Research Outline

Religious meaning-making occurs in and through metaphors. In metaphors, meaning is trans-ferred from one semantic domain to another. Religion, which cannot directly address its ultimate subject (the transcendent), is dependent on this procedure. The CRC seeks to more thoroughly understand this process theoretically and grasp it methodologically to research its semantic forms empirically and comparatively. The shapes religion takes as a socio-cultural phenomenon are thus better understood and central developments within specific religious traditions become more tangible. The CRC contributes to the historiography of religions, on the one hand, and to answering systematic questions in the comparative study of religions, on the other. > Read more

Sections

The subprojects of the Collaborative Research Center 1475 “Metaphors of Religion” are divided into three sections, which correspond to the three basic source domains. Thus, the subprojects of Section A cover the “Domain of the Physical”, the subprojects of Section B deal with the “Domain of the Mind”, and the subprojects of Section C are dedicated to the “Domain of the Social”. > Read more

Subprojects

The Collaborative Research Center comprises a total of 16 subprojects. In addition to the 13 subprojects, which are assigned to the different sections, there is also the Graduate School of Metaphor and Religion (GSMR), the INF project (Information Management and Information Infrastructure), and the PR project, which is responsible for public relations within the CRC. > Read more