Lectures

Kocku von Stuckrad is an experienced speaker who has appeared regularly at conferences and other events since 1999. The following list includes all public (invited) lectures; keynote lectures are in bold.

Upcoming lectures 2024

· How to Talk to a Mountain: The Relational Turn and the End of Anthropocentrism. “Pub lecture” for the Green Committee of the student association Gerardus van der Leeuw, Faculty of Religion, Culture and Society, Groningen, Netherlands, March 2024.

· Dark Green Sciences: Planetary Knowledge and Institutional Change. Conference “Dark Green Religion in Europe: History and Impacts – Dangers and Prospects,” Mainz, Germany, April 2024.

· Alternatives Offenbarungswissen in der europäischen Religionsgeschichte. Lecture for the “Forum Bewusstsein und Noetik,” Berlin, Germany, May 2024.

· Empirie in der klassischen Astrologie: Die Prüfung von Hypothesen zwischen Antike und Früher Neuzeit. Lecture for the “2. Symposium für Traditionelle Astrologie,” organized by the Traditionelle Astrologie Akademie, Berlin, Germany, June 2024.

Lectures and conference papers since 1999

2024

· Empirie in der klassischen Astrologie: Die Prüfung von Hypothesen zwischen Antike und Früher Neuzeit. Lecture for the “2. Symposium für Traditionelle Astrologie,” organized by the Traditionelle Astrologie Akademie, Berlin, Germany, June 2024.

· Alternatives Offenbarungswissen in der europäischen Religionsgeschichte. Lecture for the “Forum Bewusstsein und Noetik,” Berlin, Germany, May 2024.

· Dark Green Sciences: Planetary Knowledge and Institutional Change. Conference “Dark Green Religion in Europe: History and Impacts – Dangers and Prospects,” Mainz, Germany, April 2024.

· How to Talk to a Mountain: The Relational Turn and the End of Anthropocentrism. “Pub lecture” for the Green Committee of the student association Gerardus van der Leeuw, Faculty of Religion, Culture and Society, Groningen, Netherlands, March 2024.

· The Detumescence of ‘Great Man’: Toxic European Heritage and Planetary Becoming. Lecture for the conference at the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR) on “‘A Great Miracle is Man’: Anthropocentrism and Ecocentrism in the Early Modern Netherlands and Italy,” Rome, Italy, February 2024. (Keynote lecture)

· Die Bedeutung der Astrologie in Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft. Lecture (online) for the Swiss Astrological Association SAB, February 2024.

· Wie nehmen wir alternative Wissensformen auf? Lecture as part of the series of lectures on “Forschungspraktiken erforschen: Zur kritischen Reflexion akademischer Wissensproduktion,” University of Freiburg, Germany, February 2024.

2023

· The ‘Paradox of Astrology’: A Chimera of European Hegemonic Thinking. Lecture for the CAS-E 2023 International Conference on “Authentication Politics of Esoteric Practices – A Comparative Perspective,” organized by the Center of Advanced Studies “Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective,” Erlangen, Germany, November 2023.

· European Animisms. Ivar Paulson Lectures in the Study of Religion, organized by the Estonian Society for the Study of Religions, 3 invited lectures at the University of Tartu, Estonia, November 2023. Lecture 1: “The Colonial Invention of Animism”; Lecture 2: “European Animisms Today”; Lecture 3: “The Relational Turn and the Study of Religion.”

· Esoterik: Gefahr oder Bereicherung für die Gesellschaft? A conversation with Monika Elbert, General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in Germany, and Dr. Jens Heisterkamp, editor of the journal info3, Berlin, Germany, November 2023.

· Not “Dark” at All: The European “Middle Ages” as a Hotspot of Religious Pluralism. Lecture and seminar at the Summer School on “Medieval Religion: Its Topicality, Methods and Sources,” University of Groningen, Netherlands, June 2023.

· “There Is Hope, But Not For Us”: Dystopian Utopias in Environmentalist Thinking. Workshop “World(s) Ending(s): Jewish Traditions of the End of History and Their Cultural Impact from Antiquity to the Present,” jointly organized by the Berman Center for Jewish Studies at Lehigh University and the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands, June 2023.

· Living Stones, Sentient Landscapes: New Animism and (De)Coloniality. Conference “Buddhist, Spiritual, Esoteric and Ecological Movements in the 21st Century: A Dynamic Legacy,” University of Copenhagen, Denmark, May 2023.

· Poetic Sciences around 1800: Challenge and Inspiration for Today. Lecture at the research seminar “Early Science in Conversation,” organized by the Research Group “Experience in the Premodern Sciences of Soul and Body,” Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany, February 2023.

· Postcolonial Thinking and Human Regimes of Exploitation: Toward a Biocentric Postcolonial Ethics. Contribution to panel on “Decolonizing for the Planetary Community” at the Conference of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture (ISSRNC) on “After Earth? Religion and Technology on a Changing Planet.” Arizona State University and Beyond, February 2023.

