In July 2025, the annual Frankfurt Summer School for Early Modern History, supported by the POLY Research Group, took place on the Westend Campus of the Goethe University. Escalations, it seems, are fuelled by a logic of retaliation that is still often associated with the supposed dogmatism of pre-modern religiosity. However, since phenomena such as religious ambiguity and interdenominationalism have come under discussion, alternative interpretations have become conceivable. Could religion even help to defuse conflicts? This and more was the aim of this year’s Summer
School “Religion und Eskalation” on the History of the Early Modern Period at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. H-Soz-Kult has published a report on the event, written by Niklas Amerongen. If you are interested in reading more, you can access it here (in German).