Dozenten

 

Burkhard Josef Berkmann,
Prof. Dr. theol. habil., Dr. iur., Lic. iur. can. Mag. phil.; born 1976 in Bregenz (Austria); studied in Innsbruck, Paris, Rome and Munich; Occurso Dialogue facilitator; since 2016 Chair of Canon Law at LMU Munich. Research focus in comparative law of religions.

Teaches in module: Internal Law, Ethics, Agendas in Dialogue of Religions and Dialogue.

Publications:

1. Internal Law of Religions. Introduction to a Comparative Discipline (ICLARS Series on Law and Religion), Translated by David. E. Orton, London Routledge 2020, ISBN 9780367437220.

2. Non-Christians in the Law of the Catholic Church (ReligionsRecht im Dialog 23), Lit-Verlag Vienna 2017 (2 part volumes), ISBN 978-3-643-50749-5.

3. Catholic Church Law: Challenges by Secular Law and Religious Pluralism, in: Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society 7 (2021) 95-124 (transl. by Fr. Augustinus Fries).

Abbot Johannes Eckert,
civil name: Claudius Eckert, born 1969 in Mosbach. 1990-1993 Studied Catholic theology at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. 1993 Entrance into the Abbey of St. Bonifaz with the religious name Johannes. Doctorate in theology at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. 2000 Received priestly ordination in Andechs and worked as pastor in Erling and Machtlfing. 2003 Elected as abbot for a term of twelve years. 2015: Extension of service as abbot for another twelve years.

Teaches in module: History of Interreligious Encounter

Publications:

1. APOCALYPSE. Images of terror, images of hope: visions for today. Herder Verlag. 2022.

2. what are you looking for? Question-worthy insights into the Gospel of John. Herder Publishers. 2020.

3. stand up! Women in Mark's Gospel as a provocation for today. Herder Publishing House. 2018

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Dr. Sabine Exner-Krikorian
studied religious and cultural studies at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich and received her PhD in 2022. After her studies, she worked as a project manager at the Cultural Center of the Jewish Community in Munich and works as a research assistant and lecturer at LMU Munich and Paris Lodron University Salzburg. Since 2018, she has worked at the Eugen Biser Foundation, where she has headed the Interreligious Democracy Education program since 2022. There, her work includes conceptualizing an interreligious dialogue that combines interreligious learning, political education, and approaches from religious studies. Other main topics are discourse theory and analysis, religion, gender and sexuality in contemporary and (post-)modern discourses.

Veröffentlichungen/ publications: • Exner-Krikorian (2022): Recht auf Liebe. Eine Diskursanalyse über die gleichgeschlechtliche Ehe in Deutschland. Wiesbaden: Springer VS Verlag. • Exner-Krikorian (2021): Jüdisch und/oder homosexuell? Die Meinungspluralität zu Homosexualität in den jüdischen Denominationen Nordamerikas. In: Carolin Küppers & Martin Schneider (Hg.): Zwischen Annäherung und Abgrenzung: Religion und LSBTIQ* in gesellschaftlicher Debatte und persönlichem Erleben. Männerschwarm Verlag, 17-56. • Exner-Krikorian (2021): Die Ehe ist ein ethisch‘ Ding? Die Evangelische Kirche in den Aushandlungsprozessen um die gleichgeschlechtliche Ehe in Deutschland. In: MKiZ Bd. 15, 123-154.

Teaches in Module: Internes Recht, Ethik, Agendas in Dialogue  of Religions

 

 

Josef Estermann, PhD
in philosophy and theology, worked for more than 17 years in the Andes of South America (Peru and Bolivia) and 6 years at the Missiology Institute Missio e.V. (MWI) in Aachen. Since his return from Latin America (2012) until his retirement, he worked as a lecturer at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Lucerne and as an educational director at RomeroHaus. As one of the project leaders, he is accompanying the master's course "Spiritual Theology in the Interreligious Process" for the fourth time.

