Projects

DFG Research Group “Transformation of Religion in the Modern Age”

Religion and Society in the Second Half of the 20th Century

The relations between religion and modernity are highly ambivalent. Whereas the previously dominant secularization paradigm had described the loss of …

Graduate School RePliR

Regulating Religious Plurality in the Region

The interdisciplinary graduate school Religiöse Pluralität und ihre Regulierung in der Region (RePliR) focusses on the impact of religious pluralisation …

Iconic Religion

How Imaginaries of Religious Encounter Structure Urban Space

Within ongoing processes of religious pluralisation across Europe, materialized religion, in the form of icons in public space, has been …

Jews and Christians in the East

Strategies of Interaction between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean

The encounters and interactions between Jews and Christians in the Middle East, Ethiopia, India and the Caucasus, which have hitherto …

Käte Hamburger Kolleg

Dynamics in the History of Religions between Asia and Europe

The Käte Hamburger Center Dynamics in the History of Religions between Asia and Europe, headed by Prof. Dr. Volkhard …

Modelling Topics and Structures of Religious Online Communication

The project addresses two main questions: What are the structures of religious communication in online contexts, and how do religious …

NFDI4Memory

Consortium initiative for the historically oriented disciplines

NFDI4Memory is one of several consortia within Germany that will jointly manage the creation of a long-term and sustainable research …

NORFACE Project on Religious Diversity

Prior to this research project, the research on religious pluralism in North Rhine-Westphalia had conducted the first comprehensive survey of …

Plureligion Network

Unlike the United States, European countries hardly look back on centuries of religious diversity. Questions like how to encourage a …

Religion and Labor

For a long time Japanese companies were recognized as innovative role models for their western counterparts. High productivity, low absenteism …

Scientific Network on the Relationship Between Religious Minorities and Majorities

Over a period of three years, the network, which is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), will investigate how …

Semantic and Social Network Analysis as a Means to Study Religious Contact (SeNeReKo)

SeNeReKo is a joint research project of the Center for Religious Studies (CERES) at Ruhr University Bochum and the Trier …

The Ten Lost Tribes

A Cross-Cultural Approach

The project, The Ten Lost Tribes: Cross-Cultural Perspective, sponsored by the German-Israel Foundation (GIF), brings together scholars from Germany …

Tradition and Redaction in the Book of Numbers and Their Impact on the Formation Process of the Pentateuch

The biblical Book of Numbers (the so called Fourth Book of Moses) is the result of long-lasting and multifaceted redactional …

An Enquiry into the Development of the Dzogchen Tradition in the Commentaries of the Tibetan Scholar Nubchen Sangye Yeshe (10th Century)

The Tibetan scholar Nubchen Sangye Yeshe (10th century) was an influential figure in Tibet’s intellectual history, who played a …

BuddhistRoad

Dynamics in Buddhist Networks in Eastern Central Asia 6th to 14th Centuries

The objective of the research project Buddhist Road is to create a new framework to enable understanding of the complexities …

DiGA

Digitization of Gandhāran Art

The DiGA project will digitize (2D and 3D) and catalogue a corpus of 1,791 Buddhist sculptures from Gandhara currently kept …

Digital Edition of al-Samarqandī’s ʿAyn al-Naẓar

The ʿAyn al-Naẓar is a treatise by Shams al-Dīn al-Samarqandī (d. 722/1322) on certain logical elements of Islamic dialectical disputation …

Digitization of Gandharan Artefacts

The project DiGA (Digitization of Gandharan Artefacts) proposes to conceptualise the digitization of a corpus of Buddhist sculptures …

Dynamics of Text Corpora and Image Programs

Representations of Buddhist Narratives along the Silk Route

The network of long distance trade routes through Central Asia designated by Ferdinand von Richthofen as "Silk Road" have provided …

EMPATHIA³ - Research Network

Empowering Police Officers and Teachers in Arguing Against Antisemitism

EMPATHIA³ is unique research network of five partners from six institutions in Germany. The name of the network stands for …

Einsichten in die Traditionsbildungsprozesse im tibetischen Buddhismus

Langtitel "Einsichten in die Traditionsbildungsprozesse bei den bka' brgynd pas, basierend auf einem Manuskript von 'Jig rten gsum mgons dGongs …

How Sasanian Science and Literature passed on to the Muslims

A Reassessment of Cultural Transfer by Translation in Late Antiquity

This project aims to challenge the paradigmatic notion “Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement.” This labeling is a byproduct of research conducted during …

Humboldt Research Award

Tibetologist Dr. Jan-Ulrich Sobisch has received the Humboldt Award for a research fellowship. During his fellowship between November 2017 and …

INCENTER

EntanglINg CENTERs: Religious, cultural and political interactions between the Khitan Empire, the Chinese Song Dynasty, the Tangut Empire and local Tibetan rulers between the 10th and 13th centuries

This research project deals with the contacts and exchanges between different centers of power coexisting in pre-modern Asia during a …

Interreligious Activities and Municipal Governance in the Ruhr Area

The project deals with interreligious activities and religious encounter in the Ruhr area. Since the topography of religious diversity in …

Islamic Theology at German Universities

An Empirical Research on Islamic Experts in Germany

Linked Data Methodologies in Gandhāran Buddhist Art and Texts

The working group brings together scholars, curators, and Digital Humanities specialists around the theme of Linked Data Methodologies applied to …

Metaphors of Conversion in Latin Late Antiquity

This project is the first extensive study on conversion metaphors for Latin Late Antiquity. Using cognitive-linguistic metaphor theories and model …

Nyang ral's Codification of rNying ma Literature and Ritual

A Study of Tibetan Sources for the Formation of Tibetan Buddhism (10th to 12th Centuries)

The 12th century marked a watershed in the formation of Tibetan religion, from which emerged its forms familiar to us today. …

Pictorial Reception of Myths in the Middle Ages and the Art-Historiographical Discourse about Epochs

This project intends to analyse a fundamental explanatory model of modern art historiography, to investigate its validity and to discuss …

RediCon

Religion – Digitality – Confessionality

Printed books, radio, television, and the internet – in the past, Christians have often innovatively used new media to spread …

RelSAT

Religious Space, Atmospheres, and the Transcendent

Social atmospheres are omnipresent in everyday life. They characterise social situations and interactions and depend on individuals as well as …

Religious Arguments in Legal and Juridical Discourse

Modern pluralistic societies are characterised by citizens of different religious backgrounds and affiliations, that influence their political attitudes and decisions. …

Religious Diversity in North Rhine-Westphalia

Die Pluralisierung der religiösen Mitgliedschaften und Angebote gehört zu den wichtigsten Strukturmerkmalen moderner Gesellschaften. Das Forschungsprojekt Religiöse Vielfalt in Nordrhein-Westfalen …

SaWa

Transformations of Sacredness: Religious Architecture in Urban Space in 21st Century Germany

The project is a collaboration between CERES and the Chair for the History and Theory of Architecture at the Technical …

Teaching-Learning-Project: Between Iconophily and Iconoclasm

On the Role of Images in Religion and Society

This teaching-learning-project studies the objections towards images in different cultural and religious contexts, reaching from a reflected criticism to violent …

