Did you know...

  • that Religious Studies is not a theological discipline, but a non-denominational, cultural studies subject?
  • that Religious Studies can also be studied without basic studies (Bachelor/Master/Doctorate) within the framework of the Bachelor Religious Education (Religious Studies Education)?
  • that condition-free admission to the MA Religious Studies is possible after completing the two extension curricula in any undergraduate program?
  • that almost any undergraduate degree (Bachelor, Master, Doctorate) can be used for admission to the MA Religious Studies?
  • that required courses (usually consisting of the two extension curricula) can be completed not only before the start of the study program but also during the study programme?
  • that you can learn more about the self-image of the subject Religious Studies, the cultural studies discipline on the topic of "religion", here?
  • that EU/EEA/CH citizens do not pay tuition for their B.A./M.A./Ph.D. studies? Non-EU/EEA citizens are required to pay tuition fees of 749.42 Euro/semester.This includes all degree programmes (B.A./M.A./Ph.D.).

News

  • From 25 to 26 April, a workshop organised by Moritz Maurer on the Berlin scholar of Religious Studies Klaus Heinrich (1927-2020) will take place at the Goethe University Frankfurt, in which new perspectives on this important figure will be examined. Further information on the workshop can be found here.
  • The new Master's curriculum “The Study of Religions” will come into effect on 1 October 2025 and can be found here.
  • Congratulations to Magdalena Kraler on being awarded the Roland-Atefie-Prize of the Austrian Academy of Sciences for her dissertation "Yoga Breath: The Reinvention of Prāṇa and Prāṇāyāma in Early Modern Yoga" under the supervision of Karl Baier. Further information can be found here.
  • Congratulations to Andreas Jörg Kohlndorfer for completing the M.A. programme in Protestant Theology with a thesis on Grüne Esoterik. Eine Untersuchung grünesoterischer Literatur zum Themenbereich der Anastasia-Bewegung (Anastasianismus) auf konkrete esoterische und rechte politische Einflüsse [Green Esotericism: An Examination of Green Esoteric Literature on the Subject of the Anastasia Movement (Anastasianism) for Specific Esoteric and Right-wing Political Influences], supervised by Professor Lukas K. Pokorny.
  • The ORF published an article on its website entitled "Concepts of time from cyclical to 'timeless'", in which Birgit Heller and Dirk Schuster share their expertise on the topic. The article can be read here.
  • From 31 March to 4 April, Daniel Berounský (Charles University Prague) held a course on "The non-Buddhist Religions of Tibet" at the Department of Religious Studies.
  • Hüseyin Çiçek was speaking at the annual international conference by the EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC) from 26 to 27 March at the European Parliament in Brussels.
  • We warmly congratulate our habilitation scholar Nicole M. Bauer on receiving the "Science Book of the Year Award" for her book Dämonen. Besessenheit und Exorzismus in der Geschichte Österreichs [Demons: Possession and Exorcism in the History of Austria].
  • For students of Religious Studies, we are offering our mentoring program for questions and difficulties during their studies. You can find more information here.
  • In the new QS World University Ranking by Subject 2024, the University of Vienna's Theology and Religious Studies Cluster ranks 21st worldwide.

