We have recently received the pleasant news that the Academy of Finland has granted Elisa Uusimäki, a postdoctoral researcher in CSTT’s team 4, a 3-year postdoctoral fellowship. 

About Elisa Uusimäki’s project

Wisdom and Paideia: A Study on Hellenistic Jewish Sages
The project investigates pedagogical ideals and culture of education (paideia) in Hellenistic Judaism in the light of the ancient literary descriptions of the figure of the sage (?akam/ho sofos). Jewish education is analysed as part of the wider Hellenistic world with an aim to clarify how Jewish notions of wise life were transmitted and shaped in the intermingling of Hebrew and Greek cultures. The selected sources consist of Hebrew and Greek Jewish teachings that were written in Judea and Alexandria in the late Second Temple era. Thus, the project deconstructs established boundaries between areas of research that are anachronistic and non-legitimate in the ancient context. It opens a fresh approach to the study of wisdom tradition and produces new knowledge about the multicultural roots of the western civilisation. Research will be performed in the Department of Biblical Studies at the University of Helsinki, but it includes research visits to the universities of Yale and Groningen.

About the Academy of Finland’s postdoctoral funding

The Academy of Finland’s Research Council for Culture and Society has granted funding to 20 new Academy Research Fellows and 30 new Postdoctoral Researchers. The Research Council’s total funding for these research posts was nearly 16 million euros.

The aim of the three-year funding for research posts as Postdoctoral Researcher is to advance the professional competence of the most promising researchers who have recently earned their doctorate.

Further information: Academy of Finland