Teaches in module: Indigenous Religions

Veröffentlichungen/publications:

1. Apu Taytayku: Religion und Theologie im andinen Kontext Südamerikas. 2012. Frankfurt a.M.: Grünewald.
2. Südwind: Kontextuelle nicht-abendländische Theologien im globalen Süden. 2017. Münster/Wien/Zürich: LIT-Verlag; (2019).
3. Warum der Süden unten ist: Interkulturelle Beiträge zu Dekolonialität und Vivir Bien. 2019. Aachen: Mainz-Verlag

Melanie Fersi M.A.
studied German as a Foreign Language, General Linguistics and Intercultural Communication at the Ludwigs- Maximilians University of Munich. She has done a Further Training as an Interreligious Dialogue Coordinator and a Certificate in Satyananda Yoga Nidra Training. Currently she is doing her doctorate in Religious Studies at the University of Salzburg.

She has worked several years as a teacher of German as a Foreign Language and as an Intercultural / Interreligious Trainer. She is the College Supervisor of the College of Interreligious Studies Munich.

Teaches in modules: Dialogue Practice, Interreligious Paedagogic and Languages and Intercultural Paedagogic

E-Mail: college-interreligious-studies@occurso.org

Veröffentlichungen/ publications:
• Was entgegensetzen? Die Bedeutung von interreligiösen Kontakten. In: Stadt Miesbach, Kulturamt (2021): Wir müssen über Rassismus reden. Gedanken. Informationen. Berichte.

 

Univ.-Prof. DDr. Franz Gmainer-Pranzl
Born in Steyr (Upper-Austria), studies in Catholic Theology in Linz and Innsbruck (Dr. theol. 1994) and in Philosophy (Innsbruck and Vienna (Dr. phil. 2004), Habilitation in Fundamental Theology at the university of Innsbruck (2011), since 2009 director of the center for intercultural theology and study of religions (University of Salzburg, Department of Systematic Theology). Research focus on intercultural philosophy, society and religion in Africa, intercultural-theological epistemology, interdisciplinary dialogue with critical global and development studies.

Teaches in module: ISM5.1 Indiginous Religions and Ethnic Movements

E-Mail: franz.gmainer-pranzl@plus.ac.at

Recent publications:
    • Entwicklung, in: Klaus Hock/Claudia Jahnel (Hg.), Theologie(n) Afrika. Ausgewählte Schlüsselbegriffe in einem umstrittenen Diskursfeld (Veröffentlichungen der Wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft für Theologie 70), Leipzig 2022, 125-153.
    • „… die Notwendigkeit einer profunden Transformation der Philosophie“ (Raúl Fornet-Betancourt). Anstöße zu einer neuen Gestalt philosophischen Denkens, in: Salzburger Jahrbuch für Philosophie 67 (2022) 151-166.
    • Nancy Andrianne/Manfred Gabriel/Franz Gmainer-Pranzl (Hg.), Das Politische der Wissenschaft (Salzburger interdisziplinäre Diskurse 18), Berlin 2022.
    • Ricarda Drüeke/Franz Gmainer-Pranzl (Hg.), Kommunikation und Medien zwischen Kulturindustrie, Lebenswelt und Politik (SID 19), Berlin 2022.
    • Franz Gmainer-Pranzl/Lara Hofner (Hg.), Polylog als Aufklärung? Interkulturell-philosophische Impulse, Wien 2023.

Susanna Boldi-Labusga

Studied Agriculture with main emphasis on ecology an world nutrition. Later she graduated in holistic medicine, homeopathy and breath work. Also on her spiritual path she felt drawn to an integrative and holistic approach to religion and spirituality, as taught by all Mystics and also in the Universal Sufism of the Indian Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan. She is meditation teacher and representative of the Inayatiyya Organisation.

