FEATURED AUTHOR

Karsten LEHMANN

Sociologist and Scholar of Religions

Karsten Lehmann is Research Professor at the KPH Wien/Krems. He works on different aspects of present-day religions – with a focus on religions in international relations, religious immigrant communities, the empirical analysis of inter-religious dialogue, as well as new religious movements. In terms of theory and methods, he is particularly interested in the sedimentation of ‘the religious’ and ‘the secular’, the meso-level of religious associations as well as research methods.

Subjects: Religion, Sociology

Biography

I was born in Baden-Baden / Germany and studied in Lancaster / England, and Tübingen / Germany. Throughout my career, I have so far had the privilege to work in a wide array of different fields inside and outside of the university context - from preventive work with young people and political consulting up to empirical research at the Observatoire des Religions en Suisse (Switzerland), The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs (USA), as well as the Universities of Bayreuth (Germany) and Fribourg (Switzerland). My work in Europe and North America has provided me with fascinating insights into the dynamics of present-day societies and the role religions play in our world today.

Education

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

Books

Featured Title

Articles

Public Presence as a loss of Power: RNGOs from Church Diplomacy to Civil Society

Published: Dec 14, 2016 by LSE 'Religion and the Public Sphere' Blog
Authors: Karsten LEHMANN

Analysing the early history of Religious Non-Governmental Organizations (RNGOs) in the context of the UN, this blog entry argues that the presence of religion in public space can also be the result of a decrease in traditional political influence.

Religiöse Sedimente im Menschenrechtsdiskurs

Published: Feb 21, 2016 by Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation 2 (2016)
Authors: Karsten Lehmann
Subjects: Religion, Sociology

The article discusses new approaches to classical secularization theories. Based upon detailed discussion of human rights discourses, it highlights the approaches of David Martin and Linda Woodhead who propose the notion of sedimentation.

The Peace Mapping Programme - An emerging tool for the understanding of IRD

Published: Dec 07, 2015 by Key Issues in Religion and World Affairs (2015)
Authors: Karsten LEHMANN / Patrice BRODEUR / Jana VOBECKA
Subjects: Religion, Sociology

The paper presents a first introduction into the initial phase of the Peace Mapping Programme, the authors have been shaping from 2014 to 2015: http://www.kaiciid.org/what-we-do/knowledge/mapping-dialogue-peace

A forgotten Episode in the history of Inter-religious Dialogue

Published: Mar 30, 2011 by Contending Modernities (2011)
Authors: Karsten LEHMANN
Subjects: Religion, Sociology

The history of Interreligious Dialogue (with capital “I” and “D”) is often told in the form of hagiography. Like all hagiographies, it is highly selective and written with a particular audience in mind. There is, however, an important history of inter-religious encounters that is generally excluded from the hagiography—a history that does not focus exclusively on shining examples and peaceful saints and includes failure and dissent as well as understanding and comprehension.

Individuelle Spiritualität und politische Positionierung

Published: Mar 07, 2008 by Bayreuther Beiträge zur Erforschung der religiösen Gegenwartskultur (2008)
Authors: Karsten Lehmann
Subjects: Religion, Sociology

The article wants to provide a contribution to present-day discussions on the integration of the religious communities of immigrants. Based upon two case analyses it underlines the spiritual as well as the political dimension of those processes