Former

Dorothea Weltecke

Projects and positions at the research center
Principal Investigator

Funding period 2019-2021
Project management: “Religious Violence” in Historical Perspective | Research focus 3 – Frayed Orders: Social Cohesion under Conditions of Radical Plurality

Subject areas
Medieval history, history of religion

Main research
Transcultural and transreligious history of the Middle Ages, history of religious deviance, transcultural history of Christianity, cultures of the Syrian tradition, history of historiography, history of knowledge, social history, comparative history of religious diversity

  • Biografische Angaben

    Since April 2017 Professor of Medieval History at the Goethe University Frankfurt a.M. 2007 - 2017 Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Konstanz 2007 Recognition of habilitation equivalence 2001 - 2007 Research assistant to Prof. Dr. F. Rexroth, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen 2000 - 2001 Research assistant in the DFG project "Trust" of Prof. Dr. U. Frevert, University of Bielefeld 2000 Doctorate (Dr. phil.) 1988 - 1996 Studied History, Semitic Studies and Art History at the Free University of Berlin, graduating with an M.A.
  • Publikationen

    2021 Weltecke, Dorothea (2021): About the three rings. Religious diversity and the explosive nature of hidden truth: Mystery and the hidden in the Middle Ages. Funktion, Wirkung und Spannungsfelder von okkultem Wissen, verborgenen Räumen und magischen Gegenständen, Stephan Conermann, Harald Woltervon dem Knesebeck and Miriam Quiering (eds.), Berlin 2021 (Das Mittelalter, Beihefte, 15), 523-544. 2020 Weltecke, Dorothea (2020): Introduction: Religious Plurality and Interreligious Contacts in the Middle Ages, Wiesbaden: Wolfenbütteler Forschungen, 161, 9-30. Weltecke, Dorothea (2020): Michael the Great (1126-1199), World chronicle, in: Eastern Christians and the Crusades, Alexander Mallet (ed.), Leiden (Brill). Weltecke, Dorothea (2020): Minorities and majorities. Explorations of religious complexity in medieval Afro-Eurasia, Berlin: De Gruyter. Weltecke, Dorothea (2020): On Sources for the Social and Cultural History of Christians During the Syriac Renaissance: Syriac Christian Culture. Beginnings to Renaissance, Aaron Butts, Robin Young (eds.), Washington, D.C., 251-275. Weltecke, Dorothea; Echevarría Arsuaga, Ana (eds.) (2020): Religious Plurality and Interreligious Contacts in the Middle Ages, Wiesbaden: Wolfenbütteler Forschungen. Weltecke, Dorothea; Younansardaroud, Helen (2020): On Yohannan Bar Zo'bis Memra on philosophy: surviving in the shadows. History and culture of Syriac Christianity. Contributions to the 10th German Syrology Conference, Shabo Talay (ed.), Wiesbaden (Syriaca, 58), 307-17. 2019 Weltecke, Dorothea; Barth, Boris (eds.) (2019): Sayfo - The Year of the Sword, edited with the collaboration of Dominik Giesen, Ralph Barczok, Zeki Bilgic, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. 2018 Weltecke, Dorothea (2018): End in tears? On religious complexity and the end of the Middle Ages, in: Annali, 44 (2), 121-154. Weltecke, Dorothea (ed.) (2018): New Aramaic Studies. Geschichte und Gegenwart, edited in collaboration with Ralph Barczok, Zeki Bilgic and Dominik Giesen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. Weltecke, Dorothea; Younansardaroud, Helen (2018): The renaissance of Syriac literature in the twelfth-thirteenth centuries, in: King, Daniel (ed.), The Syriac World, London and New York: Routledge, 698-717. Weltecke, Dorothea (2018): Persecuted and ostracized atheists. Conceptions of non-belief in the Middle Ages and the modern persecution thesis: Verfolgter Unglaube. Atheism and Social Exclusion in Historical Perspective, Susan Richter (ed.), Frankfurt/New York, 45-61. 