Birgit Heller

Birgit Heller (born December 20, 1959 in Salzburg ) is an Austrian scholar of religion .

Life

Heller studied philosophy , classical philology , theology , Indology and ancient oriental studies in Vienna and Salzburg . After several study visits to India, she obtained her Mag. Theol in Vienna in 1983. Since 1985 she has been working as a university assistant at the Institute for Religious Studies of the Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Vienna , where she had regular teaching assignments and was awarded a doctorate in 1988. theol. In 1998 she habilitated at the University of Hannover Dr. phil. habil., turned down a call to Bremen the following year and became an associate professor at the University of Vienna .

In her research, Heller deals with the subjects of dying, death and mourning, women and gender studies , Hindu religions and palliative care .

She is married to Andreas Heller (professor at the University of Graz) and has two daughters.

Works (selection)

Posted:

• God as “light” in Israel and Mesopotamia. A study on Isa 60, 1–3., Austrian Biblical Studies 7, Klosterneuburg 1989
• Holy Mother and Bride of God, Women's Emancipation in Modern Hinduism, Milena, 1999, ISBN 978-3-85286-074-9

In edited volumes:

• God as a woman. Ancient oriental sources of goddess worship, In: Edith Specht (Hrsg.): Messages from time. A journey through the history of women in antiquity, Vienna, Milena, 1992, ISBN 978-3900399665
• Her Holiness Mahajagadguru Mate Mahadevi. Female leadership as an expression of equality among the Liṅgāyats, In: Manfred Hutter (Ed.): Frau und Göttin, Graz 1998
• Cultures of dying. Interreligiousness as a challenge for palliative care , In: Andreas Heller u. a. (Ed.): Culture of dying. Creating conditions for the end of life, Freiburg i. B., 2000, ISBN 3-7841-1231-5

Lexicons

• Frau , In: Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche , Vol. 4, 1995
• Matriarchy , In: Lexicon for Theology and Church , Vol. 6, 1997, Col. 1475.
• Frau , In: Religion Past and Present , Vol. 3, 2008

In magazines

• The wisdom of women is only with the spindle. On the history of female interpretation skills in Hinduism and Judaism, In: Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte, 51, 1999, pp. 289-300
• Preserve life - allow death. World religions and euthanasia, In: Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft, 9, 2001, pp. 105-134

Web links

• Literature by and about Birgit Heller in the catalog of the German National Library
• ao. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Birgit Heller , Catholic Theological Faculty, Institute for Religious Studies, University of Vienna
• Birgit Heller on the website of the University of Klagenfurt