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This volume casts a critical light on one of Germany’s bestselling and most controversial authors. Juli Zeh’s literary work is not only widely read in Germany, but also featured on high school and college syllabi both in Germany and abroad. In recent years and in the wake of the Covid 19 lockdowns, Zeh’s output has only increased, though her most recent work, Unterleuten (2016), Über Menschen (2021), and Zwischen Welten (2023; co-written with Simon Urban), has evolved away from the literary and philosophical thought that informed her more nuanced earlier work and towards a more conservative representation of contemporary social dynamics. While her work continues to garner prestigious awards, Zeh herself, who is an honorary judge at the Brandenburg constitutional court and a seemingly omnipresent public intellectual, has taken increasingly libertarian positions in recent political debates -- whether about Germany’s public health measures in response to the pandemic, or the country’s role in the Ukraine war. This volume traces the development and broad impact of Zeh’s writing while reflecting on the responsibility of the scholars who read and teach it to confront her ambiguous and sometimes troubling politics.

Björn Hofmeister’s biography of Heinrich Claß is devoted to one of the most influential representatives of the "national opposition" that shaped extra-parliamentary politics of the nationalist Right between Imperial Germany and the Third Reich. Claß, who chaired the Pan-German League between 1908 and 1939, was a lawyer by profession and became active in the antisemitic and völkisch movement around the turn of the century.　 Claß was demanding the implementation of völkisch dictatorship long before World War I, which he understood to be the foundation of cultural, ethnic, and political renewal of German society. His demands for territorial expansion of the German Empire that would match the ethnic distribution of "Germanness" in Central Europe as well as imperial interests as a great power made him the spokesman of Germany´s radical war aims movement between 1914 and 1918.

Following the downfall of Imperial Germany as a result of revolution and democratization he remained a major player in the networks of the Weimar Republic’s radical Right. In a long-running campaign, he helped to get his friend, chairman of the German National People’s Party (DNVP) and founding member of the Pan-German League, Alfred Hugenberg, appointed as chairman of the DNVP in 1928. Following Hugenberg’s takeover of what was Germany’s largest conservative party at the time, Claß turned the Pan-German League into a propaganda agency promoting Hugenberg as a candidate for the office of Reich Chancellor and, subsequently, as the head of a future bourgeois dictatorship cabinet.

The DNVP’s following cooperation with the Nazis, however, shifted the power balance within the radical Right in times of massive political change and, in January 1933, ultimately led to an alliance between the German Nationals and the Nazis in the formation of the Hitler cabinet, which enforced competition and rivalry with the notables of the radical Right, but also implemented major political, antisemitic and racist points that Claß had been demanding for decades.

For the first time, Björn Hofmeister explains Claß’s role within the radical Right from Imperial to Nazi Germany in full detail, embedding his biography within the context of his social background, ideological socialization, academic training, professional practice, and legal thought, all of which shaped his political concepts of a radical bourgeois dictatorship government.

How the Qur’ān reflects on and responds to the regional cultural, religious and political currents swirling in Western Arabia and neighboring areas during the great war, 603-630, between the Roman and Sasanian empires? The book approaches the Qur’ān through six case studies. The first two consider the era 200-800 CE, which classicist Peter Brown dubbed late antiquity. The second two contextualize quranic stories and tropes in the era of Herakleios and Khosrow II. The final pair consider issues in how the Qur’ān was constituted, both physically and stylistically, and also sets these processes in their late antique context. The book treats the constitution of the quranic text, first physically and then rhetorically. The use in the Qur’ān of the technique of narrative apostrophe is for the first time subjected to a concerted analysis. These themes are all united by a concern to understand better issues in why the Qur’ān makes certain narrative choices, how the narrative changes over time, and how it articulates with other texts and perspectives.