2017 Weltecke, Dorothea (2017): Remarks on the history of religious violence in the Middle Ages, in: Historische Zeitschrift, 305 (3), 621-656. Weltecke, Dorothea (2017): Essen und Fasten in interreligiöser Abgrenzung, Konkurrenz und Austausch - einleitende Bemerkungen, in: Weltecke, Dorothea (ed.), Essen und Fasten - Interreligiöse Abgrenzung, Konkurrenz und Austauschprozesse / Food and Fasting - Interreligious Differentiations, Competition and Exchange, Cologne: Böhlau, 7-22. Weltecke, Dorothea (ed. with the collaboration of Markus Stich) (2017): Essen und Fasten - interreligiöse Abgrenzung, Konkurrenz und Austauschprozesse Food and Fasting - Interreligious Differentiations, Competition and Exchange (=Beihefte zum Archiv für Kulturgeschichte 81). Weltecke, Dorothea (ed.) (2017): Visiting Jews. Life in the medieval city. Accompanying volume to the exhibition, edited in collaboration with Mareike Hartmann, Konstanz. Weltecke, Dorothea (2017): Introduction: Visiting Jews. Life in the medieval city. Accompanying volume to the exhibition, ed. in collaboration with Mareike Hartmann, Konstanz, 5-14. 2016 Weltecke, Dorothea (2016): Bar 'Ebroyo on identity: Remarks on his historical writing, in: Hugoye - Journal of Syriac Studies, 19 (2), 303-332. Weltecke, Dorothea (2016): Space, entanglement and decentralization: On how to narrate the transcultural history of Christianity (550 to 1350 AD.): Locating Religions. Contact, Diversity, and Translocality, Reinhold F. Glei/Nikolas Jaspert (eds.), Leiden/Bosten, 315-344. 2015 Weltecke, Dorothea (2015): Bemerkungen zum Kapitel über die Schule in Bar ʿEbroyos Huddoye (dem Nomokanon), in: Christsein in der islamischen Welt. Festschrift for Martin Tamcke on his 60th birthday, Sidney H. Griffith/Sven Grebenstein (eds.), Wiesbaden, 299-311. Weltecke, Dorothea (2015): Beyond exclusivism in the Middle Ages: On the Three Rings, the three Impostors and the discourse of multiplicity: The Oxford Handbook of Abrahamic Religions, Guy Stroumsa (ed.), Oxford, 189-208. Weltecke, Dorothea (2015): Introductory remarks: Religious diversity and the treatment of minorities: Past and Present Experiences, Ulrich Gotter/Ulrich Rüdiger/Dorothea Weltecke (eds.), Konstanz, Munich, 9-24. Weltecke, Dorothea (2015): L' athésime et le doute au Moyen Age. Un problème controversé, in: Revue de l'histoire des religions, 232 (3), 339-361. Weltecke, Dorothea (2015): Places of doubt. On doubt and non-belief in the Latin Middle Ages: Places of European religious history, Adrian Hermann/Jürgen Mohn (eds.), Würzburg (Diskurs Religion. Beiträge zur Religionsgeschichte und religiösen Zeitgeschichte, 6), 363-392. Weltecke, Dorothea; Kirsch, Thomas; Schlögl, Rudolf (eds.) (2015): Religion as a process, Paderborn. Weltecke, Dorothea; Gotter, Ulrich; Rüdiger, Ulrich (eds.) (2015): Religious diversity and dealing with minorities: Past and Present Experiences, Konstanz, Munich. Weltecke, Dorothea (2015): On religion before "religion". Conceptions before the emergence of the modern term: Religion as a process, Thomas Kirsch/Rudolf Schlögl/Dorothea Weltecke (eds.), Paderborn, 13-34. 2014 Weltecke, Dorothea (2014): Atheism, religion and historiography - the quicksand of historicization: Erwägen Wissen Ethik 25, 1 (2014), 161-163. Weltecke, Dorothea (2014): Doubts and the Abscence of Faith: The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Christianity, John H. Arnold (ed.), Oxford, 357-376. Weltecke, Dorothea (2014): Jews in the Lake Constance region, educated and welcome - bruised and expelled: The Council of Constance. Essays, Karl-Heinz Braun et al. (eds.), Darmstadt, 157-163. Weltecke, Dorothea (2014): Do monotheistic religions have to be intolerant? Three Rings, Three Deceivers and the Discourse of Religious Diversity in the Middle Ages: The Violence of the One God. The debate on monotheism between Jan Assmann, Micha Brumlik, Rolf Schieder, Peter Sloterdijk and others, Rolf Schieder (ed.), Berlin, 301-323. 