Teaching-Learning-Project: Digital Change in the Museum

Digital transformation in the museum sector changes the transfer of knowledge in exhibitions. Technical innovations lead to entirely new ways …

The Development of Aspect in Middle Persian

Iranian languages usually exhibit aspect as a morphologically marked category of the verb. The verbal stems can be identified as …

The Logic of Gomyō

Japanese monk Gomyō (ca. b. 750, d. 834) dealt with theories of logic that were originally formultated in India. He …

The Neo-Sannya Movement in Western Germany in the 1970s and 1980s

This research project explores the neo-sannyasins or also known as Rajneesh movement and their impact in West-Germany in the 1970s …

Theorie and Empiricism of Religious Evolution

In this project, Volkhard Krech builds up on his own research and the findings of the Käte Hamburger Kolleg ‘Dynamics …

Tradition Building Processes among the Kagyüpas

Based on a Mid to Late-Thirteenth Century Manuscript of Jigten Sumgön’s dGongs gcig

With the purpose of providing philologically well-grounded research concerning tradition building processes among the Tibetan Buddhist Kagyüpa traditions in the …

Wissenschaftsgeschichte der Religionsforschung in der BRD (1945-1989)

Als Einstieg wurden repräsentative Religionswissenschaftler der Zeit von 1945-1965 untersucht: Helmut von Glasenapp (Tübingen), Friedrich Heiler (Marburg), Gustav Mensching (Bonn) …

Wissenschaftsgeschichte der Religionsforschung in der Weimarer Republik (1918-1933)

Das Projekt hat die Analysen zur religiösen Lage (in Feuilletons von Siegfried Kracauer, Schriften von Paul Tillich und Eugen Rosenstock), …

Young Researchers' Group “Religious Networking”

From 2009 trough 2014, the young researchers' group Networking Religion – Civic and Economic Potentials of Religious Communities was led …

Zoroastrian Middle Persian: Digital Corpus and Dictionary

The Middle Persian language played a prominent historical and cultural role in the first millennium CE as the official language …

Übersetzungen zwischen Ost und West

Osho (1931-1990) und die Sprache des Religiösen

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, der sich ab 1989 Osho nannte, war der bekannteste der indischen Gurus, die in der zweiten Hälfte …

A Place at the Altar

Priestesses in Republican Rome

Her current project, A Place at the Altar: Priestesses in Republican Rome, demonstrates that priestesses had a vibrant and vivid …

"Spiritual Confucianism"

A Phenomenon of the Dialectics of Modernization?

After the breakdown of the Chinese Empire in the early 20th century, liberalism and marxism as the two main currents …

"Those who say that everybody can be saved in his/her own Faith"

On the Suspension of Religious Exclusivity in the Age of Scholasticism

Latin Christianity is not generally understood as tolerant. On the contrary the history of the crusades and the inquisition have …

#Click, play, scroll

Von der Gebets-App bis zur Online-Puja

In einer Zeit, in der die sozialen Medien einen großen Raum im Alltag einnehmen, wird auch Religion in den digitalen …

A Comprehensive Survey on Babylonian Jewry in the Sasanian Era

This project is perceived as part of a broader direction of reassessment of the socio-cultural life of the diverse religious …

A Conceptual History of Religion in Ancient and Medieval China

The project will focus on concepts in classical Chinese texts which prima facie belong into the word field of religion. …

A History of Religious Contacts between Jewish and Muslim Mysticism throughout the Ages

Spiritual Concepts and Ritual Practices

A Place of One's Own

Redefining Territory Through Pilgrimage in Russia's Ural Region

In a multi-cultural environment and especially in conditions of empire, pilgrimage can be a tool for individuals and groups to …

Active Muslims in Germany

Boundary work and legitimacy dynamics in the context of social and civic work

  Context Considering the frequently discussed role that religion, particularly Islam, plays in the context of integration, identity and participation, …

Analysis of the Visual Language of the Buddhist Reliefs from Andhra, their Roman Elements and what Distinguishes them from Gandhara

Not even a single text remains from the flourishing Buddhist culture in Andhra. Today, only the stones survive. The project …

Ancient Religion(s) in Contact: Contemporary Religious Phenomena and Their Ancient Predecessors

The teaching-learning-project "Ancient Religion(s) in Contact" (ARELINCO) enables students from the fields of religious studies, history, archaeology, philology, and related …

Angels’ Tongues and Witches’ Curses

Jewish Women and Ritual Power in Late Antiquity

Angels’ Tongues and Witches’ Curses discusses the development of Jewish magical and mystical traditions in the ancient world (ca. 250 …

Anton Antweiler. Das Fremde zeigen

11. - 21. Juli 2019: Galerie der Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Münster Konzeption von Dr. Patrick Felix Krüger (CERES) In der …

Argument to the Senses in Post-Avicennian Dialectical Theory

This project will explore the modes and patterns of “argument to the senses” (ATS) in the proto- and early ādāb …

Armenia Entangled

Reimagining Cultural Encounters and Connectivity in Medieval Eurasia 9th - 14th Century

The ERC-project Armenia Entangled deals with the entangled history of the Armenian plateau and its adjacent areas. It is based …

Artistic Media as Religious Attractors

Attractive Ethics

Interrelations between Jewish, Hellenistic-Roman and Christian Ethics in Antiquity

In the Roman Empire, Judaism and Christianity encountered a general fascination for religious movements from the East. It was from …

Attractiveness through Ethics. Interactions between Jewish, Hellenistic-Roman and Christian Ethics in Antiquity

During the research period from June 2008 through to May 2009, the main focus will be on the question of …

Attraktion und Repulsion in religiösen Bildakten

Die okzidentale Metaphysik des Bildes, die aus verschiedenen religiösen Konfliktfeldern –Bilderkult und Verwerfung der Götterbilder im antiken Mittelmeerraum, Reliquien- und …

BILD MACHT RELIGION

Kunst zwischen Verehrung, Verbot und Vernichtung

13. Oktober 2018 - 24. Februar 2019: Ausstellung im Kunstmuseum Bochum in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Centrum für Religionswissenschaftliche Studien (CERES) …

Bar Hebraeus at the Mongol City of Marāgha

Interactions with the Philosophical Circle of al-Tūsī

The project focuses on the dialogical engagement of the West Syrian Maphrian, Gregory Barhebraeus (1226-1286CE), with Islamic philosophy; an engagement …

Biblical Prophet and Confucian Sages

A Comparative Study

Bio-Politics, Public Life and Sovereignty: Focault, Arendt and Agamben

Bon, Buddhism and the Coproduction of Religion in early Tibet

This project seeks to research the mutual coproductions of Buddhism and Bon in early Tibet.  Broadly speaking, it takes as …

Borders of Orthodoxy and the Charm of False Learning in Korean Confucianism

The aim of the project is to analyze concepts of orthodoxy and heterodoxy in 16th century Korean Confucianism. Crucial questions …

Buddhist Diversity and Inter-regional Connectivity in Southeast Asia

The Intervention of Chinese Religious Syncretism

This project attempts to look at Buddhist diversity and inter-regional religious connectivity in Southeast Asia through the lens of Chinese …

Buddhist Narratives in Central Asia and China

In the propagation and spread of Buddhism throughout Asia, narratives in the form of ‘stories’ played an eminent role, both …

Catholic Missions in the Early Modern World

This book-project, tentatively entitled 'Global Catholic Missions and the Expansion of Europe, 1500-1800', will analyze the relationship between the maritime …

Changes in the West Phoenician "pantheon" due to cultural contacts with Greeks and Etruscans and the dominance of Carthage (6th-4th cent. B.C.)

