Coordination Funds

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Albert Gerhards
• Subject Area: Roman Catholic Theology ; Architecture, Building and Construction History, Construction Research, Sustainable Building Technology ; Protestant Theology ; Art History ; Economic Policy, Applied Economics
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 387623040

Since March 2020, the interdisciplinary research group 2733 has been working on the topic of the transformation of sacred spaces. The transformation is in the context of a comprehensive structural change within society, religion and church, which proves to be interdependent, which is why the study of sacred space transformations enables insights into these fundamental processes of change. The research group aims to analyse and reflect on sacred space transformations in an interdisciplinary way on the basis of two comparative spaces ('Aachen' and 'Leipzig') in order to precisely describe the processes with regard to buildings, social spaces and the actors involved, to understand the negotiation and reconstruction of identities, and to identify consequences for successful processes of sacred space transformation. In the initial application, the leading goal of the research group's work in the 72 months of the project was stated as the development of a practice-relevant theory of sacred space in the 21st century, as well as the provision of coordinates of a criteriology for the control of sacred space transformation processes on the basis of the object analyses in the study areas of Aachen and Leipzig and the consolidation of the interdisciplinary findings. Based on previous research and joint discussions, this objective was modified and adapted to the cognitive process in the project. Instead of focusing on theory formation, practices of the sacred or practices of space are to be considered or brought together for heuristic reasons. Since language creates reality (e.g. through designations) and does not merely depict it, the concepts of the "sacred" and "space" must be critically developed in further research. To do this, it is necessary to connect the perceptions from the object studies with the theoretical discourse and to reflect on them with a view to the power relations in the negotiation processes. The concept of "hybrid sacrality", which is used instead of the concept of "secular sacrality" due to the previous findings, is to be the guiding principle in this reflective work. In addition, the research group aims to contribute to the theoretical discussion on sacred spaces in the 21st century and to provide support for actors involved in the transformation of sacred spaces. In contrast to the concept of "criteriology" for successful sacred space transformations introduced in the initial application, it makes sense to speak of the development of "rules of art" (taking up Schleiermacher's classical terminology), which in medium concretion can be action-guiding for concrete processes on site.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 2733: Transformation of Sacred Space: Function and Use of Religious Places in Germany