Series, Monographs, Collective Volumes

Norm und Diversität. Ästhetisches Aushandeln in der Vormoderne

Edited by Sarah Dessì Schmid and Sandra Linden
De Gruyter | 2025 [in print]
Andere Ästhetik. Koordinaten 4

Abstract: The volume considers pre-modern phenomena of norm and deviation as dynamic negotiations of the aesthetic and as an aesthetic negotiation. Although every norm aims to be generally valid and applicable, there is always a plurality of norms and their claim to validity is reflected in diverse practices and repeatedly opened up to debate. The contributions document discussions from the intersectional sub-project ‘Norm and Diversity’ of the Tübingen CRC 1391 Different Aesthetics.

Andere Ästhetik meets Andere Ästhetik. Visualisierungen von Antiken nördlich der Alpen in der frühneuzeitlichen Druckgraphik

Edited by Laura Di Carlo, Johannes Lipps, Anna Pawlak and Daniel R. F. Richter
De Gruyter | 2024
Andere Ästhetik. Studien 5

Abstract: This interdisciplinary volume deals with the cultural relevance of antique artefacts in the early modern period. It concentrates on prints which, from the 16th century onwards, were intensely engaged with Roman antiquities north of the Alps. From an archaeological and art historical perspective, the authors of the volume focus on the complex aesthetic strategies of the prints, which give evidence of the historical interrelation between identity formation and artistic practice. This interrelation becomes visible in the dynamics between complementary concepts like past and present, familiar and foreign, imagination and reality. The contributions highlight a number of examples to analyse various strategies of visualizing, transforming and programmatically adopting those antiquities.

Link: about the book on the publisher’s page

Personifikationen als ästhetische Reflexionsfiguren. Studien zu Sangspruch und Totenklagen

Julia Fischer
De Gruyter | 2024
Andere Ästhetik. Studien 6

Abstract: In medieval German literature, personifications are an extremely popular and diversely deployed stylistic device. This popularity is founded in a multiplicity of representations, which, according to the theory, is principally motivated by its action. This can be understood as a point of interface at which the representation of personifications is reflected, varied and staged with varying degrees of complexity. Personifications can be placed in proximity to allegory and metaphor. They touch on basic metaphorical processes and in individual cases can be shaped into an allegory. In this way, the stylistic device can be understood as a form of inauthentic speech which aims to makes facts evident and implicitly negotiate an understanding of the stylistic device itself. Personifications are not only used to narrate, by using them, an understanding of the stylistic device itself is offered. These reflections can be demonstrated particularly in pragmatically-oriented genres, which relate to the real world. For this reason, Sangspruch and Totenklage offer self-contained short forms which foster a particularly variable interaction with personifications and thus enable the understanding of aesthetic reflections.

Link: about the book on the publisher’s page

Freiheit der Kunst. Genealogie und Kritik der ästhetischen Autonomie

Jörg Robert
De Gruyter | 2024
Andere Ästhetik. Studien 7

Abstract: Can art be considered ‘free’? Where do the borders to its freedom lie? What does the phrase ‘aesthetic autonomy’ (or ‘aesthetics of autonomy’) mean, as currently being discussed in contexts such as the debates surrounding ‘cancel culture’? The book searches for answers to such questions by investigating the origin and history of the concept ‘aesthetic autonomy’. In doing so, it reveals the loosely coherent discourse that developed around 1800 out of individual premodern motifs, including both ‘autological’ (genius, work, form) and ‘heterological’ (art’s functions) aspects. Influenced by the idea of freedom, well-known motifs dating back to antiquity developed into an ‘aesthetic figure of reflection’, only appearing as a systematic ‘aesthetics of autonomy’ in polemic retrospect – particularly in critical theory (Adorno). Using the praxeological approach of the CRC 1391 (‘Different Aesthetics’), this study represents the first attempt to comprehensively define the concept ‘aesthetic autonomy’ both historically and systematically. With its interdisciplinary approach, the study is aimed at researchers in historical philology, art and musicology, as well as an interested media audience.

Link: about the book on the publisher’s page

Beten in Mainz. Religion als Herausforderung in der Geschichte der Stadt

Edited by Nina Gallion and Johannes Lipps
Nünnerich-Asmus Verlag & Media | 2023

Abstract: Over the course of its 2000-year history, Mainz has been shaped by different religions. In antiquity, its inhabitants worshiped Celtic gods, oriental gods and Roman rulers, then early Christianity took root in the 3rd Century. In the Middle Ages, the city developed into one of the Roman-German Empire’s spiritual centres, while also housing one of the oldest Jewish communities. As a ShUM city, Mainz and its Jewish community are one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. Even in the tumultuous Reformation period, Catholicism held its ground, and its unbroken tradition made Mainz a particularly loyal stronghold of the Vatican in the 19th century. During the First World War at the latest, Mainz experienced the entry of Islam with Muslim soldiers from the Maghreb. This publication explores the multitude of religious challenges in Mainz’s urban context. The fate of individual citizens, as manifested in texts, images and material legacies, will serve as the focus of this exploration. These remnants present a multifaceted account of past hopes and fears.