2022

· Einleitende Bemerkungen zur Esoterikforschung. Workshop “Vom Schattendasein zum Licht und wieder zurück? Naturwissenschaft und Literatur im Zeichen des Esoterischen,” Institute of German Philology, University of Würzburg, Germany, December 2022.

· Secrecy, Concealment, and Privacy: Three Different Modes of Esoteric Tradition. Lecture at the conference on “Privacy, Secrecy, and Esotericism,” organized by the Centre for Privacy Studies and the Copenhagen Centre for the Study of Theosophy and Esotericism of the University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, November 2022. (Keynote lecture)

· Agential Entanglements in Renaissance Art: Locating Ancient Gods in Religious Discourse. Lecture at symposium on “Visual Humanisms,” organized by the Netherlands Interuniversity Institute for Art History (NIKI), Florence, Italy, October 2022. (Keynote lecture)

· The Nature of Things: Agential Realism and the Ontologies in Nature-based Spiritualities. Lecture at the conference “Nature Religions, Science and Technology,” organized by the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Groningen, the Department of Philosophy and Educational Sciences, University of Turin, and the Institute for Philosophical Studies, Science and Research Centre Koper. Groningen, Netherlands, September 2022. (Keynote lecture)

· New Animism: Recent Discussions in the Study of Religion and the Search for a Planetary Future. Lecture at the conference “Animate Life: Zum Futur 2 der Mensch-Tier-Beziehungen,” organized by the Institute for Catholic Theology, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany, July 2022.

· Abseits des Bildungskanons: Esoterik und alternative Formen von Spiritualität. Contribution to the lecture series (Ringvorlesung) on “Bildung als (De-)Zentrierung | (De-)Zentrierung der Bildung,” organized by the Chair of Systematische Erziehungswissenschaft und Methodologie der Bildungsforschung, Technische Universität Dortmund, Germany, June 2022.

· Plausibilitätsstrukturen im heterodoxen Diskurs: Astrologie und hegemoniale Wissensordnungen. Lecture at the conference Rechtfertigungsspiele: Rechtfertigen und Überzeugen als strategisch-kommunikatives Handeln in heterodoxen Wissensdiskursen,” University of Freiburg, Germany, May 2022.

· Undisciplining the Study of Religion: Critical Posthumanities and More-than-human Ways of Knowing. Contribution to workshop at the Humboldt University Berlin on “The Body, Religion, and Planetary Imagination in a Time of Environmental Crisis,” Berlin, Germany, May 2022.

· The Secular as a Religious Power House: A Conversation Between Kocku von Stuckrad and Courtney Bender. Online Webinar organized by the Center for International Studies at Sciences Po Paris, April 2022.

· “Everything is Animated”: Nature-Based Spiritualities and Their Intellectual Prehistory. Lecture for the Program in the Study of Spirituality, Florida International University, USA, March 2022.

· The Agential Turn and the Study of Religion. Contribution to the lecture series “Philosophy, Science and Humanities (PSH),” Faculty of Philosophy, University of Groningen, the Netherlands, March 2022.

· Astrology is Booming. Is It? Lecture and webinar for the Studium Generale program “Let’s Ask,” University of Groningen, the Netherlands, February 2022.

2021

· Being a Scholar on a Damaged Planet: Science and Activism. Contribution to the lecture series “Erfurt Monday Lectures,” University of Erfurt, Germany, December 2021.

· Entangled Scholarship: Envisioning the Future of the Study of Religion. KOSMOI Lectureship of the Leuven Centre for the Study of Religion and Worldview, KU Leuven, Belgium,  November 2021. (Keynote lecture) | Master Class related to the lecture: “Discourse Research between Constructionism and Radical Entanglement.”

· Astrologie. Conference on “Magisches Denken als Kulturkonzept,” organized by the Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, Halle, Germany, November 2021.

· Das Wissen der Objekte: Wie neue kulturwissenschaftliche Ansätze unser Verständnis von Astrologie erweitern können (“The Knowledge of Objects: How Recent Approaches in Cultural Studies Can Enrich Our Understanding of Astrology”). Lecture at the annual meeting of the German Astrologers’ Association DAV, Bonn, Germany,  September 2021. (Keynote lecture)

· Luigi Pericle and Spiritual Astrology in the Twentieth Century. Lecture at the academic workshop Luigi Pericle: Das Geistige in der Kunst” (Luigi Pericle: The Spiritual in Art”), held on occasion of the Finnisage of the Luigi Pericle exhibition at the MASI, Lugano, co-organized by the ETH Zurich and the Luigi Pericle Archive Ascona, Ascona, Switzerland, August 2021.

·  Languages of Life and the Blending of Worlds. Lecture at the conference on “Religion and the Experience of Nature: Comparative Perspectives,” organized by the Rachel Carson Center and the DFG Heisenberg program, Munich, Germany, April 2021. (Keynote lecture)

·  Religion and the More-Than-Human World: The Need for Intersectionality. Lecture at the spring meeting of the Dutch Association for the Study of Religion NGG on “Religion and the Environment,” Nijmegen, Netherlands, March 2021.

