Head of Department and Chair
Prof. DDr. Franz Winter
Since 2022
The Department for Religious Studies at the Faculty of Catholic Theology in Graz has existed since 1978 and emerged from a chair for "Biblical Theology" established in 1967. The connection to this discipline has a lot to do with the founding figure and first professor, Claus Schedl, and shaped the history of the institute for a long time. Currently, the Institute is fully committed to a tradition of religious studies with a cultural studies orientation.
Predecessors
Ulrike Bechmann's research focuses on the three so-called "Abrahamic religions", Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and in particular on the intertextual contexts of reference between these religions.
Karl M. Woschitz focused on the cultural history of the New and Old Testament and had a special interest in the history and cultural significance and influence of Gnosticism.
Claus Schedl was an Old Testament scholar and biblical theologian who dealt with the religious history of the Ancient Near East and the Bible.