Faculty of Theology
Projects & Collaborations
"Tall al-Hamidiya Online" - Digitisation and Publication of the Finds from the Swiss Archaelogical Mission in Tall al-Hamidiya, Northeast Syria
Research Project | 2 Project Members
From 1984 to 2011, the Swiss Archaeological Mission excavated Tall al-Hamidiya in Northeast Syria. The Late Bronze Age acropolis, with its monumental structures, including the Southwest Palace (approx. 14,500 m²) and the Central Palace (approx. 38,500 m²), was central to a city of approximately 245 ha. The impressive structures and Hurro-Akkadian texts suggest that Tall al-Hamidiya was Taidu, the royal city of the Mitannian empire, which had dominated Northern Mesopotamia and the Levant (ca. 16th-13thcentury BCE). Middle Assyrian kings conquered the site (13th-11th century BCE) and continued its occupation into the Neo-Assyrian period (9th-8th century BCE). This makes Tall al-Hamidiya one of the few sites in the region with a well-documented sequence of Mitanni—Middle Assyrian—Neo Assyrian habitation.
From 1984 to 2020, Prof. Dr. Markus Wäfler (University of Bern) directed and funded the excavations. Since 2010/2011, the project has been situated at the University of Basel, where Dr. Oskar Kaelin, a project member since 1995 and co-director since 2008, has been affiliated.
The main goals of the project supported by the Shelby White and Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications and directed by Dr. Oskar Kaelin are:
- Ensure that all excavated data (photos, plans, drawings) is freely accessible online (in English) through the long-term preservation center DaSCH – Swiss National Data and Service Center for the Humanities to guarantee future accessibility (with Prof. Dr. Rita Gautschy and her team).
- Produce a monograph (as a free e-book) analyzing the findings at Tall al-Hamidiya, contextualizing them within the history of the Khabur region and the Ancient Near East, particularly the Mitannian, Middle, and Neo-Assyrian periods.
Tall al-Hamidiya: https://sites.google.com/site/hamidiyataidu/
DaSCH-Website: https://www.dasch.swiss/
Are Religions Becoming Green
Research Project | 4 Project Members
Religious communities are able to address climate change and other environmental challenges. They can use their public voice to lobby for progressive climate policies, disseminate pro-environmental values among their members, and undertake projects to improve the carbon footprint of their institutions (e.g. energy efficient refurbishments). However, it is unclear to what extent religious communities in Switzerland are undertaking such activities and contribute to solve existing environmental challenges.
Scholarship suggests that religious traditions and communities become more environmentally aware and engaged over time. Although the topic has increasingly received attention in recent years, there is still little expertise about religious environmentalism at the congregational level. Yet, research at the congregational level is particularly important, given that congregations constitute important mediators of environmental engagement between the macro-level leadership of religious communities and the micro-level membership. Congregations can disseminate “green” theologies and environmental programs, which the leadership initiated, among the local membership. At the same time, they can promote religious grass-roots initiatives, which started at the local level, towards the leadership or expand them towards other local congregations.
This project will identify (a) to what extent congregations in Switzerland are environmentally engaged, (b) what types of environmental engagement they undertake, and (c) under what circumstances they are most likely to be environmentally engaged. To this end, the research team conducts a survey about the environmental engagement of congregations. The project will contribute to the increasing international debates about religious environmental engagement by exploring the mechanisms of this engagement.
The project is being conducted under the direction of Prof. Dr. Jens Köhrsen at the Center for Religion, Economics and Politics (ZRWP) at the University of Basel. The team consists of Adam Hearn, Fabian Huber, Ann-Lea Buzzi and Julius Malin.
The study is being conducted in collaboration with the project "Switzerland's changing religious diversity. The National Congregations Study Switzerland II", which is being conducted at the University of Lausanne under the direction of Prof. Dr. Jörg Stolz.
Forschungsnetzwerk Recht und Religion
Research Networks of the University of Basel | 10 Project Members
Das Forschungsnetzwerk Recht und Religion (FNRR) befasst sich mit Fragestellungen, die an der Schnittstelle zwischen Recht und Religion liegen. Das Netzwerk legt Wert auf die wissenschaftliche Begleitung aktueller Problemstellungen in der Gesellschaft wie etwa religiöse Symbole in der Öffentlichkeit und in Unternehmen, der rechtlichen Status von Religionsgemeinschaften und ihr Verhältnis zum Staat sowie die soziologische Dynamik der multireligiösen Topographie und deren Folgen.
