DLMRS Events

PROFESSOR DR. HEINZ SCHILLING
Professor of History, Humboldt University, Berlin
Winner of the 2002 Dr. A. H. Heineken Prize for History
Honorary Doctor of Theology, University of Göttingen, 2009

The connection between religion and violence that is currently discussed in the media with regard to Muslim extremism is not a new phenomenon. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Europe experienced religiously motivated violence with no less severe consequences: Around the year 1600, religious fundamentalism in Europe resulted in a number of civil and inter-state religious wars which temporarily called into question the continued existence of European civilization. Starting with the political and religious upheavals of the early sixteenth century, and especially with Erasmus’ and Luther’s role, this lecture will describe the structural, cultural, and mental preconditions for the development of this dangerous amalgam of religion and violence, as well as consider the conditions for finding ways out of this fundamentalist trap. With the peace agreements of the mid-seventeenth century, especially the Peace of Westphalia ending the Thirty Years’ War, Europe redefined the relationship between religion and politics. A new legal and structural framework was created by establishing a secular definition of war and peace. Although history cannot provide us with direct political strategies for dealing with Islamic fundamentalism, it shows us that ways out of similarly dangerous configurations have been found before.

Professor Dr. Schilling is author, most recent, of the following monographs: Early Modern European Civilisation and its Political and Cultural Dynamics (Hanover und London : Brandeis University Press of New England/Historical Society of Israel, 2008); and Konfessionalisierung und Staatsinteressen. Internationale Beziehungen, 1559-1660 [Confessionalization and State Interests: International Relations, 1559-1660] (Paderborn: Schöningh, 2007).

UA Student Union Tucson/Catalina Room, 1303 E. University Boulevard
(Reception to follow in the Ventana Room.)
Lecture and reception are free and open to the public. Parking is available in the Second Street Garage at Mountain Boulevard/ Second Street.

PREVIOUS TOWN AND GOWN LECTURERS
2009	Londa Schiebinger, John L. Hinds Professor of History of Science, Stanford University "The Gender Politics of Plants in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World"
2008	David Cressy, Humanities Distinguished Professor, Ohio State University "What Not to Say: Dangerous Speech in Early Modern England"
2007	Natalie Zemon Davis, Henry Charles Lea Professor Emerita of History at Princeton University "Philosophes, Jews, and Africans in Colonial Suriname: The Example of David Nassy"
2006	Andrew M. Greeley, Professor of Sociology, University of Arizona; and Research Associate, National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago "The Mystery of African-American Evangelicals"
2005	Caroline Walker Bynum , Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton "A Matter of Matter: Two Cases of Blood Cult in Fifteenth-Century Germany"
2004	James D. Tracy , University of Minnesota Union Pacific Professor of Early Modern History "Christendom vs. Islamdom: The Background War of the Early Modern Era, 1500-1700"
2003	William Chester Jordan , Princeton University Professor of History and Director of the Medieval Studies Program "Expulsion and Exile: French Jews in the Early Fourteenth Century"
2002	Elaine Pagels, Harrington Spear Paine Foundation Professor of Religion, Princeton University "The Recently Discovered Gospel of Thomas: An Early Mystical Jewish View of Jesus"
2001	Patrick Collinson, Emeritus Regius Professor of Modern History, University of Cambridge "The Reformation and the Birth of England "
2000	John P. Frank, Constitutional law "The Trial of Socrates: The Foundation of Democracy"
1999	Robert Wistrich, Professor of Modern European History, Hebrew University "In the Footsteps of the Messiah: Herzl, Zionism, and the Millennial Fever"
1998	Thomas O'Meara, O.P., William K. Warren Chair of Theology, University of Notre Dame "Religion Looks Beyond the Year 2000: The Millennium, World Religions, Extra-Terrestrial Life"
1997	John Dillenberger, Professor Emeritus in Ecclesiastical and Art History, Graduate Theological Union "Painters as Prophets: Unexpected Visions of Heaven and Earth"
1996	John Shea, Professor of Systematic Theology, Mundelein Seminary "Storytelling and Spiritual Development: Narratives from the Spiritual Traditons of the World"
1995	Jaroslav Pelikan, Sterling Professor of History, Yale University "From Russia With Love: Russian Roots of the American Spirit: Jewish and Christian"
1993	Leon Bass, Winner, 1992 Holocaust Humanitarian Award "Racism and the Holocaust: An African American in World War II"
1992	Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, Director, Center for Israel and Jewish Studies, Columbia University "1492: The Jewish Response to the Expulsion from Spain"
1990	Rosemary Radford Reuther, Professor of Applied Theology , Garret-Evangelical Theological Seminary
1989	Martin E. Marty, Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of the History of Christianity, University of Chicago Divinity School
1988	David Tracy, Andrew Thomas Greeley and Grace McNichols Greeley Distinguished Service Professor of Catholic Studies and Professor of Theology and of the Philosophy of Religion, University of Chicago Divinity School
1987	Krister Stendahl, Dean, John Lord O'Brian Professor of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School
1986	Jürgen Moltmann, Professor of Systematic Theology, University of Tübingen
1985	Hans Küng, Professor of Ecumenical Theology, University of Tübingen