Biography and Religion

On 10 November 2009, an international symposium on 'Biography and Religion', on the significance of the life narratives of religious founding figures, took place in the Oratory of the Austrian National Library.  The focus was on biographical constructions of religious life narratives and their influence on individual life choices. In seven papers and a roundtable, experts from Jewish Studies, Islamic Studies, Theology and Cultural Studies debated the extent to which biographies in religious contexts offer a guide as well as a revelation for believers, what significance is attached to the life stories of prophets, or where the need to verify the historical authenticity of the lives of religious figures comes from.  

The symposium, which was organized by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for the History and Theory of Biography in cooperation with the Austrian National Library, sparked great media interest. A volume containing extended versions of the symposium papers is being prepared for publication.