Religion and decision-making
New lecture series of the Cluster of Excellence and the Collaborative Research Centre “Cultures of Decision-Making”
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The new public lecture series of the Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics" and the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1150 "Cultures of Decision-Making" of Münster University will address the topic "Religion and decision-making" in the winter semester 2016/2017. "Religion and decision-making are in a tense relationship and seem to be mutually exclusive. Decision-making involves that alternatives may be brought forth, explicated and made the subject of social action," says historian Prof. Dr. Ulrich Pfister, speaker of the CRC and member of the Cluster of Excellence. "This always takes place from the perspective of an option being selected and determined in a contingent act of decision, decisio.” In contrast and as a rule, the core of religious truth and the basic beliefs are considered as given and thus inaccessible, as something that precedes human actions and is or should be beyond decision-making.
The interdisciplinary lecture series "Religion and decision-making" hence will discuss the question as to which social and cultural circumstances make it possible and probable to decide on religious matters in general and on questions of faith in particular. The 14 lectures also explore the views there are on this matter, the areas and aspects of religion on which decision can be and may be made, and what should be beyond decision-making.
Who decides on religious matters?
After having established the issues that form the object of choice a number of other lines of inquiry follow: How, by whom and by reverting to which resources are decisions made on religion? In what ways do social institutions frame decisions taken on religious matters? To what extent is deciding on religious questions considered as something that should be left to the individual?" The lecture series also discusses in which way and in which discursive contexts – such as philosophical, theological or literary – questions related to decision-making on religious matters are reflected. “If one finally asks under which historic circumstances the possibilities, prerequisites, forms, characteristics and narratives of decision-making on religion have changed and how and why this happened, then it is possible to make an important contribution to understanding religious change in general,” the historian says.
During the lecture series, the representatives of various disciplines will be given the chance to shed light on the topic from their perspective: from Historical and Islamic Science, Religious Sociology, Ethnology, Theology, Byzantine Studies, German and Judaic Studies. The lectures will be held on Tuesdays from 6.15 to 7.45 pm in lecture theatre F2 of the Fürstenberghaus at Domplatz 20-22 in Münster. The series will start on 18 October with an introductory lecture of religious sociologist Prof. Dr. Detlef Pollack and historian Prof. Dr. Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger. (exc/ska/vvm)