. Occultism, Science, and Spirituality: Discourses on the Soul in Europe and North America, 1870 to the Present. Guest lecture for the course on “Esoteric Traditions Across Religion, Science and Philosophy in European History,” University of Copenhagen, Denmark, March 2021.

2020

·  The Kantian Prison of Human Judgment: How Can We Get Out of It?. Contribution to the panel on “Rethinking Personhood Beyond the Human” at the 22nd Quinquennial World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions IAHR, Dunedin, New Zealand, August 2020. | Canceled

·  The Animated Cosmos: How Philosophy, Psychology, and Occultism Were Entangled in the Early Twentieth Century. Lecture at the conference “Esotericism and Philosophy,” Utrecht University, Netherlands, April 2020. | Canceled; to be rescheduled

·  The Soul in the Twentieth Century: New Insights from Historical Discourse Analysis. Lecture at the “Faculty Spotlight,” Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Groningen, Netherlands, February 2020.

· Empirie und Improvisation: Astrologisches Wissen in Horoskopen der Frühen Neuzeit (“Empiricism and Improvisation: Astrological Knowledge in Early Modern Horocospes”). Lecture at the conference “Objekte der Wahrsagerei” (“Objects of Divination”) at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg, Nuremberg, Germany, February 2020.

2019

· De vergeten ziel: Natuur, geneeskunde en wetenschap in de twintigste eeuw (“The Forgotten Soul: Nature, Medicine, and Science in the Twentieth Century”). Lecture for the Dutch Association of Naturopathic Therapists (VNT), Amersfoort, Netherlands, November 2019. (Keynote lecture)

· Environmental Activism in a Time of Despair: A Counterpoint Conversation. Panel at the conference of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture (ISSRNC), devoted to “Religion/Water/Climate: Changing Cultures and Landscapes,” University College Cork, Cork City, Ireland, June 2019.

· Encountering the Object: Poetic Science and the Limits of Constructionism in the Study of Religion. Guest lecture at the Interfaculty Programme for the Study of Religion, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, Germany, May 2019.

· Philosophische Fragen astrologischer Hermeneutik: Erkenntnistheorien und neue Ontologien. Lecture and workshop at the symposium on “Paradoxe Plausibilität(en): Astrologische Deutung aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven,” co-organized by Counterpoint: Navigating Knowledge and the German Astrologers’ Association DAV, Berlin, Germany, April 2019.

· Astrology: An Update for Conspirators and Haters. Lecture for the Gerardus van der Leeuw Student Association Groningen, Netherlands, April 2019.

· Science to Fiction – Fiction to Science: Literature, Poetry, and Knowledge of Nature. Guest lecture for the ERC-funded research project “Narrating the Mesh: Ecology and the Non-Human in Contemporary Fiction and Oral Storytelling (NARMESH),” Ghent University, Belgium, February 2019.

2018

· New Materialism und die Grenzen der Konstruktion in den Wissenschaften. Lecture and Master Class at the University of Bern, Switzerland, December 2018.

· Nonhuman Agency, Human Vulnerability, and the Fragility of Scientific Knowledge. “New Materialism, Religion, and Planetary Thinking Seminar” at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Denver, USA, November 2018.

· Esoterie en de paradox van het geheim. Series of lectures, organized by The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences KNAW on “Geheime kennis: Westerse esoterie. Amsterdam, Netherlands, June 2018.

· The Impact of Romantic Natural Philosophy on Contemporary Animistic Spiritualities and Ecological Worldviews. Panel “Deregulating European Master Narratives of Diversity: Fringes and Mainstream in Genealogical Perspective. Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Religion on “Multiple Religious Identities – Individuals, Communities, Traditions,” Bern, Switzerland, June 2018.

· Die Entgrenzung der Seele um 1900: Literatur, Philosophie und Wissenschaft. Conference “Konjunkturen des Unbewussten,” University of Karlsruhe, Germany, May 2018. (Keynote lecture)

2017

· Making Senses: The Fullness of Nature in Poetry and Shamanism. Conference “ÜberSinnliches: Sechste Sinne,” Einstein Forum Potsdam, Germany, December 2017.

· Kulturgeschichte der Astrologie: Die Sterndeutung zwischen Wissenschaft, Philosophie und Religion. Series of lectures “Sonne, Mond und Sterne: Eine Kulturgeschichte der Gestirne zwischen Mythos und Wissenschaft. Volkshochschule beider Basel, in collaboration with the Museum of Cultures Basel. Basel, Switzerland, November 2017.

· Diskursive Religionswissenschaft und die Macht der Dinge: New Materialism und Entanglement Theories. Meeting of the German Association for the Study of Religion DVRW on “Medien, Materialität, Methoden, Marburg, Germany, September 2017.

