Education
2018 Habilitation and Venia Legendi in Religious Studies (Religionswissenschaft), University of Erfurt.
2014-2016 HIT-Zertifikat, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hochschuldidaktik (Certificate in Higher Education).
2009 PhD (Dr. phil.) in Religious Studies (Religionswissenschaft), University of Heidelberg.
2003 M.A. (Magister Artium) in Religious Studies, Philosophy and Psychology, University of Heidelberg.
Positions (selection)
August 2022-: Co-founder and Scientific Director of RENSEP, the Research Network for the Study of Esoteric Practices.
October 2021-: Founding member and permanent fellow of the Center for Advanced Studies ‘Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective’, University of Erlangen-Nuremburg.
April-September 2021: Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences ‘Multiple Secularities: Beyond the West, beyond Modernities’, University of Leipzig.
April 2019-March 2021: Senior Research Fellow at the International Consortium for Research in the Humanities ‘Fate, Freedom and Prognostication: Strategies for Coping with the Future in East Asia and Europe’, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
October 2018-March 2019: Senior Research Fellow at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg ‘Dynamics in the history of religions between Asia and Europe’, University of Bochum.
August 2014-September 2018: Scientific Coordinator of the Center for Advanced Studies ‘Religious Individualisation in Historical Perspective’, Max-Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, University of Erfurt.
March 2011-September 2011: Visit abroad (Yggdrasil scholarship for young guest researchers, Research Council of Norway), University of Bergen, Norway.
June 2010-July 2014: Postdoctoral Researcher and Research Coordinator at the University of Erfurt.
Conference Organisations (selection)
ESF research conference “Historiography of Religion: New approaches to origins of narrating a religious past” (Norrköping, 10-14 September 2012).
XXI. IAHR World Congress 2015 in Erfurt (Erfurt, 23-29 August 2015).
6th international conference of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (Erfurt, 1-3 June 2017): http://www.academia.edu/attachments/60507240/download_file?s=portfolio.
International Conference “Religious Individualization in Historical Perspective: Types and Concepts” (Eisenach, 27-30 June 2017).
9th German-Israeli Frontiers of Humanities (GISFOH) Symposium (Jerusalem, 10-13 September 2017): Arabic Language and Literature.
International workshop on “Western learned magic as an entangled tradition” (Bochum, September 13-15 2019).
International Conference “Esoteric practices from a global perspective” (IKGF Erlangen, December 8-9, 2020).
Memberships (selection)
Board Member (since 2016): European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE)
Co-founder and director of the scientific board of RENSEP (www.rensep.org), the Research Network for the Study of Esoteric Practices
Deutsche Vereinigung für Religionswissenschaft (DVRW)
Societas Magica (http://www.societasmagica.org/)
Media Appearances (selection)
Concept paper on “witches” for the children’s series “Wissen macht Ah!” (ARD)
Various Radio and Television interviews for the ESSWE6 conference.
Various Newspaper articles (e.g. Zeit, Dresdner Morgenpost, Chemnitzer Morgenpost, Thüringer Allgemeine, Nürnberger Zeitung, Bild) and Radio interviews (e.g. MDR, WDR, RBB, BR, SWR, Deutschlandfunk, Sputnik) on my book Magical Manuscripts in Early Modern Europe
TAZ on the presentation of my book Magical Manuscripts in Early Modern Europe in the Albertina library, Leipzig.
Television Interview for “Sternstunde Religion” (SRF), 29.09.2019: “Vom Zauber der Magie” and “Religion bei Harry Potter”: Link
Bernd-Christian Otto studied Religious Studies, Philosophy and Psychology in a M.A. program in Heidelberg and narrowed his focus to Religious Studies while writing his dissertation on the conceptual history of magic. After gaining his PhD in 2009, he joined the university of Bergen, Norway, as a visiting research fellow, where he took part in a book project entitled Defining Magic: A Reader (published 2013 with Michael Stausberg). From 2010 to 2014 he coordinated a research project on the historicisation of religion at the University of Erfurt, from 2014 to 2018 he worked as postdoctoral coordinator of the Center for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences ‘Religious Indivualisation in Historical Perspective’ at the Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies at the University of Erfurt. In 2017 he finished his Habilitation treatise entitled ‘Ritual Dynamics and Rejected Knowledge: A Historical Study on a Deviant Text Tradition’ at the Max Weber Center in Erfurt and thus received the Venia Legendi for Religionswissenschaft. Since 2018, he has worked as a Senior Research Fellow at various institutions, among them the Käte Hamburger Kolleg ‘Dynamics in the history of religions between Asia and Europe’ at the university of Bochum, the International Consortium for Research in the Humanties ‘Fate, Freedom and Prognostication: Strategies for Coping with the Future in East Asia and Europe’ at the university of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and the Center for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences ‘Multiple Secularities: Beyond the West, beyond Modernities’ at the university of Leipzig. Since 2016, Bernd-Christian Otto is a board member of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism. He is a founding member and permanent fellow at CAS-E. Since 2022, he is also the scientific director of RENSEP, the Research Network for the Study of Esoteric Practices (www.rensep.org).
