Press release: Education and religion: Official opening of Courant Research Centre

Nr. 114/2010 - 09.06.2010

Three junior research groups created – from antiquity to the classical era of Islam

(pug) At the newest Courant Research Centre, scientists are studying Islam from antiquity through the classical era. A symposium and lecture on June 3, 2010 marked the official opening at Göttingen University. The Courant Research Centre is titled Education and Religion: From Early Imperial Roman Times to the Classical Period of Islam (EDRIS) and is one of seven Courant Research Centres established by the university using funds from the Excellence Initiative of the German federal and state governments. Three junior research groups will investigate early “educational societies” where various cultures and religions – Greco-Roman, Jewish, early Christian, Arabic-Islamic – influenced and profited from each other. The scientists will focus primarily on the cultures’ legacy in the current educational system and modern science – a legacy that includes Arabic numerals, Greek philosophy and Jewish translations. The results will be used to broaden the current educational debate to include a historic cultural dimension.

A junior research group led by Prof. Tobias Georges will look at the interaction between various religious traditions and educational concepts during the Roman Empire from the first to the fourth century. The church history specialist will join with a specialist in Jewish studies and an ancient historian to research the role of schools and higher education institutions in the Pagan world as well as among Jews and Christians: How did various religious traditions affect curricula and teaching, especially during the second and third centuries? What types of reflection supported religious belief only because they were discussed in schools? What interaction can be seen between the various traditions? Tobias Georges was appointed a junior professor at Göttingen University in early November 2009.

Prof. Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler will lead the second junior research group as it investigates the meaning of educational concepts and ideals in the development of religious identities of the late antiquity in the eastern Roman Empire. How was religion passed down? What was the relationship between religious education ideals and traditional education? Were there any attempts to create joint religious and ethical principles based on traditional education? Göttingen Univeristy appointed Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler as a junior professor in early December 2009.

Did Mohammed’s actions make the residents of the Arabian Peninsula true Muslims? What non-Arabic cultures and traditions contributed to the meaning of “Muslim”? The third junior research group, led by Islamicist Prof. Jens Scheiner will study how Islamic academics differentiated themselves from Islamic splinter groups as well as Christian and Jewish groups -- and how they were influenced by Christian and Hellenistic thought. Göttingen University appointed Jens Scheiner as a junior professer in mid-February.