The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles are nearly always attributed to a single gentile author writing for a gentile audience. Many studies thus concentrate on how Luke and Acts as gentile Christian texts relate to Hellenistic culture or the Roman Empire, with little to no consideration to their ancient Jewish context. Attention to Luke and/or Acts in relation to Judaism is often limited and tends to focus on either the author’s familiarity with Jewish scripture and tradition or the author’s perspective on Torah obedience for gentile followers of Jesus. Even then, scholars assume that “Luke,” as one of the first writers to designate Jesus’ followers as “Christian” (Acts 11:26; 26:28), situates Christianity outside of Judaism.

This volume resituates Luke and Acts with(in) Second Temple Judaism. Several contributions make a case for Luke and Acts being written by a Jew for an audience that included Jews. Various kinds of Jewish settings and intellectual traditions are accordingly appreciated for interpreting key topics in Luke and Acts (e.g., Torah observance, messianism, and eschatology). Additionally, the volume includes discussions on how Luke and Acts might be appreciated within their Greco-Roman environment in light of their Jewish heritage and possibly even as ancient Jewish texts. Finally, Luke and Acts are compared to other early Christian writings as they concern Judaism and Jews, including Jewish followers of Jesus, based on more nuanced and recent understandings of the complexity of early Jewish-Christian relations.

Even though the similarities of philological methods and traditions across various cultures have been the subject of scholarly research, the reasons for these occurrences usually remain obscure. The present volume addresses this obscurity through introducing the concept of 'Connected Philology' from an interdisciplinary perspective. 'Connected Philology' explores underlying causes for similarities in philological practices: in the process of re-textualisation, written and oral traditions are translated, reformulated, and combined; the contact with foreign cultures leads to the expression of unfamiliar concepts in other languages, and the reconceptualisation of word meanings. In addition, such practices are understood in the context of an interplay between politics, society, and individual actors. The contributions focus on transcultural encounters, the subsequent movement of texts, processes of cultural transfer, as well as the history and politics of connected and connecting philology.
Connected Philology transcends both national and disciplinary boundaries within philology and establishes connections with history, cultural studies, and linguistics.

What influences the development and religious identity of a tradition like Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta? This volume examines the multifaceted formation of Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta and its interactions with other Indian philosophical and religious traditions, including Mīmāṃsā, Sāṅkhya, Yoga, Pañcarātra, and Pāśupata. It highlights the tradition’s influence on and integration of these schools, addressing theological, epistemological, and metaphysical issues. Key contributions analyze the work of seminal figures in this tradition like Yāmuna, Rāmānuja, and Veṅkaṭanātha (Vedāntadeśika), focusing on their systematic integration of Pūrva Mīmāṃsā principles, the concept of prapatti (self-surrender), and their engagement with scriptural interpretation. Essays also delve into the role of the goddess, free will, and the complex relationship between God, the Veda, and the cosmic aeons.
This collection offers profound insights into the theological and philosophical dynamics of Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, making it essential for scholars of Indian philosophy, comparative theology, and intellectual history.

Der Band trägt den Erkenntnisstand zur grammatischen Analysen von Diskursen in Theorie, Methodologie und anhand praktischer Analysen zusammen. Die Autorinnen und Autoren untersuchen die Dynamik von Grammatik im Diskurs und adressieren dabei vier Leitfragen: Wie entsteht Grammatik, wie variiert sie, welche Wechselwirkungen bestehen zwischen Gesellschaft und Grammatik und wie hängen Zeichenmodi, Situation und grammatische Strukturen zusammen? Die Beiträge betrachten Grammatik als Prozess, der im gesellschaftlichen und kommunikativen Kontext entsteht und sich wandelt. Mit unterschiedlichen Zugängen, von der sozialen Semiotik über die funktionale Pragmatik, Variationslinguistik und interaktionalen Linguistik bis hin zur Korpuspragmatik, zeigen sie auf, wie gesellschaftliche und grammatische Prozesse miteinander verflochten sind. Die Analysen beziehen sich auf relevante lebensweltliche Kontexte wie Palliativmedizin, Parlamentsdebatten und Erinnerungsdiskurse. Das Buch bietet damit wichtige Impulse für Forschende und Studierende, die sich mit der diskursiven Entwicklung von Sprache befassen, und erweitert das Verständnis von Grammatik als sozial geprägtem Phänomen.

