Collection

The documentation centre ‘Religious and ideological pluralism in Germany’ collects and catalogues source material on various religious and ideological communities in German-speaking countries. The focus is on groups and movements that exist alongside the established churches.

Introducing the documentation centre

Introducing the documentation centre

Ist das Wissenschaft oder kann das weg?

Religious and Ideological Pluralism in Germany

The collection is concentrated above all on those religious and ideological groups and movements which exist alongside the established churches and recognised religions. It focuses on original materials published by the respective movements, communities and institutions themselves – such as books and magazines, but above all “grey literature” like brochures and leaflets, event programmes, circulars and other letters, posters and audiovisual media.

The archive gathers material from about 470 religious or ideological communities, religious and philosophical associations and publishing houses. Over 20,000 documents have been catalogued to date. The archive also regularly receives and stores almost 200 journals, magazines and newsletters. The source material is supplemented by a collection of secondary literature – mostly from state and university institutions that publish on the subject.

Since 2023, a religious and ideological game collection has been under construction with over 30 board and card games at this time.

Our portfolio groups:

  • Christian churches, free churches and associations
  • New religious movements
  • Theosophy and anthroposophy
  • Muslim organisations
  • Jewish organisations
  • Buddhist organisations
  • Hindu organisations
  • Bahá'í organisations
  • Non-denominational and freethought organisations
  • (Neo-)Pagan organisations
  • Esotericism/Spiritism/New Age
  • Astrology
  • Other (UFO groups and others)

You can find a detailed overview of our stocks in the  stock overview. 

If you are interested in familiarising yourself with the Kalliope database and getting an overview of our already registered materials, follow the steps in our Kalliope Union Catalogue Guide.


We are always grateful to receive donations of materials relating to our collection areas.

It is possible to complete an internship in the documentation centre as part of a Bachelor's degree in Religious Studies.

Module recognition

300 hours = 10 credit points

150 hours = 5 credit points

Please send your application with a CV in tabular form and a short letter of motivation (maximum 1 A4 page) to Prof. Schüler.

„Kleine Religionen” revisited!

In the winter semester 2018/19 and summer semester 2019, Bachelor's students of religious studies were given the opportunity to spend a semester researching documents on selected religious communities.

The project was led by Dr Sabrina Weiß and Tom Pürschel and was funded by the BMBF and Laboruni Leipzig.

The aim was to familiarise Bachelor students with the research process at an early stage of their academic training: Setting up and using a university archive, researching and preparing source material, developing research questions, working together in a team, communicating with interested third parties and presenting the results to the public in a university setting are among them.

Here are the results: