Dieses interdisziplinäre und internationale Drittmittelprojekt widmet sich der Erforschung und He... more Dieses interdisziplinäre und internationale Drittmittelprojekt widmet sich der Erforschung und Herausgabe der Schriften der jüdischen Autorin Leokadia Justman (1924–2002, verheiratet Lorraine Justman-Wisnicki), besonders der autobiographischen Erinnerungen ihres Überlebens des Holocaust in Polen und in den Regionen Seefeld, Innsbruck und Zell am See, niedergeschrieben teils auf Polnisch 1945/46 und auf Englisch 1963, in einer stark gekürzten und überarbeiteten Fassung publiziert 2003 (In Quest for Life – Ave Pax). Dieses einzigartige Dokument zur Tiroler Regionalgeschichte 1943–1946 ist zugleich die wichtigste Quelle für die Aktivitäten von fünf in Tirol tätigen Polizisten und drei Frauen, die seit 1980 als Gerechte unter den Völkern in Yad Vashem (Jerusalem) anerkannt sind. https://www.uibk.ac.at/de/projects/leokadia-justman/
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 challenges memory studies to analyze transmissions of discou... more Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 challenges memory studies to analyze transmissions of discourses which justify mass violence and challenge the focus on denial. On the one hand, the Russian regime's claim to undertake "denazification" and prevent a "genocide" expounds the seminal role of cultural memory in politics. The weaponization of history, international law, and religion is widely accepted in Russian society and by global populisms. On the other hand, the invasion came as a surprise even to many experts because in politics, media, and research, justifications of mass violence are often dismissed as pretexts distracting from facts. Yet, the dismissal entails a major lacuna: we know too little about how justifications travel through societies and have a long-term impact. The article proposes that while acts of mass violence alter political and socioeconomic realities, justifications of mass violence establish the linguistic and heuristic parameter for their subsequent juridical, moral, and scholarly evaluation. Normalizations of justifications contribute to perpetuating societal fault lines and set the frame for further conflict. The memory studies focus on transgenerational transmissions of psycho-social sequalae of violence laid the groundwork for understanding longue durée transmissions. However, memory studies have focused on denial as a key psychological and political driving force of transmissions, while, for instance, Russian and Serbian memory cultures are shaped by both denial and outright affirmations-not-even-denial-of past mass violence as model for present politics. Memory studies provide the appropriate conceptual space as a framework for addressing implicit normalizations and explicit affirmations of justifications of mass violence.
Mass violence—killings and other forms of violence that aim at exterminating large groups of peop... more Mass violence—killings and other forms of violence that aim at exterminating large groups of people—is often called a tragedy. The trope can be found in testimonies of victimization, justifications of perpetration, journalistic, political, and academic language as well as in popular parlance. The article examines the divergent usages of the travelling trope of tragedy with particular emphasis on its role in forming justificatory discourse. The issue at stake is that the trope of tragedy does not remain confined to outright justifications such as juridical legitimization, moral vindication, political propaganda etc., but permeates condemnation and critique as well. The rationale of the analysis is that justifications of acts of mass violence that are negotiated in key areas of the cultural canon give a culturally specific, often identificatory, meaning to acts that are, from a critical perspective, mostly either considered senseless or comprehended in economic and sociopolitical terms. Yet it is largely owing to justificatory discourses that acts of mass violence do not remain single, exorbitant events, but have a lasting impact by shaping the linguistic and heuristic framework of their subsequent evaluation. When condemnation and critique adopt these terminologies and frameworks—such as the notion of purity underlying the term ‘ethnic cleansing’, or the ethnopolitical paradigm informing the concept of genocide—this effects an uneasy mimetic participation in transmitting justifications of mass violence. The trope of tragedy makes it possible to address the issue of mimetic participation by drawing attention to the audience as an indispensable element of the discourse.
This article investigates the justifications of mass violence in Deuteronomistic historiography t... more This article investigates the justifications of mass violence in Deuteronomistic historiography through the lens of cultural trauma. The analysis concentrates on the representation and justification of mass violence, that is, mass killings and other forms of violence against noncombatants, in Israel's conquest of the promised land in the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua as well as during the loss of the land at the hand of the Assyrian and Babylonian armies, as narrated in 2 Kings 17-25. A comparison of these texts and their respective historical backgrounds helps to profile the contrasts and continuities between them. Trauma theory sheds light on both narratives as media to recover agency and to reconstruct collective identity for emerging Judaism via the historiographical representation of cultural trauma.