 

 

 

 

Dr. Christian Hackbarth-Johnson,
born 1964, married, 2 children, studied Protestant theology, 1994-96 Vicariate in the Lutheran Church in Bavaria, 1998-2002 doctoral studies in religious studies, Dr. theol. diss. on the interreligious existence of Henri Le Saux/Swami Abhishiktananda, since 2004 independent work in spiritual adult education, 2005-2016 interreligious-spiritual encounter trips to India, 2016-2019 FWF project on the interreligious biography of Bettina Bäumer at the University of Salzburg. E-Mail: christian@hackbarth-johnson.de

Teaches in module: Asian Religions in Dialogue

Wichtige Veröffentlichungen:

1. Interreligiöse Existenz. Spirituelle Erfahrung und Identität bei Henri Le Saux (O.S.B.)/Swami Abhishiktananda (1910-1973), Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2003; Hackbarth-Johnson, Christian (2020)
2. Die biographische Verortung interreligiöser Prozesse. Ein Forschungsbericht zur interreligiösen Biographie der österreichisch-indischen Religionswissenschaftlerin Bettina Sharada Bäumer (*1940). Salzburger Theologische Zeitschrift 24 (2020), 39-61;
3. „Wenn weder Gelehrter noch Mönch – was dann?“ Einsichten in bislang verborgene biographische Zusammenhänge bei Raimon Panikkar anhand der Tagebuchfragmente und der Pilgerschaft zum Kailash, in: Hackbarth-Johnson, Christian / Winkler, Ulrich (Hg.)
4. Homo interreligiosus. Zur biographischen Verortung interreligiöser Prozesse bei Raimon Panikkar (1918-2010). Beiträge einer internationalen Fachtagung zu seinem 100. Geburtstag (Salzburger Theologische Studien interkulturell 22). Tyrolia Verlag, Innsbruck, Wien, 117-144.

 

Eva Haller,
born in Romania, grew up in Vienna. Studied journalism and linguistics in New York, Brussels and Tel Aviv and volunteered in Frankfurt, Düsseldorf and Krefeld. From an early age, Eva Haller developed an interest in youth work and exchange in the interreligious and intercultural field and work in social development. These experiences shaped her for the rest of her life. Here already the way to the ideas of Janusz Korczak was paved. After many years of living in Italy, Eva Haller moved to Munich in 2006. Since 2009 she has been the honorary director of the European Janusz Korczak Academy.

Teaches in module: Abrahamitic Religions in Dialogue

 

Tanja Mancinelli
studied biology and religious studies at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich and at Schumacher College in the UK. She received her PhD on Islamic environmental ethics from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UK). Her areas of interest are religions and the environment, spiritual ecology, and interfaith dialogue.

Teaches in module: Multi Religious and Cross-cultural Identities, Interreligious Spirituality, Peace Studies, Multi Religious and Cross-cultural Identities

Veröffentlichungen/ publications:

• Spiritualität und Islam. Sufismus für Alle. In: Rötting, Hackbarth-Johnson (eds): Spiritualität der Zukunft, Sankt Ottilien, EOS Verlag (2019) Suchbewegungen in einer multireligiösen Welt (2019), EOS Verlag, St. Ottilien

• Der Universelle Gottesdienst nach Hazrat Inayat Khan. In: Salzburger Theologische Zeitschrift, 24. Jg., Nr.1 (2020), 102-113

• Jüdisches Leben in München. Neubeginn und Wiederaufbau nach 1945. In: Lesebuch zur Geschichte des Münchners Alltags (1995), Buchdorfer Verlag, München

 

Mag. Sarah Pieslinger
Education and Religious Studies at the University of Salzburg. Currently she is doing her doctorate in Religious Studies and she is part of the excellence scholarship program of the doctoral college at the Faculty of Catholic Theology Salzburg. Her research interests and her research focus include transformation of religion in modernity, contemporary spirituality, interreligious dialogue, biographical research, religion and society, interdisciplinary issues (religion and economics, theology and religious studies) and liturgy.

