Conferences, Workshops, Call for Papers

The Research Department regularly organises conferences, workshops and lectures on various topics and participates in international conferences.

Mitveranstalter
Archiv der Erzdiözese Salzburg
Fachbereich Geschichte der Universität Salzburg
Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung
Franckesche Stiftungen

Mitorganisation und Leitung
Jutta Baumgartner, Salzburg
Martin Scheutz, Wien
Alfred Stefan Weiß, Salzburg
Holger Zaunstöck, Halle

Weitere Informationen

Programm

To kick off the research project »Objects from Borneo in the Francke Foundations' Cabinet of Artefacts and Natural Curiosities«, which begins in December 2023, an interdisciplinary workshop will take place on February 1, 2024, bringing together experts to discuss perspectives, current concepts, experiences and networks on this topic.

The project will deal with a variety of topics: Analysis of the provenances and acquisition circumstances of the objects, contexts and meanings in the societies of origin as well as cultural-historical classifications, comparative objects and museum medialization possibilities, post-colonial interpretations and much more. The thematic fields describe the broad radius of the project. An important point is also the comparative horizon - which objects from Borneo still exist today in German ethnographic collections, with which provenances, how are they researched and presented and what contacts exist with researchers on Borneo and what challenges are associated with this.

The kick-off workshop will bring together experts from the Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein (Gotha), the Weltkulturen Museum (Frankfurt am Main), the Archiv- und Museumsstiftung der Vereinten Evangelischen Mission (Wuppertal), the Fernuniversität Hagen and various research institutions in Halle for an initial exchange.

More information and program

In the last few decades, the focus of international and interdisciplinary research on Pietism in Halle and Herrnhut has increased considerably. For this reason, the conference welcomes current, overarching research approaches as well as questions and approaches from the particular histories of Halle and Moravian Pietism and asks how they critically relate to one another.

Organizer: Interdisciplinary Center for Pietism Research at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Francke Foundations in Halle, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Moravian Archives Bethlehem, Evangelical Theological Faculty of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine

More information and program

In the formative phase of Halle's Pietism, the »Orient« represented a central point of reference and at the same time an important projection surface. This focus was essentially based on the practice-oriented interest in worldwide mission and the establishment of contact with the Christian churches of Eastern Europe, West and South Asia, and Northeast Africa, but also on a boom in oriental philology at the University of Halle, founded in 1694, as a young scientific discipline that was in the process of taking off. August Hermann Francke, who began his career at the University of Halle as a professor of oriental languages, of all things, brought together these two traditional strands of knowledge production with regard to the »Orient« and institutionalized them by founding the Collegium Orientale Theologicum as early as 1702. The »Orient« still played an important role in the following generations of Halle Pietists, as can be seen, for example, in the Institutum Judaicum et Muhammedicum founded in 1728 by Francke's student Johann Heinrich Callenberg. This development, which had a formative influence on Pietism, is to be embedded in the larger European context of Protestant confrontations with the »Orient«. Fueled by information about successful missionary projects of Catholic competitors, an actionism focused on Eastern Christians spread among members of Protestant denominations from the 17th century on. In addition to Judaism, which is also tangible in Halle's Pietism as an explicitly »oriental« religious phenomenon, Islam also came into the Hallensians' sights.

The workshop is dedicated to the multitude of initiatives that emerged from this actionism and in many cases never got beyond the planning stage. It will focus on how different spaces and religious traditions were imagined as specifically »oriental« by mobile actors as well as by those who stayed at home. The ambivalence of these projections will also be highlighted, between the »Orient« as a place of longing (for example, as a place of the transmission of a genuine Christianity and a potential anti-Catholic ally) and as a place of deterrence (where superstition and backwardness prevailed). The »Orient« can thus be understood as a polysemantic and extremely heterogeneous guiding category that was central to the Pietist perception and description of the world in the 18th century. The complexity of this imaginary space requires a decidedly interdisciplinary approach, which will be facilitated in the workshop. In particular, the significance of the »Orient« – or rather of respective conceptions of the »Orient« – for mobility practices and the creation of belonging is to be questioned. The focus will also be on the dynamics of interaction between involved actors inside and outside Halle's Pietism (such as the management of the orphanage, traveling missionaries, Protestant merchants, diplomatic representations of European political entities in the Ottoman Empire, etc.). Also, Halle-directed or inspired missionary practices in the Ottoman Empire have received far less attention than those in other missionary action spaces, such as North America or India.

Conception and direction: Daniel Haas (Hamburg), Stanislau Paulau (Halle), Stefano Saracino (Jena/München), Friedemann Stengel (Halle), Holger Zaunstöck (Halle)

Program

We ask for a binding registration until September 20, 2023 to annegret.jummrich(at)izp. uni-halle.de.

An international academic conference Pietism in Baltic History – Research Issues and Perspectives will take place online via Zoom on 2 June 2023. The conference has been organised by the National Library of Latvia (NLL), Halle’s Francke Foundations and the Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Pietism at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg and will be held in English and German.

Pietism is a religious movement that emerged in the Protestant Church in the 17th century and which also played an important role in the development of Latvian culture. The conference will, for the first time, bring together scholars from the Baltic States with those from Germany and the Netherlands interested in the history of Pietism as a social and church reforming movement. Topics in the papers cover the period from the late 17th century to as late as the 19th century.

The conference will feature presentations by experts in the field such as Dr. hist. Gvido Straube, Dr. habil. Darius Petkunas, Prof. Dr. Liina Lukas, Dr. Jürgen Beyer, PD Dr. Sebastian Rimestad, Dr. Kaspars Kļaviņš. The NLL will be represented by Research and Interpretation Centre lead researcher Dr. phil. Beata Paškevica, who will present her paper The Pietistic Period in Rīga’s Church of St. Jacob. The partners in Halle are Dr. habil. Christian Soboth and Prof. Dr. Holger Zaunstöck.

To the programme

An exceptional educational institution of the 18th century was the Glauchaschen Anstalten, today's Francke Foundations in Halle in Brandenburg-Prussia. Here, young people were educated and trained regardless of their origin, social status and gender. The underlying Pietist educational concept can still be seen in the preserved buildings of the foundations, which are still used for educational purposes today. But how exceptional were the foundations in an overarching, comparative and international perspective?

If one looks at the research, one gets the impression that there are a large number of local studies on the history of school construction before 1800, which, however, have so far stood unconnected to each other - especially in an international perspective. However, there are hardly any comprehensive or comparative studies on school buildings and educational architecture in the early modern period.So how can a comparative architectural history of school buildings and educational spaces be conceived on the basis of social, cultural, religious and pedagogical history?

Based on these observations and questions, the international conference will address educational architecture of the early modern period in theory and practice from an interdisciplinary perspective. At the same time, the aim is to establish an international working context on the topic that links fruitful and differentiated research in various countries.

To the programme.