Religion and Urbanity: Reciprocal Formations Blog
KFG Closing Conference 2026
The KFG “Religion and Urbanity: Reciprocal Formations” (FOR 2779) is organising its closing conference “Religion and Urbanity New Research Paradigms for a Global Perspective?” on the 1-5 June 2026 in Erfurt. Since 2018, the research group “Religion and Urbanity” has challenged established views about urban structures, religious groups and their reciprocal formations. Over 100 Fellows have come together for longer and shorter stays, conferences, workshops and discussions. As the project is slowly coming to an end in the winter term 2026/27, it is time to look back and at the same time look to the future. What has this research perspective achieved? Has it changed the research landscape in the long term, and what needs to be modified and expanded? How can these topics be explored in greater depth or transferred to other areas?
New publication by Jörg Rüpke
Publilius Syrus was one of the most successful mimes on the stages of 1st century BCE Rome. His plays were transmitted as Sententiae of Seneca and were subject to constant re-editing and agglomeration. It is hardly possible to isolate an original core, free of imperial or late ancient additions. In a reception perspective, however, a hermeneutical approach of this widely read corpus is possible. This chapter argues that the maxims formulated are not just a cynical commentary on contemporary society, but the proposal of a multi-faceted value “urbanity”, even if the very term urbanitas is not used in the text.
Tod im Bad – eine antike Kulturgeschichte
Badeunfall, Badeunglück, Badetod – allsommerlich liest man Meldungen über tragische Ereignisse an Baggerseen und Badestellen, was teilweise auf fehlende Bademeister und Rettungsschwimmer zurückgeführt wird. Doch auch so mancher Badegast beweget sich in gefährliche Gewässer, besucht verbotene Badestellen oder verhält sich schlicht unvorsichtig. Auch gibt es gibt einen erstaunlich hohen Anteil an Nichtschwimmern. Doch das hält die Betroffenen nicht davon ab, ins Wasser zu gehen. Zu verlockend ist das kühle Nass bei den warmen Temperaturen im Sommer.
Stadtreligion als analytisches Instrument für die südasiatische Religions- und Urbanisierungsgeschichte?
Wenn von „städtischer Religion“ die Rede ist, denken religionsgeschichtlich...
Congratulations to Susanne Rau on joining the Erfurt Academy of Public-Benefit Sciences
Susanne Rau, Professor for Spatial History at the University...
Reflections on the Globality of Religion and Urbanity
Since 2018, the ‘Religion and Urbanity: Reciprocal Formations’ (FOR 2779) research group within the Max-Weber-Kolleg of Universität Erfurt has hosted over 100 fellows from all over the world to investigate how these two concepts intertwined with one another in more than 80 cities across space and time in Europe, the circum-Mediterranean, and South Asia. After 8 years, the research group has entered its final phase and has invited all former fellows and members back to Erfurt to take stock…
“Lost Places” – 16th City Walk
Our group discovered lost places and urban memory culture within the city of Erfurt during our 16th City Walk on the 15th of April 2026. We visited three former religious or urban places and explored how they are still present, remembered or otherwise used within the urban space of Erfurt today…
Awareness Concept for KFG Closing Conference
It is important to us that the conference fosters an inspiring exchange of ideas. We want to ensure that all participants feel comfortable and can benefit equally from the experience. To this end, we have developed an awareness concept…
Performance of Classical Indian Dance at the KFG Closing Conference by Yashoda Thakore
As part of the closing event of the KFG Closing Conference 2026 Dr. Yashoda Thakore will present Dancing as Memory, Memory as Resistance: The Living Repertoire of the Kalavantulu — a performance lecture that speaks directly to the conference’s central concern with the reciprocal formations of religion, urbanity, memory, and social worlds…
Holy and Healing Waters in Erfurt
The bilingual exhibition “Holy and Healing Waters” („Heiliges und...
Film Screening: World Station
As part of our closing conference on ‘Religion and Urbanity’, taking place from 1 to 5 June, we will be screening the new film ‘Gare du Monde’ [World Station] by Jacques Lévy, a former and highly esteemed KFG fellow, on Wednesday 3 June…
„Hier gibt es kein Auferstehn“ – Religion und Urbanität in der Oper ‘Die tote Stadt’ (1920) von Erich Korngold
Von weitem ertönt Kindersang, die Kirchenglocken läuten. Feierliche Erwartung macht sich in der festlich geschmückten, mittelalterlichen Stadt breit. Der Gesang schwillt an, Frauen stimmen mit ein, lateinischer Mönchsgesang mischt sich in die hellen Stimmen. Immer lauter wird die Musik, die Prozession zieht heran. Auf dem Höhepunkt schreiten die Priester mit dem goldenen Schrein vorbei, in der sich die kostbare Heilig-Blut-Reliquie befindet. Der Gruppe folgt eine bunte Menge in liturgische Gewänder gehüllter Menschen, rote Chormäntel und Banner stechen hervor. Dieser ekstatische Aufzug lässt niemanden der Umstehenden kalt…
„Healthy Living” Stufu Podcasts (1/2)
Physical and mental health is (and was) an essential dimension of the liveable city. I explored this idea in a Studium Fundamentale (“Stufu”) which I offered in the summer term 2025 with my colleague Dr. Colleen Kron. This Stufu entitled “Healthy Living: History of Spatial Design for Health and Well-being” was opened to students in pedagogy and education, history, religious studies and other Bachelor’s programs of the Erfurt University…
New Entry in KFG Glossary: Belonging
Belonging has become a key concept especially in the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, and in migration studies. Competing with the static and rigid concept of identity, belonging offers a more open, processual and relational framework for research…
Kalimpong as Tibet’s Penumbra: Shangri-la, Lhasa, Delhi and Beijing
My interest in writing the hook-ups between the Chinese, Tibetan and Indian towns/cities was to map out the exchanges— politico-historical as well as socio-cultural— between them. Setting up my theodolite, taking measurements as it were, Kalimpong the border town offered a unique vantage point in the eastern Himalayas…