Resumen: Este artículo relaciona la teoría de la memoria cultural, con especial referencia a la o... more Resumen: Este artículo relaciona la teoría de la memoria cultural, con especial referencia a la obra de Jan y Aleida Assmann, con los rituales sacramentales. En particular, hace hincapié en el entrelazamiento de los textos sagrados con los ritos que hacen especialmente eficaz la transmisión de la memoria cultural. Mediante el análisis de las instituciones del pésaj en el Éxodo 12 y de la eucaristía en el Nuevo Testamento, especialmente en 1 Corintios 11 y Lucas 22, el artículo demuestra varios rasgos lingüísticos comunes como requisitos previos para la actualización de la celebración. Los escenarios narrativos de las instituciones en el éxodo y en la pasión de Jesús muestran que tanto el pésaj como la eucaristía transmiten la memoria del trauma cultural y su transformación resiliente. Ambos rituales han acompañado al judaísmo y al cristianismo como compañeros de migración a lo largo de la historia.
Long after critical scholarship began to question the attribution of the Pentateuch's authorship ... more Long after critical scholarship began to question the attribution of the Pentateuch's authorship to Moses, the Decalogue was one of the last strongholds to which scholars retreated to maintain the dignity of its Mosaic origin (see, e.g., the report in Matthes 1904, 17-20). An example of this idealistic conception of an original Mosaic Urdekalog is found in Geschichte des Volkes Israel bis Christus by Heinrich Ewald (1845, 148-159). According to Ewald, the differences between the Decalogue's versions in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 allow for the elimination of the secondary expansions found mainly in the theological motivations of the commandments (Ewald 1845, 149). While the received versions have encouraged diverse traditions for counting the Commandments, the original Decalogue must have been marked by a clear structure of exactly ten commandments, evenly distributed on the two tablets (149-153; cf., similarly, Peters 1886). This view may well have been influenced by the iconic representation of the Mosaic tablets, especially since the Reformation (e.g., Mochizuki 2006). The introductory words, "I am Yhwh, your God," which also mark the conclusion of the supposedly ancient commandments in Leviticus 18 and 19, are evidence of the deepest prophetic sentiment of Moses: his voice disappears behind the divine utterance (Ewald 1845, 154-155). Similar scholarly attitudes are seen behind the version of the Decalogue preserved in the Shapira Manuscripts (the available copies are edited in Dershowitz 2021, esp. 160f., 171f.) that supposedly came into possession of Moses Wilhelm Shapira in 1878 (Dershowitz 2021, 2). The version of the Ten Commandments preserved in this text contains neither explanatory additions nor doublets: it renders only one prohibition of false swearing and one of coveting; at the end, it adds "thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart" (Lev. 19:17). The commandments are perfectly structured into ten, each marked by the conclusory formula "I am Elohim your God," which authenticates this Decalogue as Mosaic according to Ewald's criteria. The formula constructs an Elohistic version of the Decalogue, mechanically replacing the tetragrammaton with "Elohim" (cf. comparable formulations in the Elohistic Psalter: Ps. 43:4, 45:8, etc.). This reflects the idea of an attribution of the Decalogue to an Elohistic source, which Julius Wellhausen (1876, 557, 564f.) proposed. Through an idiosyncratic conflation of nineteenth-century views on the Decalogue, the Shapira Manuscripts' Decalogue tried to convince contemporary scholars that it was an authentic, ancient, or even Mosaic, version of this text (on this case of forgery, see Hendel/Richelle 2021)."
Both the idea of divine law and the development of monotheism are specific and decisive elements ... more Both the idea of divine law and the development of monotheism are specific and decisive elements in the history of religion attested by the Hebrew Bible. This article presents an analysis of Deuteronomy 4, the only text in the Hebrew Bible in which the revelation of divine law and an explicit monotheistic claim are systematically related. Compared to the conceptions of law in the ancient Near East and ancient Greece, Deuteronomy 4 is shown to have made an important contribution to the specific identity of emergent Judaism.