· Europe as a Discursive Space. Panel “Revisiting European History of Religion. Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Religion on “Communicating Religion, Leuven, Belgium, September 2017.

· Theorizing Alterity: Perspectives from Cultural Studies and Discourse Research. 6th conference of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism on “Western Esotericism and Deviance,” University of Erfurt, Germany, June 2017. (Keynote lecture)

· Zwischen Wissenschaft, Philosophie und Religion: Die Naturmagie und ihre historischen Grundlagen. Conference “Spiegelungen – a Kind of Magic: Magie als Welterklärung in Literatur und geistesgeschichtlichem Kontext, Faust-Museum Knittlingen, Germany, June 2017.

· Scientification of Religion. Conference “New Perspectives on Science and Religion in Society,Manchester, UK, June 2017.

· Die Religionswissenschaft und ihr Gegenstand im Spannungsfeld sozio-kultureller Entwicklungen. Conference “Reflexive Religionswissenschaft” on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, May 2017.

· The Way of the Mountain: New Materialism and the Provincialization of the Human. Session “Critical Theories for a Changing Planet. Conference “Mountains and Sacred Landscapes,” sponsored by the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture, New York City, USA, April 2017.

2016

· Alles Konstruktion? Diskursive Religionswissenschaft und die Macht der Dinge. Series of Lectures “Ansätze diskursiver Religionswissenschaft im deutschsprachigen Raum,” University of Hannover, Germany, November 2016.

· Panel “25 Years of Religion and Ecology Group at the American Academy of Religion.” Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, San Antonio, USA, November 2016.

· Religious Pluralism in European History. Public lecture at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, March 2016.

· The Study of Religion and the Humanities in Twentieth-Century Europe. Master Class at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, March 2016.

· The Cultural History of Nature in the Twentieth Century: Sacralization, Animization, ScientificationConference of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture on “Religion, Science, and the Future,” Gainesville, Florida, USA, January 2016. (Keynote lecture).

2015

· Buber, Scholem, and the Birth of Twentieth-Century Kabbalah from Jewish Intellectual Discourse. Guest lecture at the Berman Center for Jewish Studies, Lehigh University, USA, December 2015.

· Carl Gustav Jung and the Psychologization of Religion. Panel session “The Scientification of Religion: Discursive Change via Religion-Science Relations.” The XXI Quinquennial World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religion IAHR, Erfurt, Germany, August 2015.

· Theorizing Shamanism in the Contested Field between Academia, Colonialism, and Religious Practice. Guest lecture at the Religion and Nature Program, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA, April 2015.

· Theoretical Frameworks in the Critical Analysis of Discourses on Religion. Conference of the European Society for Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies (Esitis), devoted to “Figuring Shifts: New Methods and Locations in Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies,” Lublin, Poland, April 2015.

· Religion und ihre Wissenschaft: Zum Zusammenhang akademischer Produktion von Wissen und religiöser Praxis. Luzerner Diskurse zum Thema “Konstruktion oder Reifizierung der Gegenstände?” University of Lucerne, Switzerland, January 2015.

· The Occultation of Astrology: Conflicting Systems of Knowledge and the Birth of the Modern Narrative. Conference “The Marginalization of Astrology”, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, March 2015.

· “Ancient Gnosis” and Identity Work in German Intellectual Discourse, 1900–1950. Third Gnosticism-Esotericism-Mysticism Rockwell Symposium, devoted to “Gnostic Countercultures: Terror and Intrigue”, Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA, March 2015.

· Esoterische Diskurse in der Antike und ihre europäische Rezeption. Guest lecture Humboldt University Berlin, Germany, February 2015.

2014

· Politics of Knowledge in the Study of Religion. Annual Meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Religion NAASR, San Diego, USA, November 2014. (Keynote lecture)

· Jewish and Christian Astrological Knowledge in the First Centuries CE: Ancient History and Modern Constructions. Conference “The Star of Bethlehem in Interdisciplinary Perspective”, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, October 2014.

· Response to Conference Papers. Conference “Writing and Textuality in Jewish and Christian Antiquity”, a joint workshop of Humboldt University Berlin, Harvard University, and Hebrew University Jerusalem. Humboldt University Berlin, Germany, August 2014.

· Academics as Religious Pioneers: The Impact of Academic Discourse on the Meaning and Practice of Religion and Spirituality in Twentieth-Century Europe. Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Religion EASR, the Dutch Association for the Study of Religion NGG, and the International Association for the History of Religions IAHR, devoted to “Religion and Pluralities of Knowledge”, Groningen, the Netherlands, May 2014.

2013

· Martin Buber, Gershom Scholem, and “Jewish Mysticism”: Reflections on the Self-Orientalization of Jewish Intellectuals in Europe around 1900. Conference “Constructions of Mysticism: Inventions and Interactions across the Borders”, University of Münster, Germany, December 2013.

· How Can We Put Discursive Approaches into Practice? Workshop of the American Academy of Religion AAR on “The Study of Religion as an Analytical Discipline,” Baltimore, USA, November 2013.

