Tag Archives: Featured

Events

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.

Events

Conference “Religion and Empire in the First Millennium BCE Levant” (Beirut, Oct. 22-25)

A conference jointly sponsored by the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in “Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions” at the University of Helsinki (CSTT), the Finnish Institute in the Middle East (FIME), and the Department of History and Archaeology at the American University of Beirut (AUB). Continue reading Conference “Religion and Empire in the First Millennium BCE Levant” (Beirut, Oct. 22-25) →

Events

Workshop on Mortuary Rituals (Oct 27-28, Helsinki)

On October 27-28, 2016, there will be a workshop on mortuary rituals taking place at the University of Helsinki. The workshop is organised by the Centre of Excellence in Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions  and the Nordic project on Ritual and the Emergence of Early Christian Religion: A Socio-Cognitive Analysis. The venues are at the Faculty of Theology, Fabianinkatu 24, 5th floor. Please find the preliminary program below. For further information, please contact: Anne Katrine de Hemmer Gudme (anne.gudme@helsinki.fi) or Kirsi Valkama (kirsi.valkama@helsinki.fi).

Continue reading Workshop on Mortuary Rituals (Oct 27-28, Helsinki) →

Education, Publications

Scriptural Interpretation and Research Cooperation within Helsinki’s Centres of Excellence

By Anna-Liisa Tolonen & Elisa Uusimäki

The two Centres of Excellence at the Faculty of Theology – Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions and Reason and Religious Recognition – are characteristically interdisciplinary. Thus, the research conducted should not only be of high quality within specific disciplines, but also reflective of cooperation that breaks down boundaries between fields. Having both of these goals as our aims, we should strive to deepen and broaden our notions of, for example, historical phenomena, philosophical concepts, or the meanings of “holy scriptures” within ever-changing religious traditions. Continue reading Scriptural Interpretation and Research Cooperation within Helsinki’s Centres of Excellence →

Events

Call for papers: “Second Workshop on Gender, Methodology and the Ancient Near East” (Barcelona, 1-3 Feb 2017)

Group photo of participants in the first meeting in Helsinki, 2014.
Group photo of participants in the first meeting in Helsinki, 2014.

Organisers: Agnès Garcia-Ventura (“Sapienza”, Università degli Studi di Roma / IPOA, Universitat de Barcelona) & Saana Svärd (University of Helsinki)

When and where: IPOA, Universitat de Barcelona (Spain), February 1-3 2017

Hosts: IPOA, Universitat de Barcelona / Centre of Excellence in Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions, University of Helsinki Continue reading Call for papers: “Second Workshop on Gender, Methodology and the Ancient Near East” (Barcelona, 1-3 Feb 2017) →

Events

Sisälle Septuagintaan -symposium (ke 28.9. – to 29.9.2016)

Ke 28.9. – to 29.9.2016 (Helsingin yliopiston päärakennuksessa)

Sisälle Septuagintaan -symposium on kaikille maailman ensimmäisestä raamatunkäännöksestä kiinnostuneille tarkoitettu kaksipäiväinen tapahtuma. Luvassa on ajankohtaista tietoa Septuagintan kielestä, tutkimuksesta sekä tapauskertomuksia eri kirjoista. Esitelmien pitäjät ovat alan erityisasiantuntijoita professoreista tohtorikoulutettaviin, oman yliopistomme edustajia muutamin kansainvälisin vahvistuksin. Symposiumin päättää Anneli Aejmelaeuksen jäähyväisluento. Continue reading Sisälle Septuagintaan -symposium (ke 28.9. – to 29.9.2016) →

General

We’re hiring! New research positions at the CSTT (and others)

The CSTT is seeking enthusiastic candidates for several fixed-term positions of University researchers, Postdoctoral researchers and Doctoral students. The university and postdoctoral researcher positions are for periods ranging from one to three years. The period of the doctoral student positions may range from one to four years.

For more information on how to apply, please visit the University of Helsinki website. The deadline for the application is Sunday 18 September 2016.

It should also be noted that our cooperation partner, the Centre of Excellence in Reason and Religious Recognition, also has various research positions open. To see them follow the same link above.

Publications

New Book “Being a Man: Negotiating Ancient Constructs of Masculinity” (Routledge, 2016)

Being a Man: Negotiating Ancient Constructs of Masculinity (London: Routledge, 2016) is the first-ever collection of essays on masculinity in the ancient Near Eastern textual and iconographical sources. It is a formative work which reveals the myriad and complex negotiations for constructionsBeing a Man_cover 1 of masculine identities in the greater ancient Near East and beyond. Through a juxtaposition of studies into Neo-Assyrian artistic representations and omens, biblical hymns and narrative, Hittite, Akkadian, and Indian epic, as well as detailed linguistic studies on gender and sex in the Sumerian and Hebrew languages, the book challenges traditional understandings and assumed homogeneity for what it meant “to be a man” in antiquity. Being a Man is an indispensable resource for students of the ancient Near East, and a fascinating study for anyone with an interest in gender and sexuality throughout history. Continue reading New Book “Being a Man: Negotiating Ancient Constructs of Masculinity” (Routledge, 2016) →

Publications

New Book: “Turning Proverbs towards Torah” (Brill, 2016)

In Tuntitledurning Proverbs towards Torah, Elisa Uusimäki offers the first monograph on the early Jewish wisdom text 4Q525 from Qumran. Following the reconstruction of the fragmentary manuscript, Uusimäki analyses the text with a focus on the reception and renewal of the Proverbs tradition and the ways in which 4Q525 illustrates aspects of Jewish pedagogy in the late Second Temple period. She argues that the author was inspired by Proverbs 1-9 but sought to demonstrate that true wisdom is found in the concept of torah. He also weaved dualistic elements and eschatological ideas into the wisdom frame. The author’s intention, Uusimäki argues, is to form the audience spiritually, encouraging it to trust in divine protection and blessings that are bestowed upon the pious.

READERSHIP:
All interested in wisdom texts (esp. the Proverbs tradition), Jewish pedagogy in the second temple era, Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient scriptural interpretation, identity construction in early Judaism, and material reconstruction.

For more information see http://www.brill.com/products/book/turning-proverbs-towards-torah