New Master’s Degree Program on the Relationship Between Religion and Politics
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Only a few decades ago, it was assumed that religion and religiosity would lose their significance in the public arena in the long term. Instead, the relationship between religion and politics has developed in recent years in Western Europe to an issue that increasingly dominates both social and political as well as academic debates. TU Dortmund University is setting up a new Master’s degree program on this topic for the winter semester.
The trigger for the current debates is a new visibility of religion in the public arena. This can be traced back to various causes, such as religious pluralization, changing moral concepts, but also globalization. How tolerant should society be towards the cultural habits of minorities, for example? Which values – such as equal rights for women and men – may not be questioned? These are concrete issues that the new research-oriented Master’s program in Religion and Politics (MAREPOL) of the Faculty of Humanities and Theology deals with.
Elective focus
With the new degree program, the link between the Institute of Protestant Theology, the Institute of Catholic Theology and the Institute of Philosophy and Political Science can be experienced in the offered courses and in research: “In the MAREPOL study program, we offer three interdisciplinary clusters – Tolerance, Conflict and Identity,” said Matthias Heise, who helped launch the new degree program. “All disciplines of the faculty contribute to these three clusters. The students, in turn, select two clusters to focus on in their studies.” In doing so, they can already focus on their careers: rather in the direction of research or practical professional work. For this purpose, they use a practical phase in the third semester and practice project management with concrete contents, such as: How do I organize a conference or how do I apply for third-party funding?
Applications are open to MAREPOL students with knowledge of philosophy, political science or theology, but also to career changers from other fields such as technology or journalism. There are no admission restrictions, but a good Bachelor’s degree is expected. “Especially against the background of the migration and refugee movement, the Master’s degree offers exciting tasks for graduates,” said Heise.
Interdisciplinary program of the Faculty of Humanities and Theology
MAREPOL is the second interdisciplinary program of the Faculty of Humanities and Theology after the Master’s program “MAPP – Philosophy and Political Science”. “With this program we are occupying a niche for which there is still no offer nationwide,” said Heise, “and we are demonstrating that the connection between theology, philosophy and political science is more topical than ever before.” This also became clear when the program was established.
Contact for inquieries:
Matthias Heise
Department of Humanities and Theology
Phone: 0231-755 6252