Research
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F. Schleiermacher, Kurze Darstellung des theologischen Studiums, 2nd ed. 1830, § 132.
Das vollkommene Verstehen einer Rede oder Schrift ist eine Kunstleistung, und erheischt eine Kunstlehre oder Technik, welche wir durch den Ausdrukk Hermeneutik bezeichnen.
Research profile of the Faculty of Humanities
The Faculty's highly differentiated humanities culture has led to a diverse research landscape. We see this breadth of topics and methods, which cannot be reduced to a few key concepts, as a distinguishing feature of our research culture.
Agile research design formats are characteristic of this. In contrast to tightly pre-planned and therefore seemingly externally determined large-scale projects or highly complex and therefore sluggish collaborative research apparatuses, they are based on individually manageable, almost non-hierarchical and therefore quickly responsive structures. Such lean architectures, which are appropriate for the advanced 21st century, ensure that the research capacities of FB 02 are not blocked by extensive application, Coordinator or reporting tasks, but benefit scientific and social progress almost undiminished. Modern principles such as the careful use of given research resources, strict problem-oriented interdisciplinarity or internal structural economy are guiding principles for the targeted and therefore effective research culture of the Faculty of Humanities.
Nevertheless, the Faculty is also involved in two university-wide research priorities in which several of its subject areas collaborate across departments and disciplines: in Cultural and Gender Studies and in Empirical Educational Research. Other areas of focus include „Textwissenschaft und Textkompetenz“, „Mehrsprachigkeitsforschung“ and research into the work and influence of the Brothers Grimm.
Main research areas at FB 02
Publications of the Faculty
Vanessa-Nadine Sternath / Silvie Lang / Christine Riess (eds.): Menschen-Pflanzen-Netzwerke. Vegetabile agency in der Klimakatastrophe. Bielefeld: transcript 2025 (= Climates - Cultures - Contexts 2).
In the context of the climate catastrophe, we find ourselves as actors in a complex network of different human, animal, plant and other entities. Bruno Latour's actor-network theory offers a diversifying perspective on vegetal beings: More-than-human entities make us do things. The degree of dependency in human-plant relationships varies. The contributors venture a new perspective, approach this relationship critically and ask: What is vegetal agency and what forms can be observed? When, where and how are they presented? And what hierarchies are constructed in the process?
Martin Böhnert / Maria Hornisch / Annika Rink (eds.): Apocalypse and Apathie. Handlungs(un)fähigkeiten in der Klimakrise. Bielefeld: transcript 2025 (= Climates - Cultures - Contexts 1).
The climate crisis has shaped public discourse for decades. Experts and extreme weather events point to the potentially apocalyptic consequences, but there is no necessary action by society as a whole. Ultimately, the crisis exceeds our temporal and spatial horizon of experience and purely fact-based communication does not seem to be sufficient to adequately counter excessive demands and resignation. The contributors from the humanities, cultural studies and social sciences therefore explore new forms of representation and mediation in order to grasp the climate crisis as a complex of interwoven problems - and make visible how possible endings of the world, actors and their possibilities are negotiated.
Lars Heiler: Ritual, Family and Therapy in Anglophone Literatures. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan 2025.
This book investigates the triadic constellations between ritual, family, and therapy in literature in English. Many rituals, so-called rites of passage in particular, are strongly associated with the changing status of individuals as members of a family unit. Traditional healing rituals were often designed to have a therapeutic effect, sometimes mentally, but also physically, whereas modern psychotherapies often include ritual elements in order to enhance the efficacy of their treatment. Families, on the other hand, can be the site of therapeutic activity by providing protection, stability, and emotional comfort; yet, difficult family constellations may also be the origin of emotional distress and the reason why a person needs counselling and therapeutic support in the first place. Modern therapies, such as family systems therapy, have expanded their range of interest and influence in order to look at the whole family unit, not just the symptomatic individual, as client. This study discusses nine literary texts—six novels, one literary memoir, and two plays—in which the three dimensions intersect and mutually influence each other.
Jennifer Pavlik / Theele, Ivo / Bräutigam, Paul: »Europa« im Literaturunterricht. Didaktische, fachwissenschaftliche, schulische und curriculare Perspektiven. Metzler 2025 (= Deutschdidaktik).
This volume documents the results of a conference at which subject didacticians, academics, teachers and representatives of the education administration discussed what European-sensitive literature teaching could look like. The contributions tie in with the resolution of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs “European Education in Schools”, differentiating and specifying it for literature lessons. The potentials of European education with aesthetic media, the curricular anchoring of this as well as possibilities of establishing long-term European education in the subject German are discussed from different perspectives.
Paul Gerhard Klumbies: Theologie der synoptischen Evangelien. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2025.
There are numerous individual studies on each of the Gospel writings. However, there is no overall view of the three first Gospels from a theological perspective. In this volume, Paul-Gerhard Klumbies focuses on what connects the three Gospel writings from a theological perspective. In doing so, he perceives the first three Gospels in their entirety as an independent type of Christological literature. In narrative form, the synoptic Jesus narratives provide information about the content of faith in Christ. Exegetical research has produced a wealth of detailed findings on the Synoptics. The results obtained have been summarized and juxtaposed in separate publications on the theology of the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke. However, a joint reference to all three Gospel writings from a theological perspective has not yet been made. The theology of the synoptic Gospels goes beyond the addition of theological observations on the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke. What the three first Gospels have in common, and at the same time what sets them apart from the other writings of the New Testament, is their Christology in relation to the person of Jesus.
Andreas Heek/Aurica Jax/Ilse Müllner/Annegret Reese-Schnitker (Hg.): Zur Sprache bringen. Biblische Texte und sexualisierte Gewalt in Pastoral und Schule. Ostfildern: Matthias Grünewald 2024.
The abuse scandal has been shaking the Catholic Church for years. Sexualized violence in church spaces is not an isolated case, but is supported by a system that combines power, violence and sexuality into a hostile combination.
In this volume, biblical texts are read critically in order to understand the systems of sexualized violence and to search for resources of strength and resilience in the texts. The authors from various fields of church activity (schools, pastoral care, adult education, academia) show examples of how these texts can be used in pastoral care and schools to find a language for sexualized violence that has a liberating character.
Mirja Kutzer/Ilse Müllner/Annegret Reese-Schnitker (Hg.): Heilige Räume. Verständigungen zwischen Theologie und Kulturwissenschaft. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 2024.
Religion is particularly visible where communities have designated spaces as “sacred”.People often find a special atmosphere in temples, synagogues, churches or mosques, but also in nature.In various ways, sacred spaces invite people to perform certain actions but refrain from others.How do spaces become “sacred” spaces?And how does the medium of space structure the sacred?The contributions interweave perspectives from religious studies, theology and cultural studies and show the fruitfulness of this interweaving for interreligious and religious-secular exchange.Drawing on a broad concept of space, the following questions are asked: To what extent can spaces be assigned sacredness?How is this justified and practiced? How do sacred spaces organize the connection between transcendence and immanence, between God and man or between people? Sacred spaces also come into view as special places of religious learning.
After “Sacred Texts”, this volume forms the second part of a trilogy on the cultural mediation of the sacred. The third part will focus on “Sacred Times”.