New Publications

  • Lukas K. Pokorny:
    1. and Leona Mörth-Nicola, and Kerstin Tretina, eds. 2025. Blicklichter und Grenzgänge: Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf Religion, Gender und das Lebensende [Illuminations and Border Walks/Crossings: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Religion, Gender, and the End of Life]. Paderborn: Brill Schöningh.
    2. and Rossella Ferrari, Rudiger Frank, and Ina Hein, eds. 2025. Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies, Volume 16. Paderborn: Brill Schöningh.
    3. and Franz Winter, eds. 2025. Euro-American Esoteric Perspectives on East Asia. Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies, Volume 16 (Special Issue).
    4. "'The Way, the Truth, and the Light': Franz Hartmann's Daodejing." Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies, Volume 16: 25–49.
    5. and Franz Winter. 2025. "Preface to the Special Issue 'Euro-American Esoteric Perspectives on East Asia'." Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies, Volume 16: 1–3.
    6. and Leona Mörth-Nicola, and Kerstin Tretina. 2025. "Einleitung: Blicklichter und Grenzgänge [Introduction: Illuminations and Border Walks/Crossings]." In Lukas K. Pokorny, Leona Mörth-Nicola and Kerstin Tretina, eds. Blicklichter und Grenzgänge: Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf Religion, Gender und das Lebensende [Illuminations and Border Walks/Crossings: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Religion, Gender, and the End of Life]. Paderborn: Brill Schöningh, IX–XXIX.
    7. "Kōfuku no Kagaku and the Boiling Cauldron." In Lukas K. Pokorny, Leona Mörth-Nicola and Kerstin Tretina, eds. 2025. Blicklichter und Grenzgänge. Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf Religion, Gender und das Lebensende [Illuminations and Border Walks/Crossings: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Religion, Gender, and the End of Life]. Paderborn: Brill Schöningh, 287–301.
    Dirk Schuster:
    1. "Les Allemands, peuple élu de Dieu: Une théologie du 'Troisième Reich' [The Germans, God's Chosen People: A Theology of the 'Third Reich']." In ReLRace - Religions, lignages et «race».
  • Karl Baier:
    1. "Katholische Seherinnen der frühen Moderne [Catholic female seers of the early modern
    era]." In Lukas K. Pokorny, Leona Mörth-Nicola and Kerstin Tretina, eds. Blicklichter und Grenzgänge. Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf Religion, Gender und das Lebensende [Illuminations and Border Walks/Crossings: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Religion, Gender, and the End of Life]. Paderborn: Brill Schöningh, 111–137.
    2. "Ariosophie – Walther Paapes Buch über Adolf Josef Lanz und das Neutempler-Priorat Staufen in Dietfurt im Spiegel der Forschungsgeschichte [Ariosophy – Walther Paape's book about Adolf Josef Lanz and the Priory of the New Templars at Staufen in Dietfurt as reflected in the history of research]." In Zeitschrift für Hohenzollerische Geschichte 2025, 189–208.
  • Johann Figl:
    1.     "Säkulares Todesverständnis als Alternative zur religiösen Jenseitsorientierung. Motive der Kritik Nietzsches und Irvin D. Yaloms Rezeption [A Secular Understanding of Death as an Alternative to a Religious Orientation Towards the Afterlife. Motives of Criticism of Nietzsche and Irvin D. Yalom's Reception]." In Lukas K. Pokorny, Leona Mörth-Nicola and Kerstin Tretina, eds. Blicklichter und Grenzgänge. Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf Religion, Gender und das Lebensende [Illuminations and Border Walks/Crossings: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Religion, Gender, and the End of Life]. Paderborn: Brill Schöningh, 349–367.
  • Hans Gerald Hödl:
    1. "Queens and Mothers. Knappe Bemerkungen zur Rolle von Frauen in New Orleans Voodoo und Spiritual Churches [Queens and Mothers: Some brief remarks on the role of women in New Orleans Voodoo and Spiritual Churches]." In Lukas K. Pokorny, Leona Mörth-Nicola und Kerstin Tretina, Hg. Blicklichter und Grenzgänge. Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf Religion, Gender und das Lebensende [Illuminations and Border Walks/Crossings: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Religion, Gender, and the End of Life]. Paderborn: Brill Schöningh, 157–176.
  • Tao Thykier Makeeff:
    1. "Dantians and Dragons: Paracorporeality and the Euro-American Reception of Chinese Martial Arts Spiritualities." In Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies, Volume 16: 223–254.
    2. and Jane Haug Skjoldli, and Fredrik Gregorius, eds. 2025. Forum: Back to Blood: Pursuing a Future from the Norse Past. Journal of for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, Volume 19(2).
    3. and Fredrik Gregorious, and Jane Haug Skjoldli. 2025. "Introduction to the Special Issue Forum: Back to Blood: Pursuing a Future from the Norse Past." In Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, 19(2): 147–150.
    4. "Warriors, Weather, and Wolves oh My! Environmental Determinism and Transspecies Roleplaying in Modern Viking Identity." In Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, Volume 19(2): 151–175.
  • Davide Marino:
    1. "The Path to Gnosis: a Microhistory." In Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies, Volume 16: 83–110.
    2. "The Tao of Julius Evola." In Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies, Volume 16: 111–141.
  • Human-Friedrich Unterrainer:
    1. and Sabine Sammer-Schreckenthaler, Gloria Lagetto, and Omar C. G. Gelo. 2025. "Specific and common therapeutic factors in psychodynamic psychotherapy for children and adolescents: an overview." In Frontiers in Psychology, Volume 16: 1525849.
    2. and Elisa Renner, Raphael Wimmer, Zoe Zipper, Hannah Brössler, Jasmin Brouschek, Jürgen Fuchshuber, and Wolfgang Beiglböck. 2025. "Affects, dissociative symptoms and addictive behaviours: Insights from clinical and non-clinical samples." In Journal of Affective Disorders, Volume 370: 481–488.
    3. and Michaela Hiebler, Hannah Brössler, Raphael Wimmer, Zoe Zipper, Elisa Renner, Jasmin Brouschek, Jürgen Fuchshuber, and Aljoscha Neubauer. 2025. "The German version of the Bergen Yale Sex Addiction Scale (BYSAS): psychometric properties and initial steps of validation." In BMC Psychology Volume 13, 109.
    4. and Jürgen Fuchshuber, Karl Koschutnig, Andreas Fink, Johanna Alexopoulos, and Henriette Löffler-Stastka. 2025. "Effects of insecure attachment on fMRI resting state functional connectivity in poly drug use disorder." In PLoS ONE 20(2): e0318505.
    5. and Jürgen Fuchshuber, Marina Zeldovich, Gabor Aranyi, Lisa Winter, Martin Kuska, Dominique Dumont, and Elke Humer. 2025. "Uncovering the Internal Structure of the German Version of the CORE-OM: A Network Analysis." In Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy 32(2): e70063.
    6. "On the wings of Icarus – the need for transcendence in addictive diseases. In Frontiers in Psychiatry, Volume 16: 1563871.
    7. and Elke Humer, Johanna Thea Büttner, and Thomas Probst. 2025. "Religious/Spiritual Well-Being across psychotherapeutic orientations: A comparative study among Austrian psychotherapists." In Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health: 1–20.
    8. and Gabor Aranyi, Elke Humer, Martina Kuska, Lisa Winter, and Marina Zeldovich. 2025. "The German version of the Clinical Outcome in Routine Evaluation – Outcome Measure (CORE-OM): Factorial validity, internal consistency, and gender differences in a large outpatient sample." In: Psychotherapy Research: 1–19.