Teaching
I teach and co-ordinate courses at both undergraduate (B.A.) and postgraduate (M.A. and Ph.D.) level on a variety of subjects. I regularly carry out teaching at universities abroad. In the past, I taught at the University of Aberdeen (2011–2013; 2015–2016), Stockholm University (2014–2015), Chaminade University of Honolulu (2014), Jagiellonian University Kraków (2019), Palacký University Olomouc (2014), University of Göttingen (2011), Babeş-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca (2010), Comenius University Bratislava (2010; 2018–2020), Masaryk University Brno (2009; 2017), and Charles University Prague (2009). Next to my academic teaching, I very much enjoy lecturing at the annual Vienna Children's University (KinderuniWien) and the Science programme of the Wiener Volkshochschulen. My approach to teaching and learning is based on a more personal relationship between student and instructor with the aim to fostering community awareness and creating an atmosphere of familiarity and lively participation. I always seek to achieve a high completion rate among my students and to instil a genuine interest in the fascinating subjects of my teaching and research among them.
In the summer semester 2026 my teaching responsibilities include:
010050 UE Grundlagen religionswissenschaftlicher Forschung [Foundations of the Study of Religions]
010062 VU Neue Religionen [New Religions]
010080 SE Religion in Focus: Ayurveda
010074 UE Forschungskolloquium [Research Seminar for M.A. students]
600005 SE Research Seminar [for Ph.D. students and postdocs]
My past teaching comprises single courses on the following subjects:
Asian Religions
Buddhism
Buddhism in Vienna
Chinese New Religious Movements
Confucianism
Daoism
East Asian Religions
East Asian New Religious Movements
Esotericism
Japanese Buddhism
Japanese New Religious Movements
Korean Buddhism
Korean Religions
Korean New Religious Movements
New Religions/New Religious Movements
New Religious Movements in East Asia
Religion in Pre-modern Korea
Religions in East Asia
Religion in Vienna
Religions of the World
Comparative Study of Religions
Conducting Research in the Study of Religions
East Asian Languages and Scripts
General History of Religions
Interreligious Dialogue between East and West
Methods and Theories in the Study of Religions
Middle Korean
Millenarianism
Qualitative Methods in the Study of Religions
Reading Confucian and Buddhist Texts
Reading Neo-Confucian Texts
Study of Religions Approach to Religious Texts
Sociology of Religion
Religion in Focus
Offered each semester, this course embraces a multi-perspective Study of Religions approach towards a selected single movement/tradition. It combines lectures, joint readings, in-class discussions, and the study of audio-visual materials with a comprehensive experiential dimension based on encounters with practitioners/dignitaries and the close engagement with the ritual elements involved (e.g., meditation practices). Subjects I previously taught comprise:
Āyurveda (summer semester 2026)
Scientology (winter semester 2025/26)
The Bahá'í (winter semester 2024/25)
Sōka Gakkai (summer semester 2024)
The Theosophical Society (winter semester 2023/24)
Zen Buddhism (Rinzai) (summer semester 2023)
Dance and Religion (Authentic Movement) (winter semester 2022/23)
Korean Buddhism (Chogye) (summer semester 2022)
Naikan (winter semester 2021/22)
Eckankar (winter semester 2019/20)
Fǎlún Gōng (summer semester 2019)
Share International (winter semester 2018/19)
Unification Movement (summer semester 2018)
Kōfuku no Kagaku (Happy Science) (winter semester 2017/18)
Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ (Cao Đài) (summer semester 2017)
Naikan (winter semester 2016/17)