Teaches in module: Theory and Concepts of Interreligious Dialogue

E-Mail: Sarah.Pieslinger@stud.sbg.ac.at

Veröffentlichungen:

1. Pieslinger, Sarah, Auf biographischer Spurensuche: Die Bedeutung von Ayya Khema für den westlichen Buddhismus, in: Krammer, Kurt/Rötting, Martin (Hg.), Buddhismus in Europa. Facetten zwischen Mode, Minderheit und Mindfullness in interreligiösen Bezügen. Berlin u. a. 2022, 247–263.
2. Pieslinger, Sarah, Online-Friedhöfe: eine Illusion der Ewigkeit?! Mediatisierte Trauerkultur als Ausdruck populärer Religion, in: Gmainer-Pranzl, Franz/Drüeke, Ricarda (Hg.), Kommunikation und Medien zwischen Kulturindustrie, Lebenswelt und Politik (Salzburger Interdisziplinäre Diskurse). Berlin 2022, 243–259.
3. Pieslinger, Sarah, Zwischen Universalität und Partikularität: Religion, Werte und Unternehmen. Begründungsebenen religiöser Werthaltungen aus einer religionswissenschaftlich-interdisziplinären Perspektive, in: Feldbauer-Durstmüller, Birgit/Pieslinger, Sarah/Gmainer-Pranzl, Franz/Feldbauer, Julia (Hg.), Unternehmen, Organisationen und Werte. Ein Diskurs aus betriebswirtschaftlicher und religionswissenschaftlicher Perspektive. Berlin 2023 [Erscheinungsdatum Sommer 2023].
4.  

Prof. Martin Rötting (1970*),
 Studied religious education in Munich and ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue in Dublin (ISE, Trinity College), doctorate in religious studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Work in pastoral care as a Catholic religion teacher, chaplain abroad in Dublin (1999-2002) and parish worker. Several study visits to South Korea, where he also practiced Són (Zen)-Buddhism and contemplation. Activity and research in interreligious dialogue, with special emphasis on Buddhist- Christian dialogue, Islamic-Christian dialogue, and interreligious learning processes. Secretary of the European Network of Buddhist Christian Studies, member of the DVRW, Researchfellow 2005 of the Korea Foundation.

Publications: e.g. Berge sind Berge, Flüsse sind Flüsse. Begegnung mit dem koreanischen Zen-
Buddhismus. Ein Beitrag zum christlich-buddhistischen Dialog (2001), Interreligiöses Lernen im
buddhistisch-christlichen Dialog ( 2007), Interreligiöse Spiritualität (2008). Religion in Bewegung
(2012), Praxisbuch interreligiöser Dialog (Hrsg. mit Sinn und Inan) (2016) (ed. with Sinn and Inan)
(2016), Spiritualität vs. Religion (2022). Buddhismus in Europa (2023).

 

Benedikt Poller
grew up in a suburb of Munich and graduated from LMU Munich with degrees in German as a foreign language, intercultural communication, Jewish studies and Semitic studies. He is a member of the Bahai world community. Professionally, he is a language teacher, language trainer and translator. His special interests are: Dialogue of Religions, member of OCCURSO e.V., Interreligious Music.

Teaches in module: Languages and Intercultural Paedagogic

Veröffentlichungen/ publications:

• Wightwick, Jane; Gaafar, Mahmoud. Arabsich Kurzgrammatik. Hueber Verlag. 2008-11-19

 

 

 

Dr. Evelyn Reuter
studied Ethnology, Protestant Theology, and Southeastern European Studies in Halle und Jena (Germany). She did her doctorate in Jena on the topic “The Ambiguity of a Ahared Religious Place. An Ethnographic Case Study on the Monastery Sveti Naum in Ohrid (Macedonia)”. Her research interests include: the history of religion in Southeastern Europe, contacts of religion, as well as religious and ethnic minorities.

Teaches in module: Interreligious Spirituality, Peace Studies

Veröffentlichungen/ publications:

• Touristification as a Strategy for Peaceful Coexistence: The Case Study of the Sveti Naum Monastery (Macedonia). In: BURCHARDT, Marian; GIORDA, Mariachiara (eds.): Geographies of Encounter. The Making and Unmaking of Multi-Religious Spaces. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. 2021, 155-178.

• Die Mehrdeutigkeit geteilter religiöser Orte. Eine ethnographische Fallstudie zum Kloster Sveti Naum in Ohrid (Mazedonien). In: Klaus HOCK, Anne KOCH & Thomas KLIE (ed.): rerum religionum. Arbeiten zur Religionskultur. Bielefeld: transcript-Verlag, 2021.