Dieses interdisziplinäre und internationale Drittmittelprojekt widmet sich der Erforschung und He... more Dieses interdisziplinäre und internationale Drittmittelprojekt widmet sich der Erforschung und Herausgabe der Schriften der jüdischen Autorin Leokadia Justman (1924–2002, verheiratet Lorraine Justman-Wisnicki), besonders der autobiographischen Erinnerungen ihres Überlebens des Holocaust in Polen und in den Regionen Seefeld, Innsbruck und Zell am See, niedergeschrieben teils auf Polnisch 1945/46 und auf Englisch 1963, in einer stark gekürzten und überarbeiteten Fassung publiziert 2003 (In Quest for Life – Ave Pax). Dieses einzigartige Dokument zur Tiroler Regionalgeschichte 1943–1946 ist zugleich die wichtigste Quelle für die Aktivitäten von fünf in Tirol tätigen Polizisten und drei Frauen, die seit 1980 als Gerechte unter den Völkern in Yad Vashem (Jerusalem) anerkannt sind. https://www.uibk.ac.at/de/projects/leokadia-justman/
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 challenges memory studies to analyze transmissions of discou... more Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 challenges memory studies to analyze transmissions of discourses which justify mass violence and challenge the focus on denial. On the one hand, the Russian regime's claim to undertake "denazification" and prevent a "genocide" expounds the seminal role of cultural memory in politics. The weaponization of history, international law, and religion is widely accepted in Russian society and by global populisms. On the other hand, the invasion came as a surprise even to many experts because in politics, media, and research, justifications of mass violence are often dismissed as pretexts distracting from facts. Yet, the dismissal entails a major lacuna: we know too little about how justifications travel through societies and have a long-term impact. The article proposes that while acts of mass violence alter political and socioeconomic realities, justifications of mass violence establish the linguistic and heuristic parameter for their subsequent juridical, moral, and scholarly evaluation. Normalizations of justifications contribute to perpetuating societal fault lines and set the frame for further conflict. The memory studies focus on transgenerational transmissions of psycho-social sequalae of violence laid the groundwork for understanding longue durée transmissions. However, memory studies have focused on denial as a key psychological and political driving force of transmissions, while, for instance, Russian and Serbian memory cultures are shaped by both denial and outright affirmations-not-even-denial-of past mass violence as model for present politics. Memory studies provide the appropriate conceptual space as a framework for addressing implicit normalizations and explicit affirmations of justifications of mass violence.
Mass violence—killings and other forms of violence that aim at exterminating large groups of peop... more Mass violence—killings and other forms of violence that aim at exterminating large groups of people—is often called a tragedy. The trope can be found in testimonies of victimization, justifications of perpetration, journalistic, political, and academic language as well as in popular parlance. The article examines the divergent usages of the travelling trope of tragedy with particular emphasis on its role in forming justificatory discourse. The issue at stake is that the trope of tragedy does not remain confined to outright justifications such as juridical legitimization, moral vindication, political propaganda etc., but permeates condemnation and critique as well. The rationale of the analysis is that justifications of acts of mass violence that are negotiated in key areas of the cultural canon give a culturally specific, often identificatory, meaning to acts that are, from a critical perspective, mostly either considered senseless or comprehended in economic and sociopolitical terms. Yet it is largely owing to justificatory discourses that acts of mass violence do not remain single, exorbitant events, but have a lasting impact by shaping the linguistic and heuristic framework of their subsequent evaluation. When condemnation and critique adopt these terminologies and frameworks—such as the notion of purity underlying the term ‘ethnic cleansing’, or the ethnopolitical paradigm informing the concept of genocide—this effects an uneasy mimetic participation in transmitting justifications of mass violence. The trope of tragedy makes it possible to address the issue of mimetic participation by drawing attention to the audience as an indispensable element of the discourse.
This article investigates the justifications of mass violence in Deuteronomistic historiography t... more This article investigates the justifications of mass violence in Deuteronomistic historiography through the lens of cultural trauma. The analysis concentrates on the representation and justification of mass violence, that is, mass killings and other forms of violence against noncombatants, in Israel's conquest of the promised land in the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua as well as during the loss of the land at the hand of the Assyrian and Babylonian armies, as narrated in 2 Kings 17-25. A comparison of these texts and their respective historical backgrounds helps to profile the contrasts and continuities between them. Trauma theory sheds light on both narratives as media to recover agency and to reconstruct collective identity for emerging Judaism via the historiographical representation of cultural trauma.
Resumen: Este artículo relaciona la teoría de la memoria cultural, con especial referencia a la o... more Resumen: Este artículo relaciona la teoría de la memoria cultural, con especial referencia a la obra de Jan y Aleida Assmann, con los rituales sacramentales. En particular, hace hincapié en el entrelazamiento de los textos sagrados con los ritos que hacen especialmente eficaz la transmisión de la memoria cultural. Mediante el análisis de las instituciones del pésaj en el Éxodo 12 y de la eucaristía en el Nuevo Testamento, especialmente en 1 Corintios 11 y Lucas 22, el artículo demuestra varios rasgos lingüísticos comunes como requisitos previos para la actualización de la celebración. Los escenarios narrativos de las instituciones en el éxodo y en la pasión de Jesús muestran que tanto el pésaj como la eucaristía transmiten la memoria del trauma cultural y su transformación resiliente. Ambos rituales han acompañado al judaísmo y al cristianismo como compañeros de migración a lo largo de la historia.
