/ Research
Dr. Christoph Heilig receives competitive funding for his research project "Focalization in Early Christian Texts – Retelling the Story of Jesus from Different Perspectives"
Dr. Christoph Heilig, currently a Postdoc at the Faculty of Theology in Basel, has received a 1.4 million Euro grant to fund an international research group at the University of Munich. The elite research network of Bavaria has as its aim to establish first-class research groups led by up-and-coming scholars at universities in Bavaria through competitive funding for outstanding Ph.D. recipients from around the world. The funding also includes positions for two doctoral researchers and all research-related costs.
Together with two other research projects, Christoph Heilig's project was selected from a large pool of applications from the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Economics. Christoph Heilig's research group will be part of the Faculty of Protestant Theology at the University of Munich and will also be affiliated with the International Association of Doctoral Researchers in Philology (Internationaler Doktorandenkolleg Philologie). Christoph Heilig notes that the selection of his project "sends a strong signal for the role of Theology as a constructive dialogue partner in the interdisciplinary conversation. We will learn very much from the other disciplines, but we are also confident that we can enrich the discussion with our own perspective."
Christoph Heilig credits the Faculty of Theology in Basel as having contributed significantly to the success of his proposal: "My project engages with the question of how early Christian narratives about Jesus differ in their choice of the narrative perspective through which the events are depicted. It is interested not only in what is narrated, but also how events are narrated. This, in turn, can open our eyes to the ways in which we talk about Jesus today and which perspectives we are prepared to adopt in public discourse. In order to do so, one first has to look very carefully at the ancient texts. The Faculty of Theology in Basel is fortunate to have the expertise of Moisés Mayordomo, who has longstanding experience in bringing insights from literary theory to bear on the interpretation of biblical texts. I have benefited immensely from working with him and having the chance to pursue research on narrative theory in Basel. Thus, I feel very well prepared for the challenge that the new project in Munich will offer."