Participating scholar:

Prof. Gert Melville

Gert Melville read History and German Studies in Munich. He was awarded his doctorate in 1971 and then worked as research assistant at the Historisches Seminar, University of Munich. A research sabbatical in Rome (1979/80) and the completion of his habilitation (1983) was followed by interim and guest professorships in Tübingen, Frankfurt/M., Passau, Münster and Paris. From 1991-94 he was Professor of Mediaeval History at the University of Münster, and up until 1996 project director in the Collaborative Research Project 231. Since 1994 he has held the chair for Mediaeval History at the TU Dresden, and since 1997 is spokesman for Collaborative Research Centre 537 'Institutionality and Historicity’, which he inaugurated in Dresden. In 2000 he likewise founded the Internationale Graduiertenkolleg 625 in Dresden, and since 2005 he is Director of the Research Centre for the Comparative History of Religious Orders at the Catholic University Eichstätt, where he is a permanent guest professor.

Major publications include:
Institutionen und Geschichte (1992); Die Bettelorden im Aufbau (1999), and Das Sichtbare und Unsichtbare der Macht (2005). He is editor-in-chief of the series Norm und Struktur and Vita regularis.

>> next Participating scholar:

Among the scholars who have
agreed to participate are:

>> Prof. Phillip Buc

>> Prof. Folker Reichert

>> Prof. Hans Vorländer

>> Prof. Gerd Althoff

>> Prof. Gert Melville

>> Prof. Reinhard Strohm

>> Prof. Bruce Kapferer

>> Prof. Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger

>> Prof. Ronald L. Grimes

>> Prof. Alexis Sanderson

>> Prof. Harvey Whitehouse

>> Prof. Jan Heesterman

>> Prof. David Chidester

>> Dr. Donna L. Seamone

>> Prof. Eric Venbrux

>> Prof. Jone Salomonsen

>> Prof. Frederick M. Smith

>> Dr. Barry Stephenson

New Forms of Research on Rituals - A Review

Transforming Heidelberg into the center of research on rituals, the international conference “Ritual Dynamics and the Science of Ritual” was proof to the immense seminal potential of the traditional subject. Held by the collaborative research center SFB 619 “Ritual Dynamics” from Sept 29 to Oct 2, 2008, it was one of the most comprehensive conventions in the field of humanities and cultural science at the Ruprecht Karls University Heidelberg. As many as 600 participants from more than 15 disciplines discussed the future of research on rituals. More than 260 experts presented their research results in 22 panels, some of which spanned several days.

The conference assembled all experts of importance to research on rituals in order to reassess the traditional subject in view of the latest research. Its outcomes will be pathbreaking for a future transcultural, interdisciplinary and multi-methodical research approach and as a basis for a possible ritual science. The convention was marked by the broad range of disciplines and the corresponding diversity of methods. It embraced a tremendous variety of topics in terms of cultural geography and spanned a time horizon from the antiquity to the present.

Up to 150 scientists joined the lively discussions in the panels, repeatedly elaborating in how far the definitions of rituals are subject to the respective culture. The plenary discussion on Oct 1 made it more than clear, how broadly the term ritual can be defined. If we want to stop regarding rituals as more or less arbitrary phenomena, we have to determine the exact conditions, modes and functions of ritual actions in different cultures of the present and past. A crucial outcome of the conference is the insight that there cannot be “one single” model for rituals and that interdisciplinary collaborations are the key to research on rituals. This also includes the development and use of creative research methods; an aspect in which the SFB 619 lived up to its reputation as a pioneer in research on rituals. The conference affirmed and successfully enhanced the SFB 619’s interdisciplinary approach. The convention’s outcomes will be summarized in ten conference transcripts, to be published end of 2009 by Harrassowitz Publishing House.

The conference was met with great interest by the media and public, since its unprecedented supporting program brought research from its ivory tower to the general public. Already on the first conference night, the public was invited by Radio channel SWR2 Forum and the SFB 619 to join the forum discussion titled “Why We Do Need Rituals”. On the second night, renowned Egyptologist Jan Assmann’s lecture on “Ritual and Magic” at the Auditorium of the Neue Universität was packed. On Oct 1, soprano Evelyn Tubb and lutenist Anthony Rooley allowed their concert audience to experience and be part of a contemplative ritual amidst our hectic times. But above all, by introducing ritual testimonies in different museums and collections as well as in public space, the guided tour “Heidelberg in Rituals” through the city’s Old Town was able to make evident that, despite their differences, rituals all over the world root in the basic human need for coherence, order and meaning. Heidelberg’s mayor Dr. Joachim Gerner expressed his particular gratitude for the SFB 619’s engagement. He emphasized that making science accessible for everybody nowadays is a great challenge and that being able to understand the rituals of other cultures creates the basis for a peaceful intercultural dialog in our globalized world.

The outcomes of the conference will reverberate until 2009 through the special exhibitions “Ritual and World Order” showing illustrations from medieval scripts at the University Library and “Following the Footsteps of the Gods” with exhibits from the Indian state of Orissa at the J.& E. Portheim Foundation’s Museum of Ethnology.

