^aCentre for Intercultural Studies, Fachbereich Erziehungswissenschaft, University of Hamburg, Edmund Siemers Allee 1, Hamburg 201 46, Germany. E-mail: mitchell@erzwiss.uni-hamburg.de

Abstract

In order to defend their place in the university, departments of Theology and Religion point to the way in which they model the multicultural ideal. At the University of Hamburg, an initiative to establish a Chair in Islamic Theology has argued for the social necessity of promoting the study of minority religions. Although there is a problem with defining minorities in exclusively religious categories, the initiative does open possibilities for a field of study which is self-critical and participatory.