On December 1,  Saakashvili Presidential Library, held Zelimkhan Udzliauri's public lecture -" Western methodology  of  Religious studies  and its relevance for Georgia".

The issue of the lecture was not religion, but "religious studies" as a specialization of Western universities.

Religious Studies, or Religionswissenschaft in German and   Science des Religions in French,  is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions in the universities in Western Europe, the USA and Canada, as well as  in Japan. The methodology is based on a secular, neutral, systematic, cultural and interdisciplinary oriented research, teaching or studying. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.

What shifts can be observed in this regard in the academic system of Georgia? How does the "Science of Religion" comply with the Western paradigm of research and standards of religious issues?  What is the situation in Georgian universities in this regard? ... - The aim of the lecturer was to find answers to these and similar questions.

Zelimkhan Udzilauri   has graduated from Department of Philology of Tbilisi State University (TSU) and Tbilisi Theological Academy (1992).

In 1993-1998, he worked at the department of Theology and Ethics at TSU. For the last 15 years he has been studying and working in Germany.  He received a Master`s Degree in religious studies in Germany.

Zelimkhan Udzilauri  is  a doctoral student at Tubingen University (Germany) and a visiting lecturer at the University of Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani. He is the author of two books.

https://religionswissenschaftgeo.wordpress.com/