Religious Extremism and Instrumentalization of Religion Summer 2023

In this seminar we want to deal with different forms of religious extremism. We will focus on the following three religions: Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. Besides concrete examples of extremist movements related to the mentioned religions, we will examine which additional factors and aspects contribute to extremism and radicalization. Is extremism inherent to specific religions or what role does religion really play? For each object of investigation, however, we will also look at other sub-aspects, such as questions of geopolitical relevance or gender issues within extremist movements.