· Die Konzepte Gnosis und Mystik und ihr Verhältnis zu Wissensdiskursen. Conference “Mystik und Gnosis in Literatur, Kunst und Wissensdiskursen”, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, September 2013.

· Interpretation as an Object of Study: Observing Scholars of Religion at Work. Workshop on “Interpretation”, Fondazione San Carlo, Modena, Italy, June 2013.

· Theorizing Pluralism from a Discursive Perspective. Workshop of the Critical Analysis of Religious Diversity Network on “Theory and Methodology”, University of Aarhus, Denmark, May 2013.

· De secularisatie voorbij, of: hoe het secularisme nieuwe vormen van religie heeft voortgebracht. Jan Snijderslezing, University of Groningen, February 2013.

· Säkularismus als Brutplatz neuer Formen von Religion. Public lecture at the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, University of Erfurt, Germany, January 2013.

2012

· De wetenschapsstatus van de astrologie in historisch perspectief. Lecture for the Astrological Association of Northern Netherlands. Groningen, December 2012.

· Plurale Wissensansprüche in der europäischen Religionsgeschichte: Astrologie, Esoterik, Wissenschaft. Series of lectures on “Religiöse Pluralität als Herausforderung von Politik, Religionen und Gesellschaften”, Excellency Cluster “Religion and Politics in Premodern and Modern Cultures”, University of Münster, Germany, November 2012.

· Gerardus van der Leeuw – a Classic Revisited. Lecture for the Opening of the Academic Year, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Groningen, September 2012.

· Het monisme van Ernst Haeckel, of hoe het Darwinisme een nieuwe religie voortbracht. Lecture for the Center for the History of the University and the Sciences, University of Groningen, September 2012.

· The Scientification of Religion, or: How Secular Science has Given New Life to Religion. 11th Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religion, in collaboration with the Swedish Association for the History of Religions, on “Ends and Beginnings”, Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden, August 2012. (Keynote lecture)

· Rejected Theory in the Study of Esotericism. 1st International Conference on “Contemporary Esotericism”, Stockholm University, Sweden, August 2012. (Keynote lecture)

· Burgerschap tussen religie en publieke rituelen in de oudheid en de middeleeuwen (“Citizenship between Religion and Public Rituals in Antiquity and the Middle Ages”). Conference “Burgerspiegels en burgerschapseducatie van de oudheid tot het eind van het Ancien Régime”, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, June 2012.

· After the Secularization Narrative: New Approaches to the Interpretation of Religion in Modern Europe. Lecture at the Department of Cross Cultural and Regional Studies Section for History of Religions, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, February 2012.

· Secular Religion: Explaining the Place of Religion in Contemporary Europe. Religious Studies Colloquium of the INTEGON Research Institute for Theology and Religious Studies, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, January 2012.

· Fringe Knowledge? Rethinking the Esoteric Enlightenment. Annual meeting of the Dutch Eighteenth-Century Society, devoted to “Centre and Periphery in the Enlightenment”, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, January 2012.

· Mediating Mysticism in the Life-Sciences. Conference “Mystic Media: The Religious Reception of Historical and Contemporary Media”, University of Fribourg, Switzerland, May 2012. (Keynote lecture)

2011

· Towards a Discursive Definition of Religion. Lecture as part of the Honorary Professorship, Aarhus University, Denmark, December 2011.

· Astrology as a Language of Science and Religion. Conference on medieval astrology in Portugal, Institute of Medieval History, University of Lisbon, November 2011.

· The Entanglement of Religion and Art: Joseph Beuys, Shamanism, and Ritual. Joint conference of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture (ISSRNC) and the Vatican Museum, under the title “Religion, Nature, and Art,” Rome, October 2011.

· Secular Religion: Explaining the Place of Religion in Contemporary Europe. Keynote lecture at the 10th Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR), in collaboration with the Hungarian Association for the Academic Study of Religions, under the title “New Movements in Religion”, Budapest, Hungary, September 2011.

· Gerechtigkeit und Ungerechtigkeit in religiösen Begründungen von Geschlechter-verhältnissen eine Tagungsbilanz. VIIth International Rudolf-Otto-Symposion, University of Marburg, Germany, May 2011.

· European Perceptions of Eastern Shamanism in the late Eighteenth Century. Research seminar on “Perceptions of Eastern Shamanism and Western Esotericism in Late Eighteenth-Century Russia”, University of Sheffield, UK, April 2011.

· “What I Cannot Build I Cannot Understand”: Transgressive Discourses in Life Sciences and Synthetic Biology. Conference “The Gods as Role Model: Imitation, Divinization, Transgression”, University of Groningen, the Netherlands, January 2011.

· Animistische spiritualiteit in de hedendaagse samenleving. Series of lectures “De ziel en het zelf”, Humanistisch Verbond, Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, January 2011.