Am FNRR sind Forschende der Juristischen Fakultät und des Fachbereichs Religionswissenschaft der Theologischen und der Philosophisch-Historischen Fakultät der Universität Basel beteiligt. Ferner sind Angehörige der Rechtswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Zürich, des Religionswissenschaftlichen Seminars der Universität Luzern sowie der Juristischen Fakultät der Universität Fribourg involviert.
The Research Network Law and Religion (FNRR) deals with issues at the interface between law and religion. The network attaches great importance to the academic monitoring of current problems in society, such as religious symbols in the public and in companies, the legal status of religious communities and their relationship to the state, and the sociological dynamics of the multi-religious topography and its consequences.
The FNRR involves researchers from the Faculty of Law and the Department of Religious Studies of the Faculty of Theology and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Basel. Members of the Faculty of Law of the University of Zurich, the Department for the Study of Religion of the University of Lucerne and the Faculty of Law of the University of Fribourg are also involved.
NOMAD – Naher Osten, Mesopotamien, Ägypten im Diskurs
Research Networks of the University of Basel | 18 Project Members
Das universitäre Forschungsnetzwerk «NOMAD – Naher Osten, Mesopotamien, Ägypten im Diskurs» vernetzt Forschungen zum östlichen Mittelmeerraum, Mesopotamien und Ägypten an der Universität Basel und fördert den Austausch mit der Öffentlichkeit. Im westasiatischen Raum (ca. 10. Jt.v.u.Z. bis 7.Jh.u.Z.) entstanden sesshafte Lebensweisen, Ackerbau, Viehzucht, urbanes Leben, Schriftsysteme, Industrien und Wissenschaften sowie die religiösen Traditionen von Judentum, Christentum und Islam. Ohne Berücksichtigung der Geschichte Westasiens lassen sich relevante Prozesse der Weltgeschichte nicht verstehen. Themen aus dem Bereich des Nahen Osten sind seit Jahrzehnten in Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft relevant, national und international omnipräsent und werden es weiterhin bleiben.
In der Region Basel setzen sich zahlreiche Forschende und Institutionen mit Kulturen, Zeiten, Regionen, Religionen und Sprachen des Nahen Ostens, Mesopotamiens und Ägyptens auseinander. NOMAD hat zum Ziel, diese Kompetenzen und Angebote zu bündeln. NOMAD fördert den für Wissenschaft wie Öffentlichkeit wichtigen Austausch über kulturhistorische, aktuelle und fachübergreifende Themen zwischen (Nachwuchs-)Forschenden, Studierenden und der breiteren Öffentlichkeit.
Am Forschungsnetzwerk beteiligt sind Forschende der Theologischen Fakultät, des Departements Altertumswissenschaften, der Nahoststudien, des Zentrums für Jüdische Studien und der Integrativen Prähistorischen und Naturwissenschaftlichen Archäologie (IPNA) der Universität Basel sowie das Antikenmuseum Basel.
The university research network «NOMAD – Near East, Mesopotamia, Egypt in Discourse» connects research at the University of Basel focused on the Eastern Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, and promotes dialogue with the public. In West Asia (approx. 10th millennium BCE to 7th century CE), key developments emerged, including settled ways of life, agriculture, animal husbandry, urbanization, writing systems, industries and sciences, as well as the religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Understanding major processes in world history is impossible without considering the history of West Asia. Topics related to the Near East have long played a crucial role in politics, economics, and society – both nationally and internationally – and will continue to do so.
In the Basel region, numerous researchers and institutions engage with the cultures, periods, regions, religions, and languages of the Near East, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. NOMAD aims to bring together these areas of expertise and offerings. The network fosters interdisciplinary exchange on cultural-historical, contemporary, and academic topics among (early-career) researchers, students, and the wider public – an exchange essential to both scholarship and society.
The research network includes researchers from the Faculty of Theology, the Department of Ancient Civilizations, Near and Middle Eastern Studies, the Center for Jewish Studies, the Integrative Prehistory and Archaeological Science (IPAS) at the University of Basel, and the Antikenmuseum Basel.