The aforementioned phenomena have yet to be sufficiently investigated in terms of historical evolution and sociological structures, so the project …

Characteristics of the Concept "Jonggyo"(Religion) and the Network of its Related Concepts in Modern Korea.

The term jonggyo (religion) was first used in Korea in the late 19th century when the Joseon government signed trade …

Christian Systems of Knowledge and the Historiography of the Tagalog Religion

The project analyzes transcendent and semi-transcendent beings which were part of the Philippine mythology in pre-colonial times. It is based …

Conceptualization of Religion in the Enlightenment

Creating an Incorporeal Empire

The Process of “Transcending” the Mysore Kingdom through Interreligious and Intercultural Interaction

The project focusses on intersections and interactions between European and Indian notions of transcendence and immanence through the lens of …

Crosscutting Religion. A survey of (migrant) religious intergroup relations in the Ruhr area of North Rhine-Westfalia, Germany

  Context In Germany, the late acknowledgement of being a country of immigration coincides with a growing visibility of and …

Debating Authorities

Gender and the Interpretation of Religion(s) in Colonial India

Configurations of religion(s) in colonial India are not only intrinsically connected to newly created political and legal frameworks, but also …

Demons, Evil, and Illness in the Babylonian Incantation Bowls

Many types of demons, both named and unnamed, appear as threats to human beings in the inscriptions on the Babylonian …

Dhimma: The Status of Protection in a Mediterranean and Asian Context

This project will analyse a particular process of inter-religious contact that took place in the broad lands of Islam, from …

Diaspora-Hinduism 2.0

Cultural memory and transformation processes of 2nd generation Srilankan Hindus

  Starting Point "Home country: Germany feat. Sri Lanka". With this ascription many Tamils who were born and grew up …

Die Bedeutung des Bibel- und Talmudkommentars Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaqi (Raschi) für das lateinische Christentum

Die Macht der Freiheit

Säkularisierung als Ethos

Das Projekt schlägt eine genuin philosophische Variante des Säkularisierungsbegriffs vor, die von den üblichen Verwendungsweisen des Begriffs keineswegs abgedeckt wird, …

Die Sprache der Neo-Sannyas-Bewegung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in den 1980er Jahren

Im Rahmen eines Projekts zur Geschichte der Neo-Sannyas-Bewegung in Deutschland soll die Semantik der „Rajneesh-Times Deutschland", des zentralen Presseorgans der …

Die Verfügbarkeit des Unverfügbaren

Zur Gott-Mensch-Kommunikation in der Vormoderne

Das Projekt nähert sich dem Phänomen Religion aus einer kommunikationstheoretischen Perspektive. Im Anschluss an Erkenntnisse der jüngeren Religionsforschung wird Religion …

Diffusion of the Worship of Ancient Mesopotamian Deities along the Trade Routes

This project is being undertaken in order to contextualize ancient Mesopotamian religion in the broader geographical and chronological framework of …

Discourse Comparison

Revisiting the Comparative Method in the Study of Religion

This methodological project confronts longstanding and fundamental critiques of comparison in Religious Studies, constructively engages with major objections, and argues …

Diversity in German Jewry in the 19th century

Studies of Self-Positioning in the Field of Tradition and Crisis

Object of investigation is the Jewish self-conception in the 19th century, which was developed in the described field of conflict …

Divine Kingship in Medieval Sri Lanka

Dynamics in Traditions of Power and Virtue in South Asia

Divine kingship was an influential and widespread trope across medieval southern Asia. My project examines literary representations of Sri Lankan …

Divine Transcendence and Immanence in Antiquity

The application to antiquity of the study of the evolving of the distinction between immanence and transcendence as triggered by …

Doctrina Machumet

The Questions of the Jew Abdia to the Prophet Muhammad according to Christian Tradition

A critical edition of the Latin text on the basis of the relatively numerous manuscripts as well as the two …

Dynamics of the Religious Field in the Context of Early Buddhism

The project will focus on the promotion of a religious "range of products" that early Buddhists offered to a competitive …

Early Buddhists and their Ascetic Others

The Questions of Contact and Boundary Negotiations

The research project examines the dialogic influence of ascetic others, in particular the Jain other, on the early Buddhist monastic …

Early Modern Visual Systems of Religious Encounter

A Comparative Study

The project shall investigate visual strategies elaborated in early modern Europe in order to facilitate communication between Christians and non-Christians …

Encounters of Christianity with Korean Religions during 1875 - 1915

Entangled Rituals in Late Antiquity

The regular, sometimes daily ritual for divine cult statues in Egypt, Greece and other regions of the ancient Mediterranean goes …

Evangelische Pfarrer und religiöse Sozialisation. Institutionalisierte Religion und Säkularisierung in der Bundesrepublik aus sozialgeschichtlicher Perspektive (1950er-1970er Jahre)

Das Projekt zielte auf eine Analyse protestantischer Pfarrer in der Bundesrepublik als Instanzen der religiösen Sozialisation. Im Mittelpunkt des Projekts …

Evolution and Present Dynamics of Conflicting Religious Cosmologies in East Tibet

The project concentrates on the evolution and present dynamics of two conflicting religious cosmologies in East Tibet: the Tibetan indigenous …

Fate. History and Facets of a Religious Concept in Modern Times

In cultural studies the human necessity to conceive the course of life as being directed by some kind of divine …

Forced Migration and Emergent Identities in a Networked Age

A Case Study of Mass Conversion among Muslim Refugees to Christianity

This project investigates the centrality of religion in refugees' integration into German society, focusing on the controversy of recent mass …

Forging Faith

Ambivalent Globalization and Innovative Ritual in Hindu Temple Publics of Bangalore

Forging Identity and Shifting Boundaries

The Role of the Smiths within the Changing Religious Landscape of Early Medieval European Societies

The research to be carried out during the project will continue on-going investigations into the interaction between the Germanic and …

Formation and Diffusion of the Karaits

Freethinking in Arab and Islamic History

There is a good deal of research in this field, both in Arabic and in European languages. This research output …

From Orthopraxy to Orthodoxy – Christian Influences on Yezidism in the Diaspora?