Schein und Anschein. Dynamiken ästhetischer Praxis in der Vormoderne

Edited by Annette Gerok-Reiter, Martin Kovacs, Volker Leppin and Irmgard Männlein-Robert
De Gruyter | 2023
Andere Ästhetik. Koordinaten 3

Abstract: The CRC Different Aesthetics explores various pre-modern artefacts and their reflexions on their own aesthetic status. Following these studies, this volume wants to investigate the topic of illusion versus appearance – a central issue in aesthetic discussion since antiquity. Starting point is the term inherent ambiguity of the German word “Schein”: the term can describe the glow of light, it can describe the process of appearance, of becoming visible, as well as appearance as illusion. The contributions to this volume analyse this phenomenon using different texts, monuments and paintings ranging from antiquity to the early modern period. Each interdisciplinary article tries to answer the question: What are the cultural contexts as well as the specific forms that aesthetic constructions appear either as “Schein” as in fostering knowledge and enlightenment, or “Anschein” as deceptive illusion?

Link: about the book on the publisher’s page

Plurale Autorschaft. Ästhetik der Co-Kreativität in der Vormoderne

Edited by Stefanie Gropper, Anna Pawlak, Anja Wolkenhauer and Angelika Zirker
De Gruyter | 2023
Andere Ästhetik. Koordinaten 2

Abstract: The contributions in this volume engage with the aesthetics of plural authorship from a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective, encompassing literary studies, art history and musicology. The volume aims to develop plural authorship in the pre-modern era as a coordinate for Different Aesthetics and contextualize it within cultural history. The volume focuses on two key questions: 1. Which forms of plural authorship exist in the pre-modern era, and how are these collaborative creative processes reflected in aesthetic acts and artefacts? 2. How do collaborative creative processes affect the aesthetic structure, as well as the function, meaning and reception of an artefact? The second question includes aspects such as the material production of texts and images, as well as the status of anonymous works and references to divine co-authorship. The contributions examine the added historical value of communal authorship, while also considering paratextuality and intermediality, and economic considerations in the production and reception of aesthetic artifacts.

Link: about the book on the publisher’s page

Veritatis Imago. Visuelle Konzepte der Wahrheit in der niederländischen Druckgraphik des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts

Mariam Hammami
De Gruyter | 2023
Andere Ästhetik. Studien 4

Abstract: This study uses a selection of Dutch prints from the 16^th and 17^th centuries to analyse different visual representations of truth and explore the potential for truthfulness in specific graphics. The guiding hypothesis is that these various copper engravings and etchings use the figure of Veritas to demonstrate the possibilities and limitations of visualizing abstract 'truth'. The cultural and historical relevance of prints as a medium of discourse within the context of political and religious crises is explored and reveals the artists' continuous experimentation with the aesthetic potential of the medium.

Link: about the book on the publisher’s page

Ästhetik und Pragmatik der Zeit im 16. Jahrhundert

Christian Kiening
Edited by Annette Gerok-Reiter and Anna Pawlak
Tübingen University Press | 2023
Special Lectures. Andere Ästhetik 1

Abstract: In his contribution to ‘The Aesthetics and Pragmatics of Time in the 16th Century’, Christian Kiening addresses two central tendencies when dealing with time in intellectual, cultural and literary history in the 16th century; the tendency to increasingly treat time as an aesthetic phenomenon and the tendency to relate questions of temporality to dimensions of the measurable, the quotidian and lifespan. The connection between these tendencies is examined using the example of different visual and written testimonies. Aspects of the CRC 1391 come into play where the relationship between the forms of appearance and of reflection, as well as the praxeological dimensions of the aesthetic, are concerned.

Link: about the book on the publisher’s page

Römische Archäologie in Deutschland. Positionsbestimmung und Perspektiven

Edited by Stefan Krmnicek and Dominik Maschek
Propylaeum | 2023

Abstract: What does "Roman archaeology" stand for today, what is its position in modern society, and what are the discipline’s methodological prospects and opportunities? Against the backdrop of new analytical methods and research questions, Roman archaeology in Germany is confronted with fundamental new challenges. Bringing together general overviews, concrete case studies, innovative methods, and perspectives on other national research traditions, the contributions gathered in this book present a range of approaches that are intended to stimulate self-reflection and intellectual repositioning amongst Roman archaeologists, in Germany and beyond.