Books
(1) Magie. Rezeptions- und diskursgeschichtliche Analysen von der Antike bis zur Neuzeit, [Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten; 57], Berlin: De Gruyter 2011.
Reviews: (1) Willi Höfig, IFB (Digitales Rezensionsorgan für Bibliothek und Wissenschaft); (2) Helmut Zander, ZRGG 64,2 (2012); (3) Peter Busch, Theologische Literaturzeitung (Juni 2012); (4) Klaus Düwel, Germanistik 51, 3/4 (2012); (5) Cristoph Auffarth, Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft 21,1 (2013); (6) Walter Giraldo, Volkskunde: Tijdschrift over de Cultuur van het Dagelijks Leven 1/2013; (7) Michael D. Bailey, Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft 8,1 (2013); (8) Jesper Sørensen, Numen 60 (2013); (9) Wouter Hanegraaff, Aries 14 (2014).
(2) With Daniel Bellingradt, Magical Manuscripts in Early Modern Europe. The Clandestine Trade in Illegal Book Collections, [New Directions in Book History], Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan 2017.
Reviews: (1) Caspar Hirschi, FAZ (18. Oktober 2017, S. 10); (2) Francis Young, blog: https://drfrancisyoung.com/2018/03/14/review-magical-manuscripts-in-early-modern-europe-by-daniel-bellingradt-and-bernd-christian-otto/ (2018); (3) Monika Frohnapfel-Leis, Sehepunkte 18/3 (2018): http://www.sehepunkte.de/2018/03/30846.html; (4) Ansgar Holtman, Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft 66/3 (2018).
Edited Works (Readers, Anthologies, Special Issues)
(1) With Michael Stausberg (eds.), Defining Magic. A Reader, [Critical Categories in the Study of Religion], Sheffield: Equinox Publishing (now Routledge) 2013.
Reviews: (1) Greg Spinner, Choice 51/1 (2013); (2) Margaret Gouin, British Association for the Study of Religions Bulletin 123 (2013); (3) Egil Asprem, Heterodoxology (2014); (4) Jørgen Podemann Sørensen, Numen 61 (2014); (5) Christian Giudice, Aries 14/2 (2014); (6) J. Tuomas Harviainen, Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion 2/1 (2014); (7) Joshua Levi Ian Gentzke, Religious Studies Review 41/1 (2015), 7-8; (8) Carole Cusack, The Pomegranate 20.1 (2018).
(2) With Susanne Rau and Jörg Rüpke (eds.), History and Religion: Narrating a Religious Past, [Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten; 68], Berlin: de Gruyter 2015.
Reviews: (1) Michael Stausberg, Numen 64 (2017); (2) Lorenz Trein, Religious Studies Review 43/1 (2017); (3) Dirk Schuster, ZRGG 69 (2017); Marc Beumer, Kleio-Historia 9 (2019).
(3) With Martin Fuchs, Antje Linkenbach-Fuchs, Martin Mulsow, Rahul Parson, and Jörg Rüpke (eds.), Religious Individualisation: Historical Dimensions and Comparative Perspectives, 2 vols., Berlin: de Gruyter 2019.
Reviews: (1) Mattias Brand, Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft 29/2 (2021).
(4) With Dirk Johannsen (eds.), Fictional practice: Magic, narration, and the power of imagination, [Aries Book Series], Leiden: Brill 2021.
Reviews: (1) Timothy R. Grieve-carlson, Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft 18 / 1 (2023); (2) Khanim Garayeva, Correspondences 11/2 (2023).