Long after critical scholarship began to question the attribution of the Pentateuch's authorship ... more Long after critical scholarship began to question the attribution of the Pentateuch's authorship to Moses, the Decalogue was one of the last strongholds to which scholars retreated to maintain the dignity of its Mosaic origin (see, e.g., the report in Matthes 1904, 17-20). An example of this idealistic conception of an original Mosaic Urdekalog is found in Geschichte des Volkes Israel bis Christus by Heinrich Ewald (1845, 148-159). According to Ewald, the differences between the Decalogue's versions in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 allow for the elimination of the secondary expansions found mainly in the theological motivations of the commandments (Ewald 1845, 149). While the received versions have encouraged diverse traditions for counting the Commandments, the original Decalogue must have been marked by a clear structure of exactly ten commandments, evenly distributed on the two tablets (149-153; cf., similarly, Peters 1886). This view may well have been influenced by the iconic representation of the Mosaic tablets, especially since the Reformation (e.g., Mochizuki 2006). The introductory words, "I am Yhwh, your God," which also mark the conclusion of the supposedly ancient commandments in Leviticus 18 and 19, are evidence of the deepest prophetic sentiment of Moses: his voice disappears behind the divine utterance (Ewald 1845, 154-155). Similar scholarly attitudes are seen behind the version of the Decalogue preserved in the Shapira Manuscripts (the available copies are edited in Dershowitz 2021, esp. 160f., 171f.) that supposedly came into possession of Moses Wilhelm Shapira in 1878 (Dershowitz 2021, 2). The version of the Ten Commandments preserved in this text contains neither explanatory additions nor doublets: it renders only one prohibition of false swearing and one of coveting; at the end, it adds "thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart" (Lev. 19:17). The commandments are perfectly structured into ten, each marked by the conclusory formula "I am Elohim your God," which authenticates this Decalogue as Mosaic according to Ewald's criteria. The formula constructs an Elohistic version of the Decalogue, mechanically replacing the tetragrammaton with "Elohim" (cf. comparable formulations in the Elohistic Psalter: Ps. 43:4, 45:8, etc.). This reflects the idea of an attribution of the Decalogue to an Elohistic source, which Julius Wellhausen (1876, 557, 564f.) proposed. Through an idiosyncratic conflation of nineteenth-century views on the Decalogue, the Shapira Manuscripts' Decalogue tried to convince contemporary scholars that it was an authentic, ancient, or even Mosaic, version of this text (on this case of forgery, see Hendel/Richelle 2021)."
Both the idea of divine law and the development of monotheism are specific and decisive elements ... more Both the idea of divine law and the development of monotheism are specific and decisive elements in the history of religion attested by the Hebrew Bible. This article presents an analysis of Deuteronomy 4, the only text in the Hebrew Bible in which the revelation of divine law and an explicit monotheistic claim are systematically related. Compared to the conceptions of law in the ancient Near East and ancient Greece, Deuteronomy 4 is shown to have made an important contribution to the specific identity of emergent Judaism.
Is the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 BCE reflected in the five books of Mose... more Is the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 BCE reflected in the five books of Moses - or can the opposite be demonstrated? In this volume, this controversial question is addressed from multiple perspectives. Experts in Pentateuchal criticism from diverse international backgrounds present a rich panorama of relevant themes, including biblical historiography, contacts with Mesopotamian culture before and during the Babylonian exile, and the issue of cultic discontinuity caused by the destruction and restoration of Jerusalem's temple.
What function do the two versions of the Decalogue in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 have within the... more What function do the two versions of the Decalogue in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 have within the framework of the Tora of Moses? Markl shows that the ‘Ten Words’ constitute Israel within the making of the covenant at Sinai in analogy to constitutions of modern states. Moreover, the Pentateuch as a whole forms a society-constituting complex of texts – in a unique combination of the historical, ethical and legal dimensions. As a fundamental text for the Jewish and Christian tradition in the history of culture, the Decalogue provides impulses for the identity of the ‘open society’.
An unpublished documentation that lists mostly Jewish persons who took shelter in Catholic instit... more An unpublished documentation that lists mostly Jewish persons who took shelter in Catholic institutions in Rome as they were fleeing the Nazi persecution has been rediscovered in the archive of the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. The lists refer to more than 4,300 persons, of whom 3,600 are identified by name. Comparison with the documents kept in the archive of the Jewish Community of Rome indicates that 3,200 certainly were Jews. The documentation thus significantly increases the information on the history of the rescue of Jews in the context of the Catholic institutions of Rome.
Rezension zu Kilchör, B., Mosetora und Jahwetora. Das Verhältnis von Deuteronomium 12–26 zu Exodu... more Rezension zu Kilchör, B., Mosetora und Jahwetora. Das Verhältnis von Deuteronomium 12–26 zu Exodus, Levitikus und Numeri (BZAR 21), Wiesbaden 2015, in: Zeitschrift für Altorientalische und Biblische Rechtsgeschichte 22 (2016) 300–304.
Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine has recently been related to "the curse of the empire"... more Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine has recently been related to "the curse of the empire" (Martin Schulze Wessel, Der Fluch des Imperiums: Die Ukraine, Polen und der Irrweg in der russischen Geschichte, München 2023). Imperial thinking, as it developed in Russia since Peter I, prepared, as Schulze Wessel suggests, the path towards imperialist ambitions that still guide Putin's Russia, which has taken many observers in the West by surprise. Claims to imperial domination seem to have been the motor of countless wars of aggression and acts of mass violence in the longue durée of human history, as seen, for example, in the expansions of the Neo-Assyrian, Roman and European colonial empires. Empires seem to turn violent again in periods of decline when their domination is challenged by geo-political transformations. While such general tendencies may seem obvious, the contemporary imperial claims of Russia require an in-depth analysis of the relationship between imperial ideologies and acts of mass violence. This challenge
Discursive Constructions of Enmity: Populisms, Conspiracy, Hate. Interdisciplinary workshop held ... more Discursive Constructions of Enmity: Populisms, Conspiracy, Hate. Interdisciplinary workshop held in Munich (and online) in February 2022.
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has recently been related to ‘the curse of the empire’... more Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has recently been related to ‘the curse of the empire’ (Martin Schulze Wessel, Der Fluch des Imperiums: Die Ukraine, Polen und der Irrweg in der russischen Geschichte, München 2023). Imperial thinking, as it developed in Russia since Peter I, prepared, as Schulze Wessel suggests, the path towards imperialist ambitions that still guide Putin’s Russia, which has taken many observers in the West by surprise. Claims to imperial domination seem to have been the motor of countless wars of aggression and acts of mass violence in the longue durée of human history, as seen, for example, in the expansions of the Neo-Assyrian, Roman and European colonial empires. Empires seem to turn violent again in periods of decline when their domination is challenged by geo-political transformations. While such general tendencies may seem obvious, the contemporary imperial claims of Russia require an in-depth analysis of the relationship between imperial ideologies and acts of mass violence. This challenge is addressed in a transdisciplinary lecture series held at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and University of Innsbruck, organised in the framework of the research project “Discourses of Mass Violence in Comparative Perspective”.
Roundtable with Cardinal Michael Czerny, Adele Reinhartz (University of Ottawa), John J. Collins ... more Roundtable with Cardinal Michael Czerny, Adele Reinhartz (University of Ottawa), John J. Collins (Yale Divinity School), and Gina Hens-Piazza (Jesuit School of Theology of SCU).
The Hebrew Bible frequently refers to collective experiences of disasters and crises. We investig... more The Hebrew Bible frequently refers to collective experiences of disasters and crises. We investigate the interrelationship between biblical representations of collective suffering and the creation of collective identity in ancient Israel and emerging Judaism in light of the category of cultural trauma. According to Alexander, “Cultural trauma occurs when members of a collectivity feel they have been subjected to a horrendous event that leaves indelible marks upon their group consciousness, marking their memories forever and changing their future identity in fundamental and irrevocable ways” (2004: 1). From this perspective, several factors contribute to shaping the cultural trauma of social groups and societies, among which the creation and transmission of symbolic representations of the events at stake are crucial. We explore biblical texts such as collective laments, curses, narratives, etc. not only as texts representing and voicing the community’s experience of catastrophic events, but also as tools to shape cultural trauma in ancient Israel and emerging Judaism. Additionally, we explore relevant texts as “equipment for living” (Burke 1998) for the addressed community, namely as the literary and religious heritage through which the carrier groups of biblical texts attempted to build cultural resilience by coping with and giving meaning to collective suffering.
This year’s International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) is hosted by the Po... more This year’s International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) is hosted by the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. 800 biblical scholars from 65 countries are meeting in the first week of July to discuss recent developments in biblical research. Jewish and Christian scholars of diverse denominations collaborate to unravel the mysteries of the language, history, and interpretation of the Bible. 580 academic papers will be delivered in 190 sessions.
At the conference Stones, Tablets and Scrolls (May 2017, Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome), Mi... more At the conference Stones, Tablets and Scrolls (May 2017, Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome), Michael Jursa presented his recent work on Late Babylonian priestly literature (forthcoming in the conference proceedings with Mohr Siebeck, edited by Peter Dubovský and Federico Giuntoli). In this session, Michael Jursa and Céline Debourse will first present their current work on this material. Biblical scholars will then respond in short statements on potential comparative studies with biblical priestly literature, which will be followed by discussion.
Early Jewish communities considered themselves governed by divine law revealed in the Torah of Mo... more Early Jewish communities considered themselves governed by divine law revealed in the Torah of Moses. This political function of the Mosaic law is grounded in the Pentateuch itself, which narrates the origins of Israel and the people’s constitution in their covenant with God at Mount Sinai. Early Christians considered themselves living in the ‘kingdom of God’, which brought them in conflict with Roman emperors’ claims to divine veneration. When Roman emperors were themselves Christians, however, they were soon portrayed as new Davids and Solomons, a tradition continued by medieval kings. Biblical narratives were frequently invoked when nationalisms arose in the 16th-17th centuries, e.g., in the Netherlands, Scotland or England, claiming the respective ‘nation’ to be a divinely chosen people like Israel – a historical development that could be called, with Philip Gorski, ‘the Mosaic Moment’. The early modern political reception of the Bible is a climax in a complex genealogy of biblical political thought and its reception over more than two millennia. This conference explored the political dimension of the Bible in exemplary themes from its emergence in the world of the ancient Near East to the present day.