Link: about the book on the publisher’s page

Die Mainzer Salus. Gesellschaft und Stadtkultur im Norden der Germania Superior

Johannes Lipps, Detlev Kreikenbom and Jonas Osnabrügge
Ludwig Reichert Verlag | 2023
Material Appropriation Processes In Antiquity 3

Abstract: The volume at hand introduces a slightly less than life-size female figure with naked torso and hip cloak made of sandstone that was found in the “Zollhafen” of Mainz in October 2020. Her left foot rests on a bovine head, and a snake coils towards her left hand from her left shoulder. The inscription on the plinth identifies the figure as a “Salus”, donated to the inhabitants of the Mainz canabae in 231 AD by Senecionius Moderatus and Respectius Constans. Together with a sculpture from Cologne, the Mainz Salus forms a statue scheme adapted to local needs, the origin of which we place in the Flavian period and hypothetically associate with a newly founded cult at that time. Furthermore, the statue’s origins can be easily traced. The stone was probably quarried in the Nahe valley and imported to Mainz, where a workshop known to have distributed across the the province produced statues, presumably including the Genius from Nida (Heddernheim). With such products, the workshop catered to particularly ambitious clients, who adorned cities across Upper Germania with statues of various deities of salvation presented in public spaces, especially in the Severan period. Through this religious practice they both increased their own social prestige and contributed decisively to the urban added value of their communities. Finally, a second statue fragment found together with the Mainz Salus is presented and interpreted as Neptune.

Materialität und Medialität. Grundbedingungen einer anderen Ästhetik in der Vormoderne

Edited by Jan Stellmann and Daniela Wagner
De Gruyter | 2023
Andere Ästhetik. Koordinaten 5

Abstract: Aesthetic acts and artefacts are conditioned by their materiality as well as by the medial processes they are integrated in. Following this idea, the interdisciplinary contributions of this volume discuss the self-inherent logic, semantics, and resistances of materiality. Using different perspectives on mediality, they also specify the tension between artistic design and the role of societal mediator that is central to the aesthetic theorem. Materiality of medial processes, the way references of materiality are mediated, as well as intermateriality and intermediality as productive crossing of boundaries are the main foci of this volume.

Link: about the book on the publisher’s page

Die „Leib Christi“-Metapher. Kritik und Rekonstruktion aus gendertheoretischer Perspektive

Saskia Wendel
Transcript | 2023
Religionswissenschaft 32

Abstract: The “Body of Christ” is a key metaphor in Christology, ecclesiology and sacramental theology. At the same time, it proves capable of granting legitimacy, particularly in regard to the traditional Catholic conception of the church and the ecclesiastical office. Through the lens of gender theory, Saskia Wendel revisits the origins, classifications and practical functions of this metaphor, as well as the associated social constructs of Jesus’ body. In drawing out theological alternatives to the universally understood Body of Christ, she outlines her own model of “gender sensitive” theology.

Link: about the book on the publisher’s page

Auszählen und Ausdeuten. Quantitative und qualitative Zugänge zum ästhetischen Wortschatz der mittelhochdeutschen Literatur

Edited by Manuel Braun and Marion Darilek
V&R unipress | 2022
Mitteilungen des Deutschen Germanistenverbandes 69.1

Abstract: What is the conception of 'aesthetics' in German literature of the Middle Ages? The articles in this issue explore this question by historically and semantically examining the aesthetic vocabulary of Middle High German texts. As the texts have been annotated beforehand, conventional qualitative approaches can be supplemented with quantitative ones. The methodological starting point is a praxeological model of aesthetics, which has the interplay between the concept of 'art' and social action at its centre. For this reason, texts which have clear discursive and functional purposes, such as chants, mystical texts, and didactic poetry, have been chosen for investigation. Their aesthetic self-conception can be located at the intersection between self-reference and external reference.

Bach unter den Theologen. Themen, Thesen, Temperamente

Edited by Ingo Bredenbach, Volker Leppin and Christoph Schwöbel
Mohr Siebeck | 2022

Abstract: The question of “Bach among the Theologians” can be traced through the centuries: from Bach’s theological impressions and influential contemporaries, to his sinking into oblivion and later rediscovery around 1800, to Albert Schweitzer’s monumental monograph on Bach. Such inquiries lead to the question of theology’s current reciprocal relationship with Bach. This volume compiles the eight articles from the theological symposium “Re-visiting Bach” (“Bach bearbeitet”), which took place in the context of the New Bach Society’s (Neue Bachgesellschaft) 93rd Bach festival in Tübingen in 2018. The published entries reveal an engagement with Bach to be deeply embedded in theological and cultural developments – Bach himself will always be more than a piece of cultural memory: he was and is both a challenge and an inspiration.

