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. The prize-winners include two whose award-winning research was done at Heidelberg University. To mark the occasion, the Research Center for International and Interdisciplinary Theology (FIIT) is organising a festive presentation ceremony on Friday, 26 May 2017, 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 A. Stephen K. Hashmi, Vice-President of Heidelberg University, and Prof. Dr Christoph Strohm, 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 Manfred Oeming und Prof. Dr Matthias Konradt, 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 will be on Woodrow Wilson, president of the United States from 1913 to 1921, and the role of religion in American foreign policy. Historian Prof. Dr Manfred Berg from the Heidelberg Center for American Studies will be the key-note speaker.

The awardees for 2017 are Sarit Kattan Gribetz (Princeton University), Davis Hankins (Emory University), Liang Hong and Katrin König (both University of Tübingen), T.J. Lang (Duke University), Jennifer Newsome Martin (University of Notre Dame), Eva Mroczek (University of Toronto) and Frederick Tappenden (University of Manchester). The two prize-winners from Heidelberg University are Svenja Nagel and Xutong Qu. Svenja Nagel will be honoured for her doctoral work in Egyptology on the spread of the Isis cult in the Roman Empire. Xutong Qu investigated Karl Barth’s reception of Goethe. He wrote his award-winning doctoral dissertation in Theology. 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.