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.