The Discourse on Canonisation, Standardisation and Unification of Tradition among Yezidis in Western Europe

The Yezidi religious tradition, both sacred texts and priestly learning, has been transmitted orally in a non- or semi-literate milieu …

Gender, Islamic Normativity and Cultural Critique in the Arab Region

Focusing on issues of gender and sexual difference as schemes for reconfiguring Islamic normativity, the project studies the shaping of …

Genealogy of Religious Discourse in Modern Japan

Ghost Images of Modernity

Encounters between Buddhists, Christians, and Psychical Researchers in 19th and Early 20th Century Japan

Gods, Heroes and Cults in Bronze Age Central Asia

Reflexion, Transformation and Continuity of Old Near Eastern Beliefs

The research topic of this project is the examination of the representations of the gods and supernatural mixed beings of …

Graduate School RePliV

Graduate School RePliV—Website For pluralistic societies, peaceful coexistence between members of different religious communities and non-religious people is a fundamental …

Graduate School of Metaphor and Religion

Integrated Research Training Group: Graduate School of Metaphor and Religion (GSMR)

The “Graduate School of Metaphor and Religion” (GSMR) is the central instrument for the promotion of early career researchers in …

Gush Emunim and Hamas

Interdependent Evolution of two Fundamentalist Movements in the Context of a Conflict

First, the Gush Emunim and Hamas movements will be analyzed independently regarding their structural, ideological, and strategic characteristics as well …

Götter, Feste, Rituale

Eine Reise durch die Religionen des Ruhrgebiets

Das Ruhrgebiet ist alles andere als grau. Eine bunte Vielfalt an etwa 200 Religionsgemeinschaften lebt zwischen Rhein und Ruhr. Seit …

Heilige & Asketen

Miniaturmalerei der Jaina in Indien

11. Oktober 2019 - 16. Februar 2020: Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum Köln Kooperationspartner: CERES, wissenschaftliche Beratung: Dr. Patrick F. Krüger (CERES) Die aus …

Hellenistische Münzen aus dem Osten

Spiegel religiöser Dynamiken im kulturellen Austausch zwischen Ost und West

Eine Ausstellung zum Auftakt des Kollegs Dynamiken der Religionsgeschichte zwischen Asien und Europa Kunstsammlungen der Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 16.10.2008 - 18.01.2009 …

Hittite Texts and Greek Religion

Interaction, Borrowing, Analogy

Understanding of the religions of the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia has been transformed over the last 150 years by …

How to Negotiate “Sacrifice” and “Idolatry” in Religious Encounters

Identifying the Native Religious Informants of Catholic Missionaries in Early Modern South Asia

In the 16th century, when the Jesuits first reached South India, they discovered that its religious landscape was too …

How to exhibit Religion?

During the period of the fellowship I was hoping to deepen my research focus on "Religion and Art? Contemporary Interpretations …

Immanence and Transcendence in the Aesthetic Representation of Sleep from Antiquity to Modern Times

Despite the fact that our knowledge has increased with the help of somnology about how one third of our …

Immanent Transcendence?

Negotiations of Religious Space between Japan and the West

Architecture, especially religious architecture, is a means to negotiate the threshold between the Profane and the Sacred, between immanence and …

Imperial Preceptor Chos rgyal ’Phags pa Bla ma as a Tantric Adept in the Mongol Yuan Dynasty

’Phags pa bla ma Blo gros rgyal mtshan (1235-1280), the first Imperial Preceptor of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), was …

Institutionalisation of Islam in Germany

This research project deals with the institutional transformations that Islam is undergoing in Germany. The study focuses on several empirical …

Inter-Religious Contact in Early Modern Polish Livonia

The Eastern shores of the Baltic Sea have always been a borderland region between the influences of different political, cultural …

Interferences between Theology and the Sciences in the Formation and Diffusion of early Islamic cosmological Models

This project is a long-term research endeavor whose chief aim is to shed light on the sources, structure, function, and …

Interreligiöse Räume in der Metropolregion Rhein-Ruhr

Eine Ausstellung von Studierenden des CERES unter Leitung von Jun.-Prof. Dr. Alexander K. Nagel (CERES) Zentralbibliothek der Stadtbücherei Bochum 03.12.2012 …

Intertextuality in the Transmission of Rational Traditions in the Religious Science of Islam from Safavid Iran to Northern India in Early Modernity

Intra-Religious Encounters and Formation of the Religious Field in the Post-Soviet Central Asia

The main aim of this project is to analyze the role of official and non-official Turkish Islamic organizations in the …

Iskandar the Prophet

Alexander the Great, conqueror, second Achilles and self-proclaimed son of a god, is one of the most prominent common heroes …

Jainism in the West

Jain Communities in Europe between internal Self-Insurance and strategic Self-Representation

Jainism is the third religion, along with Buddhism and Brahmanism ("Hinduism"), that originated in ancient India and continues to exist …

Jerome, the "Old" Testament and the Jews

The project has three aims: a) Jerome and Jewish traditions in literature since around 1850 The subject "Jerome and the …

Jesuit Missions in South Asia during the 16th-18th century

Jewish Warriors in Distant Lands

Imagining the Ten Lost Tribes in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods

This project will examine Jewish, Christian, and Muslim imaginings about the ten lost tribes in conjunction with the development of …

Jews, Judaism, and their Imaginaries in Late Antique and Early Medieval Georgia

Jewish communities have existed on Georgian territory since the turn of the first and second centuries AD. Soon thereafter, in …

Komparatistik und Theorie der Religionsgeschichte

Es ist die Absicht des Projekts, anhand der Arbeiten der anderen Teilprojekte des Internationalen Kollegs tertia comparationis zu erarbeiten, auf …

Konfessionsverschiedene Ehen als Instanzen der religiösen Sozialisation. Zur Tradierung des Religiösen in (bi)konfessionellen Kontexten

In mehrkonfessionellen Gesellschaften stellen konfessionsverschiedene Ehen ein besonderes Phänomen dar. Sie sind ein Indikator für den Stellenwert des Konfessionellen in …

Kontinuität und Transformation antiker Religionen im Christentum

Das politisch-religiöse Konzept des Christentums mit all seinen Anschlußoptionen, die in verschiedenen Epochen zunächst der europäischen Geschichte dem gesellschaftlichen und …

Late Antique Religious Literacies between the Eastern Mediterranean and North-Africa

"Late Antique Religious Literacies between the Eastern Mediterranean and North-Africa" explores how the use of books as vehicles of ideas …

Legendary Accounts and Buddhist Monasteries

An Archaeological and Art-historical Reassessment of Ancient Buddhist Ruins in the Khotan Oasis (Xinjiang, China)

This research project aims at investigating the role of pictorial representations of Buddhist legendary accounts as possible conveyors of information …

Lived religion of Latin American Pentecostals in Germany. A pragmatic analysis of religion

  Context To date, the immigration of Christian migrants to Germany has scarcely been discussed, both in the scientific debate …

Local Religion Meets the Ideals of the Elite

The Interplay of Rhetoric and Social Realities in Late Antiquity

The research project will focus on the interaction between the spheres of popular religiosity and the religion defined and controlled …

Mantra and Dharani in the Religious Traditions of Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism

While the great religious, philosophical and narrative works produced in India are widely known for the most part, and have …

Mapping Modern Magic(k)

   For a few decades a global discourse of contemporaneous self-designated 'magicians' is flourishing (more or less) below the …

Mapping the Global Middle Ages Through Computer Simulation

The discipline of medieval French literature has been slower than others (compared to other European languages or to fields other …

Martyrs, Mystics, and Muslims in the Medieval World

The place of martyrdom within late medieval Latin Christianity has received relatively little attention. Scholars such as James Ryan have …

Meanings and Symbology of the Sense of Smell in some Zhiguai Texts

Mediale Debatten über Kirche und Religion (1945-1980)

Das Teilprojekt „Mediale Debatten über Kirche und Religion 1945-1980“ beschäftigt sich in erster Linie mit den Fremdwahrnehmungen von Kirche und …

Mediative migrant churches?

