Institute for the Science of Religion

Team

Dr. des. Sarah Perez

Assistant

Phone
+41 31 684 35 78
E-Mail
sarah.perez@unibe.ch
Office
Büro S 108
Postal Address
Institute for the Science of Religion
Universität Bern
Lerchenweg 36
CH-3012 Bern

Teaching

Teaching Interests:

  • Early Modern Visions and Apparitions (1500–1800)
  • Genealogy of Modern Near-death Experiences
  • Death and Dying from the Perspective of the Study of Religion
  • Narratives on Religious Experiences
  • Literature and Religion

 

Given Courses:

2020–2023
Year Course Title
 Type
2023 To Be or Not to Be: Religions' Engagement with Death (mit Bastiaan van Rijn)
 Systematic
2022
Paradise Lost: Are Hogwarts and Mordor Replacing the Ideas of Heaven and Hell?
 Systematic
2021 Einführung in der Religionswissenschaft I
 Systematic
2020 Confronting Death: An Introduction into Death, Dying, and Religion
 Systematic
2020 Fiktionale Literatur als Medium für Religion: Theorie und Fallbeispiele Systematic

Publications and Presentations

Books:

  • with Jens Schlieter und Bastiaan van Rijn, ed. Accepted. Intentional Transformative Experiences:Theorizing Self-Cultivation in Religion and Esotericism. Berlin: De Gruyter.
     

Articles and Book Chapters:

  • Accepted. „Through the Looking-Glass: A Stage-Based Approach to the Intentional Transformative Experience of Reality Shifting“ In: Intentional Transformative Experiences: Theorizing Self-Cultivation in Religion and Esotericism.
     

Book Reviews:

  • With Bastiaan van Rijn. 2023. [Review of the book Virtual Immortality God, Evolution and the Singularity in Post and Transhumanism, by O. Krüger]. Journal of Posthuman Studies 6 (1): 89–94.
  • With Bastiaan van Rijn. 2022. [Review of the book Virtualität und Unsterblichkeit – Gott, Evolution und die Singularität im Post- und Transhumanismus, by O. Krüger]. Zeitschrift für Junge Religionswissenschaft 17.
     

Presentations:

  • 6. September 2023. „Early Modern Religious 'clickbait: Analyzing the Use of Printing and Marketing to Distribute Religious Reports,“ European Association for the Study of Religion, University of Vilnius.
  • 28. June 2023. „Boundary Work and Integration in Reality Shifting: The Appropriation of Spiritual Practices as New Methods and Tools,“ Conference of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism, Malmö University.
  • 29. June 2022. „A Quantum Leap Across Realities: Transformative Experiences as a Tool for Escape,“ European Association for the Study of Religion, University of Cork.
  • With Bastiaan van Rijn. June 17, 2022. “A Harsh Reality: Conceptualizing a New Spiritual Response to Devastating Crises,” Humanities Faculty Symposium, University of Leiden.
  • 3. December 2021. „Narrative ausseralltäglicher Erfahrungen: Visionen, Prophezeiungen und Träume im Kontext wissenschaftlicher Kategorien und frühneuzeitlicher Realitäten,“ Forschungskolloquium des Instituts für Religionswissenschaft, Universität Bern.
  • With Bastiaan van Rijn. 17. September 2021. „Confronting Death: Inspiring Innovation through Interdisciplinary Dialogues,“ Interdisciplinary Dialogues on Death Rituals: Materializing the Absent, Universität Bern.
  • 16. September 2021. „Der Einfluss der pietistischen Weltuntergangsfantasien auf die religiösen Visionen der Neuzeit (1550–1800),“ Deutsche Vereinigung für Religionswissenschaft, Universität Leipzig.
  • 2. September 2021. „Signs of the Times - Investigating the Analytic Concept Behind Resilient Religious Experiences,“ European Association for the Study of Religion, Universität Pisa.
  • 15. May 2020. „Ich sehe was, was du nicht siehst…: Zwischen mittelalterlicher Vision und moderner Nahtoderfahrung – Eine systematische Untersuchung religiöser Erfahrungen zwischen 1500 und 1800,“ Forschungskolloquium des Instituts für Religionswissenschaft, Universität Bern.

Research

Research Interests:

  • Early Modern Visions and Apparitions (1500–1800)
  • Genealogy of Modern Near-death Experiences
  • Death and Dying from the Perspective of the Study of Religion
  • Narratives on Religious Experiences
  • Literature and Religion
     

Research Project:

Narrative außeralltäglicher Erfahrungen:Visionen und Engelserscheinungen im Kontext wissenschaftlicher Kategorien und frühneuzeitlicher Realitäten

CV

Academic Curriculum Vitae

  • 2022–2023: Research member of the SNF project: Experiments with Experience: Experimenting with Religions and Spiritual Practice as Experimentation.
  • Seit 2019: PhD candidate at the Institute for the science of religion, University of Bern.
  • 2018: MA, Religion und Ethik, University of Kiel.