Andere Ästhetik. Grundlagen – Fragen – Perspektiven

Edited by Annette Gerok-Reiter, Jörg Robert, Matthias Bauer and Anna Pawlak
De Gruyter | 2022
Andere Ästhetik. Koordinaten 1

Abstract: What is art? What does art achieve? Why does art move us? These are the questions which have occupied the Tübingen Collaborative Research Centre 1391 Different Aesthetics since its foundation in 2019 by the DFG. Through these, the aim is to work through layers of history to trace a change in perspective, which is defined by not situating art and the arts in separately delineated spaces. To do so, the research project reassesses the 2000-year history of European art and culture before the 18th century. The volume explains what the benefit of concentrating on the pre-modern era is, which analytical adjustments must be made, and what fundamental consequences arise from this for questions of aesthetics. The contributions, which range from philology to art history, archaeology and musicology to history, theology, and the digital humanities, offer concrete examples of this. From these aesthetic reflections of the pre-modern era, the aim is to also gain insight and new directions within current discussions.

Link: about the book on the publisher’s page

(Re-)Inventio. Die Neuauflage als kreative Praxis in der nordalpinen Druckgraphik der Frühen Neuzeit

Edited by Mariam Hammami, Anna Pawlak and Sophie Rüth
De Gruyter | 2022
Andere Ästhetik. Studien 2

Abstract: The practice of reprinting single sheets and series of prints, which was common in the early modern period, was not only guided by the economic interests of the publishers, but was also an expression of an innovative aesthetic examination of existing pictorial models. The spectrum of this productive handling of established inventions ranged from unchanged re-editions or copies to conceptual revisions and additions, as well as programmatic recontextualizations. Following on from recent research in art history, which has recognised the significant creative potential in the act of drawing, painting or printing reproductions, these reconfigurations within Northern Alpine printmaking will be examined as a multimedial form of creative appropriation. To this end, new editions will be defined as (re-)inventions, whose specific visual strategies of conforming to and deviating from previous editions are the subject of this interdisciplinary volume. Through various case studies, it will be explored to what extent ongoing questions of socio-economic factors within the production and reception of prints can be combined with considerations of their relevance as a locus for cultural expression and a medium for artistic (self-)reflection.

Link: about the book on the publisher’s page

Maarten van Heemskerck & Co. – World/Moving

Edited by Ariane Koller and Sophie Rüth
2022

Abstract: The 1564 copper engraving series ‘The Cycle of Human Existence’, engraved by Cornelis Cort after designs by Maarten van Keemskercks and published in Hieronymus Cock’s famous Antwerp publishing house ‘Aux Quatre Vents (In de Vier Winden)’, lies at the centre of this exhibition catalogue. Forming a creative response to an allegorical festival that was performed in 1561 as part of a procession of relics – the so-called 'Besnijdenis'-Ommegang – in Antwerp, the nine instalments of the series stage a multi-layered and intermedial worldview. Conceptually framed by depictions of the 'Triumph of the World' and the 'Last Judgement', the engravings present a continuous succession of the triumphs of wealth, pride, envy, war, poverty, humility and peace, which all arise in turn from human ambitions, actions and weaknesses, constantly regenerating and superseding each other until Christ’s Second Coming. The publication explores the complex social functions of allegorical engravings, which act as catalysts within religious, political and economic tensions during the sixteenth century in the Netherlands. At the same time, it considers the contemporary relevance of these graphics as a locus for artistic self-reflection.

To order the exhibition catalogue: E-mail to Ariane Koller

Vom Herrscher zum Heros. Die Bildnisse Alexanders des Großen und die Imitatio Alexandri

Martin Kovacs
Marie Leidorf Verlag | 2022
Tübinger Archäologische Forschungen 34

Abstract: Antiquity did not know only one image or only one idea of the figure of Alexander the Great. On the contrary, hardly any other historical figure of antiquity proved to be so divergent, controversial and literally multiform for contemporaries. The monograph seeks to grasp this diversity through a critical presentation of the representations of Alexander the Great, to reorganise the scattered archaeological evidence and to make them useful for cultural-historical analysis. For this purpose, not only the sculptures in the round are taken into account, but also other media are consistently included: the coinage, large-scale monuments such as votives in greek sanctuaries, as well as the literary and epigraphic tradition. A decisive result is the finding that the figure of Alexander the Great could be restaged in different contexts either as a divinely or heroically impregnated being, as an energetic but potentially approachable general, or as a mythological figure with paradigmatic significance. These different conceptualisations will be elaborated on the basis of the highly divergent portrait designs between Hellenism, the Roman imperial period as well as Late Antiquity, recontextualised both historically and in terms of cultural history, and in particular asked about the role of the actors who commissioned the images in each case. This perspective counters a traditional conception of the image of Alexander, in which a rather selective perception has predominated up to now, with a preference for the lifetime portraits of Alexander. The study shows that divergent images of the Macedonian ruler were created at different times, in different places and in different political and cultural contexts, and that their specific iconography also reflects specific ideas of the figure of Alexander the Great. These figurations of Alexander in different cultural contexts illustrate the preferences of the actors who created them. For the imperial period in particular, it can be shown that Alexander was also visually staged as a mythological rather than a historiographical figure. The final analysis of the visual Imitatio Alexandri, the pictorial imitation of the Macedonian king in different historical and cultural contexts during the Hellenistic period, is based on the results obtained.