Interorganizational networking and civic potentials of Christian Korean communities

  Context The pluralistic religious landscape of North Rhine-Westphalia is primarily the result of a long tradition of immigration to …

Mediterranean Courts as Centers of Interfaith Encounters in the Middle Ages

Arguably, since ancient times the Mediterranean is an area in which different religions have made mutual contact with unprecedented intensity. …

Migration und Religion. Eine historisch-komparative Untersuchung ausgewählter Migrantengruppen

Mission Encounter and the Formation of China’s Local Knowledge of Religion

This project situates the beginning of China's modern conception of "religion" in the context of the nineteenth-century mission encounter. Rather …

Monotheism and Globalization

Towards a Theory of Religious Expansion and Conflict

Muslims as Heretics in Spanish Medieval Sources

When the Iberian Peninsula became part of the Umayyad Caliphate in the 8th century, the response to Islam by …

Mutual Adaptations and Borrowings in the Relationship Between Buddhism and Daoism in Medieval China

Negotiating Co-existence of the Buddhism, Vaiṣṇavism and Śaivism

An Examination of Inter-Religious Dynamics in Early Medieval Magadha

Apart from being the most powerful state formation (mahājanapada) in the early historic period, the Magadha region (situated in south …

Nyang ral nyi ma 'od zer's (1124-1192) Codifications of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism

Exploring texts of Nyang ral nyi ma 'od zer's seminal bKa' brgyad bde gshegs 'dus pa (Eightfold Buddha Word, …

Online-Ausstellung: The Urban Sacred

Online-Ausstellung des HERA-Projekts "Iconic Religion" www.urban-sacred.org Die Ausstellung The Urban Sacred wurde zwischen Februar und Juli 2016 in vier europäischen …

Orthodox Christian and Islamic Anti-Westernism from a Comparative Perspective

Anti-Westernism, both in its historical and contemporary forms, is a widespread and multi-dimensional phenomenon with a variety of manifestations (e.g., …

Osiris in the Religious Field in the later Roman Empire

My research project with the KHK investigates the cult of and discourses about Osiris in the Later Roman empire as …

Othering, Otherness, and the Other in the Avestan Texts

The project deals with an interdisciplinary study of the concept of "Othering, Otherness and the Other" in Avestan texts, especially …

Otherness and Seafarers’ Religion

Xenosophia in Switzerland and Religion/s at Sea as Empirical Resources for the Transcendence-Immanence-Distinction Debate

The two projects – dealing with otherness in interreligious encounters and with religion in maritime cultures – represent distinct ends …

Patterns of Buddho-Confucian Interactions in Premodern Korea

The first phase of the project will be dedicated to a case study under the working title "Experienced or forced …

Plants, Magic & Medicine in the Indian Ocean and the Work of Garcia de Orta

Luís de Camões – a debaucher, Indian Ocean rover, and Renaissance poet - was among Orta's close friends in Goa, …

Pluralisierung des Religiösen. Zur Transformation religiöser Deutungsmuster aus Sicht der Anbieterseite

Pluralisierung des Religiösen. Zur Transformation religiöser Deutungsmuster in den „neuen“ Mittelschichten der BRD

Das beantragte Projekt knüpft an die kultursoziologische Perspektive der neueren sozialen Ungleichheitsforschung mit der Analyse neuer sozialer Milieus und der …

Politics and Religion Between the 8th and 11th Century in Central Asia, Tibet and Song China

Portuguese Encounters with Buddhism in the 16th and 17th Centuries

The imperial and religious projects of the Portuguese in early modern Asia brought about some of the earliest sustained contacts …

Postsecularism in European and Asian Contexts

Process Anthropology

A New Methodology for the Study of “Religion”

Inspired by the religious dynamics model formulated by the KHK and drawing on work in new materialism, actor-network-theory, and science …

Purity and Impurity in the New Testament with Special Consideration of the "Cleansing of the Temple" and 1 Corinthians

This research project will deal with purity concepts and their relevance for identity construction in the New Testament. Methodologically it …

Re-creating Religious Tradition in Northern Iraq

The Scripturalization of Yezidi Religion

My research studies the transformation of Yezidi oral religious tradition into a bookish religion in Northern Iraq, triggered by the …

Reading Avicenna and Studying Plants in the Deccan

Reconnecting Middle Eurasian and Indian Ocean Histories of Creolisation

Reconfigurations of the Order of Knowledge through Contact with "Western Learning" in Korea's Early Modern Period

To avoid the restricted perspective that the western derived concept of religion is apt to create, this project will attempt …

Religion and Identity in Hungary and the Iberian Peninsula

Religion as a Culturo-Immunological System

Discussions and disputes about the reality, role and importance of analytic constructs such as ‘world-view’, ‘religious tradition’, or ‘culture’ seem …

Religion of the Third Reich

Transformation of Religion from the 19th to the 20th Century: The Innerworldly Eschatology

Drawing the basic lines of the project ‘Religion of the Third Reich’, one will soon encounter the discussion whether the …

Religion und Geruch

Von heiligen Düften und Riechrezeptoren

Düfte spielen in vielen Religionen eine zentrale Rolle: Egal ob Weihrauch in der römisch-katholischen und den orthodoxen Kirchen, ob Räucherstäbchen …

Religiosität und religiöse Indifferenz als "zweite Natur"

Überlegungen zur Naturalisierung des Säkularisierungskonzepts

Religious Conversions between Asia and Europe

A Semiotic, Historical,and Digital Approach to Religious Contacts

This proposed research project is part of a larger ethnographic project on recent so-called mass conversions of Iranian refugees to …

Religious Encounters between Jews and Reformed Christians

The Case of Hizzuk Emunah

Hebrew anti-Christian polemical literature represents a rather rigid genre, most of the texts being written as polemical compendia where repeating …

Religious Garment in the Jesuit Mission to Japan

This project aims to analyse the use of garments in the early-modern Jesuit mission in Japan (1549-1639), both in official …

Religious Globalization

In dem Projekt werden semantische und strukturelle Prozesse der religiösen Globalisierung in ihrer Wechselwirkung miteinander untersucht. Dabei kommt - unter …

Religious Pluralism and Contention in Chosŏn Korea

After Buddhism and Confucianism were introduced to the Korean peninsula around the same time they coexisted peacefully for about a …

Religious Transfer and Cultural Diversity in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia and Beyond

Religiöse Sozialisation in Arbeiterfamilien in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und Großbritannien nach 1945. Ruhrgebiet und Südwales im Vergleich

In diesem Vorhaben wurden in Verknüpfung mit den anderen Projekten der Forschergruppe Prozesse der Tradierung von religiösen und kirchlichen Inhalten, …

Representative Mosques and networking

A study of the relationship between the social networks of mosque communities and mosque-building projects in North Rhine-Westphalia

  Background Islam is the largest minority religion in Germany, a fact that has led to the development of about …

Research Focus "Missionary Collections"

CERES researchers, together with colleagues from museums and other universities, are studying the material dimension of cultural and religious contacts …

Rnying ma Transmission in the Tangut Empire

The Tangut Version of the Vairocana Legend

Römische Kultur, Religion, Literatur und Kunst im Zeitalter des Augustus

SPARSHA

Berührung der Sinne. Ritual und zeitgenössische Kunst aus Indien

Eine Ausstellung des Kunstmuseums Bochum mit wissenschaftlicher Unterstützung des CERES. Kunstmuseum Bochum 02.11.2014 - 01.02.2015 Der Fokus bei der Auswahl …

