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Florian Ruf

Working Area Ancient Church History

PhD student (06/2017-12/2020)

in sub-project G1
Otium – a Cultural Transfer between East and West. Transformations of Asceticism and Monasticism


Dissertation project

Based on different versions of Barlaam and Josaphat, this project examined representations of otiose leisure in culturally diverse region. As the novel has different varieties suited to its specific religious context, Barlaam and Josaphat represents different versions of the Buddha legend that came to the Middle East through Manichaean mediation. The novel is of particular importance since figures from a strictly monastic and ascetic context also play a major role and therefore offer an auxiliary category in the conceptual exploration of otium and theoria in philosophical-theological terms. It is precisely these figures and their background that make the novel an important testimony to the development of conceptions of otium and theoria under the conditions of cultural transfer.

The dissertation was handed in in August 2020.


Publications relevant to the project

Search for publications in the CRC's bibliography