In the Eye of the Beholder. The Aesthetics of Roman Coins

Edited by von Stefan Krmnicek, Michele Lange und Jan Papenberg
TOBIAS-lib | 2022
Von Krösus bis zu König Wilhelm. Neue Serie 5

Abstract: Roman coins are peculiar objects. In the first place, they were the official means of payment of the Roman Empire and thus the most important mass product of the pre-modern era. Because of the many images and texts depicted on ancient coins, we can also correctly refer to Roman coins as the first mass medium of antiquity. Given their intrinsic monetary function, they reached the remotest corners of the empire and were able to communicate the messages of the imperial administration to the people. However, in their aesthetics—both in their materiality and in their function as a means of communication—Roman coins differ fundamentally from their modern relatives. It is precisely this that the present exhibition takes as a starting point, aiming to present a broad perspective of the phenomenon of Roman coins and their peculiar aesthetics and significance in an ancient context. To this end, we have chosen five representative thematic areas, which we believe can be used to present the most important perspectives on ancient life: Beautiful and Ugly / Portraits / Representations of Nature / Dynasties / Role Models. The broad spectrum of themes makes it clear; the beauty or specific nature of these objects is and was truly in the eye of the beholder.

Link: about the exhibition catalogue on the TOBIAS-lib

Artifizialität und Agon. Poetologien des Wi(e)derdichtens im höfischen Roman des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts

Jan Stellmann
De Gruyter | 2022
Andere Ästhetik. Studien 3

Abstract: This study develops the theory that the practice of retelling reflected in the poetologies of German-language chivalric romance (twelfth and thirteenth centuries) must be understood not just as artificial poiesis but also as a practice of imitation and dispute. The study derives these two dimensions of the retelling historically from Horace’s Ars poetica and describes them conceptually using the concepts of artificiality and agon.

Link: about the book on the publisher’s page

Ägypten übersetzen. Fremde Schrift als Imaginationsraum europäischer Kulturen

Edited by Anja Wolkenhauer and Johannes Helmrath 
Harrassowitz | 2022
Wolfenbütteler Forschungen 173

Abstract: Whenever culture was defined within the borders of Europe, Egypt was seen as the great ‘foreign culture’ and the image of a ‘different antiquity’. The enduring fascination with Europe was most visibly expressed in the erection of Egyptian obelisks in Rome and other European cities, but also extended to Egyptian hieroglyphics. This ancient ideogrammic script found its way into mnemohistorical concepts of antiquity and knowledge, leaving traces of Egyptianisation but also of Platonism. The Early Modern image of Egypt was historically based on the growing assumption that these pictograms carried arcane knowledge, perhaps even residues of an Adamic ‘original language’. Hieroglyphics were utilised as powerful symbols, transformed in impresas and emblems, for example. They inspired alchemists, influenced linguistic considerations and even had an effective impact far beyond the borders of Europe by shaping the use of other, non-European writing systems. In nine individual studies, this volume investigates the historical impact and imagination of Egypt, particularly of its hieroglyphics, from Graeco-Roman antiquity to the 17th century.

Martin Opitz: Gesammelte Werke. Bd. 5: Werke 1630–1633

Edited by Gudrun Bamberger and Jörg Robert
Anton Hiersemann Verlag | 2021
Bibliothek des literarischen Vereins Stuttgart 355

Abstract: Martin Opitz (1597–1639) is a key figure of the late European Renaissance. With his ground-breaking book von der deutschen Poeterey (‘of German poetry’, 1624), he became the undisputed pioneer and 'father' of modern German literature. The critical editions of the works of Martin Opitz are a milestone in early modern philology. Between 1968 and his death in 2010, George Schulz-Behrend published them with the Hiersemann Verlag up to Volume IV, 2. This continuation now finally closes a critical gap for researchers by presenting Opitz’s post-1630 writings – including Vesuvius (1633), Judith (1635), Antigone (1636) – for the first time in a reliable critical edition. A detailed commentary expounds all the texts and places them in their historical context, touching both on their production and their impact. Volume 5, which contains the poetry from 1631–1633, is the beginning of the 4-volume conclusion to the critical Opitz editions. This will be the first time that the complete works of the most consequential German author of the 17th century are available in a form that meets modern critical standards.

