Albrecht Classen

About

Dr. Albrecht Classen is a distinguished professor at the University of Arizona with a Ph.D. in German from the University of Virginia. His extensive academic background includes graduate studies at the University of Oxford and various international summer programs, reflecting a strong foundation in German studies, history, and pedagogy. Over the years, Dr. Classen has developed a multifaceted teaching and research career, focusing on medieval, renaissance, and reformation studies, as well as German language and literature. He has held numerous faculty and visiting professor positions worldwide, including appointments in Germany, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and other countries, demonstrating his global engagement in his field. His teaching portfolio includes directing multiple summer travel courses in medieval Europe and involvement in study abroad programs, emphasizing experiential learning and international scholarship. Dr. Classen's professional affiliations span several interdisciplinary fields, including Judaic Studies, Religious Studies, and LGBT Studies, highlighting his broad scholarly interests. He has contributed significantly to the academic community through roles such as faculty advisor for student organizations and professional development consultant for the American Association of Teachers of German. His research and teaching often intersect with cultural, social, and literary aspects of the medieval and early modern periods, as evidenced by his…

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• History
• Law
• Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Ancient history
• Linguistics
• Epistemology
• Demography

Selected publications

• Religious Toleration in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age

  2020 · 8 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  DOI

• Global Travel in the Late Middle Ages: The Eyewitness Account of Johann Schiltberger

  The Medieval History Journal · 2020 · 5 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Recent discussions have centred intensively on the question how to establish new cultural–historical perspectives that are no longer Eurocentric. Mediaevalists and Early Modernists have strongly endeavoured to grasp and to realise Global Mediaeval and Early Modern Studies, but despite many efforts, we are not easily getting away from traditional approaches, especially because many of our sources do not lend themselves quite so easily for that task. Whereas previous scholars have turned their att…

  DOI

• Transdisciplinarity—A Bold Way into the Academic Future, from a European Medievalist Perspective and or the Rediscovery of Philology?

  Humanities · 2021 · 4 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  This essay examines the challenges and opportunities provided by transdisciplinarity from the point of view of medieval literature. This approach is situated within the universal framework of General Education or Liberal Arts, which in turn derives its essential inspiration from medieval and ancient learning. On the one hand, the various recent efforts to work transdisciplinarily are outlined and discussed; on the other, a selection of medieval narratives and one modern German novel plus one eig…

  DOI

• The Early Novel in the History of Pre-Modern German LiteratureThe Emergence of a New Genre During the Transition from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern Period

  Current Research Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities · 2026-01-05 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Since the early fifteenth century, prose gained the upper hand also in the field of fictional narratives. Before then, all romances, short narratives, and other fictional texts had been composed in verse to facilitate the oral presentation with musical accompaniment. Of course, in theology, philosophy, law, and medicine, for instance, prose had always been the dominant mode, but not in literature. This transformation can be observed all over late medieval Europe, and so also in the German-langua…

  PublisherDOI

• AI as an Indicator of the Current Paradigm Shift in Upper-Level Education: Problems and Responses

  Current Research Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities · 2025-07-15 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Everyone involved in teaching at virtually all levels faces fundamental challenges today because of Artificial Intelligence (AI) which is already with us and cannot be wished away. Instead, it causes a paradigm shift, and the crucial question is not whether we can block AI or not, whether we should employ it in teaching or not, but rather how we individually and collectively respond to its impact in the educational environment. Neither students nor instructors are fully cognizant of what the fut…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Diane Auslander

  45 shared

• Linda Brown

  36 shared

• Kathryn Rudy

  Western Connecticut State University

  36 shared

• Bernardino Luini

  36 shared

• Friedrich Hegel

  36 shared

• Katharina Mcmillin

  University of Notre Dame

  36 shared

• Georg Wilhelm

  36 shared

• Renaissance Painting

  University of Arizona

  36 shared

Awards & honors

• Bundesverdienstkreuz am Band (Order of Merit) (2004)
• Honorary Member of Golden Key International Honour Society,…
• Excellence in Academic Advising Faculty Advisor Award (2015)
• Five Star Faculty Award (2009)
• Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching 2012 Ari…

Similar researchers at University of Arizona

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• Peter M Eckeh-11
• Chantelle Warnerh-10