Early Jewish communities considered themselves governed by divine law revealed in the Torah of Mo... more Early Jewish communities considered themselves governed by divine law revealed in the Torah of Moses. This political function of the Mosaic law is grounded in the Pentateuch itself, which narrates the origins of Israel and the people’s constitution in their covenant with God at Mount Sinai. Early Christians considered themselves living in the ‘kingdom of God’, which brought them in conflict with Roman emperors’ claims to divine veneration. When Roman emperors were themselves Christians, however, they were soon portrayed as new Davids and Solomons, a tradition continued by medieval kings. Biblical narratives were frequently invoked when nationalisms arose in the 16th-17th centuries, e.g., in the Netherlands, Scotland or England, claiming the respective ‘nation’ to be a divinely chosen people like Israel – a historical development that could be called, with Philip Gorski, ‘the Mosaic Moment’. The early modern political reception of the Bible is a climax in a complex genealogy of biblical political thought and its reception over more than two millennia. This conference will explore the political dimension of the Bible in exemplary themes from its emergence in the world of the ancient Near East to the present day.
The conference includes contributions by Jan Assmann (University of Heidelberg), Eckart Otto (LMU Munich), Wolfgang Oswald (University of Tübingen), Peter Dubovský (Pontifical Biblical Institute), Oda Wischmeyer (University of Erlangen), Katell Berthelot (CNRS Aix-en-Provence), Nicholas Morton (Nottinham Trent University), Dominik Markl (Pontifical Biblical Institute), Yvonne Sherwood (University of Kent), Kevin Killeen (University of York), John Coffey (University of Leicester), Eric Nelson (Harvard University), James P. Byrd (Vanderbilt University), Joachim J. Krause (Universit of Tübingen), Fania Oz-Salzberger (University of Haifa) and a response by Peter Machinist (Harvard University).
The Hebrew Bible is one of the preeminent media that transmitted the intellectual heritage of the... more The Hebrew Bible is one of the preeminent media that transmitted the intellectual heritage of the ancient Near East to later periods. The contributions of this workshop will investigate specific expressions of ancient Near Eastern intellectual traditions within the Hebrew Bible, which influenced, through its subsequent wide dissemination, later developments in cultural history.
The workshop includes contributions by David Vanderhooft (Boston College), Jeffrey Cooley (Boston College), Ilona Zsolnay (University of Chicago), Avi Winitzer (University of Notre Dame), Georg Fischer (University of Innsbruck), Peter Dubovský (Pontifical Biblical Insitute), Eckart Otto (LMU Munich), Dominik Markl (Pontifical Biblical Institute) and Cornelia Wunsch (Freie Universität Berlin).
The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (HB/OT) is like a prism through which ancient Near Eastern traditi... more The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (HB/OT) is like a prism through which ancient Near Eastern traditions were transformed and transmitted to Jewish and Christian cultures. Through the Jewish diaspora and the Christian missions, it became a nomadic text that spread to all continents. It was received and transformed in diverse genres of literature, music, art, theatre, law, and politics. Interest in processes of reception has intensified since World War I, but reception history became a major field within biblical studies only at the turn of the millennium. Analyzing the history of reception of the HB/OT poses a variety of challenges: what hermeneutical expectations, attitudes, interests, and methods were applied to its texts? How were they involved in diverse fields of culture, and how did different modes of reception influence each other? What historical developments occasioned changes in interpretation? In analyzing textual reception, three basic aspects should be considered: the texts with their respective genres and themes, the hermeneutics applied to them, and the social contexts in which the reception takes place. Each of these aspects is characterized by great variation: biblical genres are as diverse as curse and love poetry, law and lament; hermeneutical approaches involve extremely different interests and results in, for example, allegorical, kabballistic and historical critical interpretation; social contexts of reception include family education, monastic lectio divina, public reading and preaching, and academic teaching. Investigating this history of reception means looking at cultural history through the lens of the HB/OT. Rather than defining itself as a field of research separate from interpretation, reception history should be seen as a constituent of the hermeneutical endeavor.
