Heinrich Wilhelm Schäfer

Heinrich Wilhelm Schäfer (* 1955 in Paderborn ) is professor of Protestant theology and sociology of religion at the Faculty of History, Philosophy and Theology and the Faculty of Sociology at Bielefeld University . He is a member and co-founder of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Religion and Society (CIRRuS) .

Life

In 1983, 1985 and 1986 Schäfer conducted field studies on religious movements in the Central American civil wars (with a focus on the Pentecostal movement ) based on Bourdieu's sociology . From 1989 to 2006 he was pastor of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia . In 1991 he earned the title of Dr. theol. From 1992 to 1994 he was a lecturer for ecumenical theology at the Ruhr University in Bochum . Between 1995 and 2003 Schäfer taught systematic theology and social sciences (with a focus on religion) at the Universidad Biblica Latinoamericana (UBL) and religious and cultural studies at the Universidad Nacional in Costa Rica . In connection with his work at the UBL, he taught and researched in various countries in Latin America. a. in Brazil, Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela. Between 1998 and 2003 he was a member of an international working group on religion and globalization of the World Council of Churches , Château de Bossey , Geneva . In 2002 he acquired the title "Dr. phil. (Rer. Soc.)" ( Humboldt University , Berlin ) and completed his habilitation in the subject of systematic theology (Ruhr University Bochum) in the same year. From 2003 to 2006 he worked as a lecturer in religious studies at the University of Hanover . He has been a professor at Bielefeld University since 2006.

job

Since the early 1980s and a research project in the wars of Central America , Schäfer has been working on issues of religion, social inequality and violence from a social science perspective. Research focuses on religion under conditions of war and criminal violence in slums, especially in Latin America and Bosnia and Herzegovina . Another research focus since the late 1970s ( Iranian Revolution ) has been religious fundamentalism . In a new research project on the religious field and the political strategies of religious actors in Guatemala and Nicaragua , the transformation of religious practice in peripheral countries over the past 30 years is to be examined comparatively and from a diachronic perspective. The objective focus of these studies is on the Pentecostal movement . The theoretical and methodological focus is on Bourdieu's sociology. In particular, Schäfer has developed a method for habitus analysis which will shortly be published in a book in English. In theological terms, Schäfer's work focuses on interdisciplinary hermeneutics and pneumatology.

Research (selection)

Social differentiation and identity-politics of the Pentecostal movement in Guatemala and Nicaragua ( DFG , 2011–2013)

Collaboration in the research association Religion and Conflict (research center of the Evangelical Study Community, since 2007)

The ethos of religious peace builders in Bosnia-Herzegovina (DFG, 2008–2010)

World religions in the process of globalization (World Council of Churches, 1998–2002)

Fundamentalisms in the USA and Islamic countries (1992-2007)

More research on the website of the Center for the interdisciplinary research on religion and society (CIRRuS)

Publications (selection)

2015. Habitus Analysis 1. Epistemology and Language . Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
2015. Identity as a network. Habitus, social structure and religious mobilization [Identity as network. Habitus, social structure and religious mobilization]. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
2013. Pombagira y el obispo: sobre identidades religiosas transnacionales: La Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus en Brasil y Mozambique [Pombagira and the bishop: about transnational religious identities: The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Brazil and Mozambique]. Form for inter-American research (fiar) 6 (1).
2012. Art .: Protestantism. In The Latin America Lexicon , ed. Silke Hensel and Barbara Potthast, 274–277. Wuppertal: Peter Hammer Verlag.
2010. Explaining Central American Pentecostalism within social inequality and conflict. On habitus-analysis as a clue to describe religious praxis. In Pentecostal Power: Expressions, Impact and Faith of Latin American Pentecostalism , ed. Calvin L. Smith, 137-156. Leiden / Boston: Brill.
2009. Latin America - dynamics of the religious field. In What the World Believes: Analysis and Commentary on the Religion Monitor 2008 , ed. Bertelsmann Foundation, 463–485. Gütersloh: Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung.
2009. The Pentecostal movement - social change and religious habitus. In What the World Believes: Analysis and Commentary on the Religion Monitor 2008 , ed. Bertelsmann Foundation, 533-585. Gütersloh: Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung.
2008. Fundamentalismos, modernidades y tensiones políticas globales. Sobre la Religón políticamente movilizada [Fundamentalisms, modern spirits and global political tensions]. Estudos de Religião 35, 87-107. São Paulo: Metro Metodista.
2008. Struggle of Fundamentalisms: Radical Christianity, Radical Islam and Europe's Modernity. [The Struggle of Fundamentalisms: Radical Christianity, Radical Islam, and Europe's Modern Spirit] Frankfurt a. M .: Publishing House of World Religions (Suhrkamp).
2007. “We gonna bin laden them!” Reflections on a methodological-communitarian peace ethic [“We gonna bin laden them!” Considerations on a methodologic-communitarian ethics of peace]. Journal for Protestant Ethics 51 (3): 169–181.
2005. Identity as a network: A theoretical draft using the example of religious movements in the Guatemalan civil war [Identity as network: A theoretical outline exemplified by religious movements in the Guatemalan civil war]. Berliner Journal für Soziologie 15 (2): 259–282.
2004. Practice - Theology - Religion: Basics of a theology and theory of religion following Pierre Bourdieu . Frankfurt: Lembeck, 445 p. (Praxis - Theology - Religion. Outlines of a theory on theology and religion following Pierre Bourdieu).
2004. The Janus face of religion: On the religious factor in new wars . Numeral 51 (4): 407-431.
2004. "And because the human being is human ...": Intercultural ethics, religious identity and conflict . ["Because a human being is a human being….": Intercultural Ethics, Religious Identity, and Conflict]. Security and Peace 22 (3): 139–146.
1992. Protestantismo y crisis social en América Central . [Protestantism and Social Crisis in Central America]. San José: Department of Ecumenical Investigations.
1990. Church identity between repression and liberation: The Presbyterian Church in Guatemala. Studies from the World Alliance of Reformed Churches , 178. Geneva: World Alliance of Reformed Churches.