· Transformation von Religion in Europa. Lecture for the research group “Transfer and Transformation of Missionaries’ Images of Europe in Contact with the Other 1700-1970”, Institute of European History, Mainz, Germany, January 2011.

· A Success-Story: Poststructuralist Approaches, 23 Years after Joan W. Scott’s Gender and the Politics of History, Workshop on “Gender Studies in Theology and Religion: A Success-Story?”, University of Groningen, the Netherlands, January 2011.

2010

· Esotericism and Political Culture in the Seventeenth Century. Series of lectures on “History of Political Culture” at the Department of History, University of Groningen, the Netherlands, November 2010.

· Ein Lieblingsfeind der Moderne: Anmerkungen zum Wissenschaftsstatus der Astrologie im Wandel der Geschichte. Series of lectures on “Sciences and Pseudo-sciences” at the Center for the Theory of Science at the University of Münster, Germany, November 2010.

· Retelling Religious History: Witches, Shamans, and Pagans in the West. Series of lectures in the Studium Generale program on “The Belief Instinct”, University of Groningen, the Netherlands, November 2010.

· Esoteric Discourse in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Lecture at the Groningen Medieval Society EMO, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, October 2010.

· An Invitation to Discursive Study of Religion. XXth Quinquennial World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religion, Toronto, Canada, August 2010.

· Jewish Astrological Imagery in Late Antiquity. Conference “Imagining Astrology: Painted Schemes and Threads of the Soul”, University of Bristol, UK, July 2010.

· From Astronomy to Naturphilosophie, from Matter to Spirit: Astrology in German Romanticism. Conference “Astrologies”, organized by the Sofia Centre, University of Wales, Lampeter, at the Bath Royal Scientific and Literary Institute, Bath, UK, July 2010. (Keynote lecture)

· The Esoteric Quest and Western Culture. The 2010 Burkitt Lecture of Rice University, April 2010. (Keynote lecture)

· ‘Zo zijn we niet getrouwd’: religie, natuurwetenschap en de radicalisering van de moderniteit. Inaugural Lecture for the Chair of Religious Studies, University of Groningen, the Netherlands, March 2010.

· Vitalistische Naturkonzepte in der deutschen Romantik: Philosophie, Naturwissenschaft und Literatur als offene Systeme. Conference “Aufklärung und Esoterik: Wege in die Moderne”, University of Halle, Germany, March 2010.

· Helena P. Blavatsky and the Birth of Modern Esotericism. Series of lectures on “Pioneers of Religious Revival”, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany, February 2010.

· ‘The Oldest of All Arts’: The Appropriation of Classical Sources in Contemporary Astrology. Conference “The Rewriting of Authoritative Texts”, University of Aarhus, Denmark, January 2010.

2009

· Scholarly Concepts as Discursive Formations: Reflections on the Limits of Reflection. Round Table on “Theoretical-Critical Issues in the Study of Religion”. Co-sponsored session of the North American Association for the Study of Religion and the Critical Theory and Discourses on Religion Group of the American Academy of Religion. Annual Meeting of the AAR, Montreal, Canada, November 2009.

· Participation in review panel on the volume “Europäische Religionsgeschichte – ein mehrfacher Pluralismus” (ed. by H.G. Kippenberg, J. Rüpke & Kocku von Stuckrad, 2 volumes, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2009). 9th Annual Conference of the EASR, Messina, Italy, September 2009.

· Imaginary Landscapes and Shamanic Journeys: Hermann Hesse and Mircea Eliade on the Borders of Literature, Religion, and Intellectual Escapism. 2nd International Conference of the European Society for the Study of Esotericism, devoted to “Capitals of European Esotericism and Transcultural Dialogue”, Strasburg, France, July 2009.

· Living Words: Kabbalistic Ontologies of Language. Conference of the research program “The Future of the Religious Past”, dedicated to “Words”, Groningen, The Netherlands, June 2009.

· Astrologie als onderdeel van de westerse cultuurgeschiedenis. Lecture for the “Illustere School”, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, March 2009.

· Abwehr und Verlangen: Die Genese des modernen westlichen Schamanismus. Workshop on “Modern Western Shamanism”, Cologne, Germany, February 2009.

2008

· Between Mysticism and Science: New Shamanism and ‘Naturphilosophie’. Annual Meeting of the AAR at Boston, USA, November 1999.

· Blinde vlekken: de ambivalente concepten “geschiedenis” en “ervaring” in religieantropologie en religiewetenschap. Conference of the Dutch Association for the Study of Religion (NGG), devoted to “Godsdienstantropologie en godsdienstwetenschap: van impulsen naar onderzoeksagenda’s”, Soesterberg, The Netherlands, October 2008.

· Rewriting the Book of Nature: Kabbalistic Structures in Contemporary Life Sciences. Third International Conference of the Association for the Study of Esotericism, devoted to “Esotericism, Religion, and Nature,” Charleston, USA, May 2008.

