Tag Archives: Judaism

Upcoming Lecture: “Di­a­spora Na­tion; or, What is the Jews?” and Workshop on Gender and Religious Identity

You may be interested in the following upcoming public  Collegium Lecture in Helsinki at the Helsinki Collegium of Advanced Studies. The theme of the lecture is very much relevant also to CSTT related research.

“Di­a­spora Na­tion; or, What is the Jews?” by Daniel Boyarin, Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture and rhetoric, UC Berkeley.

Time: Monday, May 27 at 5 pm (with re­cep­tion)

Venue: Uni­versity of Helsinki Main Build­ing, Small Hall (Fa­bi­aninkatu 33, 4th floor)

De­scrip­tion:

In this lecture, I will contend that the binary opposition: The Jews is a religion/The Jews is a nation is based on a false dichotomy. It is further flawed by the assumption that nation is tantamount to nation-state such that only the option “religion” constitutes an oppositional position vis-a-vis a Jewish nation state. I will discuss scholarship that proves definitively that many–if not most–early Zionist political thought did not involve the building of a state. The bulk of the lecture will outline the idea of a Diaspora Nation as the once and (possible) future for the continued existence of the Jews.

For more information about the event and the speaker, visit the Helsinki Collegium of Advanced Studies website.

Workshop: Gender and Religious Identity

There will also be a workshop before the lecture on May 27 organized in honour of the visit by Boyarin. The theme is Gender and Religious Identity, and speakers include Martti Nissinen, Saana Svärd, Outi Lehtipuu, and many others. The workshop is open for all: for more information click here.

The Program of the Workshop:

9.00: Martti Nissinen, HY: The Agency of the Female Prophets of the Hebrew Bible: Independent or Instrumental? Prophetic or Political?

9.30: Saana Svärd, HY: Studying Gender in the Ancient Near East

10.00: Outi Lehtipuu, HY: “No Male and Female”: Gender and the Rhetoric of Recognition in Early Christianity

10.30-11.00 Coffee break

11.00: Susanna Asikainen, HY: Investigating Emphasized Femininities in the Rewritten Biblical Narratives

11.30: Katharina Keim, Lund: Women and Gender in Pirqei deRabbi Eliezer

12.00-13.00: Lunch break

13.00-1530: Re­li­gious iden­tity ses­sion

13.00: Antti Vanhoja & Nina Nikki, HY: Paulinism and Anti-Paulinism: Cultural Evolutionary Perspectives

13.30: Pekka Lindqvist, ÅA: Confrontations and Exegesis in Early Judaism

14.00-14.30: Coffee break

14.30: Maijastina Kahlos, HY: Pagans, Heretics, or Sorcerers? Labels and Identities in Local Religion in the Fifth Century CE

15.00: Riikka Tuori, HY: Karaite Identity in Early Modern Europe

 

The cover picture is from the Diaspora Museum, Tel Aviv – en:Beit Hatefutsot. Exhibit showing “One culture:Many facets. The growth of pluralism in modern jewish spiritual life.” By Sodabottle / Wikimedia Commons.

Workshop with Prof. Judith H. Newman (14 Oct, Helsinki)

You are warmly invited to attend a workshop with Prof. Judith H. Newman on “Scribal Bodies as Liturgical Bodies: The Formation of Scriptures in Early Judaism”, to be held Friday, 14 October from 9:30-11:30 in Porthania Building lecture room P724 (7th floor of Yliopistonkatu 3). The workshop is open to all scholars and students interested in Second Temple Judaism and transmission of literary traditions.

Judith H. Newman is Associate Pjudy-newmanrofessor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible at Emmanuel College and holds a joint appointment with the Department for the Study of Religion in the area of early Judaism and a cross-appointment to the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto. She is also a faculty member of the Centre for Jewish Studies.

Prof. Newman specializes in the Hebrew Bible as well as Jewish literature of the Second Temple period. Her current research interests are in the ritual performance of texts particularly as this intersects with the formation of communities in early Judaism and Christianity. She is also interested in the development of scripture, early biblical interpretation, as well as method in the study of the Bible and early Judaism and Christianity. Emerging projects include work on literature of the Hasmonean period, particularly the book of Judith; and a study of time, temporality, and liturgy.

Conference program: “The Synagogue in Ancient Palestine” (Helsinki, Sept 21-24, 2016)

The program for the conference “The Synagogue in Ancient Palestine: Current Issues and Emerging Trends” is now available. The conference will be held from Wednesday 21 September to Saturday 24 September 2016 and includes speakers from Finland, Norway, Russia, the Netherlands, United States, Canada, Israel and Slovakia. Continue reading Conference program: “The Synagogue in Ancient Palestine” (Helsinki, Sept 21-24, 2016)

Call for Papers: “The Synagogue in Ancient Palestine” (Helsinki, 22-24 Sept 2016)

CALL FOR PAPERS
The Synagogue in Ancient Palestine:  Current Issues and Emerging Trends
22–24 September 2016, University of Helsinki

*Feel free to forward this message to anyone who might be interested*

CFP Synagogue conferenceThe study of synagogues in ancient Palestine is flourishing more than ever. In the last decade at least four synagogues — one from the Late Second Temple-period (Magdala) and three dating to Late Antiquity (Kh. Wadi Hamam, Horvat Kur, Huqoq) — have been exposed by different archaeological expeditions. There is a thriving debate among scholars regarding the functioning and significance of these buildings within the Jewish communities of Palestine. Another continuing debate among archaeologists is the identification and dating of the exposed architectural remains. The excavations of the three above-mentioned late-antique synagogues have exposed richly decorated mosaic floors, which has added to our knowledge of the development of Jewish art. The Synagogue in Ancient Palestine. Current Issues and Emerging Trends provides an opportunity for scholars working on synagogues to discuss current issues in the field.
Four keynote speakers are confirmed: Jodi Magness is Kenan Distinguished Professor for Teaching Excellence in Early Judaism, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and director of the Huqoq excavations. Karen Stern Gabbay is Assistant Professor of History, Brooklyn College, and specialized in the cultural identity and material culture of Jewish population in the Greco-Roman world. Zeev Weiss is Eleazar L. Sukenik Professor of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and director of the Sepphoris excavations. Jürgen Zangenberg holds the Chair for History and Culture of Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, Leiden University, and is director of the Horvat Kur excavations.

We invite papers that evaluate and integrate both textual and archaeological approaches to the synagogue in ancient Palestine and discuss some of the following issues in synagogue studies: The origins and development of synagogue(s); Questions of dating; Archaeology of Galilean and Judean synagogues including the most recent archaeological findings; Synagogue art and architecture; The synagogue within the Jewish community; Synagogues and Christian communities; Methodology; The history of synagogue research in the context of the early modern and current political situation. We encourage also papers from doctoral students.

Please send your abstract of 250–400 words, along with your name, institution, e-mail and tentative title, by Tuesday 15 March 2016 to Rick Bonnie, rick.bonnie@helsinki.fi.

The conference will be held at the University of Helsinki, 22–24 September 2016. There is no registration fee, but participants must cover their own travel and accommodation costs. The conference is organized by Rick Bonnie, Raimo Hakola, and Ulla Tervahauta, Faculty of Theology, University of Helsinki.

The conference is funded by the Centre of Excellence in Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions and the Centre of Excellence in Reason and Religious Recognition, both Faculty of Theology, University of Helsinki. The conference is organized in co-operation with the Foundation of the Finnish Institute in the Middle East.