Lecture “Religion and Culture: Egypt – Israel – Europe” by Prof. Dr. Jan Assmann

“Religion and Culture: Egypt – Israel – Europe”

Lecture by cultural scientist and egyptologist Prof. Dr. Jan Assmann, Hans Blumenberg Visiting Professor at the Cluster of Excellence in the winter term of 2020/21

Nationalism and religion are increasingly uniting in authoritarian states around the world, according to cultural scientist and Blumenberg professor Jan Assmann. “Putin’s Russia, Erdogan’s Turkey, Modi’s India, Netanyahu’s Israel, Duda’s Poland, Orban’s Hungary, and even Trump’s USA are examples of this tendency in anti-democratic, authoritarian regimes”, said Assmann at the University of Münster’s Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” on Tuesday evening. “Because nationalism is essentially religious, traditional religion succumbs to such usurpation”. This is precisely what happened to the ‘German Christians’ movement in the Nazi era, Assmann pointed out in his lecture on religion and culture from Ancient Egypt to the present day. “Nationalism regards the nation as the most sacred thing. Nationalism is not a substitute religion that, like communism, takes the place of religion. On the contrary, it seeks to ally itself or even fuse with religion”. Continue reading