· Dekonstruktion einer Meistererzählung: Das “christliche Abendland”. Workshop on “Europäische Geschichte des Mittelalters: Frühere und neuere Meistererzählungen,” Trento, Italy, March 2008.

· Enchanted Science: Esoteric Semantics of Contemporary Biology. 2nd international conference of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture, Morelia, Mexico, January 2008. (Keynote lecture)

2007

· Die Bedeutung und das Ende der Zeit: Die Interpretation von Großen Konjunktionen in Islam, Judentum und Christentum zwischen Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit. International Astrology Congress and 60th Anniversary of the “Deutscher Astrologen-Verband,”  Karlsruhe, Germany, October 2007.

· Wisdom beyond Demonstration: Experiential Knowledge From Late Antiquity to the 13th Century in Interreligious Perspective. Conference on “Forms and Currents of Western Esotericism,” Venice, Italy, October 2007.

· New Approaches to the Study of Religion in Europe. Workshop on “European History of Religion,” hosted by the University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark, September 2007. 

· Esoteric Discourse and the European History of Religion: The Emergence of a New Interpretational Framework. Conference on “Western Esotericism,” hosted by the Donner Institute, Turku / Åbo, Finland, August 2007.

· Madonna the Shekhinah: The Playful Transgression of Gender Roles in Popular Culture. Conference “Kabbalah and Modernity,” University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, July 2007.

· Secrecy as Social Capital. Conference of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism, Tübingen, Germany, July 2007.

· Die Esoterik im Bezugsfeld europäischer Religionsgeschichte. “Graduiertenkolleg Religionswissenschaft,” University of Erfurt, Germany, June 2007.

· The Scholar and the Irrational: Shamanism, Secret Experiences, and the Trope of Academic Neutrality. Conference “Secret States: Altered States of Consciousness and Western Esotericism,” Esalen Institute, California, USA, May 2007.

· The Status of the Picatrix in Marsilio Ficino’s De Vita: Continuities and Changes. Annual meeting of the Renaissance Society of America, Miami, Florida, USA, March 2007.

· Jewish Astrology in Late Antiquity. Workshop on “Ancient Astrology,” Warburg Institute, London, UK, February 2007.

2006

· Esotericism and Mysticism: What Is the Difference? Annual Meeting of the AAR, Washington, DC, USA, November 2006.

· St. Petersburg Tea Party: The European Enlightenment Encounters the Shaman. 6th conference of the European Association for the Study of Religion EASR, session of the Research Network on European History of Religions NEUR on “The Reception of the East,” Bucharest, Romania, September 2006.

· Die Geburt der Philologie aus dem Geiste der Esoterik. Conference “Die Enzyklopädik der Esoterik: Allwissenheitsmythen und universalwissenschaftliche Modelle in der Esoterik der Frühen Neuzeit” at the Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel, Germany, September 2006.

· Astral Magic in Jewish Discourse: Reception, Absorption, Transformation. Workshop “Continuity and Innovation in the Magical Tradition (Near Eastern, Hellenistic and Early Medieval)” at the Institute of Advanced Studies, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, July 2006.

· The Mystical Body: The Shekhinah as Role Model from the Zohar to Madonna. Conference “Constructing Gender in Religious Symbolic Systems” at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, May 2006.

· Das andere Wissen das Andere wissen: Die Esoterik in der Europäischen Kulturgeschichte. Series of lectures on “Knowledge” at the Fachhochschule Aargau, Switzerland, April 2006.

· Interferential Patterns: Ernst Haeckel between Scientific Darwinism, Philosophical Monism, and Devotion of Nature. Inaugural conference of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture, Gainesville, Florida, USA, April 2006.

· Johann Heinrich Alsted (1588-1638): Aristotelianism, Hermeticism, and Universal Reform in a Time of Crisis. Conference “Hermetism and Rationalism in an Era of Cultural Change” at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, February 2006.

2005

· On the Interface of Cultures: Astrology, Chymistry, and Kabbalah between Science and Religion. Annual Meeting of the AAR, Philadelphia, USA, November 2005.

· Die Mär vom Christlichen Abendland: Ende einer Meistererzählung. “European Conference” at the University of Konstanz, Germany, April 2005.

· Christian Kabbalah and Anti-Jewish Polemics: Pico’s Theses Revisited. Meeting of the I.A.H.R., Tokyo, Japan, March 2005.

· Van Engeland naar Europa: De herintroductie van de astrologie op het continent rond 1900. Public lecture in collaboration with the Nederlandse Vereniging voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek naar de Astrologie (NVWOA) and the Astrologische Vakvereiniging Nederland (AVN), Utrecht, The Netherlands, February 2005 .

· Religion und Naturwissenschaft: Interferenzen und diskursive Transfers. Conference at the Max-Weber-Kolleg, University of Erfurt, devoted to “Elemente einer Europäischen Religionsgeschichte: Entwicklungspfade und Vermittlungswege”, Erfurt, Germany, February 2005.

