New Teaching-Learning-Project in Summer Semester 2021: Ancient Religion(s) in Contact between East and West

The summer semester of 2021 is still some way off, but preparations are already in full swing. Under the sonorous name ARELINCO, which is short for “Ancient Religions in Contact,” CERES offers a newly designed teaching-learning-project from April 2021 onward. This project aims to combine historical research on ancient religions with online publishing and public outreach. A first non-obligatory information meeting will take place on January 15, 2021.

In the context of the teaching-learning-project, students will discuss similarities and differences of religious contact situations between Europe and he Near East in antiquity compared to the present. Among others, the following question shall be addressed: What role do religious dress codes play in both historical and contemporary discussions? How can we classify the (dis)loyalty of religious groups to public order and state authorities? What forms of religiously motivated violence can be identified for the various epochs? 

Advanced BA and MA students from the fields of Religious Studies, History, Archaeology, Philology, and related disciplines are invited to develop case studies to discuss these matters. The course plan is based on a three-step approach: After the research phase where students work on their historical projects, the results are prepared for presenting to a broader public audience. The third step is dedicated entirely to online publishing and digital humanities: the students should acquire the necessary skills (static websites) to publish their results online on a project page. 

The students will be supervised by Thomas Jurczyk, Rosel Pientka-Hinz, and Jens Schlamelcher. More information about the educational research project can be found in this PDF file.