(5) “Western learned magic as an entangled tradition”, Special issue: Entangled Religions 14/3 (2023), DOI: https://doi.org/10.46586/er.14.3.2023
In preparation: “Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective”, Special Issue: Method and Theory in the Study of Religion (forthcoming 2024).
Articles
“Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Meditationsforschung“, in: Spirita online (2001), online available at: http://www.diagonal-verlag.de/spirita/espirita.htm.
“Zauberhaftes Ägypten – Ägyptischer Zauber? Überlegungen zur Verwendung des Magiebegriffs in der Ägyptologie”, in: Florian Jeserich (Hg.), Ägypten, Kindheit, Tod. Gedenkschrift für Edmund Hermsen, Wien 2013, 39-70.
“’Magie’ beweisen? Überlegungen zur Prozesslogik des frühneuzeitlichen crimen magiae“, in: @KIH-eSkript. Interdisziplinäre Hexenforschung online 4 (2012), 79-100, online available at: http://www.historicum.net/no_cache/persistent/artikel/9767/.
“James George Frazer”, in: Lexikon zur Geschichte der Hexenverfolgung, ed. Gudrun Gersmann, Katrin Moeller u. Jürgen-Michael Schmidt, online available at: http://www.historicum.net/no_cache/persistent/artikel/9778/.
“Towards historicizing ‘Magic’ in Antiquity”, in: NUMEN International Review for the History of Religions 60, 2/3 (2013), 308-47.
“Discourse theory trumps discourse theory: Wouter Hanegraaff’s Esotericism and the Academy”, in: RELIGION 43/2 (2013), 231-40.
“A Catholic ‘magician’ historicizes ‘magic’: Éliphas Lévi’s Histoire de la Magie”, in: Otto, Bernd-Christian et al. (eds.), History and Religion: Narrating a Religious Past, Berlin: De Gruyter 2015, 419-43.
With Susanne Rau and Jörg Rüpke: “History and Religion”, in: Otto, Bernd-Christian et al. (eds.), History and Religion: Narrating a Religious Past, Berlin: De Gruyter 2015, 1-18.
“Historicising ‘Western learned magic’: preliminary remarks”, in: Aries 16 (2016), 161–240.
“Magic and Religious Individualization: On the construction and deconstruction of analytical categories in the Study of Religion“, in: Historia Religionum 9 (2017), 29-52.
“‘Magie im Islam’. Eine diskursgeschichtliche Perspektive”, in: Sebastian Günther and Dorothee Lauer (eds.), Die Geheimnisse der höheren und der niederen Welt: Magie im Islam zwischen Glaube und Wissenschaft, Leiden: Brill 2018, 515-46.
“Das Motiv der Perfektionierung im gelehrtenmagischen Diskurs des 20. Jahrhunderts”, in: Thomas Bahne and Katharina Waldner (eds.), Die Perfektionierung des Menschen? Religiöse und ethische Perspektiven, [Vorlesungen des Interdisziplinären Forums Religion; 13], Münster: Aschendorff 2018, 81-105; 305-19.
“A discourse historical approach towards medieval ‘learned magic’”, in: Sophie Page and Catherine Rider (eds.), The Routledge History Handbook of Medieval Magic, London: Routledge 2018, 37-47.
“Ralph Tegtmeier (alias Frater V∴D∴ or Frater U∴D∴)”, in: Egil Asprem (ed.), Dictionary in Contemporary Esotericism, Leiden: Brill forthcoming.
“Benjamin Creme”, in: Egil Asprem (ed.), Dictionary in Contemporary Esotericism, Leiden: Brill forthcoming.
“Share International”, in: Egil Asprem (ed.), Dictionary in Contemporary Esotericism, Leiden: Brill forthcoming.
“Maitreya-Christ”, in: Egil Asprem (ed.), Dictionary in Contemporary Esotericism, Leiden: Brill forthcoming.
“If people believe in magic, isn’t that just because they aren’t educated?”, in: Wouter Hanegraaff, Marco Pasi, Peter Forshaw (eds.), Hermes Explains: Thirty-Five Questions about Western Esotericism. Celebrating the 20-year anniversary of the chair for History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press 2019, 199-206.
