Dec 2013 - “The Emerging Church Movement in the USA as a Critique of 20th Century American Religion.” 4th Annual Graduate Conference of the Cluster of Excellence "The Formation of Normative Orders": Practices of Critique. Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main.
• Aug 2013 - “What's So ‘Evangelical’ About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America? How Local Innovations and Emerging Church Currents are Transforming the ELCA as a Mainline Institution.” 75th Annual Meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion: Tributaries, Eddies, and Cross-Currents: Religion Outside the Mainstream, New York.

Public scholarship (selection):

Tagesspiegel.de, August 11, 2025: “’Meine Sünde trennt mich von Gott‘: Wenn Fußballstarts zu Missionaren werden“, https://www.tagesspiegel.de/sport/meine-sunde-trennt-mich-von-gott-wenn-fussballstars-zu-missionaren-werden-14154281.html (online newspaper interview on conservative Evangelical gender norms in professional soccer)

BürgerUniversität Coesfeld, June 18, 2025: “Verflechtungen von Religion und Wirtschaft“, https://video.fernuni-hagen.de/Play/29915 (public scholarship lecture on the relationship of religion and the economy)

Brust Raus, June 2, 2025: “Bin ich in einer Sekte großgeworden?“, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPrL1MDlP84 (online contribution on Evangelical churches and „sect-like“ structures)

NRWision, May 26, 2025: “Wer glaubt, wird selig - Christlicher Fundamentalismus: Glaube und Ausstieg“, https://www.nrwision.de/mediathek/wer-glaubt-wird-selig-christlicher-fundamentalismus-glaube-und-ausstieg-250526/ (online documentary on Christian fundamentalists in Germany; also available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COVsAwmnN4k&t=7s)

Tagesschau.de, May 21, 2025: „Religiöse Fußball-Influencer für Evangelikale“, https://www.tagesschau.de/faktenfinder/kontext/religioese-fussball-influencer-100.html (online newspaper interview on Evangelical influencers in German professional soccer)

ARD, November 10, 2024: “Kulturkampf um den Widerstandskämpfer: Die evangelikale Rechte in den USA vereinnahmt Bonhoeffer“, https://www.daserste.de/information/wissen-kultur/ttt/sendung/Kampf-um-Bonhoeffer-100.html (television interview on the Evangelical Right and Trump’s reelection)

Deutschlandfunk, November 4, 2024: “Donald Trump und die Evangelikalen: ‚Make America Pray Again‘“, https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/donald-trump-und-die-evangelikalen-make-america-pray-again-dlf-698be9d9-100.html (radio interview on White Supremacy and the Christian Righ

WDR3, October 31, 2024: „US-Wahlen: Der Einfluss der Evangelikalen und Religiösen Rechten“, https://www1.wdr.de/mediathek/audio/wdr3/wdr3-mosaik/audio-us-wahlen-der-einfluss-der-evangelikalen-und-religioesen-rechten-100.html (radio interview on Evangelicals and the Religious Right on US presidential elections)

Hr2-Kultur, October 18, 2024: „Trump und die Evangelikalen: Wie aus frommen Christen eine radikale politische Bewegung wurde“, https://www.hr2.de/podcasts/camino/trump-und-die-evangelikalen-wie-aus-frommen-christen-eine-radikale-politische-bewegung-wurde,podcast-episode-135532.html (podium discussion on Evangelicalism as a radical political movement)

RTL News / „Voice of Washington”, September 26, 2024: “Trump als Gottgesandter: Die große Macht der Evangelikalen in den USA“, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiYjLqSRTVM (video interview on Evangelical support for Trump as „God-sent“

RBB24 Inforadio, April 14, 2024: "Erfolg: Was einige Glaubensgemeinschaften so unwiderstehlich macht", https://www.inforadio.de/rubriken/debatte/das-forum/2024/04/religion-glaubensgemeinschaft-mitglieder-kirche-mitgliederschwund.html (Podium discussion on success of Evangelical churches, German)

DLF Kultur, October 15, 2023: „Der Heilige Geist kennt keine Hierarchien“ (Kirsten Dietrich), https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/der-heilige-geist-kennt-keine-hierarchien-autoritaet-in-evangelikalen-kirchen-dlf-kultur-807e788d-100.html (radio interview on authority in Evangelicalism, German)

WDR 5, October 8, 2023: “Essen: Festival Billy Graham Evangelical Association” in Diesseits von Eden (Christina-Maria Purkert), https://www1.wdr.de/mediathek/audio/wdr5/wdr5-diesseits-von-eden-ganze-sendung/index.html (radio interview on Billy Graham Evangelical Association, German)

DLF Kultur, September 25, 2022: “Wunderglaube im Evangelikalismus“ (Kirsten Dietrich), https://ceres.rub.de/de/aktuelles/beitrag-im-deutschlandfunk-kultur-am-sonntag-25092022/ (radio interview on belief in miracles in Evangelicalism, German)

Planet Wissen (ARD/SWR/WDR), 2. Februar 2021: „Religiöse Bewegungen: Evangelikale Christen“ (Udo Feist), https://www.planet-wissen.de/kultur/religion/jenseits_der_traditionellen_kirchen/evangelikale-christen-100.html (radio interview on conservative Evangelicals as a religious movement)

Classical Ideas Podcast, September 16, 2019: “Ep 133: Charismatic Religions and the Vineyard Movement w/ Dr. Maren Freudenberg”, https://classicalideaspodcast.libsyn.com/ep-133-charismatic-religions-and-the-vineyard-movement-w-dr-maren-freudenberg (podcast interview on neo-charismatic Vineyard Church, English)

Memberships

• German Association for Sociology (DGS), Sociology of Religion Section
• European Association for the Study of Religion (EASR)
• International Society for the Sociology of Religion (ISSR)
• German Association for Religious Studies (DVRW)
• Working Group Evangelical, Pentecostal, and Charismatic Movements of the DVRW
• European Research Network on Global Pentecostalism (GloPent)