Research Environment and structural Impact

Through the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”, the University of Münster has become a beacon for interdisciplinary research on religion both in Germany and abroad in terms of size and the range of disciplines, methods, cultures and time periods that it covers. Its scholars work across cultures and periods, focus on both the past and the present, and investigate religion from a denomination and a non-denominational perspective. In order to maintain the size and range of interdisciplinary research and cooperation with international partners, the University has created long-term structures with its Profile Area “Religion and Society”. In addition, the Cluster of Excellence has given rise to a number of institutions that embed specialist research on religion and politics within the University and foster the development of new research partnerships. The dynamic nature of the research carried out within the Cluster of Excellence at the University of Münster is reflected in its many third-party-funded projects.

Third-party-funded research

The Cluster of Excellence offers an excellent environment for acquiring large-scale research partnerships and independent third-party-funded projects related to religion and politics.

 

• Käte Hamburger Kolleg “Legal Unity and Pluralism” (BMBF)

  At the Käte Hamburger Kolleg, scholars from Münster and fellows from all over the world are studying the dynamic relationship between “legal unity and pluralism” (EViR) from antiquity to the present day. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Read more

• Research Group “Xenocracy on site: Administration and cultural interdependence in the premodern era” (DFG)

  The aim of the research group “Xenocracy on site: Administration and cultural interdependence in the premodern period” is to develop a perspective on the phenomenon of foreign rule that is suitable for the premodern period. The Research Group is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Read more

• Consolidor Grant „Governance in Babylonia: Negotiating the Rule of Three Empires” (ERC)

  Funded by the European Research Council (ERC) with a Consolidator Grant, the project “Governance in Babylonia: Negotiating the rule of three empires” (GoviB) aims to produce the first publication of archival texts from the German excavations in Babylon between 1899 and 1917. Read more

• • Horizon project INCITE-DEM “Inclusive citizenship in a world in transformation” (EU)

  Supported by the Horizon Programme of the European Union (EU), the research project INCITE-DEM “Inclusive citizenship in a world in transformation” is exploring the mechanisms by which inclusive participation and civic engagement can succeed. The aim is to develop principles for a democracy that is robust, inclusive and innovative. Read more

• Research project “Asking the Pope for Help” (Federal Foreign Office)

  A team from the Department of Medieval and Modern Church History is recording the petitions in the Vatican archives that an estimated 15,000 people wrote during the Nazi period, and preparing them for publication in a digital edition. The Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” is involved in the large-scale project with its research on Romania and Brazil. Read more

• Emmi Noether Group “Inner-Islamic knowledge transfer in Arabic-Persian-Ottoman translation processes in the Eastern Mediterranean (1400-1750)” (DFG)

  The DFG-funded Emmy Noether Junior Research Group “Inner-Islamic knowledge transfer in Arabic-Persian-Ottoman translation processes in the Eastern Mediterranean (1400-1750)” is aiming to close gaps in the current state of research and to foster a new understanding of translation that is sensitive to cultural history. Read more

• Research Centre “Novum Testamentum Graecum – Editio Critica Maior” (AWK NRW)

  The North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts is funding the long-term project “Editio Critica Maior”. Since 2008, the Research Centre at the Institute for New Testament Textual Research has been documenting the Greek textual history of the New Testament during the first millennium. Read more

• Graduate School “Regional Regulation of Religious Plurality in Comparison” (MKW)

  Funded by the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Culture and Science (MKW), the NRW Graduate School “Regional Regulation of Religious Plurality in Comparison” (RePliV) at the Universities of Münster and Bochum is comparing different states to explore regional religious diversity. Read more

• Fellowship Programme “Migration, Diaspora, Citizenship” (MSCA)

  The European Union is funding the “Migration, Diaspora, Citizenship” (MDC) fellowship programme at the University of Münster as part of the COFUND line of the “Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions”. Its aim is to enable postdoctoral researchers and professors from all over the world to travel and network internationally. 

• Centre for Advanced Study “Access to cultural goods in the digital transformation” (DFG)

  Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and focusing on art as an example, the Centre for Advanced Study “Access to cultural goods in the digital transformation” is exploring both the new forms of access to cultural goods and the new forms of restricting and controlling access that digitalization makes possible. Read more

Research centres

The University of Münster has seen the emergence over time of a network of long-term research centres that embed the discipline of “Religion and Politics” within university life. The organizational backbone of interdisciplinary cooperation is provided by three period-specific research centres, these serving to attract new research partnerships and to act as a forum for public events, publication series and journal editorships. Other centres sharpen the University’s profile in religious studies and in the study of Islam.

• Centre for Religion and Modernity

  Established within the Cluster of Excellence, the Centre for Religion and Modernity (CRM) is concerned with the study of religions, religious communities and actors, and their changing roles in modern and modernizing societies. Read more

• Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies

  The Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (CMF) emerged after decades of collaborative research across periods at the University of Münster. It focuses among other things on Christian-Islamic contact zones and the contribution of various Jewish communities to European and Mediterranean history. Read more

• Centre for Eastern Mediterranean History and Culture

  The Centre for Eastern Mediterranean History and Culture (GKM) brings together all ancient studies at the University of Münster, and is the backbone of ancient studies at the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”. Read more

• Centre of Religious Studies

  The Centre for Religious Studies (CRS) is an academic institution at the University of Münster whose purpose is to study and teach religion and religious studies in general. It focuses in particular on interreligious, intercultural and interdisciplinary issues and research perspectives related to religion, especially in the fields of Islam, Orthodox Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism. Read more

• Centre for Islamic Theology

  The University of Münster is one of eight centres for Islamic theology in Germany. The aim of the Centre for Islamic Theology (ZIT) is to take account of the growing plurality of religious faiths in Germany and to provide denominationally grounded training for young academics in the field of Islamic studies. It also aims to establish Islamic theology in Germany and to train theologians and teachers to teach the Islamic religion at school. The planned expansion of the Centre into a faculty is intended to anchor the study of Islam within the academic landscape of Germany and Europe. Read more

• Research Centre “Islam and Politics”

  The interdisciplinary Research Centre “Islam and Politics” is investigating the dynamics of Islam in politics in its entirety: theoretically and empirically, historically and in relation to the present. One focus is on the question of how Muslims actively participate in political processes. Read more