2013 Weltecke, Dorothea (2011): The Destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Inquiries into Oriental Christian sources: Conflict and Coping. The Destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in 1009, Thomas Pratsch (ed.), Berlin (Millennium-Studien, 32), 257-278. Weltecke, Dorothea (2011): Emperor Frederick II, "Sultan of Lucera", "friend of the Muslims", promoter of cultural transfer: controversies and suggestions: Cultural Transfer in Dispute. Representations in Asia, Europe and the Arab World since the Middle Ages, Jörg Feuchter/Friedhelm Hoffmann/Bee Yun (eds.), Frankfurt (Eigene und fremde Welten, 23), 85-106. Weltecke, Dorothea (2013): The Medieval Period: The Oxford Handbook of Atheism, Steven Bullivant/Michael Ruse (eds.), Oxford, 164-178. Weltecke, Dorothea (2013): Zum syrisch-orthodoxen Leben in der mittelalterlichen Stadt und zu den Hūddōyē (dem Nomokanon) des Bar ʻEbrōyō: Orientalia Christiana. Festschrift for Hubert Kaufhold on his 70th birthday, Peter Bruns/Heinz Otto Luthe (eds.), Wiesbaden 2013, 585-613; 678-681. 2012 Weltecke, Dorothea (ed.) (2012): History, theology, liturgy and the present situation of the Syrian churches. Contributions to the sixth German Syriac Symposium in Constance, July 2009, Wiesbaden. 2011 Weltecke, Dorothea (2011): Multireligious Loca Sancta and the Mighty Saints of the Christians, in: Der Islam, 88 (1), 73-95. Weltecke, Dorothea/ Pahlitzsch, Johannes/ Marx, Michael (2011): Östliches Christentum in Geschichte und Gegenwart - Perspektiven und Hindernisse der Forschung, in: Der Islam, 88 (1), 1-10. 2010 Weltecke, Dorothea (2010): A renaissance in historiography? Patriarch Michael, the anonymous chronicle ad a. 1234, and Bar 'Ebroyo: The Syriac Renaissance, C. Fotescu Tauwinkl et al. (eds.), Leuven, Paris, Walpole, 95-112. Weltecke, Dorothea (2010): "Der Narr spricht: Es ist kein Gott". Atheism, unbelief and doubts about faith from the 12th century to modern times, Frankfurt (Campus Historische Studien, 50). Weltecke, Dorothea (2010): "Quod lex christiana impedit addiscere". Gelehrte zwischen religiöser Verdächtigung und religionskritischer Heroik: Beiträge zur Kulturgeschichte der Gelehrten im späten Mittelalter, Frank Rexroth (ed.), Ostfildern (Vorträge und Forschungen, 73), 153-184. 2009 Weltecke, Dorothea (2009): Doubts of faith in the spiritual literature of the Middle Ages, in: Ročník, 4 (2010), 273-304. Weltecke, Dorothea (2009): "Jenseits des christlichen Abendlandes": Grenzgänge in der Geschichte der Religionen des Mittelalters, Konstanz (Konstanzer Universitätsreden) (independently published). Weltecke, Dorothea (2009): Les trois grandes chroniques syro-orthodoxes des XIIe et XIIIe siècles: L'historiographie syriaque, M. Debié (ed.), Paris 2009 (Études syriaques, 6), 107-135. 2008 Weltecke, Dorothea (2008): Beyond religion. On the lack of belief during the central and late Middle Ages: Religion and its Other. Secular and sacral concepts and practices in interaction, Heike Bock/Jörg Feuchter/Michi Knecht (eds.), Frankfurt, 101-114. Weltecke, Dorothea (2008): Trust. Some methodological reflections: Strategies of writing. Studies on text and trust in the Middle Ages, Petra Schulte/Marco Mostaert/Irene van Renswoude (eds.), Turnhout 2008, 379-392. Weltecke, Dorothea (2008): 60 years after Peter Kawerau. Remarks on the social and cultural history of syriac-orthodox christians from the 12th to the 13th century, in: Le Muséon ,121 (3-4), 311-335.