Angesichts einer modernen, naturwissenschaftlich fundierten Medizin, wie sie sich im 19. Jahrhundert ausbildete, mussten neuzeitliche Ärzte erst einen gemäßen Zugang zu den ärztlichen Autoritäten der Antike finden. Wenngleich die ‚alten Größen‘ zunehmend weniger praktisch verwertbares Wissen vermitteln konnten, lag den Medizinern daran, sich weiterhin auf ihren Schultern zu wissen. Darum schufen sie moderne Editionen klassischer Werke, die in ihrer Umsetzung die Spuren verschiedener Intentionen erkennen lassen, die die vorliegende Arbeit systematisch untersucht. Die Betrachtung des Verhältnisses Medizingeschichte – Philologie zeigt, dass gerade die ‚ärztliche‘ Sichtweise die Editionsmethodik oft entscheidend bestimmte, was gerade im Kontrast zu den Entwicklungen in der Pharmaziegeschichtsschreibung und im Ausland nachvollzogen wird. Die Arbeit erhellt mit der textgeleiteten Untersuchung ausgewählter Gesamteditionen nicht nur eine maßgebliche Komponente der Professionalisierung der Medizinhistoriographie, sondern weist im Querschnitt von Medizingeschichte, Pharmaziegeschichte und Philologie auf die Notwendigkeit der engen fachlichen Vernetzung und Förderung der Medizingeschichte als Wissenschaft hin.

This volume explores how grammatical categories, as defined by theoretical linguistics, are effectively implemented in language education. Aiming to bridge the gap between linguistic research and language pedagogy, it offers a detailed inquiry that spans theoretical frameworks and empirical data. By presenting a series of insightful studies, this work illustrates how findings from theoretical linguistics can be applied to enhance practical language instruction, demonstrating the reciprocal enrichment of both fields.

Essential for linguists, language educators, and researchers interested in the intersections of grammar, cognition, and pedagogy, the volume is organized into four engaging sections. Each section illuminates the nuances of grammar teaching and language acquisition. It begins with a theoretical analysis of linguistic categories across diverse languages, progresses through the links between linguistic research and teaching methodologies, and delves into the role of empirical data in classroom applications. The final section focuses on the practical implementation of linguistic categories in language teaching, promoting a deeper understanding of grammar as a dynamic component of language learning.

Historically, Hazaras were a marginalised ethnic and religious community in Afghanistan. They were perceived as the 'labourer class' in the country for many decades. In turn they were at the bottom of the country’s social hierarchy. However, since the 1990s and early 2000s, Hazaras have made great strides in various fields.

After the fall of the first Taliban regime in 2001, Hazaras gained greater visibility in Afghanistan. This shift in the community’s circumstances, predicated on educational success and an active civil society significantly impacted self-perceptions within the community, moving away from marginality and towards continued success. Thus shifting internal perceptions of Hazara identity and what it means to be Hazara in the present. The internalised negativity associated with being Hazara in the past has diminished, and there is now growing community confidence, political mobilisation and ethnic consciousness among transnational Hazaras.

As a result, Hazara identity has shifted from being perceived as a marginalised identity to an identity which is now positively affirmed and proclaimed within the community, globally. This shift within the community, which has tremendously impacted Hazara ethnic consciousness, is the focus of this book.

The cover of this book shows a closely-knit community of artists and craftsmen which was portrayed in 1615 by the Augsburg painter Anton Mozart. It is representative of the general aesthetic practice during the pre-modern period of creating artefacts collaboratively – and suggests that such collaboration was the norm rather than the exception. The notion of creativity hence was vastly different from the highly influential narrative of aesthetic autonomy that emerged later.

The present volume is linked to the interdisciplinary work at the Collaborative Research Center 1391 Different Aesthetics and presents a first systematic approach to the complex cultural-historical phenomenon of multiple authorship.