Workshop: Expression of Sceptical Topoi
Expressions of Sceptical Topoi in (Late) Ancient Judaism
Date
April 18-19, 2016
Convenor
Reuven Kiperwasser (University of Hamburg/Germany)
Abstract
Scepticism has been a driving force in the development of cultures of the past and the impetus for far-reaching scientific achievements and philosophical investigations. Sceptical ideas were shaped in the works of Greek and Roman thinkers of the past, leaving us numerous literary monuments. Early Jewish culture, in contrast to Graeco-Roman culture, has avoided creating consistent representations of this doctrine. However, Judaism of the first centuries was characterised by persistent intellectual activity, whose literary fruits are works devoted to Oral Law, religious norms and regulations, Bible exegesis and other traditional areas of Jewish knowledge. To detect sceptical ideas in Ancient Judaism requires a closer analysis of its literary heritage and cultural context. The aim of this Workshop was to discuss elements of sceptical thought in Ancient and Late Ancient Judaism through a new analysis of relevant texts. The participants discussed a wide spectrum of texts: Jewish writings of the Second Temple period, rabbinic literature, magical texts, as well as reflections of Jewish thought in early Christian and patristic writings.
Lectures
- Philosophical Scepticism and Apocalyptic Certitude
Cana Werman (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva/Israel) - Reasonable Doubts of the “Other”: Jewish Scepticism in Early Christian Sources?
Serge Ruzer (Hebrew University of Jerusalem/Israel) - Scepticism and Belief in the Attitude Towards Gods and Demons in the Jewish Religious World of Sasanian Babylonia
Geoffrey Herman (Hebrew University of Jerusalem/Israel) - “If a Man Tells You He is God …”
Tali Artman Partock (University of Cambridge/UK) - Facing the Omnipotence and Shaping the Sceptical topos
Reuven Kiperwasser (University of Hamburg/Germany)
Publication
Further information will follow soon.
Poster
[pdf]
Lecture2go
[link]