News from the research center

Event
19.11.2025 | Frankfurt am Main

Unerwünscht. Die westdeutsche Demokratie und die Verfolgten des NS-Regimes

Book Presentation

Der Vortrag von Prof. Dr. Stefanie Schüler-Springorum schildert die Erfahrungen von überlebenden Juden und Sinti und Roma, von ehemaligen Zwangsarbeitern und Homosexuellen in Westdeutschland in der Nachkriegszeit.

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News
04.09.2025

Rainer Forst awarded the Goethe Plakette of the City of Frankfurt am Main

On September 4, 2025, the political philosopher and Director of the Research Centre Normative Orders Prof. Dr. Rainer Forst was awarded the Goethe Plakette of the City of Frankfurt am Main. With this award, the city honors personalities who have set standards far beyond Frankfurt's borders through their academic work and/or their public impact.

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Event
15.10.2025 | Frankfurt am Main

Aufrecht. Überleben im Zeitalter der Extreme

Book Presentation

ACHTUNG RAUMÄNDERUNG! In ihrem jüngsten Werk begibt sich Lea Ypi auf eine Reise in die Vergangenheit ihrer Familie und verknüpft persönliche Erinnerungen mit den großen politischen und gesellschaftlichen Umbrüchen des 20. Jahrhunderts. Das Forschungszentrum Normative Ordnungen lädt gemeinsam mit dem Netzwerk FrauenmitFormat, dem Honorarkonsulat der Republik Albanien in Frankfurt am Main und dem Suhrkamp Verlag herzlich zur Vorstellung des neuen Buches von Prof. Dr. Lea Ypi mit anschließender Diskussionsrunde mit Prof. Dr. Lea Ypi, Honorarkonsulin Dr. Jonela Hoxhaj und Prof. Dr. Rainer Forst unter der Moderation von Rebecca C. Schmidt ein.

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Publication
02.09.2025 | Journal article

Beyond Myth Busting: How Engagement with Ethical Dilemmas Can Improve Debates and Policymaking on Migration

Schmid, Lukas; Ruhs, Martin; Bauböck, Rainer; Mourão Permoser, Julia (2025): "Beyond Myth Busting: How Engagement with Ethical Dilemmas Can Improve Debates and Policymaking on Migration". In: Ethics & International Affairs, 39 (1), S. 26-36.

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Publication
01.09.2025 | Journal article

Roundtable: Ethical Dilemmas and Migration Policymaking

Schmid, Lukas; Ruhs, Martin; Bauböck Rainer, Mourão Permoser, Julia (Hrsg.) (2025): "Roundtable: Ethical Dilemmas and Migration Policymaking". In: Ethics & International Affairs, 39 (1)

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Publication
21.08.2025 | Anthology

Autoritäre Treiber eines Systemwechsels. Zur Destabilisierung von Institutionen durch die AfD

Frankenberg, Günter; Heitmeyer, Wilhelm (Hrsg.) (2025): Autoritäre Treiber eines Systemwechsels. Zur Destabilisierung von Institutionen durch die AfD. Campus Verlag.

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News
31.07.2025

Shaping the future - a review

As part of the exhibition "Fixing Futures. Planetary futures between speculation and control", our four-part lecture series "Shaping the future - between climate change, technology and social responsibility" took place.

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News
30.07.2025

What remains of "1968" - event review

What can we learn from the 1968 movement for our own time and where do we perhaps need new ideas and utopias? The event "Utopia and awakening of the 1968ers - What remains of political rebellion and individual self-liberation" on July 14, 2025 at the Historisches Museum was dedicated to these questions

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News
10.07.2025

Impressions from the Crisis Talk "Europe in a multipolar world"

The Crisis Talk "Europe in a multipolar world - How can the EU meet the challenges of major powers?" held on July 1, 2025 at the Representation of the State of Hesse to the European Union was dedicated to the question of how the EU should shape its influence and assume its responsibilities in this international environment.

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