Rainer New

Rainer Neu (born July 18, 1950 in Wesel ) is a German theologian, religious scholar and sociologist and teaches church history and religious studies as a private lecturer at the University of Duisburg-Essen , Essen campus.

Life

Neu studied Protestant theology , sociology and philosophy in Wuppertal , Heidelberg and Mainz and received his doctorate with a sociological thesis on "Sociology of Religion as Critical Theory" at Heidelberg University . He completed his habilitation in sociology at the University of Paderborn . New was a lecturer at Northern Christian College in Laoag City, Philippines, and professor at Silliman University in Dumaguete City, Philippines. At the same time he was a member of the faculty of the South-East Asian Graduate School of Theology (SEAGST) Singapore. From 1997 to 2005 Neu taught sociology at the University of Paderborn. He has worked as a visiting professor in Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and the Netherlands. New is the chairman of the Interreligious Dialogue Circle Wesel and secretary of the German Society for Missiology (DGMW) . He is editor of the series "Studies in Society, Culture and Religion of Southeast Asia - Contributions to the Society, Culture and Religion of Southeast Asia" in LIT-Verlag and co-editor of the journal "Interkulturelle Theologie. Journal for Mission (ZMiss) ”. He is the head of the department “ Ethnic Religions ” in the “Handbuch der Religionen”, ed. v. M. Klöcker and U. Tworuschka.

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Neu's early works are shaped by Max Weber's methods of social history and the socio-critical reflections of the critical theory of the Frankfurt School. He combines this approach with ethno-sociological research methods and turns in particular to the analysis of segmental-anarchic societies, the emergence of centralization processes and the dynamics of anti-rule resistance. From a social historical point of view, these investigations shed a new light on the development of Israel's early days, from the segmental social conditions of nomadism to the political institutions of the early royal period. After a long period of teaching and field research in Southeast Asia, Neu combined his socio-historical approach with phenomenological methods in order to be able to more clearly grasp the functioning and meaning of religious worldviews and rituals. Thereby the interest in the unity of religions comes to the fore, which Neu does not believe to find in their manifestations and specific beliefs, but in their structural features. He defines religion as a universally demonstrable process of tension between unity, polarity and integration, which derives its dynamism from the exchange between the poles sacred and profane and describes the new as “the medial” .

Honors

2008: Horace B. Silliman Order from Silliman University in Dumaguete City, Philippine
2011: “Together for Wesel” sponsorship award from the Integration Council of the City of Wesel

Selected publications

Sociology of Religion as a Critical Theory. The Marxist criticism of religion and its significance for the sociology of religion, European university publications, series XXIII, volume 168, Frankfurt-Bern 1982
From anarchy to the state. Development history of Israel from nomadism to monarchy in the light of ethnosociology, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1992
R. Neu - C. Sigrist (ed.), Ethnological texts on the Old Testament,
- Volume 1: Pre- and Early History of Israel, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1989;
- Volume 2: The emergence of royalty, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1997
R. New - M.-P. New, South Seas trauma. Impressions from the Philippines, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1993
R. New - M.-P. New, interior views of the Philippines. Participating observations, Münster - Hamburg 1995 (2nd edition 1996)
The living dead and the dead God. Death and the afterlife in the Philippines, Münster - Hamburg 1997
The medial. The search for the unity of religions in religious studies, Stuttgart 2010

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personal data
SURNAME	New, Rainer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German religious scholar and sociologist
DATE OF BIRTH	July 18, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH	Wesel