“The Illuminates of Thanateros and the Institutionalization of Religious Individualization”, in: Fuchs/Linkenbach-Fuchs/Mulsow/Otto/Parson/Rüpke (ed.), Religious Individualisation: Historical Dimensions and Comparative Perspectives, Berlin: de Gruyter 2019, 759-96.
With Martin Fuchs, Antje Linkenbach, Martin Mulsow, Jörg Rüpke and Rahul. B. Parson, “General Introduction”, in: Fuchs/Linkenbach-Fuchs/Mulsow/Otto/Parson/Rüpke (ed.), Religious Individualisation: Historical Dimensions and Comparative Perspectives, Berlin: de Gruyter 2019, 1-31.
With Matthias Heiduk, “Prognostication in Learned Magic of the Medieval Western Christian World”, in: Matthias Heiduk, Klaus Herbers, and Hans-Christian Lehner (eds.), Prognostication in the Medieval World, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter 2020, 948-59.
With Dirk Johannsen, “Introduction”, in: Bernd-Christian Otto and Dirk Johannsen (eds.), Fictional Practice: Magic, Narration, and the Power of Imagination, Leiden: Brill 2021, 1-20.
“Fictional Practice from Antiquity to Today”, in: Bernd-Christian Otto and Dirk Johannsen (eds.), Fictional Practice: Magic, Narration, and the Power of Imagination, Leiden: Brill 2021, 334-66.
“Magic”, in: Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2nd Edition, publ. October 31, 2022, DOI: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781405165518.wbeosm004.pub2.
“Conjuring planetary spirits in the 21st century: Ritual Entanglements in Contemporary Magick”, in: Bernd-Christian Otto (ed.), special issue: Entangled Religions 14/3 (2023), DOI: 10.46586/er.14.2023.10299.
“Introduction: Western Learned Magic as an Entangled Tradition”, in: Bernd-Christian Otto (ed.), special issue: Entangled Religions 14/3 (2023), DOI: 10.46586/er.14.2023.10457.
“Hans Thomas Hakl: Three lives in one”, in: Religiographies 2/1 (2023): https://www.cini.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Otto_2023_Three-Lives_1-2.pdf.
“The resilience of Western magic(k) from the 19th to the 21st centuries: a multifactorial explanation“, forthcoming.
Reviews
“Jan Assmann, Harald Strohm (eds.), Magie und Religion, [Lindauer Symposien für Religionsforschung; 1], Wilhelm Fink Verlag: München 2010”, in: Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte 63/4 (2011), 396-98.
“Kocku von Stuckrad, Locations of Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Esoteric Discourse and Western Identities, [Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History; 186], Brill: Leiden 2010”, in: Journal of Religion in Europe 5 (2012), 123-26.
“Juan Antonio Álvarez-Pedrosa Núñez, Sofia Torallas Tovar (eds.), Edición de Textos Mágicos de la Antigüedad y de la Edad Media, Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas 2010”, in: Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft 20/2 (2012), 287/88.
“Gideon Bohak, Yuval Harari, Shaul Shaked (eds.), Continuity and Innovation in the Magical Tradition, [Jerusalem Studies in Religion and Culture; 15], Leiden: Brill 2011”, in: ARIES: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 13/2 (2013), 308-13.
“Edward Bever, Randall Styers (eds.), Magic in the Modern World: Strategies of Repression and Legitimization, [The Magic in History Series], University Park: Pennsylvania University Press 2017”, in: Jahrbuch für Kommunikationsgeschichte 20 (2018).
“Marco Frenschkowski, Magie im antiken Christentum. Eine Studie zur Alten Kirche und ihrem Umfeld, [Standorte in Antike und Christentum; 7], Stuttgart: Hiersemann 2016”, in: Zeitschrift für antikes Christentum 22/1 (2018).
“Marco Heiles, Das Losbuch. Manuskriptologie einer Textsorte des 14. bis 16. Jahrhunderts, [Beihefte zum Archiv für Kulturgeschichte; 83], Köln: Böhlau Verlag 2018”, in: Jahrbuch für Kommunikationsgeschichte 22 (2020).
“Shai Feraro and Ethan Doyle White (eds.), Magic and Witchery in the Modern West: Celebrating the Twentieth Anniversary of ‘Triumph of the Moon’, London: Palgrave Macmillan 2019”, in: International Journal for the Study of New Religions (11/2).
