SFB 640 I: Religious and Secular Representations in Early Modern Europe (TP A 3)

In the first period of the CRC (2004-2008) the research project "Religious and Secular Representations in Early Modern Europe" examined changing religious representations, establishing that secularisation in early modern Europe unfolded in a class-specific manner, at different times in different sectors and with various effects: secularisation was not the ideal way to modernity.

In the follow-up project "Religious and Secular Representations in Early Modern Systems of Power" these findings are to be further elaborated through an analysis of the relationship between political developments and their respective representations. What was the specific relationship between religious and secular representations in view of social crises? How did situations of radical political change in the early modern period correlate with their respective representations? For example, in view of political and denominational crises is it possible to identify a release of political power from religious representations?