In Search of the Culprit. Aspects of Medieval Authorship

Edited by Stefanie Gropper and Lukas Rösli
De Gruyter | 2021
Andere Ästhetik. Studien 1

Abstract: Despite various poststructuralist rejections of the idea of a singular author-genius, the question of a textual archetype that can be assigned to a named author is still a common scholarly phantasm. The Romantic idea that an author created a text or even a work autonomously is transferred even to pre-modern literature today. This ignores the fact that the transmission of medieval and early modern literature creates variances that could not be justified by means of singular authorships. The present volume offers new theoretical approaches from English, German, and Scandinavian studies to provide a historically more adequate approach to the question of authorship in premodern literary cultures. Authorship is no longer equated with an extra-textual entity, but is instead considered a narratological, inner- and intertextual function that can be recognized in the retrospectively established beginnings of literature as well as in the medial transformation of texts during the early days of printing. The volume is aimed at interested scholars of all philologies, especially those dealing with the Middle Ages or Early Modern Period.

Link: about the book on the publisher’s page

Repräsentation und Reenactment. Spätmittelalterliche Frömmigkeit verstehen

Volker Leppin
Mohr Siebeck | 2021

Abstract: Spirituality of the late Middle Ages seems distant and alien in regard of most of its elements. Volker Leppin paves a new eay to it, introducing the terms of "representation" and "reenactment". Both are related to perception of God's presence in late medieval culture: as a reality bound to certain places or persons in representation or as an active re-activating in reenactment. Thus, the author leads through visual art and prayer practice, visionary experience and literary design, saturated with sources. The reader encounters particularly religious phenomena as well as aesthetic shaping. In effect, the book presents a multifaceted picture of late medieval spiritual culture and at the same time a new theoretical framework for its understanding. It is aimed to stimulate and connect theological and cultural studies research equally.

Ruhen in Gott. Eine Geschichte der christlichen Mystik

Volker Leppin
C.H. Beck | 2021

Abstract: Greek monks found rest in God through asceticism, Bernhard von Clairvaux allowed himself to be embraced by the crucified Christ, and Mechthild von Magdeburg gave herself to Christ, her bridegroom. Volker Leppin traces the story of Christian mysticism in a new way by locating mysticism, understood as the search for the immediate proximity of God, at the centre of Christianity rather than at its fringes. His confident, masterfully written presentation offers a fresh perspective on Christianity as a whole, which to this day relies on mysticism as a driving force. Mystics felt so close to God that differences between clergy and laity, men and women, became irrelevant to them. It was often up to chance, whether they would be revered as enlightened or as reformers like Francis of Assisi and Hildegard of Bingen or suspected of heresy like Marguerite Porete and Meister Eckhart. In his brilliant presentation, Volker Leppin shows how early Christian teachings in conjunction with Platonic philosophy formed mystical worldviews and paths to salvation that formed the core of orthodox spirituality, but which remained highly controversial in the West, including in Protestantism. The fact that mysticism was harnessed to anti-modern ideologies in the 19th and 20th centuries brought suspicion on it once again. But the interest in similarities with other religions and a growing distancing from the church show that mysticism is vital for the survival of modern Christianity.

Schaffen und Nachahmen. Kreative Prozesse im Mittelalter

Edited by Volker Leppin
De Gruyter | 2021
Das Mittelalter. Perspektiven mediävistischer Forschung, Beiheft 16

Abstract: This volume comprises contributions to the 18th symposium of the Mediävistenverband, which took place in Tübingen in spring 2019. The topic is conected to current debates on authorship, copyright, originality, and plagiarism, which indicate that these concepts have currently been in flux. Different scholarly perspectives shed light on the question whether and to what extent the ways of understanding authorship in the end are more comparable between the Middle Ages and modernity than commonly assumed. Thus, the concepts of creativity formed in modernity are questioned and undermined. At the same time, it becomes apparent that creative processes of modernity that do not meet the high normative demands of a culture of genius are not simply deficient, but show variations of multiply practiced techniques that can be understood by medieval productivity. Creation and imitation cannot be sectored into an "artistic" realm of culture, but they prove to be a basic structure of human activity also in the scholarly, ethical or religious field. Thus, this volume presents a strong plea for the recognition of the creative power of emulation.