Sakralisierung und Desakralisierung in der arabisch-islamischen Sprachkultur im 20. Jahrhundert

Das beantragte Teilprojekt soll die Wechselwirkungen des Säkularen und Sakralen in der arabischen Sprachkultur im 20. Jahrhundert behandeln. Ausgangspunkt ist …

Seeing, Touching, Holding, and Tasting Sacred Texts

This project focuses on ritualizations of scriptures that effect the senses of sight, touch, and taste, or, at least, kiss. …

Self-Reflection in the Transmission of the Rival’s Message

Reading Umayyah b. Abi Salt’s Poems

My research will focus on reading Umayyah’s poems and its treatment by early Muslim authors in the formative period of …

Senses and Metaphysics in Korean Confucianism

The aim of the project is to analyze the place and role of senses in the philosophical framework of Confucian …

Sensory Devotion and Inter-religious Encounters

Shared Festivals in Kerala (South India)

Sensory Devotion and Inter-religious Encounters: Shared Festivals in Kerala (South India) seeks to probe into the nature of multi-culturalism in …

Shared Sacred Landscapes and Social Forgetting in Cyprus and Turkey

This project develops the concept of social forgetting by examining its relation with changing sacred landscapes. The researcher enquires into …

Sharing Common Figures, Notions and Concepts

Moses and Children of Israel in the Stories of the Hebrew Bible/OT, the Rabbinical Midrash, the Syriac Exegesis and in the Qur’an

This project explores the question of continuity in the Abrahamic religious traditions and their common heritage. Therefore, Judaism, Christianity and …

Sichtbare Religion

Eindrücke aus studentischer Forschung

Eine Ausstellung von Studierenden des CERES, kuratiert von Frederik Elwert und Gisela Ogasa. Universitätsbibliothek der Ruhr-Universität Bochum 03.07.2012- 30.09.2012 In …

Sinophilia, Historical Writing, and Political Propaganda in Eighteenth-century England

Thomas Gordon and his ‘Republican’ Catechism

In 1918, J.M. Bullock, who was the first person to attempt a “biographical bibliography” of Thomas Gordon (ca.1692-1750), complained that …

Society without "Religion"?

The Concept and Politics of Religion in Japanese History

Taking the "invention" of "religion" in the middle of the 19th century as the point of departure, it is necessary …

Spice as Soteriology

The Transcendent signification of 'bola' and 'kakkola'

A characteristic feature of Buddhism and Hinduism practised in the tantric mode is a complex metaphorical discourse, much of which …

Structure and Interpretation

A Semiotic Approach to Language and Action as a Foundation for a Theory of Religion

The project is directed at the design of an integrated theory of action and language, using the paradigm of interpretation …

Strukturelle Wandlungsprozesse der großen Konfessionen zwischen 1949 und 1989

Phase I (2006-2009): Amt und Partizipation In der ersten Projektphase wurden am Beispiel ausgesuchter (Erz-)Diözesen und evangelischer Landeskirchen die strukturellen …

Studien zur interreligiösen und interkulturellen Genese der Sunna

Reinheit und Gebet

Die leitende Hypothese, von der das Projekt zur Interkulturalität der Sunna ausgehen soll, nimmt ebenfalls eine bereits der Entstehung des …

Subproject A01

Path and Guidance: Interpretations of Qur’anic Metaphors of Space and Movement in the Tafsīr Literature

In the Islamic religious tradition, metaphors of space and movement hold a prominent place, starting with the “straight path” ( …

Subproject A02

The Kinesis of Immortality. Spatial-kinetic Metaphors and Daoist Salvation

The subproject focuses on the role of spatial-kinetic metaphors in the formation of the Daoist religion between 300 BCE and …

Subproject A03

Metaphors and their Semantic Fields in Texts of the ‘Experience Instruction’ Genres of Tibetan Buddhism

This project aims, first, to contribute to the study of religious metaphors by investigating the Buddhist metaphors of light, space, …

Subproject A04

Metaphorizing the Metaphors: The Development of the Zoroastrian Language of Eschatology

Focusing on Zoroastrian eschatology, this project asks, to what extent the construction of religious meaning relies on the transformation of …

Subproject B01

Jesus and Mary as Divine Healers in Service for the Salvation of the Faithful: A Mixed-Method Analysis of Medical Metaphorizations in Medieval German Texts

Subproject B01 investigates medical metaphors in Christian texts from the Middle Ages. The concept of ‘salvation’, ‘Seelenheil’ in German, is …

Subproject B02

Beyond Self-Cultivation: Moments of Transcendence in Ego-Documents of Korean Confucian Provenance

The religious dimension of Confucianism is frequently being sought in self-cultivation, understood as a quest for self-transcendence. The project aims …

Subproject B03

Metaphors of the Self: On the Connection between Self-Constitution and Religion in the Hebrew Bible

This project focuses body-related metaphors from the Hebrew Bible, particularly from Psalms, Job, Jeremiah and Lamentations. Employing these metaphors, these …

Subproject B04

The Human Body as Metaphor of the Divine: Anthropomorphism in South Asian Religious Traditions

The subproject gives attention to metaphors as constitutive of the emergence and development of two divergent dynamics in Hinduism, Buddhism …

Subproject B05

Embodiment Outside the Body? Out-of-Body Experiences in a Cognitive and Social Science Perspective

The research project will focus on metaphors that occur in descriptions of out-of-body experiences. These will be taken out of …

Subproject C01

Grammar as a Religious Metaphor

The subproject C01 “Grammar as a Religious Metaphor” is dedicated to grammar as a source domain for religious metaphors. Grammarians …

Subproject C02

Ancient Near Eastern Conceptions of Order between Law and Religion

Since the linguistic and conceptional proximity between law and religion in the ancient Near East is striking, this project wants …

Subproject C03

Metaphors of Everyday Life

The project explores religious metaphors from the semantic field of ordinary, everyday life. These metaphors revolve around a semantic gap: …

Subproject C04

Metaphor and Social Positioning in Religious Online Forums

In this project, we analyze religious metaphors in online forum threads from the dual perspectives of computational linguistics and the …

Subproject INF

Metaphor Base Camp: Providing the Common Data Basis and Advancing Digital Research Methods for Religious Metaphors

Within the INF project, scholars of religion, computational linguists, and computer scientists jointly establish the digital research infrastructure of the …

Subproject PR

Religion and Metaphor in Contemporary Media Realities: What can we learn from the Humanities?