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SFB 619 Sponsors & Partners Poster Send to a Colleague Contact Imprint	Participating scholar: Prof. Gert Melville Gert Melville read History and German Studies in Munich. He was awarded his doctorate in 1971 and then worked as research assistant at the Historisches Seminar, University of Munich. A research sabbatical in Rome (1979/80) and the completion of his habilitation (1983) was followed by interim and guest professorships in Tübingen, Frankfurt/M., Passau, Münster and Paris. From 1991-94 he was Professor of Mediaeval History at the University of Münster, and up until 1996 project director in the Collaborative Research Project 231. Since 1994 he has held the chair for Mediaeval History at the TU Dresden, and since 1997 is spokesman for Collaborative Research Centre 537 'Institutionality and Historicity’, which he inaugurated in Dresden. In 2000 he likewise founded the Internationale Graduiertenkolleg 625 in Dresden, and since 2005 he is Director of the Research Centre for the Comparative History of Religious Orders at the Catholic University Eichstätt, where he is a permanent guest professor. Major publications include: Institutionen und Geschichte (1992); Die Bettelorden im Aufbau (1999), and Das Sichtbare und Unsichtbare der Macht (2005). He is editor-in-chief of the series Norm und Struktur and Vita regularis. >> next Participating scholar: Among the scholars who have agreed to participate are: >> Prof. Phillip Buc >> Prof. Folker Reichert >> Prof. Hans Vorländer >> Prof. Gerd Althoff >> Prof. Gert Melville >> Prof. Reinhard Strohm >> Prof. Bruce Kapferer >> Prof. Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger >> Prof. Ronald L. Grimes >> Prof. Alexis Sanderson >> Prof. Harvey Whitehouse >> Prof. Jan Heesterman >> Prof. David Chidester >> Dr. Donna L. Seamone >> Prof. Eric Venbrux >> Prof. Jone Salomonsen >> Prof. Frederick M. Smith >> Dr. Barry Stephenson > Welcome > Aim of the conference > Conference structure New Forms of Research on Rituals - A Review Transforming Heidelberg into the center of research on rituals, the international conference “Ritual Dynamics and the Science of Ritual” was proof to the immense seminal potential of the traditional subject. Held by the collaborative research center SFB 619 “Ritual Dynamics” from Sept 29 to Oct 2, 2008, it was one of the most comprehensive conventions in the field of humanities and cultural science at the Ruprecht Karls University Heidelberg. As many as 600 participants from more than 15 disciplines discussed the future of research on rituals. More than 260 experts presented their research results in 22 panels, some of which spanned several days. The conference assembled all experts of importance to research on rituals in order to reassess the traditional subject in view of the latest research. Its outcomes will be pathbreaking for a future transcultural, interdisciplinary and multi-methodical research approach and as a basis for a possible ritual science. The convention was marked by the broad range of disciplines and the corresponding diversity of methods. It embraced a tremendous variety of topics in terms of cultural geography and spanned a time horizon from the antiquity to the present. Up to 150 scientists joined the lively discussions in the panels, repeatedly elaborating in how far the definitions of rituals are subject to the respective culture. The plenary discussion on Oct 1 made it more than clear, how broadly the term ritual can be defined. If we want to stop regarding rituals as more or less arbitrary phenomena, we have to determine the exact conditions, modes and functions of ritual actions in different cultures of the present and past. A crucial outcome of the conference is the insight that there cannot be “one single” model for rituals and that interdisciplinary collaborations are the key to research on rituals. This also includes the development and use of creative research methods; an aspect in which the SFB 619 lived up to its reputation as a pioneer in research on rituals. The conference affirmed and successfully enhanced the SFB 619’s interdisciplinary approach. The convention’s outcomes will be summarized in ten conference transcripts, to be published end of 2009 by Harrassowitz Publishing House. The conference was met with great interest by the media and public, since its unprecedented supporting program brought research from its ivory tower to the general public. Already on the first conference night, the public was invited by Radio channel SWR2 Forum and the SFB 619 to join the forum discussion titled “Why We Do Need Rituals”. On the second night, renowned Egyptologist Jan Assmann’s lecture on “Ritual and Magic” at the Auditorium of the Neue Universität was packed. On Oct 1, soprano Evelyn Tubb and lutenist Anthony Rooley allowed their concert audience to experience and be part of a contemplative ritual amidst our hectic times. But above all, by introducing ritual testimonies in different museums and collections as well as in public space, the guided tour “Heidelberg in Rituals” through the city’s Old Town was able to make evident that, despite their differences, rituals all over the world root in the basic human need for coherence, order and meaning. Heidelberg’s mayor Dr. Joachim Gerner expressed his particular gratitude for the SFB 619’s engagement. He emphasized that making science accessible for everybody nowadays is a great challenge and that being able to understand the rituals of other cultures creates the basis for a peaceful intercultural dialog in our globalized world. The outcomes of the conference will reverberate until 2009 through the special exhibitions “Ritual and World Order” showing illustrations from medieval scripts at the University Library and “Following the Footsteps of the Gods” with exhibits from the Indian state of Orissa at the J.& E. Portheim Foundation’s Museum of Ethnology.