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The "Forschungszentrum für Internationale und Interdis­ziplinäre Theologie", FIIT (Research Center for In­ter­na­tio­nal and Inter­dis­ciplinary Theology), streng­thens inter­discipli­nary re­search in academic areas relevant to theo­logy and society.  The center has created a net­work between thirteen autonomous re­search areas, which are headed by researchers from Heidelberg working in theology and neighboring disciplines.
Moreover,  since its foundation in 2005 FIIT has developed new forms of international and interdisciplinary research - such as the "Global Network of Research Centers for Theology, Religious and Christian Studies," the transatlantic research project "Images of the Divine and Cultural Identities," and Chinese-German research colloquia.

at the University of Heidelberg

(Research Center of International and Interdisciplinary Theology, University of Heidelberg, Germany)

invites applications or nominations for

THE MANFRED LAUTENSCHLAEGER AWARD FOR THEOLOGICAL PROMISE

on the topic

GOD AND SPIRITUALITY
(as broadly understood)

Body - Mind - Culture

A Cooperation of IFBK, FIIT and the Centre for Subjectivity Research

Coperating with IFBK (Interdisciplinary Forum for Biomedicine and Cultural Studies) and the Centre for Subjectivity Research, FIIT is establishing the research association "New Interdisciplinary Anthropology: Body - Mind - Culture." In 2012, the research association is hosting a summer school on the issue as part of the Marsilius Kolleg.

On the one hand the research association is to explore the interrelationship of progress in life sciences and image of the human person and worldviews passed on in culture. On the other hand it is dealing with the interactions of biological, anthropological and cultural evolution. Participants hope to overcome a disadvantageous binary opposition of na­tu­ra­list and culturalist positions and to arrive at a practice of political consulting that rests on a multidisciplinary foundation and reflects a refined interdisciplinary approach.

The research association "New In­ter­dis­ci­pli­na­ry Anthropology: Body - Mind - Culture" is structured in three departments:

(A) Progress in Life Sciences and the Images of the Human Person and Worldviews Passed on in Culture

(B) Interactions of Biological, An­thro­po­lo­gi­cal and Cultural Evolution

(C) Life Sciences and Ethics

It is an explicit goal of the research as­so­ci­a­ti­on to incorporate young upcoming scholars  in the international cooperation.  An im­por­tant step in this direction is the international summer school "New In­ter­dis­ci­pli­na­ry An­thro­po­lo­gy: Body - Mind - Culture," which will be organized by the research association in July 2012 in the International Forum of the Sciences Heidelberg as one of its first projects.

The Manfred Lautenschläger Award for Theological Promise 2013 will be awarded to an international group of 10 young scholars:

Avrahami, Yael (Haifa University)
Hays, Christopher B. (Emory University)
Lincicum, David (University of Oxford)
Losch, Andreas (University of Bochum)
Maßmann, Alexander (University of Heidelberg)
Moffitt, David (Duke University)
Peppard, Michael (Yale University)
Portier-Young, Anathea E. (Duke University)
Sheridan, Ruth (Australian Catholic University)
Stang, Charles (Harvard University)

Religious traditions are a powerful factor also in today's society.  They have been shaped in history and will continue to influence individuals and societies.  As an example, the political upheaval in central and east Europe in 1989 has shown the large extent to which religious convictions contribute to a con­scious­ness of freedom, to democratic thought and an active quest for peace.

In the new research project on "Theology  and Civil Society," FIIT seeks to explore critically the importance of theology in the development of civil societies and dis­cus­sions within civil society.  The project involves scholars from Christian theology, Jewish studies and Islamic studies.

With a joint seminar held in summer 2011, FIIT (RCIIT) initiated a closer cooperation between legal studies and theology. Scholars of the two fields met to discuss G. W. F. Hegel's Philosophy of Right and the perspectives it offers on contemporary society. Among the participants were Dr Armin von Bogdandy, Dr Ute Mager  (Legal Studies), Dr Klaus Tanner, and Dr Michael Welker (Sys­te­ma­tic The­o­lo­gy).  With postdocs and doc­to­ral stu­dents, a younger generation of re­sear­chers was also involved. The co­o­pe­r­a­ti­on was continued in the winter term with meetings focusing on N. Luhmann's Law as a Social System (Das Recht der Gesellschaft). The interplay be­tween law, political philosophy, and the­o­lo­gy was also explored in an ad­van­ced seminar on J. Rawls' posthumous A Brief Inquiry into the Meaning of Sin and Faith: With "On My Religion" (2010), held at FIIT by Dr. William Schweiker, Chicago, and Dr. Michael Welker, Heidelberg (December 2011). The following term, legal scholars and theologians compared conceptual approaches to doctrines in the two fields. The cooperation is continuing with a seminar in summer 2013.

The research project "Images of the Divine and Cultural Orientations" attempts to illuminate correlations among perceptions of God, concepts of God and doctrines about God on the one hand and basic cultural and ethical orientations on the other. This will be carried out in a cooperation of scholars in the fields of Christian theology, Jewish studies and Islamic studies. Furthermore, the thought and research processes that in Europe are more aligned with intellectual history and in North America more with cultural and sociological studies need to be brought into dialogue.