• Christliche und muslimische Schafopfer im postsozialistischen Albanien und Nordmazedonien als Beispiele interreligiöser Performanz. In: Salzburger Theologische Zeitschrift: Materialitäten/Praktiken/Performanzen des Interreligiösen 1/2020, 82-101.

 

Prof. Stefan Jakob Wimmer,
Ph.D. (Hebr. Univ. Jerusalem), born in Munich in 1963; studies and doctorate in Egyptology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1984-1994); adjunct prof. at the Institute of Egyptology and Coptology, LMU Munich; subject specialist for Hebraica and Ancient Near East at the Bavarian State Library; co-founder and chairman of Freunde Abrahams - Gesellschaft für religionsgeschichtliche Forschung und interreligiösen Dialog; married, 3 children.

Lehrt im Modul:Abrahamitic Religions in Dialogue

Publications:
    1. Munich and the Orient, Lindenberg im Allgäu 2012 (with Ergün Cevik).
    2. Islam with a European Face. Perspectives and Impulses, Kevelaer 2010 (with Benjamin Idriz and Stephan Leimgruber).
    3. From Adam to Muhammad. Bible and Koran in Comparison, Munich/Stuttgart 2nd ed. 2007 (with Stephan Leimgruber)
    4. From Sulzbach to Tel Aviv. Hebrew New Acquisitions 1965-2015, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich 2015.

 

 

Markus Vogt
has been Professor of Christian Social Ethics at the Faculty of Catholic Theology of Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich since 2007. He studied theology and philosophy in Munich, Jerusalem and Lucerne. His research focuses on environmental ethics/sustainability, business ethics/justice and political ethics/peace ethics as well as basic reflection on the relationship between religion and modernity.

Veröffentlichungen/ publications: • Religions in the Anthropocene (Hg 2017) • Christliche Umweltethik (Freiburg 2021;2. Aufl 2022, engl. 2023) • Christentum und moderne Lebenswelten (Hg., 2022)

 

 

 

 

 

Joachim Schnittke
studied business and social education at the LMU in Munich and then worked at various vocational schools in the state capital Munich from 1982 - 2017. Since 1980 he is a practicing Buddhist in the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, activity in the organization of the Shambhala Meditation Center Munich. Since 2002 he is active in the association Occurso, Institute for Interreligious and Intercultural Encounter. He is a founding member of the House of Cultures and Religions Munich e.V.

Teaches in module: Veröffentlichung/ publication: „Motivation für den Dialog aus der Sicht des Buddhismus“ in Rötting, Martin/ Sinn, Simone/Inan, Aykan (Hrsg), St. Ottilien 2016

 

 

 

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Ursula Rapp
born 1964 in Vienna, studied catholic Theology and Jewish Studies in Vienna and Jerusalem (Dormitiona Abbey); doctoral dissertation (Graz) on the figure of Miriam in the Hebrew bibel, veni legendi (Bamberg) about gender-construction in Ben Sira; Master in interreligious dialogue (Danube University Krems).

Professor at Kirchliche Pädagogische Hochschule Edith Stein/Salzburg, teaches at universities of Salzburg and Innsbruck.

Relevant publications:
Verunsicherungskompetenz. Interreligiöse Spiritualität im hochschuldidaktischen Handeln. in: Gmainer-Pranzl, F./Brandstetter, B./Greiner, U. (Hg.), Von ‚schöner Vielfalt‘ zu prekärer Heterogenität. Bildungsprozesse in pluraler Gesellschaft Frankfurt, Peter Lang 2021, 533-553 Bio-Logue – Learning from One Another. Interreligious Learning as Biografical, in: Traitler, R./Pirri- Simonian, T. (eds), Towards a Pedagogy of Religious Diversity. The European Project for Interreligious Learning 2002-2013, Beirut, Antelas 2015, 105-127  
Wilde Bilder als zartes Tasten. Feindbilder der Psalmen als Ausdruck innerer Schutzstrategien, feinschwarz 2023 (https://www.feinschwarz.net/wilde-bilder-als-zartes-tasten-psalmen/)