Named after the German Orientalist and Prussian Minister of Culture and Education, Carl Heinrich Becker, this lecture shall acquaint, once a year, a broader public with central themes and questions of the research program 'Europe in the Middle East - the Middle East in Europe'.

Carl Heinrich Becker (1876 – 1933) was an Orientalist who is remembered as one of the founders of modern Islamic Studies in Germany and for his vision of entangled Histories and Culture of Europe and the Muslim world. As Prussian Minister of Culture and Education he supported the study of foreign languages, histories and culture as a part of national education and as a means to avoid conflict.

2007
Maria Todorova 
'Historical Legacies Between Europe and the Near East'
You may read her speech and the introduction by Wolf Lepenies here .

2008
Aziz Al-Azmeh 
'Rome, New Rome and Baghdad: Pathways of Late Antiquity' 
His speech and the introduction by Wolf Lepenies are available here .

2009
Abdullahi An-Na'im
'Sharia and the Secular State in the Middle East and Europe' 
Wolfgang Schäuble Federal Minister of Finances (former Federal Minister of the Interior)
'Islam and German Religious Constitutional Law'
Dieter Grimm
'Comment' 
The print version can be seen here
The reports from the German Press can be found here .
Some pictures of the lecture can be found here .

2010
Deniz Kandiyoti
"Islam and the Politics of Gender: Reflections on Afghanistan"