Exil, in: M. Fieger / J. Krispenz / J. Lanckau (Hg.), Wörterbuch alttestamentlicher Motive, Darms... more Exil, in: M. Fieger / J. Krispenz / J. Lanckau (Hg.), Wörterbuch alttestamentlicher Motive, Darmstadt: WBG, 2013, 124–128.
review-article on Eckart Otto, Deuteronomium 1-11. Zweiter Teilband Dtn 4,44-11,32, Herders Theol... more review-article on Eckart Otto, Deuteronomium 1-11. Zweiter Teilband Dtn 4,44-11,32, Herders Theologischer Kommentar zum Alten Testament, Freiburg/Basel/Wien; publ. in: Zeitschrift für Altorientalische und Biblische Rechtsgeschichte /Journal for Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Law 25, 2019, 299-304
Tagungbericht
Zwischen Kronen und Nationen: Die zentraleuropäischen Priesterkollegien in Rom vom ... more Tagungbericht Zwischen Kronen und Nationen: Die zentraleuropäischen Priesterkollegien in Rom vom Risorgimento bis zum Zweiten Weltkrieg (Rom, Jänner 2020) Franz Xaver Brandmayr, Päpstliches Institut Santa Maria dell' Anima, Rom; Stefan Heid, Römisches Institut der Görres-Gesellschaft; Florian Kührer-Wielach, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München; Tamara Scheer, Universität Wien Autorin des Berichts: Theresa Gillinger
Resumen: Jerónimo de Estridón (ca. 347-420 EC) fue, después de Orígenes, uno de los pocos intelec... more Resumen: Jerónimo de Estridón (ca. 347-420 EC) fue, después de Orígenes, uno de los pocos intelectuales cristianos de la antigüedad que se dedicó al estudio profundo de las lenguas bíblicas griega y hebrea. Su traducción latina, la Vulgata, estilísticamente muy lograda, fue recibida como la Biblia estándar del cristianismo occidental durante todo un milenio. Además de sus intensos estudios de literatura e idiomas, el logro monumental de Jerónimo como investigador de la Biblia se basó en su entusiasmo monástico, en las enseñanzas de una amplia gama de exegetas de procedencia cristiana y judía, en un vasto conocimiento de la geografía bíblica y una red académica que se extendió por la cuenca mediterránea.
Palabras clave: Jerónimo de Estridón. Traducción de la Biblia. Vulgata. Recepción. Historia académica.
What Biblical Scholars Can Learn from Jerome: Sixteen Centuries After His Demise
Abstract: Jerome of Stridon (ca. 347-420 ce) was, after Origen, one of few Christian scholars of antiquity who engaged in profound studies of the biblical languages Greek and Hebrew. His stylistically accomplished Latin translation was received as the standard Bible of Western Christianity for a millennium – the Vulgate. Besides his intense studies of literature and languages, Jerome’s monumental achievement as a biblical scholar was grounded in monastic enthusiasm, the teaching of a wide range of exegetes of Christian and Jewish provenance, a knowledge of biblical geography, and an academic network that spanned the Mediterranean basin.
Keywords: Jerome of Stridon. Bible translation. Vulgate. Reception. History of scholarship.
La idea de la ley divina y el desarrollo del monoteísmo son elementos
decisivos y específicos en ... more La idea de la ley divina y el desarrollo del monoteísmo son elementos decisivos y específicos en la historia de la religión atestiguada por la Biblia Hebrea. Este artículo presenta un análisis del Deuteronomio 4, el único texto en la Biblia Hebrea en el que la revelación de la ley divina y una afirmación monoteísta explícita están relacionadas sistemáticamente. Comparado con las concepciones de la ley en el Antiguo Oriente y la Antigua Grecia, Deuteronomio 4 muestra haber realizado una importante contribución a la específica identidad del judaísmo naciente.
Both the idea of divine law and the development of monotheism are specific and decisive elements in the history of religion attested by the Hebrew Bible. This article presents an analysis of Deuteronomy 4, the only text in the Hebrew Bible in which the revelation of divine law and an explicit monotheistic claim are systematically related. Compared to the conceptions of law in the ancient Near East and ancient Greece, Deuteronomy 4 is shown to have made an important contribution to the specific identity of emergent Judaism.
Keywords: Deuteronomy. Monotheism. Divine Law. Early Judaism.
Jerome of Stridon (ca. 347-420 CE) was, after Origen, one of few Christian scholars of antiquity ... more Jerome of Stridon (ca. 347-420 CE) was, after Origen, one of few Christian scholars of antiquity who engaged in profound studies of the biblical languages Greek and Hebrew. His stylistically accomplished Latin translation was received as the standard Bible of Western Christianity for a millennium-the Vulgate. Besides his intense studies of literature and languages, Jerome's monumental achievement as a biblical scholar was grounded in monastic enthusiasm, the teaching of a wide range of exegetes of Christian and Jewish provenance, a knowledge of biblical geography, and an academic network that spanned the Mediterranean basin.
Discourses of Mass Violence in Comparative Perspective is a collaborative project combining the f... more Discourses of Mass Violence in Comparative Perspective is a collaborative project combining the fields of Contemporary History, Comparative Literature, and Hebrew Bible/ancient Near East studies to understand the transmission of discourses which justify mass violence across, generations, epochs, languages, and cultures.
