Upcoming International Conference on Inter-religious Dynamics and Mutual Engagement, Tel Aviv 2015
The conference, to be held at Tel Aviv between Sunday afternoon, December 13, 2015, and Tuesday evening, December 15, will be dedicated to the idea that, because of their revelational and theological entanglement, the three Abrahamic religions have developed since the inception of Christianity in fertile and fervid interaction far more meaningful and formative to their unfolding than the unwitting influences of other contextual factors. So much so, that it is impossible to properly understand any significant moment in the life of any one of the three, without taking into serious account the real and imagined, conscious and unconscious dialogue between the community under study and the other two.
To this end, the three religions must be studied and taught side by side by experts in each collaborating closely across the three interreligious divides. Such an undertaking requires an integrated effort involving the full range of the human and social sciences. And given its sheer scope and complexity, no university can hope to accomplish it alone.
The 2nd International Conference in Interreligious Studies, organized and sponsored by the Tel Aviv University Center for Religious and Interreligious Studies (CRIS), the Cambridge University Project for Religion in the Humanities (CUPRiH), and the Faculty of Protestant Theology at the Goethe University, Frankfurt, brings together an impressive group of scholars committed to collaborating in studying the three faiths interreligiously, rather than merely comparatively, as the dynamic outcomes of intense and complex interreligious interaction.
Conference Poster and Program in available here.
The conference, to be held at Tel Aviv University between Sunday afternoon, December 13, 2015, and Tuesday evening, December 15 will consist of two public evening keynote addresses – one by Prof. Daniel Boyarin (Berkeley), and anoter one to be announced soon – both held at The Cymbalista Jewish Heritage Center - and seven two-hour working sessions each comprising a 45 minute invited paper, two 15 min. pre-assigned responses, and the best of 45 minutes of Q&A – all held at the Gilman Building, room 133.
Sunday, 13 December, 2015
15:00-17:00
Session 1: The Pauline moment
Ishay Rosen-Zvi (TAU): Paul, the Rabbis and the Invention of the Goyim
Commentators: Paula Fredriksen (Hebrew U), Jonathan Price (TAU)
Chair: Menachem Fisch (TAU)
Opening – The Joseph and Raya Jaglom Auditorium,
17.00-17.30 Reception
17.30-18.00: Greetings
Prof. Joseph Klafter, TAU President
Prof. Yaron Oz, TAU Rector
Prof. Leo Corry, TAU Dean of Humanities
Prof. Simon Goldhill, Director, CUPRiH, University of Cambridge
Prof. Christian Wiese, Martin Buber Chair, Goethe University, Frankfurt
Prof. Menachem Fisch, Director, CRIS, TAU
18:30-20.00
Opening Lecture: Daniel Boyarin
Were There Religions in Antiquity? - The Case for No Judaism
Chair: Simon Goldhill (CAM)
Conference Dinner
Monday, 14 December, 2015
10.00-12.00
Session 2: Converted Concepts in Medieval Philosophy
Adam Afterman (TAU), Incarnation and the Holy Spirit in Medieval Jewish Thought
Commentators: Sara Sviri (Hebrew U), Tom Greggs (Aberdeen)
Chair: Heiko Schulz (GU, Frankfurt).
12.00-13:30 lunch break
13:30-15:30
Session 3: Converts as Mediators
Theodor Dunkelgrün (CAM), Sharing Scripture: The textual entanglement of Judaism and Christianity
Commentators: Gareth Atkins (CAM), Alexander van der Haven (BGU)
Chair: David Abulafia (CAM).
15:30-16.00 coffee break
16.00-18.00
Session 4: Biblia Arabica
Camilla Adang (TAU), The Medieval Muslim Reception of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures
Commentators: Meira Polliack (TAU), Ronny Vollandt (LMU, Munich)
Chair Adam Afterman (TAU)
18.30 Dinner for overseas participants and TAU graduate students
Tuesday, 15 December 2015
10.00-12.00
Session 5: Interfaces of Medieval Translation
Yossef Schwartz, Languages that Separate and Unite: The Role of Language in the Medieval Multi-Cultural Transmission Project
Commentators: Matthias Lutz-Bachmann (GU, Frankfurt), Anna Abulafia (Oxon)
Chair: Lena Salaymeh (TAU)
12.00-13:30: lunch break
13:30-15:30
Session 6: Studying the Other
Ottfried Fraisse (GU, Frankfurt), Studying the other: 19C Jewish and Christian Islamic Studies
Commentators: Simon Goldhill (CAM), Tim Jenkins (CAM)
Chair: Christian Wiese (GU, Frankfurt)
15:30-16:00 coffee break
16:00-18:00
Session 7: Nostra Aetate: 50 Years Hence
Barbara U Meyer (TAU), Nostra Aetate in Interreligious Theological Perspective
Commentators: Lena Salaymeh (TAU), Menachem Fisch (TAU)
Chair: Galen Guengerich (All Souls, NYC).
