Hans Joas

Hans Joas (; ; born November 27, 1948) is a German sociologist and social theorist.

Since 2014, Hans Joas has been Ernst Troeltsch Professor for the Sociology of Religion at the Humboldt University of Berlin. From 2011 until 2014, he was a Permanent Fellow at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS); from 2002 until 2011, he was the Director of the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies at the University of Erfurt. Since 2000, he has also been Visiting Professor of Sociology and Social Thought and a Member of the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. Hans Joas is Ordinary Member of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Life Joas studied sociology, philosophy, history, and German literature at LMU Munich from 1968 to 1971, and at the Free University of Berlin from 1971 to 1972, ultimately obtaining a diploma in sociology. From 1973 to 1977, he was a Wissenschaftlicher Assistent (research and teaching fellow) in the department of sociology at the Free University of Berlin. In 1979, he obtained a Dr. phil. at the Free University of Berlin under the supervision of .

From 1979 to 1983, Hans Joas served as a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Education in Berlin. During this period, he was also a visiting professor at the University of Tübingen from 1980 to 1981. In 1981, he completed his habilitation.

From 1987 to 1990, he held a Professor of Sociology position at the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg. In 1990, Joas joined the Free University of Berlin as a Professor of Sociology, where he remained until 2002. In 1993, Joas was appointed Executive Director of the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies at the Free University of Berlin, a position he held until 1995. During this time, he was also a Fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences and a Visiting Professor at Uppsala University in the spring of 1992. Later, in the fall semester of 1994, he was a Fellow at the Indiana University Institute for Advanced Study in Bloomington, Indiana.

From 2002 to 2011, Joas served as the Director of the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies at the University of Erfurt in Germany. In 2002, he was also a Visiting Professor at the University of Vienna’s Department of Sociology during the fall semester. The following year, from 2004 to 2005, Joas held the prestigious Ernst Cassirer Professorship at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden. During the spring semester of 2014, he was a Fellow at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, holding the Torgny Segerstedt Professorship. In 2012, Joas was the first scholar to be Visiting Professor of the Joseph Ratzinger Pope Benedikt XVI. Foundation at the University of Regensburg. The topic of his lectures was "Sacralization and Secularization". In 2022, Joas was appointed the International Jakob Fugger Visiting Professorship at the University of Augsburg in Germany.

Academic awards 2010: Bielefelder Wissenschaftspreis ("Niklas-Luhmann-Preis"). 2012: Werner Heisenberg medal of the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung. 2012: Doctor honoris causa, University of Tübingen. 2013: Doctor honoris causa, Uppsala University. 2013: Hans-Kilian-Award. 2015: Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award, American Sociological Association, Section History of Sociology. 2015: Max-Planck-Research-Award. 2017: Prix Paul Ricœur. 2017: Meckatzer Philosophy Award 2018: Recipient of the Theological Award Salzburg. 2022: Recipient of the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award of the German Sociological Association. 2022: Doctor honoris causa, Pázmány Péter Catholic University in Budapest. 2024: Foreign corresponding member of the Accademia delle Scienze dell'Istituto di Bologna. 2024: Appointment as Commander of the Pontifical Order of St. Gregory