The PR-project brings the CRC’s perspective on religion and metaphor to the public’s attention and invites the public to discover …

Sufi Tariqah in Contemporary Muslim World / Naqshbandiayh Sheikhs and Ideas in Western Sumatra

The problem of studying the syncretistic religious traditions deals with transferring and preserving of ancient knowledge in Islamic mystical institutions, …

Syriac and Malayalam Sources found in India about the Period of the Early Portuguese Missions during the 16th and 17th Century

Säkularisierung und Weltlichkeit

Eine vergleichende Studie zur Begriffsgeschichte

Taming Demons

The Invention of Religion in Japan

In 1853, American warships appeared off the coast of Japan. Ultimately, the Americans forced the Japanese government to sign a …

Taoism, Meditation and the Wonders of Serenity

From Latter Han to Tang (Book Project)

Taoism has always emphasized mental serenity and has maintained that good effects will come about from it.  To be serene …

Teaching-Learning-Project: Religion and Death in Contemporary Society

Death is one of the most central topics in the history of religions. In all civilisations and periods of human …

The Axial Age

Using the Concept as an Interface Between Converging Debates in Sociology, Religious Studies, Cognitive Science and Philosophical Anthropology

Research will focus firstly on the flaws of Jaspers' original concept, such as its essentialism, its teleological/metaphysical conception of mind, …

The Buddha and the Drum

Shamanism and Buddhism in the Himalaya

The research project deals with a specific case of religious encounter: the one between shamanism and Buddhism in the Himalayan …

The Circulation of Divinities

Modes of Borrowing in the Depiction of Pantheons

The Colours of Idolatry

Comparative Religion, Race Labelling, and Emotions in Early Modern Accounts of ‘the Religious Other’

In 1741, a bowdlerized version of Jean Frédéric Bernard and Bernard Picart’s Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples …

The Conception of the Soul in Early Medieval China

Traditional religion in China centered on offerings and sacrifice made to gods and ancestors, and the dead were assumed to …

The Concepts of “Tradition” and “Purity” in Interactions between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (late 16th – 17th centuries)

Situated on the boundary between Western and Eastern Christianity and bordering the territories controlled by the Ottomans, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was …

The Conceptualization of a European History of Religions from a Comparative Perspective

The Cult of Astare in Egypt

The Desert Origins of God

Experience and Materiality of Desert Cult in the Southern Levant and Northern Arabia

This research project aims to study the experience, material culture, and social background of the cultic practices of the peoples …

The Development of the Concept of "Religion" from an Intercultural Perspective

The project sets out to analyze the development of the concept of "religion" in Early Modern Europe onwards and its …

The Dialogical Dimension of Confucianism as a Religious Tradition

Confucianism has already been widely regarded as a religious tradition and taught at Western, if not only American, universities. But …

The Dimensions of Sound in Islam

Travelling Aesthetics

The Dimensions of Sound in Islam – Travelling Aesthetics explores the meanings and functions the Islamic religion ascribes to the …

The Emergence of Religious Pluralism in Ancient Rome

The Evolution of Religious Ideas as Symbolic Markers

During my stay at KHK I will work on the emergence and function of religious ideas as symbolic markers. I …

The Evolving of the Distinction between Transcendence and Immanence as triggered by Intra- and Interreligious Encounter

The project is connected to a new edition, (English) translation and extensive commentary of the “Records of the Western Regions” …

The Expansion of Buddhism in Central Asia

The Figure of the “Great Goddess” in the Near Eastern and Egyptian Contexts

A Nodal Point for Transfers of Conceptions of the Divine and a Paragon of Interreligious Permeability: The Export of Egyptian Hathor to the Eastern Mediterranean and its Encounter with Local Entities and Concepts, from the 3rd Millennium B.C.E. onward

The Formation of Mahāyāna Buddhism

There have been many attempts at explaining the origin, formation and early development of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Often they are characterized …

The Forming of Purity Conceptions in the Torah and in the Book of Ezekiel as Precondition of a Cultural and Religious Basic-difference in early Judaism

The project intends to a) describe and to analyze the purity conceptions in the Torah and in the Book of …

The Golden Legend

A Commentary of Comparative Religion

On the basis of the fact that different traditions coincide in the Golden Legend while apocryphal literature of the Old …

The Gospel of John and "the Jews"

The Johannine "Ιουδαιοι" Revisited

The Hellenistic Buddhism of Asia

Religious Proselytism in Intellectual History

The methodological orientation of this work takes the intercourse between Hellenism and Buddhism as a reciprocal, synchronic process of conversion …

The Impact of Central Eurasian Religious Traditions on European and Asian Religions

My research project focuses on the main Central Eurasian religious ideas, especially in connection to the comitatus relationship (the sociopolitical …

The Interchange of Western Christmas Practices with East Easian Religions

The Introduction of Liturgical Poetry into the Karaite Prayer Book

From Moses ben Abraham Dar’i to Aaron ben Joseph

The research aims to unravel the liturgical setting of Karaite liturgical poems before and simultaneously with the redaction of the …

The Labyrinth of Jericho

Between Jews and Christians, Image and Interpretation

The Labyrinth of Jericho: Between Jews and Christians, Image and Interpretation explores the widespread Medieval and early Modern manuscript tradition …

The Metaphorization of Sacrifice in Second Temple Judaism

Preliminary Mapping and Key Issues

The present research analyzes and compares various types of sacrificial metaphors found in the Hebrew Bible (especially Psalms and Prophets) …

The Modern, the Anti-Modern and the Religious

With the growing awareness of the importance of ‘religion’ in the modern world, the debate about this complex notion becomes …

The Mongol Empire and the History of Religion

The New Testament and Mystery Religions

This project does not exclusively aim to analyze motifs of mystery religions in the New Testament with regard to their …

The Pahlavi-Literature in Its Context

The Interreligious Contacts of Islamic and Zoroastrian Scholars in the 9th and 10th Centuries and the Genesis of the Pahlavi-Literature

The project aims to find out the motives of Zoroastrian priests in their literary production in the first centuries of …

The Power of Ritual

Medieval Esoteric Buddhism in Japan

The Prohibition and the Survival of Christianity in East Asia in a Regional Perspective (17th to 19th Century)

The Prophecies of Agaton in the Context of Other Medieval Apocalyptic Traditions

The Reception of Hindu Religious Thought in Muslim India, with a Focus on Dārā Šikōh’s Majma‘ al-baḥrayn

The process of translation of Sanskrit sources into Persian must be reckoned among the great cross-cultural enterprises of mankind. It …

The Sacral Kingship as an Antetype to the Ancient Mystery Cults?

Das vorliegende Forschungsprojekt beschäftigt sich mit dem Postulat einer Interdependenz zwischen dem sakralen Königtum und antiken Mysterienkulten, bei denen einer …

The Scripture within the Scripture

Chinese Strategies for the Phagocytosis of Foreignness in “Buddho-Taoist” Texts (4th - 9th Century)

This research project intends to contribute to a better approach to the formation and development of the so-called “Buddho-Taoist” texts …

The Significance of Purity/Impurity as an Internal or External Attribution in Medieval Christian-Islamic Relations

In the course of this project central conditions and parameters of the transformation process outlined above will be analyzed in …

The Theatrical Space of Beliefs

Transcendence and Immanence in Roman-Catholic and Shi'a-Islam: From Napoli to Rasht

This project examines the theatrical spaces of holy graves in Shi'a Islam and Roman Catholic Christianity and the rituals connected …

The Urban Sacred

Städtisch-religiöse Arrangements in Amsterdam, Berlin und London

Eine Wanderausstellung des HERA-Projekts "Iconic Religion", kuratiert von Susanne Lanwerd. 27.02. - 03.04.2016 Kunstmuseum Bochum 12.04. - 22.04.2016 Menier Gallery …

The Virgin Mary and the Expansion of Spanish Christianity in the Old and New Worlds (10th - 17th Century)

This project examines the dynamics of Christian and non-Christian identities as they were expressed through the Virgin Mary in the …

The Visualization of the Dharma

New Perspectives of the Origin and the Meaning of the Jina Image and the Beginning of Jain Image Worshipping

It is remarkable, that especially from Jainism an image tradition originated, since it was said to be an ascetic order, …

The Zoroastrian Cult and Doctrine of Fire

Traces of Monotheism in the Material Culture?

