Religious Studies Blog

REL Professor Presents Research at University of Heidelberg

by

by Stephen C. Berkwitz

Dr. Stephen Berkwitz, MSU Religious Studies Department Head, in Heidelberg this summer
Dr. Stephen Berkwitz, MSU Religious Studies Department Head, in Heidelberg this summer

Prof. Stephen C. Berkwitz gave a presentation and led a seminar in June 2013 at the invitation of the Material Text Cultures Research Group at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He presented research he has done on palm leaf manuscripts from Sri Lanka to a groups of faculty and graduate students. His presentation “The Contingencies and Processes of Buddhist Manuscripts from Sri Lanka” analyzed the effects that the material forms of texts have on their meanings and uses. The seminar he led probed further into the particularities of palm leaf Buddhist manuscripts and their place in the textual history of Buddhism.