Distinction for Ten Young Scholars

Ten young scholars from Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States are to receive the “Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise” in appreciation of outstanding dissertations or other publications on the topic of “God and spirituality”. It is endowed with prize money of 3,000 euros for each recipient. To mark the occasion, Heidelberg University’s Research Center for International and Interdisciplinary Theology (FIIT) is organising a festive presentation ceremony on Friday, 6 May 2016, followed by a colloquium featuring the prize-winners. Among the other conference participants are FIIT scholars and members of the international awarding committee that evaluated the quality of the studies submitted.

The ceremony begins with speeches by Prof. Dr. Dieter W. Heermann, Vice-President for International Affairs of Heidelberg University, and Prof. Dr. Ingrid Schoberth, dean of the Faculty of Theology, as well as Prof. Dr. Dr. Michael Welker, director of FIIT, and the donor of the award, Dr. h.c. Manfred Lautenschläger. Subsequently, Prof. Welker and two Heidelberg theologians, Prof. Dr. Peter Lampe and Prof. Dr. Jan Stievermann, will introduce the award-winners and the publications they have been distinguished for. The awards will then be presented. The lecture in English at the heart of the ceremony is entitled “Exodus – Revelation and Revolution” and will be delivered by Heidelberg Egyptologist Prof. Dr. Jan Assmann.

The awardees for 2016 are Sonja Ammann (University of Göttingen), Brennan Breed (Emory University, Atlanta), Kenneth Brown (University of Göttingen), Ryan Coyne (University of Chicago), David Decosimo (Princeton University), Courtney Friesen (University of Minnesota), Alison Joseph (University of California, Berkeley), Andrew Perrin (McMaster University, Ontario), Kyle Wells (Durham University) und Brittany Wilson (Princeton Theological Seminary). In the course of the 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 Lautenschlaeger 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. The prize is awarded for doctoral dissertations or first book publications after the dissertation. In addition to the prize money, the recipients in any given year receive the opportunity of organising a colloquium. This international and interdisciplinary event is funded to the tune of 15,000 euros. It should be organised and headed by at least two awardees from different countries and disciplines.