· Kalender, Astronomie und Heilsgeschichte: Zeitliche Ordnungsmuster in Qumran und im frühen Christentum. Series of lectures on “Zeit, heilige Zeit, Ewigkeit im antiken Mittelmeerraum”, University of Münster, Germany, January 2005.

2004

· Alles andere als einheitlich: Christliche Positionen zur Astrologie in der Spätantike. Conference dedicated to “Gott, die Sterne und der Mensch – Astrologie als Orientierungshilfe in Geschichte und Gegenwart”, Hannover, Germany, December 2004.

· European Polytheism Revisited: From ‘Pagan Dreams’ to Visual Culture in Renaissance Studies. Annual Meeting of the AAR, San Antonio, USA, November 2004.

· Was ist Esoterik? Public lecture at the “Urania”, Berlin, Germany, September 2004.

· The Function of Horoscopes in Biographical Narrative: Cardano and After. Conference at the University of Amsterdam, dedicated to “Horoscopes and History”, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, July 2004.

· Esoterik, Christentum und Europäische Religionsgeschichte. Annual meeting of the “Evangelische Zentralstelle für Weltanschauungsfragen”, dedicated to “Moderne Esoterik und christlicher Glaube”, Bad Herrenalb, Germany, May 2004.

· Komplexität als Normalfall: Bemerkungen zur Singularisierungsrhetorik christlich-theologischer Diskurse im nachreformatorischen Europa. Conference at the “Evangelische Akademie Tutzing”, dedicated to “Postmodern und fromm zugleich?”, Tutzing, Germany, April 2004.

· Empiric Esotericism: John Dee’s Conversations With Angels. Joint Conference University of Amsterdam and Esalen Institute, dedicated to “The Varieties of Esoteric Experience: The Experiential Dimension of Gnosis and Western Esotericism from Antiquity to the Present”, Esalen, USA, March 2004.

· Die konstruierte Gemeinschaft: Das Konzept der Prisca theologia in der Frühen Neuzeit. Conference at the University of Bremen, dedicated to “Welches soziale und kulturelle Kapital können religiöse Gemeinschaften ausbilden?”, Bremen, Germany, February 2004.

· A Discursive Approach to Esotericism. Conference dedicated to “The Study of Western Esotericism: Critical Approaches”, Aups, France, January 2004.

2003

· Religion as Communication: Do We Need a New Paradigm? Annual Meeting of the AAR, Atlanta, USA, November 2003.

· Communitas: Environmentalist Activity and Ritual Theory. Annual meeting of the DVRG “Religion(en) im Konflikt”, Erfurt, Germany, September 2003.

2002

· Wissenschaftliche und religiöse Transfers im Mittelalter: Das Beispiel Astrologie. Conference at the University of Bremen, devoted to “Religiöser Pluralismus im Mittelalter?”, Bremen, Germany, November 2002.

· Heilung durch die Geister: Der moderne westliche Schamanismus. Series of lectures at the University of Bayreuth (“Religion am Donnerstag”), devoted to “Geist – Heilung – Energie”, Bayreuth, Germany, November 2002.

· Religionswissenschaft in Germany: Predicaments and Prospects. Conference of the Dutch Association for the Study of Religion (NGG), devoted to “The Future of the Science of Religions in the Netherlands: Tasks and Responsibilities”, Heeze, The Netherlands, May 2002. (Keynote lecture)

2001

· Relative, Contingent, Determined: The category ‘history’ and its methodological dilemma. Annual Meeting of the AAR, Denver, USA, November 2001.

· Religionswissenschaft im öffentlichen Raum: Aspekte der Popularisierung akademischer Wissensbestände am Beispiel des modernen Schamanismus. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Vereinigung für Religionsgeschichte (DVRG) “Popularisierung und Mediatisierung von Religion” Leipzig, Germany, September 2001.

· Esoterische Milieus der Großstadt: Überlegungen zur Beschreibung religiöser Landschaften. Conference of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung dedicated to “Religiöser Pluralismus im Rheinland – Zum Umgang mit Religionen”, Wesseling, Germany, June 2001.

· Tagewählerei im jüdisch-christlich-manichäischen Kontext der Spätantike. Deutscher Orientalistentag Bamberg, Germany, March 2001.

2000

· The Beginning of a Mutual Enrichment: Jewish Mystical Discourse and Hermetic Esotericism in Late Antiquity. XVIIIth International Congress of the I.A.H.R. Durban, South Africa, August 2000, Symposium “Western Esotericism and Jewish Mysticism”.

· Heilung durch die Geister: Spirituelle Therapien im Neo-Schamanismus. Series of lectures “Religion und Heilung”,  Free University Berlin, Germany, May 2000.

1999

· Astrologische Konnotationen christlicher Endzeiterwartung: Ein Vergleich zwischen 1523 und 1999. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Vereinigung für Religionsgeschichte (DVRG) “Endzeit, Wendezeit, Neue Zeit” Tübingen, Germany, October 1999.