Introduction into the History of Religions in Asia and the Middle East - Einzelansicht

The lecture starts at the 15. April 2021, and is held weekly during the announced time. The keyword for StudIp you can get via E-Mail from the lecturer in the week after Easter. The course starts online. As soon as the pandemic situation on the campus allows it, the lecture will be held in presence in the above-mentioned room.

The lecture introduces briefly into some pivotal periods and traditions of the multi-entangled history of religions from an Asian centered point of view. In this perspective particularly the dynamics within and the interactions of the religious fields of Mesopotamia, Iran, Central, East, South, and Southeast Asia come into sight, whereas Europe and the Americas appear only at the margin until missionaries, merchants, artists, soldiers, intellectuals, and their rulers from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean with alternative worldviews, new technologies, economic, and military powers change the game of the whole region through their colonial and hegemonic activities. An impact that on the part of Europe already can be observed during Hellenistic times as consequences of Alexander the Great and his conquering expeditions. In this horizon Jews, Christians, Gnostics, and since the second half of the 7^th century quite similar Muslim become rather visible as local actors in a specific area of Asia than as representatives of a European or Arabic, respectively a Near Eastern religious tradition.

Introductory Literature:

The Cambridge History of the Ancient World, ed. by Michele Renée Salzmann, Vol. 1. / Vol. 2.: Cambridge: University Press 2013; Peter Clark: Zoroastrianism: An Introduction to an Ancient Faith, Brighton: Sussex Academic Press 1998; Thomas M. Berry: Religions of India: Hinduism, Yoga, Buddhism, New York: Columbia Univ. Press 1996; John Y. Fenton (a.o.): Religions of Asia, 3. Ed. New York: St Martins 1993; Encyclopaedia Iranica (related articles), http://www.iranicaonline.org; Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. by Lindsay Jones, 2^nd Ed. Detroit: MacMillan 2005 (related articles); History of Christianity in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, 1450-1990: a Documentary Source Book. Ed. By Klaus Koschorke / Frieder Ludwig / Mariano Delgado, Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans 2007; Philip G. Kreyenbroek: Teachers and Teachings in the Good Religion: Opera minora on Zoroastrianism, ed. by Kianoosh Rezania, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2013; The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism. Ed. By Michael Jerryson, New York, NY: Oxford University Press 2017; Religions of South Asia: An Introduction. Ed. by. Sushii Mittal / Gene R. Thursby, London Routledge 2006; Yijie Tang: Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, Christianity and Chinese Culture, Springer-Verlag 2015.