When a Church becomes a Mosque: The former Kapernaumkirche in Hamburg

Maria Grazia Pettersson

doi:10.21697/CSP.2025.29.1.05

Published: 2025-12-27

No. 29 (2025)

When a Church becomes a Mosque: The former Kapernaumkirche in Hamburg

Maria Grazia Pettersson

Christianity-World-Politics

Section: Miscellanea

https://doi.org/10.21697/CSP.2025.29.1.05

Abstract

In most European states, a different legal order applies to the majority church as to religious minorities. Most European states and international law provide legal protection for religious minorities, either within the framework of religious freedom [e.g. art. 18 UDHR] or by specific legislation for numerical minorities [e.g. Capotorti 1979]. This article examines the case of the former Protestant Kapernaumkirche in Hamburg which has been turned into a mosque in order to show what individualisation theory [e.g. Davie 1994; Heelas, Woodhead 2005; Hervieu-Léger 1999, 2000; Cipriani 1999, Knoblauch 1999] can contribute to understand current developments in Europe’s religious landscape, and for assessing the appropriateness of the current legal order for a situation where Christians constitute the numerical majority in Germany, but show low church attendance and decreasing religious belief [Pickel 2018]. Since the church is classified as a monument, even the legal framework of law on monument protection is considered.

Keywords:

privatisation theory, individualisation theory, Islam, Church buildings, mosques

Download files

PDF

Citation rules

Pettersson, M. G. (2025). When a Church becomes a Mosque: The former Kapernaumkirche in Hamburg. Christianity-World-Politics, (29), 121–138. https://doi.org/10.21697/CSP.2025.29.1.05

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

References

Amir-Moazami S. & Salvatore A. (2003), Gender, generation and the reform of tradition: from Muslim majority societies to Western Europe, [in:] S. Allievi & J. Nielsen (eds.), Muslim Networks and Transnational Communities in and across Europe, (pp. 52-77), Brill. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789047401780_006
Google Scholar

Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (German Representative for Culture and Media) (Ed.), (2023), Das Kulturgutschutzgesetz. Kernpunkte.
Google Scholar

Boshammer S. (2003), Gruppen, Rechte, Gerechtigkeit, De Gruyter. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110903218
Google Scholar

Capotorti F. (1979), Study on the Rights of Persons belonging to Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, E/CN.4/Sub.2/384/Rev.1, 1979, New York, United Nations.
Google Scholar

Cesari J. (2004), When Islam and Democracy meet. Muslims in Europe and the United States, Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403978561
Google Scholar

Davie G. (1990), Believing without belonging: is this the future of religion in modern Britain?, "Social Compass", 37(4), 455-469. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/003776890037004004
Google Scholar

Davydov D. (2024), Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege, [in:] Crückeberg J-H., Kalbhenn J. et al. (eds.), Handbuch Kulturpolitik, VS Springer, pp. 999–1012, Wiesbaden. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-34379-8_94
Google Scholar

Fadil N. (2005), Individualizing Faith, Individualizing Identity. Islam and Young Muslim Women in Belgium, [in:] Cesari J., McLoughlin S. (eds.), European Muslims and the Secular State (pp. 143-154), Ashgate.
Google Scholar

Gaudernack D. (2011), Muslimische Kultstätten im öffentlichen Baurecht. Unknown publisher.
Google Scholar

Hammer F. (2000), Die Kirchen im staatlichen öffentlichen Baurecht, "KuR", 179-190 (515), pp. 1-12.
Google Scholar

Jacobsen C. (2006), Staying on the Straight Path. Religious Identities and Practices among young Muslims in Norway, Ph.D. thesis, University of Bergen.
Google Scholar

Jäggi C. (2013), Sakralität im Protestantismus, oder: Wo steckt das Heilige nach der Reformation?, [in:] Beck A., Berndt A. (eds.), Sakralität und Sakralisierung. Perspektiven des Heiligen, pp. 53-71, Franz Steiner Verlag.
Google Scholar

Jeldtoft N. (2011), Lived Islam: religious identity with "non-organized" Muslim minorities, "Ethnic and Racial Studies", 34(7), 1134-1151. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2010.528441
Google Scholar

Knoblauch H. (1991), Die Verflüchtigung der Religion ins Religiöse: Thomas Luckmanns Unsichtbare Religion, [in"] Luckmann T. (Hrsg.), "Die unsichtbare Religion" (S. 7-41), Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. https://nbn-resolving.org/ urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-39141.
Google Scholar

Körs A. (2015), Kirchenumnutzungen aus soziologischer Sicht. Wenn eine Kirche zur Moschee wird und warum dies ein gesellschaftlicher Gewinn sein kann, "Kunst und Kirche" 04/2015, 55-62.
Google Scholar

Lehnhoff B. (2019), Körperschaftsstatus für Islamverbände?, "NDR Kultur" 18/01/2019.
Google Scholar

Mandaville P. (2007), Globalization and the Politics of Religious Knowledge. Pluralizing Authority in the Muslim World, "Theory, Culture and Society" 24(2), 101-115. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276407074998
Google Scholar

Peter F. (2006), Individualization and Religious Authority in Western European Islam, "Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations" 17(1), 105-118. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09596410500400165
Google Scholar

Pickel G. (2018), Säkularisierung, Pluralisierung, Individualisierung. Entwicklung der Religiosität in Deutschland und ihre politischen Implikationen. Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, https://www.bpb.de/shop/zeitschriften/apuz/272103/saekularisierung-pluralisierung-individualisierung (27/11/2025).
Google Scholar

Pollock D., Pickel G. (2007), Religious individualization or secularization? Testing hypotheses of religious change – the case of Western and Eastern Germany, "The British Journal of Sociology" 58(4): 603-632. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2007.00168.x
Google Scholar

Roy O. (2004), Globalized Islam. The Search for a New Ummah, Columbia University Press.
Google Scholar

Sandel M. (2003), Liberalism and the Limits of Justice, [in:] Matravers D., Pike J. (eds.), Debates in Contemporary Political Philosophy (pp. 140-160), Routledge.
Google Scholar

Taylor C. (1992), The Politics of recognition, [in:] Gutmann A. (ed.), Multiculturalism: Examining the politics of recognition (pp. 25-75), Princeton University Press.
Google Scholar

Troidl T. (2012), Wie frei darf Religion sein? Moscheen zwischen Baurecht und Verfassung, Presentation held at the Institut für Weltanschauungsrecht on 14/03/2012 in Oberwesel.
Google Scholar

Vongraven Eriksen E.A. (2020), Continuity and change: Individualization processes in young Muslim women's knowledge acquisition and practice of Islam in Trondheim, Ph.D. thesis: Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim.
Google Scholar

Walzer M. (1983), Spheres of Justice, Basic Books.
Google Scholar

Worthington L. (2015), The Lived Experiences of Progressive Muslims: Exploring the Limits of Individualisation, Ph.D. thesis: The University of Western Sydney.
Google Scholar