Miscellanea
“Meditation and Science”, in: Journal for Meditation and Meditation Research 01/2001, Frankfurt/Main 2002, 104/105.
“Dissertation abstract: PhD thesis ‘Magie. Rezeptions- und diskursgeschichtliche Analysen’ (‘Magic. An analysis of its reception and discourse history’)”, in: Societas Magica Newsletter 24 (2010), 6.
With Jörg Rüpke and Susanne Rau: “Tagungsbericht: Historiography of Religion: New Approaches to origins of narrating a religious past”, in: H-Soz-u-Kult, 30.01.2013, online available at: http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/tagungsberichte/id=4609.
“Welche Rolle spielt Esoterik in der westlichen Welt?”, press release (May 29, 2017), Erfurt university: https://aktuell.uni-erfurt.de/2017/05/29/nachgefragt-esoterik/.
“Wieviel Magie steckt noch in der Gegenwart”, press release (August 29, 2017), Erfurt university: https://aktuell.uni-erfurt.de/2017/08/29/nachgefragt-8/.
“Scholar interview: Bernd-Christian Otto”, in: ESSWE (European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism) Newsletter 8/2 (2018).
“Scholar interview: Bernd-Christian Otto”, in CEEO (Centro de Estudios sobre el Esoterismo Occidental) – UNASUR (Unión de Naciones Suramericanas) Newsletter 6/1 (2018) [with Portuguese translation].
“Interview on the new Center for Advanced Studies ‘Alternative Rationalities and EsotericPractices from a Global Perspective’ – Erlangen (CAS-E), University of Erlangen-Nuremburg”, in: ESSWE (European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism) Newsletter 13/1 (2022).
“Dancing to the Tree of Life: An Ethnography of a Neo-Amerindian Movement”, blog post, CAS-E website, publ. September 2023: https://cas-e.de/2023/09/06/dancing-to-the-tree-of-life-an-ethnography-of-a-neo-amerindian-movement/.
 Introduction to CAS-E, PD Dr. habil. Bernd-Christian Otto |
 Dr. Bernd Christian Otto, “Dancing to the Tree of Life: An Ethnography of a Neo-Amerindian Movement” |
 History of the CONCEPT of MAGIC with Dr Bernd-Christian Otto |
 Bernd-Christian Otto: vom Zauber der Magie | Sternstunde Religion | SRF Kultur |
 Bernd-Christian Otto – The Leipzig Collection of Codices Magici (Cod. Mag.) |
 Bernd-Christian Otto – Mapping Modern Magic(k) |
 Bernd-Christian Otto – Building Blocks of a New Cultural Theory of Magic |
 Archives of the Impossible conference | Flash Talk: Bernd-Christian Otto |
Education
2018 Habilitation and Venia Legendi in Religious Studies (Religionswissenschaft), University of Erfurt.
2014-2016 HIT-Zertifikat, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hochschuldidaktik (Certificate in Higher Education).
2009 PhD (Dr. phil.) in Religious Studies (Religionswissenschaft), University of Heidelberg.
2003 M.A. (Magister Artium) in Religious Studies, Philosophy and Psychology, University of Heidelberg.
Positions (selection)
August 2022-: Co-founder and Scientific Director of RENSEP, the Research Network for the Study of Esoteric Practices.
October 2021-: Founding member and permanent fellow of the Center for Advanced Studies ‘Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective’, University of Erlangen-Nuremburg.
April-September 2021: Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences ‘Multiple Secularities: Beyond the West, beyond Modernities’, University of Leipzig.
April 2019-March 2021: Senior Research Fellow at the International Consortium for Research in the Humanities ‘Fate, Freedom and Prognostication: Strategies for Coping with the Future in East Asia and Europe’, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
October 2018-March 2019: Senior Research Fellow at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg ‘Dynamics in the history of religions between Asia and Europe’, University of Bochum.
August 2014-September 2018: Scientific Coordinator of the Center for Advanced Studies ‘Religious Individualisation in Historical Perspective’, Max-Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, University of Erfurt.
March 2011-September 2011: Visit abroad (Yggdrasil scholarship for young guest researchers, Research Council of Norway), University of Bergen, Norway.
June 2010-July 2014: Postdoctoral Researcher and Research Coordinator at the University of Erfurt.