Link: about the book on the publisher’s page

Appropriation Processes of Statue Schemata in the Roman Provinces / Aneignungsprozesse antiker Statuenschemata in den römischen Provinzen

Edited by Johannes Lipps, Martin Dorka Moreno and Jochen Griesbach
Ludwig Reichert Verlag | 2021
Material Appropriation Processes in Antiquity 1

Abstract: The majority of ancient statues can be typologised on the basis of formal overlaps, i.e. arranged in ‘schemes’. Individual statue schemes were handed down over centuries in ever new versions and integrated into different material, spatial and functional contexts. These processes of reception and transformation can be understood as cultural appropriations that were aesthetically, politically and/or religiously motivated. As a rule, they presupposed education and thus also had a social component. Often, however, purely practical reasons such as the availability of a certain form led to the reproduction of anthropomorphic figures according to a scheme. In the process, the pictorial works could preserve the former contexts of meaning of their models, only partially adopt them or ignore them and ‘overwrite’ them with completely new meanings. This volume, which is the result of an international conference in Tübingen, brings together contributions that discuss the above-mentioned processes of reception in individual centres and regions of the Roman Empire.

Die römischen Steindenkmäler in den Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen Mannheim

Edited by Johannes Lipps, Stefan Ardeleanu, Jonas Osnabrügge and Christian Witschel
Verlag Regionalkultur | 2021
Mannheimer Geschichtsblätter, Sonderveröffentlichungen 14

Abstract: The Reiss-Engelhorn museums in Mannheim house one of the most important collections of Roman stone monuments in Germany. The fact that this archaeological collection has not been comprehensively documented and published until now is due to its turbulent history, especially its partial destruction in bombings during World War II. At that time, many objects were so badly damaged that, after their initial rescue, they stayed hidden in storerooms beneath the city, their condition unknown. With the present volume, this collection is now documented as comprehensively as possible for the first time.
The inscription monuments, sculptures and architectural elements presented come mainly from the surroundings of Mannheim, as well as from the wider collecting activities of the prince-electors. They have given rise to research that rewrites the foundations of our knowledge of the Roman period in the Rhine-Neckar region.

People Abroad

Edited by Johannes Lipps
Marie Leidorf Verlag | 2021
Tübinger Archäologische Forschungen 31

Abstract: The aim of these conference proceedings is the application of recent scientific discussions on mobility and migration to stone monuments from Roman provinces. The contributions exemplify whether and how movement of people affected the design of funerary and votive monuments or architecture and what statements were intended thereby. The book starts with an introduction by the editor and integrates the 33 essays into the overarching thematic fields of “dying abroad” [16 papers], “cults abroad” [7] and “objects, knowledge and craftsmanship abroad” [10]. Topics are the funeral representation of equestrian-senatorial groups, evidence for strangers in towns and provinces, grave monuments of the Cohors II Cyrrhestarum sagittaria, a commercial network in Cisalpine Gaul, and funeral monuments of Celtic tribes. The second chapter deals with Jupiter Dolichenus and cults in Thessaly, the Balkans, Thessaloniki, and Burgundy. Finally, there are papers on foreign artisans, the provincial reception of imperial monuments, Sicilian sarcophagi, sculpture from Novae, a Viergötterstein, a relief from Lebanon, the Corinthian order in Thrace, and a female head of Greek marble found in Spain.

Bilder, Heilige und Reliquien. Beiträge zur Christentumsgeschichte und zur Religionsgeschichte

Edited by Mariano Delgado and Volker Leppin
Schwabe Verlag | 2020
Studien zur christlichen Religions- und Kulturgeschichte 28

Abstract: This volume carries on the cultural and religious-historical research on the topic of images, saints and relics in an interdisciplinary way. Ist contributions cover the rejection of the cult of images in the Bible and in early Christianity, the development of a distinct cult of images and relics in late antique and medieval Christianity, and the criticism of this cult in the Reformation and the Enlightenment. The interdisciplinary diversity of approaches in church history, cultural history, social history, art history, and the history of religion opens up new perspectives on this important topic in the history of religion. The contributions provide thought-provoking impulses for further research on images, saints and relics in the history of Christianity, but also in Judaism, Islam and Buddhism.

Aushandlungen religiösen Wissens / Negotiated Religious Knowledge

Edited by Annette Gerok-Reiter, Anne Mariss and Markus Thome
Mohr Siebeck | 2020
Spätmittelalter, Humanismus, Reformation 115

Abstract: Religious knowledge, according to the basic assumption of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft’s Research Training Group Religious Knowledge in Pre-Modern Europe (800–1800), is generated when dealing with the knowledge revealed in the Bible. In day-to-day interactions between religious experts and laypeople however, this knowledge – conceived as intangible – is continuously transformed and adapted to the respective historical circumstances. The discursive competition that arises between religious knowledge and other fields of knowledge, such as natural history, art and literature, are the focus of this interdisciplinary volume’s articles. They hone in on the practices employed to adapt and shape religious knowledge in these adjacent fields, as well as the tensions, rivalries and synergies that emerge in the process.