Changes in the Religious Symbol System in the Formative Phase of Pre-Hellenistic Judaism in the Iron Age-III and the Persian Period

The project sets out to analyze the changes within the iconographic symbol system in Israel/ Palestine between the time of …

Trade Networks and the Early Transmission of Buddhism throughout and beyond South Asia

This project addresses historical and economic contexts for the movement of Buddhism across geographical and cultural boundaries between South Asia …

Traditional Religions of the Desecularizing State

Buddhism, Christianity, and Shamanism in Post-Soviet Buriatia

Over the second half of the twentieth century Buddhism and Christianity developed from limitedly tolerated practices that contradicted Soviet modernity …

Transformation der diakonisch-caritativen Handlungsformen der Konfessionen im Spannungsfeld von Wertorientierung und sozialer Dienstleistung

Das zweite Teilprojekt des Forschungsbereiches "Transformation der Sozialformen religiösen Handelns" befasst sich mit den Transformationen der diakonisch/caritativen Handlungsformen beider Konfessionen …

Transformation of Traditional Indigenous Religions of Siberia under Buddhist and Esoteric Influence

The project aims at studying the post-Soviet transformation of indigenous religious traditions in Tuva and Altai republics of Russian Federation. …

Transformationen buddhistischer Selbstrepräsentationen im globalen Kontext

Dieses Projekt will diese Lücke schließen. Es untersucht die Transformationsprozesse in der Selbstreflexion und der Selbstrepräsentation der Buddhisten Südostasiens während …

Typology of Religious Contacts in the Old Testament

As part of the project, a synopsis of the different literary constellations of religious contacts in the Old Testament will …

Una sit religio

The Philosophical Need for the Collective Singular "Religion" in the Works of Lull, Nicolas of Cusa, Spinoza, Hamann and Herder

The main task of the project is the phenomenological description of a basic term used in occidental strategies of argumentation …

Under a Serpent's Spell

Ancient Near Eastern Snake Cults and Conceptions of Serpents in the Field of Intra-religious and Inter-religious Cultural Contacts from the 3rd to the 1st Millennium B.C.

The planned thorough investigation into the historical development of snake symbolism and snake cults in the Ancient Near East with …

Unfulfilled Prophecy and False Prophets in the Old Testament and its Cultural Environment

Which prophetical declarations and advices will hold true? Prophecy was an important transcultural aspect of politics and power struggles in …

Uyghur Donors and Old Uyghur Texts

As a Turkic speaking tribe, the Uyghurs gradually converted to Buddhism after their migration from Mongolia into the Eastern Tianshan …

Visuelle Repräsentationen von Kirche und Religion (1945-1980)

Im Teilprojekt "Visuelle Repräsentationen von Kirche und Religion" wird die außerkirchliche Fremdwahrnehmung in öffentlichen Bildern thematisiert. Mit Hilfe neuerer kulturgeschichtlicher …

Vom „Dach der Welt“ nach Deutschland?

Die Wahrnehmung, Aneignung und Abwehr asiatischer Spiritualitäts- und Religionsformen in Deutschlands seit den 1970er Jahren

Von Thangka bis Manga

Bild-Erzählungen aus Asien

Eine Ausstellung der Situation Kunst (für Max Imdahl) mit wissenschaftlicher Unterstützung des CERES Situation Kunst (für Max Imdahl) 22.04.2012 - …

Westrom und Ostrom

Zwei Welten im Gespräch

When two Religious Traditions interact

A Case Study of Islam in South Asia

During these eleven centuries, Muslim theology, philosophy, mysticism, and jurisprudence had undergone enormous changes. Many schools and sects had emerged …

Wir und ihr - oder wir alle?

Religiöse Pluralität entdecken und erforschen

Was sind die wichtigsten Feiertage im Islam? Stimmt es, dass Jesus von den Toten wieder auferstanden ist? Werde ich wiedergeboren, …

Zur Konstitution und Identitätslogik der klassischen normativen Systeme Chinas

scheinbar nichts

Bildwelten von Qiu Shihua im Dialog

Das Centrum für Religionswissenschaftliche Studien (CERES) kooperiert im Rahmen einer Ausstellung mit Werken des chinesischen Künstlers Qiu Shihua mit dem …

Ḥunayn b. Isḥāq and Ādāb al-falāsifa in Context

The Early ‘Abbāsid Period as the Age of Translation

Ādāb al-falāsifa, an anthology of gnomic wisdom attributed to Ḥunayn b. Isḥāq (d. 260/973) ranks among the most successful …

‘Religion’, ‘Religions’, ‘Religiosity’ and the Hindu-Catholic Encounter in Goa

‘You Are Twinned with the Spirit’

Re-reading a Christian Non-Canonical Text in Light of Jewish, Eastern-Christian, Manichaean Practices and Scriptures

This project deals with a less known Christian non-canonical  writing, mainly known as Revelation of the Magi (Landau 2008). The …

„Semantik kirchlicher Öffentlichkeiten“

Kirchliche Akademien

Im Teilprojekt "Semantik kirchlicher Öffentlichkeiten: Kirchliche Akademien" geht es um die Selbstwahrnehmung der Kirchen in Deutschland in der zweiten Hälfte …

„Zur Semantik kirchlicher Medien“

Kirchliche Zeitschriften

Das Teilprojekt: "Zur Semantik kirchlicher Medien" untersucht semantische und diskursive Konstruktionen der christlichen Kirchen in der BRD von 1945-1990. Was …

Alumni network

Betä Ǝsraʾel Autonomy in the Sǝmen Mountains and Its Wars with the Solomonic Kingdom

Medieval and early modern Jews usually lived as a minority under non-Jewish rule, but there are a few known cases …

CERES Digital Humanities Initiative

CERES Directorate

CERES Early Career Researchers' Program

CERES Knowledge Transfer

CERES Knowledge Transfer Exhibitions

CERES Knowledge Transfer Pupil's School Lab

CERES Research

CERES Teaching

CRC 1475 „Metaphors of Religion“

Religious Meaning-Making in Language Use

Religious meaning-making occurs in and through metaphors. In metaphors, meaning is trans-ferred from one semantic domain to another. Religion, which …

Euro-Asian History of Religions

Quality Improvement Commission

Religion & Media

Religion & the Arts

Religious Diversity in Present Times

Religious Encounters

Study Advisory Board

The Study Advisory Board acts as a consultative body between the students and the decision-makers within the ZWE CERES. It …

ISMRC 23

Wanderausstellung „Was' los, Deutschland!?“

Ein Parcours durch die Islamdebatte

Das CERES, die Stadt Bochum und die Volkshochschule holen die interaktive Ausstellung „Was' los, Deutschland!?“ nach Bochum. „Was' los, Deutschland!?“ …