Edited Volumes
Univ.-Prof. DDr. Kurt Appel
Publications (ENGLISH Publications) - Edited Volumes (ENGLISH Publications) - Edizione (Pubblicazioni in INGLESE)
2022
Publication by PAOLO COSTA: The Post-Secular City. The New Secularization Debate
Kurt Appel / Jakob Deibl (Eds.)
Series: Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society - Supplementa, Volume 2
Brill Schöningh, Padderborn 2022
[Link to book]
“The Post-Secular City” is the first attempt to systematically map and assess the recent debate about secularization. “The Post-Secular City” examines the alleged shift from a “secular” to a “post-secular” dispensation from the perspective of the ongoing de-construction of the secularization “theorem” (as Hans Blumenberg called it). Accordingly, the new secularization debate is described as being polarized between the “de-constructors” and the “maintainers” of the standard thesis of secularization. This is the assumption underlying an ambitious effort to map the field, which consists of a long introduction where “secularization” is analyzed as a deeply problematic concept-of-process and of eight chapters in which several protagonists of the recent debate are discussed as crucial junctions of a multidisciplinary conversation.
In Praise of Mortality. Christianity and New Humanism
Kurt Appel (Ed.)
Translated by Alex Skinner, Natalie Eder, Rachel Thomas, and Carl Raschke
Reihe: Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society - Supplementa, Volume 1
Brill Schöningh, Paderborn 2022 (peer reviewed)
ISBN 978-3-506-79124-5
DOI: doi.org/10.30965/9783657791248
[Link to Brill Publishing]
[Link to Schöningh-Verlag]
[German version: K. Appel (ed.), Price of Mortality. Christianity and New Humanism (QD 271), Herder: Freiburg 2015]
This volume shows that the vulnerability and mortality of life are the starting points of its transcendence which exceeds all representability. Only by renouncing fantasies of omnipotence of a theological, philosophical and scientific nature, human beings can advance to their destiny and introduce a New Humanism enabling a bond between all that is alive and between human beings and their transcendent dimension. This includes an understanding of time that no longer follows chronological-mechanistic constraints, a non-instrumental understanding of language that finds its dimension of depth in prayer and an understanding of God in which God is inseparably related to the openness of human existence. In traversing the arising avenues of thought, the four-part volume, written by three authors but to be read as a unity, is oriented towards a philosophy of central biblical passages, Hegel‘sThe Phenomenology of Spirit, Musil‘s Man Without Qualities, Hölderlin‘s poetry and Lacan´s psychoanalysis.
2021
Rescuing fraternity - Together. A call to faith and reflection
P. Sequeri / K. Appel / C. Casalone / D. Cornati / J. Duque / I. Guanzini / M. Neri / GC Pagazzi / V. Rosito / G. Serrano / L. Vantini (Hg.)
Afterword by Vincenzo Paglia (Human Community Series)
Published by the Pontifical Academy for Life. Libreria Editrice Vaticana: Roma 2021
Italian version: Saving brotherhood together - a call for faith and thought
Afterword by Vicenzo Paglia, Libreria Editrice Vaticana: Rome 2021
Spanish version: Save the fraternity - Together
A call to faith and thought, Libreria Editrice Vaticana: Rome 2021
English version: Saving Fraternity - Together
A call for faith and thought, Libreria Editrice Vaticana: Roma 2021
[Link to website]
In Praise of Mortality. Christianity as a New Humanism
Kurt Appel (Ed.)
Translated by Alex Skinner, Natalie Eder, Rachel Thomas and Carl Raschke
Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory, Issue 20.2 (Spring 2021), Whitestone Publishing: Stonewood 2021 (peer reviewed)
[Link to issue]
German version: K. Appel (ed.), Price of Mortality. Christianity and New Humanism (QD 271), Herder: Freiburg 2015
2018
The Crisis of Representation. Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society 7
Kurt Appel / Carl Raschke (ed.)
V&R unipress: Göttingen 2018 (peer reviewed)
[LINK TO OPEN ACCESS]
The term “Crisis of Representation” rose to fame through Michel Foucault. The crisis, in the context of this issue, has not only a political and economic dimension, but a cultural, aesthetic and religious one as well. Thus, a serious inquiry into this complex and multidimensional phenomenon requires an interdisciplinary approach. The issue targets the phenomena at hand through 15 contributions – all with unique and innovative approaches to the topic. One common aim that holds the issue together is the analysis of the nature of the crisis, which helps to find suitable theoretical frameworks. On the other hand, the term itself functions as a tool that enables the analysis of specific societal developments. Contributing authors brought with them expertise from their respective fields including philosophy, political sciences, theology, Islamic studies and religious studies. This allowed for a cross-disciplinary approach on the phenomenon with special foci on politics, religions, societies and finance, as well as theoretical developments on current philosophical and post-colonial discourses.
2016
Religious Fundamentalism. Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society 3
Kurt Appel / Isabella Guanzini (Hg.)
V&R unipress: Göttingen 2016 (peer reviewed)
[LINK TO OPEN ACCESS]
Fundamentalism is a pressing and inescapable issue in contemporary society. Although research on religious fundamentalism has increased significantly in recent years, an interdisciplinary and systematic investigation of the theoretical foundations of fundamentalisms, their global political consequences and their significance in a globally networked society is still missing. The third issue of the Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society deals with current forms of religious fundamentalism from an interdisciplinary and interconfessional perspective. The articles ask about the prerequisites and theoretical backgrounds of religious fundamentalism as well as about specific forms of fundamentalism in different religions. In the context of current events, Islamic fundamentalism, jihadism and the relationship between fundamentalism and the Internet are central topics. Another important issue is the challenge that fundamentalism poses to religious education. In addition, a large part of the contributions focus on the search for critical resources against religious fundamentalism, which can not least be found in the religious traditions themselves.
