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Dear friends and colleagues,

This week we would like to draw your attention to a new publication, an announcement for scholarships, several calls for papers and to an invitation for a conference. Besides that, we have an update for you regarding COVID-19 and a recommendation for a very special cinematic experience.

Enjoy and have a good and healthy week!

COVID-19 Update – New health protection measures in Leipzig

As the numbers of infection in Saxony is still at a high level, the Saxon government has decided on a new Corona Protection Ordinance valid from 11 January until 7 February 2021. Among others, the following regulations have been newly included:

• Only meetings of one household, accompanied by a partner and with persons for whom custody or rights of access exist, as well as one person from another household are permitted.
• Strong recommendation to reduce the use of public transport such as buses and trains to a minimum.

Otherwise, the regulations of the Corona Protection Ordinance which had been valid so far, essentially continue to apply. This includes the compulsory wearing of masks in all public areas, the 15-kilometre rule for shopping and outdoor exercises and the curfew between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following day. In general, people are asked to leave their house only for a valid reason. As far as Leipzig University is concerned, all operations will be kept to a minimum until 31 March 2021.

We would like to reaffirm that we responsibly enable home office opportunities and mobile working to all of you AND that – of course – you can still come to the office where we continue to provide the infrastructure for you. We offer you individual offices according to the available space. However, please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Annemarie Schimmel scholarships for female postdoctoral researchers

Our Senior Research Fellow Sushmita Nath points to the announcement of two scholarships: As a measure to promote equality within the framework of the "Female Professors Programme of the Federal Government and the Länder", the University of Erfurt intends to award two scholarships to female postdoctoral researchers as of 1 March 2021. The scholarships are aimed at excellent female academics who are specifically preparing for an academic career as a professor or who already fulfil the formal requirements for a professorship. Within the framework of the scholarship, it is intended to carry out a research project as preliminary work for a major project (e.g. habilitation) or a more extensive research project (e.g. the planning of a collaborative project). The call for proposals is open to all topics.

Application deadline: 31 January 2021

Conference “Sakralarchitektur, Ritus und Musik zwischen Byzanz und dem Westen (6.–15. Jhd.)” (“Sacred Architecture, Rite and Music between Byzantium and the West (6th-15th century)”)

In the Byzantine Eastern and Latin Western Churches, ritual and mass piety from late antiquity to the late Middle Ages were decisively shaped by the interaction of liturgical and musical practice with sacred space. This interdisciplinary conference is being organized by Klaus Pietschmann and Tobias C. Weißmann from the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. It will take a comparative look at the interplay of architectural, liturgical and tonal elements between Byzantium and the West and discuss the multifaceted transfer processes.

Date: 21 - 23 January 2021 | Online

Registration deadline: 18 January 2021

Call for papers and session proposals: 18th Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions on “Resilient Religion” in Pisa, 30 August – 3 September 2021

Resilience can be considered as the ability to counteract or absorb a process of transformation and to find what best suits new environmental conditions. This conference aims at focusing on the role played by religion as a resilient tool or as a tool for resilience. Submissions are welcome that focus on theoretical questions or on in-depth analysis of case studies of particular relevance, appealing to scholars from many fields, such as religion, anthropology/sociology, history, senses, and globalization. The conference will be hosted by The Italian Society for the History of religions – Società Italiana di Storia delle Religioni - in cooperation with the University of Pisa.

Deadline: 31 January 2021

Date: 30 August - 3 September 2021 | Hybrid format with online streaming

Panels already announced, contact persons and dates:

• "Religion Entangled: Theoretical and Methodological Reflections" (Contact and information: Simon Michel and Christina Wyttenbach from SNF research project "The Legacy of the 1960s and 1970s. Religious and Scientific Entanglements") Deadline: 20 January 2021
• "The Resilience of Religious Visions: A Discursive Approach to Change and Resistance to Change" (Contact and information: Bastiaan Van Rijn from the Institute for the Science of Religion and Central Asian Studies, University Bern) Deadline: 25 January 2021
• "Engaging for the Common Good in Pluralistic Society: Religious Organisations, Resilience, and Civic Engagement" (Contact: Martin Baumann, Department for the Study of Religions, University of Lucerne) Deadline: 25 January 2021

Finding: Online screening of "Das Neue Evangelium" ("The new gospel") by Milo Rau

What would Jesus preach in the 21st century? How would he position himself on the exploitation of refugees, for example? Milo Rau, documentary filmmaker and currently artistic director of the city theatre NTGent, sketches a new gospel for the 21st century returning to its origins in the southern Italian city of Matera where he stages it as a passion play of a society marked by injustice and inequality. Together with the political activist Yvan Sagnet, who embodies Jesus, Rau creates a deeply biblical story. Following Jesus' example, Yvan returns as a "fisher of men" to the largest of the refugee camps near Matera. Among those stranded there, he finds his "disciples".

You can watch the film including bonus material from the comfort of your own home, and at the same time choose your favourite cinema to support with your "entrance fee". The film is shown in its original version with German subtitles.

If you have any content that you think suits the purpose of the weekly, please feel free to send it to us at multiple-secularities@uni-leipzig.de.