Conference Organisations (selection)
ESF research conference “Historiography of Religion: New approaches to origins of narrating a religious past” (Norrköping, 10-14 September 2012).
XXI. IAHR World Congress 2015 in Erfurt (Erfurt, 23-29 August 2015).
6th international conference of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (Erfurt, 1-3 June 2017): http://www.academia.edu/attachments/60507240/download_file?s=portfolio.
International Conference “Religious Individualization in Historical Perspective: Types and Concepts” (Eisenach, 27-30 June 2017).
9th German-Israeli Frontiers of Humanities (GISFOH) Symposium (Jerusalem, 10-13 September 2017): Arabic Language and Literature.
International workshop on “Western learned magic as an entangled tradition” (Bochum, September 13-15 2019).
International Conference “Esoteric practices from a global perspective” (IKGF Erlangen, December 8-9, 2020).
Memberships (selection)
Board Member (since 2016): European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE)
Co-founder and director of the scientific board of RENSEP (www.rensep.org), the Research Network for the Study of Esoteric Practices
Deutsche Vereinigung für Religionswissenschaft (DVRW)
Societas Magica (http://www.societasmagica.org/)
Media Appearances (selection)
Concept paper on “witches” for the children’s series “Wissen macht Ah!” (ARD)
Various Radio and Television interviews for the ESSWE6 conference.
Various Newspaper articles (e.g. Zeit, Dresdner Morgenpost, Chemnitzer Morgenpost, Thüringer Allgemeine, Nürnberger Zeitung, Bild) and Radio interviews (e.g. MDR, WDR, RBB, BR, SWR, Deutschlandfunk, Sputnik) on my book Magical Manuscripts in Early Modern Europe
TAZ on the presentation of my book Magical Manuscripts in Early Modern Europe in the Albertina library, Leipzig.
Television Interview for “Sternstunde Religion” (SRF), 29.09.2019: “Vom Zauber der Magie” and “Religion bei Harry Potter”: Link
Bernd-Christian Otto studied Religious Studies, Philosophy and Psychology in a M.A. program in Heidelberg and narrowed his focus to Religious Studies while writing his dissertation on the conceptual history of magic. After gaining his PhD in 2009, he joined the university of Bergen, Norway, as a visiting research fellow, where he took part in a book project entitled Defining Magic: A Reader (published 2013 with Michael Stausberg). From 2010 to 2014 he coordinated a research project on the historicisation of religion at the University of Erfurt, from 2014 to 2018 he worked as postdoctoral coordinator of the Center for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences ‘Religious Indivualisation in Historical Perspective’ at the Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies at the University of Erfurt. In 2017 he finished his Habilitation treatise entitled ‘Ritual Dynamics and Rejected Knowledge: A Historical Study on a Deviant Text Tradition’ at the Max Weber Center in Erfurt and thus received the Venia Legendi for Religionswissenschaft. Since 2018, he has worked as a Senior Research Fellow at various institutions, among them the Käte Hamburger Kolleg ‘Dynamics in the history of religions between Asia and Europe’ at the university of Bochum, the International Consortium for Research in the Humanties ‘Fate, Freedom and Prognostication: Strategies for Coping with the Future in East Asia and Europe’ at the university of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and the Center for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences ‘Multiple Secularities: Beyond the West, beyond Modernities’ at the university of Leipzig. Since 2016, Bernd-Christian Otto is a board member of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism. He is a founding member and permanent fellow at CAS-E. Since 2022, he is also the scientific director of RENSEP, the Research Network for the Study of Esoteric Practices (www.rensep.org).
Introduction to CAS-E, PD Dr. habil. Bernd-Christian Otto |
Dr. Bernd Christian Otto, “Dancing to the Tree of Life: An Ethnography of a Neo-Amerindian Movement” |
History of the CONCEPT of MAGIC with Dr Bernd-Christian Otto |
Bernd-Christian Otto: vom Zauber der Magie | Sternstunde Religion | SRF Kultur |
Bernd-Christian Otto – The Leipzig Collection of Codices Magici (Cod. Mag.) |
Bernd-Christian Otto – Mapping Modern Magic(k) |
Bernd-Christian Otto – Building Blocks of a New Cultural Theory of Magic |
Archives of the Impossible conference | Flash Talk: Bernd-Christian Otto |
