Distinction for Ten Young Scholars

Ten young scholars from Australia, Germany, Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States are the first to receive the “Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise” in appreciation of outstanding dissertations or other publications on the topic of “God and spirituality”. To mark the occasion, Heidelberg University’s Research Center for International and Interdisciplinary Theology” (FIIT) is organising a festive presentation ceremony on Friday, 31 May 2013, followed by a three-day colloquium featuring the prize-winners. Among the other conference participants are FIIT scholars and members of the awarding committee that evaluated the quality of the studies submitted.

The ceremony begins with speeches by university registrar Dr. Angela Kalous, Prof. Dr. Dr. Michael Welker, director of FIIT, Prof. Dr. Johannes Eurich, dean of the Faculty of Theology, as well as the donor of the award, Dr. h.c. Manfred Lautenschläger. Subsequently, Prof. Welker and two Heidelberg theologians, Prof. Dr. Manfred Oeming and Prof. Dr. Peter Lampe, will introduce the award-winners and the publications they have been distinguished for. The lecture in English at the heart of the ceremony is entitled “Beyond Utopia. Avatars of the Promised Land” and will be delivered by Prof. Dr. Guy Stroumsa of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel) and the University of Oxford (UK).

The awardees for 2013 are Yael Avrahami (Haifa University), Christopher B. Hays (Emory University), David Lincicum (University of Oxford), Andreas Losch (Bochum University), Alexander Maßmann (Heidelberg University), David Moffit (Duke University), Michael Peppard (Yale University), Anathea E. Portier-Young (Duke University), Ruth Sheridan (Australian Catholic University) and Charles Stang (Harvard University). In the course of the three-day colloquium, the prize-winners will outline their plans for future research projects and discuss them with members of the awarding committee and scholars from the Research Center for International and Interdisciplinary Theology.

The Lautenschläger Award is presented annually to ten young scholars from all over the world working in different disciplines, including theology, philosophy, religious studies, ethics and adjacent subjects. It is endowed with prize monies of $10,000 for each recipient. The prize is awarded for doctoral dissertations or first book publications after the dissertation. In addition, the recipients in any given year receive the opportunity of organising two colloquia. These international and interdisciplinary events are funded to the tune of €15,000 each. They should be organised and headed by at least two awardees from different countries and disciplines.