Kocku von Stuckrad has a strong commitment to teaching. He has taught more than 30 different courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level at the Universities of Bremen, Erfurt, Bayreuth, Amsterdam, and Groningen. Courses cover diverse topics such as: ‘Introduction to the Study of Religion,’ ‘Theory and Methodology in the Study of Religion,’ ‘History of Religion in Europe from Antiquity to the Present,’  ‘Esoteric and Mystical Discourses in Historical Perspective,’ as well as ‘Religion, Nature, and Science.’ At the University of Groningen, he was instrumental in setting up new Master’s programs in the study of religion. In addition, he was a guest lecturer at Lehigh University (USA), the University of Bergen (Norway), the University of Cape Coast (Ghana), the University of Copenhagen (Denmark), and at Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po (France).

In 2008, he received the Best Lecturer Award from the Department of Religious Studies, University of Amsterdam. In 2010 and 2021, he again received the Best Lecturer Award, this time from the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Groningen.

For an overview of Kocku von Stuckrad’s current classes in the study of religion, please click here.

Supervision of Doctoral Research

Supervising doctoral research is one of the most important, and most rewarding, elements of professional academic work. Kocku von Stuckrad has successfully supervised 13 PhD students and is currently supervising 5 PhD students. Find out more about these projects by clicking the links.

· Giacomo Baggio, “The Commentary on the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa by Sengzhao 僧肇 et alii : A Mirror on Medieval Chinese Buddhism” (Groningen, co-supervision with Stefania Travagnin). Thesis defended September 2019.

· Brenda Bartelink, “Religion and Development” (Groningen, co-supervision with Marjo Buitelaar). Thesis defended March 2016.

· Marije Coster, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Allegiance and Authority in the Poetical Discourse of Muḥammad’s Lifetime” (Groningen, co-supervision with Gert Borg, Radboud University Nijmegen). Thesis defended April 2019.

· Li Gang, “The Relationship between Islamic Law as Living Law and State/Official Law in China, both in Historical and Contemporary Contexts” (Groningen, co-supervision with Stefania Travagnin). Thesis defended June 2021.

· Sven Gins, “Homo Imperfectus: Animals, Machines, and the Quest for Humanity in Late Medieval France” (Groningen, co-supervision with Mathilde van Dijk)

· Sabine Graff, “Aspekte des Weiblichen im Neoschamanismus in Deutschland (Aspects of Femininity in German Neoshamanism)” (working title) (Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, co-supervision with Franz-Peter Burkard and Robert Ziegler)

· Tanja van Hummel, “The Sacred Dimensions of Climate-Induced Conflicts” (Groningen, co-supervision with Joram Tarusarira)

· Iis Istiqomah, “The Hadrami Arabs of Ambon: An Ethnographic Study of Diasporic Identity Construction in Everyday Life Practices” (Groningen, co-supervision with Marjo Buitelaar). Thesis defended January 2020.

· Stefan Mekiffer, “Shamanic Healing and Strategies for its Ontological Rationalisation by Practitioners in Contemporary Europe” (Groningen, co-supervision with Franz-Peter Burkard, University of Würzburg)

· Elizabeth Mudzimu, “Religious and Cultural Encounters in Development: Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights in Zimbabwe” (Groningen, co-supervision with Joram Tarusarira). Thesis defended February 2021.

· John O. Ojo, “Charismatic Leadership, Organizational Dynamics and the Growth of Independent Pentecostal Churches in Lagos Metropolis” (Groningen, co-supervision with Kim Knibbe). Thesis defended November 2020.

· Tsila Rädecker, “Making Jews Dutch: Secular Discourse and Jewish Responses, 1796-1848” (Groningen, co-supervision with Karin Hofmeester). Thesis defended September 2015.

· Lea Schulte-Droesch, “Making Place through Ritual: Territory, Environment and Religion among the Santal of Middle India” (Groningen, co-supervision with Peter Berger). Thesis defended April 2016.

· Matthew Switzer, “Marie-Louise von Franz’s Integral Ecology of Dreams” (California Institute of Integral Studies, External Member of the PhD dissertation committee)

· Klaran Visscher, “Jozef Rulof and the Revelations of the ‘Age of Christ.’ New Religiosity in the Netherlands and the Crisis of Modernity in the Twentieth Century” (Groningen, co-supervision with Olav Hammer, University of Southern Denmark)

· Dave Vliegenthart, “A Modern Sage: Franklin Merrell-Wolff at the Crossroads of Religion, Philosophy, Psychology and Science” (Groningen, co-supervision with Ann Taves, University of Los Angeles Santa Barbara). Thesis defended “with distinction” March 2017.

· Laura J. Vollmer, “The Relationality of Religion and Science” (Groningen, co-supervision with Christoph Jedan). Thesis defended June 2017.

· Daniel Waller, “‘I Descended to the Depths of the Earth’: A Rhetorical Poetics of the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Incantation Bowls” (Groningen, co-supervision with Mladen Popovic). Thesis defended July 2020.

· Jelle Wiering, “Secular Practices: The Production of Religious Difference in the Dutch Field of Sexual Health” (Groningen, co-supervision with Kim Knibbe). Thesis defended September 2020.