Enlightenment and Religions

Project manager: Prof. Dr. Daniel Cyranka

Duration of project: ongoing

The research theme “Enlightenment and Religions” will address topics which play a fundamental role in the department for religious studies and intercultural theology. 

In exploring the theological and philosophical controversies of the 1770s, this project centers on the notions of apokatastasis and metempsychosis, as invoked by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781), which can be traced back to Origenian debates. The controversies concerning reason and revelation, history and religion, as well as the anthropology of humankind played a crucial role in the formulation of the enlightened concepts of human autonomy and free will, which became highly influential in articulating a modern understanding of humanity. With Lessing as its point of departure, the project focuses on these debates in the second half of 18th century.

Seminar für Religionswissenschaft und Interkulturelle Theologie der MLU