Section PresentersReligious Studies and Intercultural Theology
Bachmann, Judith
The End Times and the Future: Traditional Divination in the Entanglement of (Anti-)Colonial, Esoteric, and Missionary Discourses in 19th-Century West Africa
[Endzeit und Zukunft: Traditionelle Divination in der Verschränkung (anti-)kolonialer, esoterischer und missionarischer Diskurse im Westafrika des 19. Jahrhunderts]
The history of global Christianity has long criticized the linear expansion narrative from European Christianity. However, when it names the resources of indigenous missionary staff, it often runs the risk of falling into historically unexplained notions of African tradition and ultimately falls back onto globally used categories. This lecture shows the prehistory of this connection by using the Ifá oracle as an example. West African intellectuals negotiated missionary and colonial classifications and incorporated esoteric ideas of religion and science. In this way, they positioned traditional divination globally while at the same time developing the program of their own independent church. They thus represent a transformative node in the global history of religion and Christianity.
Dr. Judith Bachmann is a research assistant (postdoc) in the Department of Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology within the Theology Faculty of Heidelberg University. Her research is on global religion history of traditional shrines in Nigeria, on witchcraft in the multireligious Yoruba-speaking context, and on the Pentecostal movement. In 2023, she won the dissertation prize given by the German Association for Religious Studies (DVRW). She is the book review editor for the journal PentecoStudies.
Hedges, Paul
Intercultural Theology, Decolonising Religion, and Epistemological Plurality
Intercultural theology has been described as “the theological repentance of the North” (Ustorf 2008), but remains dominated by Eurocentric modes of knowledge production. Many calls for decolonisation have been made, and another would be easy, but what is the next step? Decolonising is a process, not something attained (decolonisation as a state), and showing how different epistemic voices add to our perspective will take us further. This includes what intercultural theology and religious studies look like “after religion”, which may seem to destabilise meaningful exchange but opens us to learning from other cultures, religious traditions, and Christianities.
Dr Paul Hedges is Associate Professor in the Interreligious Relations in Plural Societies Programme (SRP), RSIS, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research areas include interreligious studies, comparative and intercultural theologies, and theory and method in the study of religion. He has published fourteen books and over eighty academic papers. His two latest books are: Understanding Religion: Theories and Methods for Studying Religiously Diverse Societies (California University Press, 2021) and Religious Hatred: Prejudice, Islamophobia, and Antisemitism in Global Context (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021). He is working on a forthcoming book entitled Christian Polytheism? (Routledge).
Maltese, Giovanni
Non-Western Epistemologies, Decoloniality, and Intercultural Theology: (New) Attractiveness and Problems of Polyphony Metaphors—and Pluriversality
[Nicht-westliche Epistemologien, Dekolonialität und Interkulturelle Theologie: (Neue) Attraktivität und Problematik von Polyphoniemetaphern – und Pluriversalität]
The reception of debates concerning non-Western epistemologies and decoloniality appears to be characterized by a conceptual ambiguity. This lecture argues that this is due partially to the peculiarities of decolonial theory formation (and differentiation from postcolonialism). However, it is also due to an examination of the epistemological interest, place of enunciation, and performance of one’s own work that has not been adequately consistent—at least on the part of those at work in theology who are positioned as hegemonic in the debates in question. If theoretical concepts are strung together in any associative and relational manner on the assumption that they are of equal value, this threatens to reproduce the criticized differential hermeneutic approaches. This lecture looks for other ways to take decolonial critique seriously.
Dr. Giovanni Maltese is Professor of Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Maltese’s most important research emphases are on global Christianity and global Islam—especially charismatic Pentecostal, evangelical, and Reformed Islamic movements—as well as on competing understandings of religion since the early 20th century as conditions of present societal and political dynamics. Maltese’s publications deal with, among other things, religious theologies, populism and right-wing authoritarianism, and the conceptualization of Islam and gender difference in South and Southeast Asia.
Middelbeck-Varwick, Anja
Religion as a Resource? On the Profile of a Sustainable Interreligious Theology
[Ressource Religion? Zum Profil einer nachhaltigen interreligiösen Theologie]
There is debate over whether “religious dialogues” contribute something positive to (global) societal understanding or whether religious motivations are not instead more the impetus for wars and violence worldwide. In view of the two-sided nature of religious potential, theology cannot limit itself to merely describing the various forms of interreligious relationships or conjuring up ideal images of successful coexistence. It must position itself—both religiously and politically. But what can such interreligious theology look like once it has subordinated the question of “truth” and learned to proceed from a micro-perspective. What does it base itself on? This lecture outlines the profile of an interreligious theology that considers the world’s global sustainability goals.
Prof. Dr. Anja Middelbeck-Varwick teaches religious theology and religious studies in the Department of Catholic Theology at the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main. Here, she is responsible for the teaching and research focus “Intercultural Theology” and conducts research in the field of Christian-Muslim relations.
Strube, Julian
Between Progressive and Reactionary: Esoteric Optimisms about the Future in the 19th Century
[Zwischen progressiv und reaktionär: Esoterischer Zukunftsoptimismus im 19. Jahrhundert]
Movements such as spiritualism and occultism emerged in the first half of the 19th century in the midst of the major political upheavals in Europe. Early socialism and its concepts of perfectibility, having a salvation-historical character critical of the Enlightenment, were decisive for this. Progressive ideas were mixed with the reactionary soteriology of Joseph de Maistre. This ambivalence remained inscribed in parts of “esotericism,” increasingly influenced by not only non-Christian and non-European religions but also biological evolutionism. Esoteric visions of the future were remarkably optimistic and were characterized by a belief in progress that sought to transform society based on a radical individualism.
Dr. Julian Strube is Professor of Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology at the Georg-August University of Göttingen.. He works from a global historical perspective on the relationship between religion and politics as well as on debates over the meaning of religion, science, and philosophy since the early modern period. His research focuses on processes of exchange between India, Europe, and North America.
Walz, Heike
Inter-Dance, Religion, and Spirituality as an Epistemological Challenge
[Inter-Dance, Religion und Spiritualität als epistemologische Herausforderung]
Dance is a gateway to the world; dance produces knowledge; dance is thinking. This is claimed by research in dance studies under the influence of embodiment approaches. To what extent could this provide new insights for intercultural research into religion and spirituality? Could dance as an aesthetic-performative mode of expression contribute to the decolonization of knowledge? This lecture explores these questions, as dance is ascribed an important existential, political, and spiritual significance in many religious traditions and in world Christianity, especially in the Global South.
Prof. Dr. Heike Walz holds the Chair of Intercultural Theology and Religious Studies at Augustana Divinity School (Neuendettelsau). Her research includes: Inter-Dance and religion; religion, politics, and theologies in Latin America; decolonization of human rights, religion, and (post-)migration. Since 2023, she has been commissioned by the Protestant Church in Germany as a member of the World Council of Churches commission “Faith and Church Constitution.”
