Ringvorlesungen SoSe 2026: Religions in Transition: International PerspectivesTermine: 20.04.2026, 27.04.2026, 04.05.2026, 18.05.2026, 22.06.2026, 06.07.2026

19. März 2026

Foto: A. Körs

Metropolitan Community Church of Washington, D.C. (MCCDC)

Religion, for many individuals, is practiced not in the abstract, but in concrete, embodied ways—through participation in local religious groups. These groups, often referred to as congregations, are central sites where religious belief, belonging, and behavior are lived out. They provide not only spaces for worship, but also platforms for socialization, community-building, charity, and political engagement.

Local religious groups are remarkably diverse. They vary in size, resources, denominational affiliation, organizational form, leadership structure, activities, and their relationship with their surrounding context. They include parish-based Christian congregations, free churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, and spiritual centers. They can be embedded in religiously diverse urban metropolises or operate in rural, mono-religious settings.

Despite this diversity, and despite their centrality in the religious field, our systematic knowledge of congregations remains limited—especially in the European context. The lecture series presents current congregational studies from various contexts such as Italy, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Croatia, and the USA.

Mondays 18:00-19:30, Digital per Zoom, Registration at awr"AT"uni-hamburg.de

Coordination: Dr. Anna Körs, Akademie der Weltreligionen, Universität Hamburg

Further information and dates can be found on the website of the Zentrum für Weiterbildung (ZfW). The programm is attached here.

A recording and documentation of the lectures as Lecture2Go is planned.

The lecture series is funded by the Udo Keller Foundation Forum Humanum.