The generation and exchange of knowledge plays a prominent role in Mediterranean and European cultural and religious history. Relations between master and disciples and between teachers and students are especially significant in this context. This volume - with contributions from the disciplines of classical studies, Arabic studies, Jewish studies, theology, religious science, educational science, psychology, and literary and cultural studies - offers a selection of possible perspectives and approaches to this topic. It presents roles, models and concepts of master/follower relationships within different religions, religious or para-religious movements and communities and their milieus as well as intellectual forms of association from Ancient Greece to the present day. The contributions deal for example with terminologies and narratives, teaching and leadership concepts, forms of presentation of the self and others, strategies in the construction of authority and the different effects of charisma.