Faculty of Theology

Forschungsschwerpunkte

• Global- und verflechtungsgeschichtliche Ansätze in der Religionswissenschaft, mit Schwerpunkt auf Indien (Bengalen), Europa und Nordamerika
• Religion und Politik (Sozialreform, Kolonialismus, Ethnonationalismus, Rassismus)
• Religionsvergleich und kultureller Austausch seit der frühen Neuzeit
• Esoterik und alternative Religiosität

Main research interests
• Global history and entangled history approaches in religious studies, with a focus on India (Bengal), Europe, and North America
• Religion and politics (social reform, colonialism, ethnonationalism, racism)
• Religious comparison and cultural exchange since the early modern period
• Esotericism and alternative religiosity

Curriculum Vitae
Since 2024Chair of Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology, Georg-August-University Göttingen
2021 – 2024 Assistant professor (Universitätsassistent), Institute for Religious Studies, University of Vienna
2023 Harvard University, with a research fellowship from the Gerda Henkel Foundation
2020 – 2021 Replacement Chair, Institute for Missiology, Ecumenical Studies and Religious Studies, University of Hamburg
2020 Habilitation in Religious Studies, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg
2019 – 2021 Research Associate, Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics", University of Münster, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
2016 – 2019 Research Associate (DFG individual project), Institute for Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg
2016 – 2017 Substitute as Associate Professor, Religious Studies, University of Amsterdam
2015 – 2016 Research Associate, Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context", Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg
2015 Doctorate (with distinction, summa cum laude) in Religious Studies, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg
2011 – 2014 Doctoral scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation
2010 Magister Artium (with distinction) in Religious Studies and Medieval/Modern History, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
2005 – 2010 Master's degree in Ancient, Medieval and Modern History, Philosophy and Religious Studies, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg and University of Amsterdam, study fellowship from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation

Selected publications
Numerous publications can be accessed at academia.edu.

"Global Religious History and Religious Comparison: a Programmatic Outline", in: JRAT, S. 1-23, Link Vorabversion https://doi.org/10.30965/23642807-bja10091.

"Daoism and Kung Fu as Occult Sciences: Historical Comparisons between Chinese Practices and Mesmerism", in: Appropriating the Dao: The Euro-American Esoteric Reception of East Asian Thought, Pokorny, Lukas; Franz Winter (Hg.), London/New York: Bloomsbury 2024, S. 15–34. Link: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350289598.0005

„Esotericism between Europe and East Asia: How the ‚Esoteric Distinction‘ Became a Structure in Cross-Cultural Interpretation“, in: Numen 71/1, 2024, S. 9–28. [Open Access]

„The Emergence of ‚Esoteric‘ as a Comparative Category: Towards a Decentered Historiography“, in: Implicit Religion 24/3–4, 2023, S. 353–383. [Link]

„(Anti-)Colonialism, Religion, and Science in Bengal from the Perspective of Global Religious History“, in: Journal of Global History 18/1, 2023, S. 88–107. [Open Access]

Global Tantra: Religion, Science, and Nationalism in Colonial Modernity, New York: Oxford University Press 2022. [Link]

mit Giovanni Maltese, „Global Religious History“, Sonderausgabe von Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 33/3–4, 2021. [Open Access]

mit Egil Asprem, New Approaches to the Study of Esotericism (Supplements to Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 17), Leiden/Boston: Brill 2021. [Open Access]

mit Hans Martin Krämer, Theosophy Across Boundaries. Transcultural and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on a Modern Esoteric Movement, Albany: State University of New York Press 2020. [Link]

„Socialism and Esotericism in July Monarchy France“, in: History of Religions 57/2, 2017, S. 197–221. [Link]

„Revolution, Illuminismus und Theosophie. Eine Genealogie der ‚häretischen‘ Historiographie des frühen französischen Sozialismus und Kommunismus“, in: Historische Zeitschrift 304/1, 2017, S. 50–89. [Link]

Sozialismus, Katholizismus und Okkultismus im Frankreich des 19. Jahrhunderts. Die Genealogie der Schriften von Eliphas Lévi, Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter 2016. [Link]

„Socialist Religion and the Emergence of Occultism. A Genealogical Approach to ‚Secularization‘ in 19th-Century France“, in: Religion 46/3, 2016, S. 359–388. [Link]

Vril. Eine okkulte Urkraft in Theosophie und esoterischem Neonazismus, München/Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink 2013. [Link]

„Die Erfindung des esoterischen Nationalsozialismus im Zeichen der Schwarzen Sonne“, in: Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft 20/2, 2012, S. 223–268. [Link]




Strube_Neuerscheinung Global Tantra
Julian Strube

  • Elaborates on the approach of global religious history, focusing on modernity, religion, and politics in Indian culture.
  • Explains the overall significance of Tantra in Bengal and beyond.
  • Allows for new insights into modern yoga, esotericism, and the role they have on religion, science, and national identity.