UA News

Heinz Schilling, professor of history at Humboldt University, Berlin Winner of the 2002 Dr. A. H. Heineken Prize for History and a 2009 honorary doctor of theology at the University of Göttingen will discuss "Religion and Violence: What We Can Learn From European Confessional Fundamentalism of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries."

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 16th and 17th centuries, Europe experienced religiously motivated violence with no less severe consequences: Around the year 1600, the meshing of religion and politics 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 16th 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 trap. With the peace agreements of the mid-17th 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 configuration have been found before.

This lecture is co-sponsored by the department of history, the Institute for the Study of Religion and Culture, the religious studies program, the Group for Early Modern Studies, and the UA Medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation Committee.

A reception will follow in the Student Union Memorial Center's Ventana Room.

Parking is available in the Second Street Garage at the southeast corner of Mountain Avenue and Second Street.