Abstract

How can literature and religion be understood together from a religious studies perspective? One possibility for a comparative basis is the social-ethical self-understanding that takes places within the literary medium. As an example of religious literature, the Book of Revelation is compared to Henning Mankell's contemporary crime fiction. The choice of,,apocalyptic" models in their literary and pragmatic form is suitable for religious and socio-crime literature to analyze the state of their respective periods and to socialize certain behavior through the reading experience. Moreover, the essay provides an excurse on literature in European religious history and uses methodological theses to show interpretation as criminological,,investigation".