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https://www.uibk.ac.at/de/projects/leokadia-justman/
Testamento, especialmente en 1 Corintios 11 y Lucas 22, el artículo demuestra varios rasgos lingüísticos comunes como requisitos previos para la actualización de la celebración. Los escenarios narrativos de las instituciones en el éxodo y en la pasión de Jesús muestran que tanto el pésaj como la eucaristía transmiten la memoria del trauma cultural y su transformación resiliente. Ambos rituales han acompañado al judaísmo y al cristianismo como compañeros de migración a lo largo de la historia.
https://www.uibk.ac.at/de/projects/leokadia-justman/
Testamento, especialmente en 1 Corintios 11 y Lucas 22, el artículo demuestra varios rasgos lingüísticos comunes como requisitos previos para la actualización de la celebración. Los escenarios narrativos de las instituciones en el éxodo y en la pasión de Jesús muestran que tanto el pésaj como la eucaristía transmiten la memoria del trauma cultural y su transformación resiliente. Ambos rituales han acompañado al judaísmo y al cristianismo como compañeros de migración a lo largo de la historia.
https://www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/tagungsberichte-9368
The conference includes contributions by Jan Assmann (University of Heidelberg), Eckart Otto (LMU Munich), Wolfgang Oswald (University of Tübingen), Peter Dubovský (Pontifical Biblical Institute), Oda Wischmeyer (University of Erlangen), Katell Berthelot (CNRS Aix-en-Provence), Nicholas Morton (Nottinham Trent University), Dominik Markl (Pontifical Biblical Institute), Yvonne Sherwood (University of Kent), Kevin Killeen (University of York), John Coffey (University of Leicester), Eric Nelson (Harvard University), James P. Byrd (Vanderbilt University), Joachim J. Krause (Universit of Tübingen), Fania Oz-Salzberger (University of Haifa) and a response by Peter Machinist (Harvard University).
The workshop includes contributions by David Vanderhooft (Boston College), Jeffrey Cooley (Boston College), Ilona Zsolnay (University of Chicago), Avi Winitzer (University of Notre Dame), Georg Fischer (University of Innsbruck), Peter Dubovský (Pontifical Biblical Insitute), Eckart Otto (LMU Munich), Dominik Markl (Pontifical Biblical Institute) and Cornelia Wunsch (Freie Universität Berlin).
Zwischen Kronen und Nationen: Die zentraleuropäischen Priesterkollegien in Rom vom Risorgimento bis zum Zweiten Weltkrieg (Rom, Jänner 2020)
Franz Xaver Brandmayr, Päpstliches Institut Santa Maria dell' Anima, Rom; Stefan Heid, Römisches Institut der Görres-Gesellschaft; Florian Kührer-Wielach, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München; Tamara Scheer, Universität Wien
Autorin des Berichts: Theresa Gillinger
Palabras clave: Jerónimo de Estridón. Traducción de la Biblia. Vulgata. Recepción. Historia académica.
What Biblical Scholars Can Learn from Jerome: Sixteen Centuries After His Demise
Abstract: Jerome of Stridon (ca. 347-420 ce) was, after Origen, one of few Christian scholars of antiquity who engaged in profound studies of the biblical languages Greek and Hebrew. His stylistically accomplished Latin translation was received as the standard Bible of Western Christianity for a millennium – the Vulgate. Besides his intense studies of literature and languages, Jerome’s monumental achievement as a biblical scholar was grounded in monastic enthusiasm, the teaching of a wide range of exegetes of Christian and Jewish provenance, a knowledge of biblical geography, and an academic network that spanned the Mediterranean basin.
Keywords: Jerome of Stridon. Bible translation. Vulgate. Reception. History of scholarship.
decisivos y específicos en la historia de la religión atestiguada por la Biblia Hebrea. Este artículo presenta un análisis del Deuteronomio 4, el único texto en la Biblia Hebrea en el que la revelación de la ley divina y una afirmación monoteísta explícita están relacionadas sistemáticamente. Comparado con las concepciones de la ley en el Antiguo Oriente y la Antigua Grecia, Deuteronomio 4 muestra haber realizado una importante contribución a la específica identidad del judaísmo naciente.
Palabras clave: Deuteronomio. Monoteísmo. Ley divina. Judaísmo antiguo.
Both the idea of divine law and the development of monotheism are specific and decisive elements in the history of religion attested by the Hebrew Bible. This article presents an analysis of Deuteronomy 4, the only text in the Hebrew Bible in which the revelation of divine law and an explicit monotheistic claim are systematically related. Compared to the conceptions of law in the ancient Near East and ancient Greece, Deuteronomy 4 is shown to have made an important contribution to the specific identity of emergent Judaism.
Keywords: Deuteronomy. Monotheism. Divine Law. Early Judaism.
www.lmu.de/discoursesofmassviolence