DFG Research Training Group 896:
Images and Ideas: Many Gods - One God - The World
The three world religions – Judaism, Christianity and the Islam – are today monotheistic religions. However, they all have a polytheistic history in which numerous gods were in competition with each other and with the one God.
The postgraduate programme aims to explore the tense and exciting relationship between polytheism and monotheism, and the impact of religious systems on world conception and design in Oriental and Greek-Roman antiquity. Using selected case studies, we reveal the historical, cultural and intellectual roots of the three monotheistic world religions and thus contribute to a deeper understanding of these religions as they appear today.
Located at the Philosophical and Theological Faculty, the postgraduate programme is designed to be interdisciplinary. This extensive research and training programme involves the following disciplines: Egyptology, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Iranian, Arabic and Islamic Studies, Classical Philology (Greek and Latin), Religious Studies and Evangelical Theology (with Old Testament, New Testament, Eastern Church History / Ecumenical Theology and Patristics).