Link: about the book on the publisher’s page

Norm und Hybridität / Ibridità e norma: Linguistische Perspektiven / Prospettive linguistiche

Edited by Antje Lobin, Sarah Dessì Schmid and Ludwig Fesenmeier
Frank & Timme | 2020
Romanistik 35

Abstract: On the one hand, communication requires a systematic foundation, but on the other hand, communicative needs and/or communication contexts also lead to changes. Research in the fields of individual historical languages and discourse traditions has increasingly been focussed on the complex interplay between stability and innovation, and the resulting transformations. The varied contributions collected here are dedicated to this tension between ‚norm’ and ‚hybridity‘, which stand in a dialectical relationship and are mutually dependent. They survey the fields of language history, language systems, as well as specific Italian language variations.

Reflektierte Algorithmische Textanalyse. Interdisziplinäre(s) Arbeiten in der CRETA-Werkstatt

Edited by Nils Reiter, Axel Pichler and Jonas Kuhn
De Gruyter | 2020

Abstract: The Center for Reflected Text Analytics (CRETA) develops interdisciplinary mixed methods for text analytics in the research fields of the digital humanities. This volume is a collection of text analyses from specialty fields including literary studies, linguistics, the social sciences, and philosophy. It thus offers an overview of the methodology of the reflected algorithmic analysis of literary and non-literary texts.

Link: about the book on the publisher’s page

Ästhetische Reflexionsfiguren in der Vormoderne

Edited by Annette Gerok-Reiter, Anja Wolkenhauer, Jörg Robert and Stefanie Gropper
Universitätsverlag Winter | 2019
Germanisch-Romanische Monatsschrift, Beiheft 88

Abstract: What does ‘aesthetic’ mean in periods and cultures before it was explicitly dealt with in the 18th century? This interdisciplinary volume explores what pre-modern texts and artefacts can tell us about their aesthetic foundations. It contains contributions from archaeology as well as Latin, German, Scandinavian, Roman, English and American Studies. All these chapters look at forms, types and figures that can be read as manifestations of aesthetic self-reflection ‘in action’.
Based on examples from different languages, cultures, and media the authors develop a mode of descriptive and heuristic categories, that will help to outline ‘different aesthetics’, within pre-modern aesthetics. For these forms of aesthetic self-reflection, they suggest the term ‘figures of aesthetic reflection’. All contributions investigate how these ‘figures of aesthetic reflection’ may help to develop ‘different aesthetics’ in their manifestations, functions and socio-cultural meaning.

Money Matters. Coin Finds and Ancient Coin Use

Edited by Stefan Krmnicek and Jérémie Chameroy
Dr. Rudolf Habelt | 2019

Abstract: The study of money and coinage is an integral part for our understanding of the Ancient World. As part of the archaeological record, coin finds provide unparalleled information on the varying roles of coinage within society, how these roles differed and changed over space and time and how people also formed part of these changes. Centering around hoard evidence and archaeological contexts, this volume compromises a collection of essays in English, Italian, French, and German by international leading scholars from German, French, British, Italian, Belgian, Greek and American scholarship that features the latest developments in the study of coin finds and ancient coin use.

Von Meister Eckhart bis Martin Luther

Edited by Volker Leppin and Freimut Löser
Kohlhammer | 2019
Meister-Eckhart-Jahrbuch 13

Abstract: In 2017, the Meister Eckhart Society dealt on a conference with the relationship of Meister Eckhart and late medieval mysticism to the Reformation and Martin Luther. The meeting witnessed an exchange between researchers in the fields of German studies, of philosophy, and of theology, and asked about the mediation of thoughts and ideas from the 14th to the 16th century. The yearbook therefore gathers contributions that ask about mediation paths and patterns, developments, spots of contact, but contrasts as well.

Meister Eckhart: Reden der Unterweisung

Edited, translated and commented by Volker Leppin
Evangelische Verlagsanstalt Leipzig | 2019
Große Texte der Christenheit 8

Abtract: Meister Eckhart († 1328) was the central figure within the so called Rhenish mysticism. When he served as the prior of the Dominican monastery at Erfurt in the late thirteenth century, he wrote the treatise presented here in modern German. Here, we find him more as a spiritual counselor than as a speculative philosopher who answers to questions and problems raised by his brothers. Against a background of mystical interior piety, he traces the issues of monastic as well as average Christian behavior. He speaks about human sinfulness as well as about imitation of Christ and the communion in the Lord’s Supper.