Almut-Barbara Renger

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT ALMUT-BARBARA RENGER

Since 2021 Distinguished Research Fellow in Religion and Sustainability, Research Programme on Religious Communities and Sustainable Development, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, with a focus on Engaged Buddhism— Studied Classics, German and Comparative Literature, Religious Studies and Philosophical Anthropology at the Freie Universitaet Berlin, Stanford University and Heidelberg University. Master of Arts in 1995, PhD in 2001, both with highest honors. Subsequently Postdoctoral Fellow and Assistant Professor in the Department of Ancient Studies at University of Greifswald. 20••••08 Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature at Goethe University Frankfurt (Main), 2009 habilitation with thesis on ancient myths and their transformation in the 20th century cultural context. 2007–2017 Humboldt Fellow and Associate at Harvard University. 20••••21 Professor of Ancient Religion, Culture and Their Reception History at the Institute for the Scientific Study of Religion at the Freie Universitaet Berlin. Since 2021, teaching at the University of Basel and serving as a Research Fellow at the Forum Basiliense in fall 2025— Her research concentrates on ancient myth, modern Buddhism, dynamics in the history of alternative religion between Asia, Europe and America, diverse aspects of cultural and religious theory, and the relationship of religion and literature. — Recent book publications include \"Receptions of Greek and Roman Antiquity in East Asia\"(Brill, 2018),\"New Antiquities: Transformations of Ancient Religion in the New Age and Beyond\"(Equinox, 2019; paperback 2021), both co-edited, and \"Buddhismus. 100 Seiten\"(Reclam, 2020).