Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis

The Jewishness of Jesus and ritual purity

Cecilia Wassen — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0300

Today it is commonplace for historical Jesus scholars to emphasize Jesus’ Jewishness. At the same time most New Testament scholars deny that he cared about the Jewish purity system, which was a central aspect of early Judaism. This article examines how such a reconstruction of the historical Jesus would influence his Jewishness, arguing that it indeed would make such a Jesus figure ‘less Jewish’. The article also investigates questions concerning what Jewish identity in the late Second Temple period entails and how we may characterize the Judaism of Jesus’ time, especially in relation to purity concerns. Finally, I examine key Gospel texts that are commonly used as evidence to prove Jesus’ alleged disinterest in purity laws. On the basis of a proper understanding of how the purity system functioned in Jesus’ time, I conclude that there is no evidence for the view that Jesus was disinterested in matters of purity; quite the opposite.

Atheist spirituality: a follow on from New Atheism?

Teemu Taira — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200

Books about well-being, self-improvement, life management and spirituality have been popular for many years. It is not news to anybody that such topics sell. However, books on atheism have never become bestsellers until the early years of the twenty-first century. Now the so-called New Atheist books have altogether sold millions. It may sound surprising, but atheism sells. It may have been the idea of a publishers’ marketing department to put the two selling points together, but in recent years a number of books about atheist spirituality, spiritual atheism and atheist self-help have been published. That has been one aspect of the increased visibility of atheism and spirituality in public discourse. Atheist discourse which is combined with ‘spirituality’ might be called ‘post-secular’ as it does not fit easily into the neat binary classification between religious and non-religious secular. This article examines this hybrid area in atheist discourse in relation to three aspects: monotheism, spirituality and meditation. Atheist discourse situates itself against monotheism, but some spokespersons combine atheism with spirituality and meditation. This works as an example of a wider and recent trend in society where a blurring of the earlier normative boundaries between religion and non-religion has become fairly common, not necessarily in terms of beliefs, but of practices. Even though there is a long tradition of non-theistic and atheistic readings of Buddhism, for example, they have rarely been combined with an explicit criticism of monotheistic traditions and atheist consciousness-raising.

Making sense of personal and global problems: an analysis of the writings and lectures of Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde

Tommy Ramstedt — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200

Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde (b. 1939) is a well-known figure in the Finnish alternative spiritual milieu. She is an author and lecturer on parapsychology and ufology and has been a guest on several talk shows in the Nordic countries. The topics discussed by Luukanen-Kilde range from the psychic abilities of mankind to visitations from extraterrestrial beings. Since the mid-1980s Luukanen-Kilde has developed conspiracy theories about an elite group governing the world in secret. Luukanen-Kilde is a bestselling author and draws audiences of several hundreds to her talks. Her conspiracy theory view of the world offers explanations for all kinds of personal, national, as well as global problems and disasters. Personal health problems, tragic incidents such as school shootings, economic crises and unemployment, earthquakes and floods can, according to her belief system, all be attributed to a single cause; namely to the actions of a clandestine, malevolent group. The popularity of Luukanen-Kilde’s books and lectures can be seen as an example of how people in late modernity are seeking alternative interpretations of themselves and of world events.

Devotional fitness: aspects of a contemporary religious system

Martin Radermacher — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200

The aim of this paper is to describe some more or less representative groups within the area of devotional fitness in the USA, to compare their ideas to those held in Christian congregations in Germany and to extract some of the most important features of these movements. The descriptive section, ‘Examples of fitness in US evangelicalism’, will have a short look at three of these movements and then examine one of them more thoroughly, namely, the concept of ‘Shaped by Faith’. The next part of the descriptive section (‘Aspects of religion and fitness in Germany’) will look into the connections between sports and religion in Christian congregations in Germany. In the third section, some of the historical trajectories which have influenced contemporary body ideals in both ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ contexts in the United States and Germany are briefly described. In the analytical section, the material is screened for striking similarities and recurring motifs and a preliminary definition of ‘devotional fitness’ is suggested. One particular feature of these currents, the blurring of genres, is dealt with more thoroughly in section ‘The blurring of genres in devotional fitness’. The article ends with some ideas as to how these concepts of devotional fitness could be researched within the analytical frame of cultural semiotics.

The enrichment of magical thinking through practices among Reiki self-healers

Outi Pohjanheimo — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200

Reiki is an example of a spiritually based healing context, which offers an entry into the magical thinking through the ritual initiation. There are several practices like Reiki in the field of new spirituality. Their backgrounds are situated in a variety of religious traditions, although many religious ideas in the field are based on assimilation of ideas and practices familiar in Eastern religious traditions. Why is Reiki so particularly famous in the field? It would seem that Reiki is very flexible and easily integrated to other practices. One factor which explains the popularity of Reiki has to do with healing. Healing, as well as illness and sickness, involving pain and relief from pain, are universal experiences felt by everyone. Complementary and alternative ways of healing are as popular among ordinary folk now as they have been throughout the history of medicine. Even medical nursing staff participate in Reiki courses in their leisure time. One reason for the popularity might also be that Reiki courses are open to everybody. Everybody can learn to heal. After initiation, participants are promised, and believed, to be rewarded for the ability to heal themselves and those near to them with the help of cosmic energy.The focus of this article is the enrichment of magical thinking among Reiki self-healers.The term ‘enrichment’ refers to an observable thickness (or density) of spontaneous reasoning going along lines of magical trains of thought. This includes, for example, assumptions of agency and magical contagion.

Post-secular religious practices entering traditional religion

Urszula Pękala — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200

Nowadays we can observe complex interactions between the religious and secular spheres. Several different processes take place simultaneously: the traditionally religious elements function in the secular sphere as if they were part of secular culture; elements of the secular sphere build a specific kind of post-secular religiosity; finally, this post-secular religiosity influences traditional religions. This article focuses on the last stage of these changes. The author's purpose is to describe and interpret the practices we can observe. Because of the complexity of this issue, the analyses are limited to examples taken from the Catholic Church in Germany, where this process seems to be as popular as it is paradoxical. Catholicism realises that the post-secular forms of religiosity are very popular and that many people choose them instead of the traditional Church. It could offer them spirituality based on ages of experience. But instead of making its own spiritual tradition competitive on the spiritual market, Catholicism seems to offer Christianised post-secular goods, or its own traditional elements represented in a secularised form. It seems difficult to predict how it will all end. However, we observe an interesting encounter and interaction between an ‘old’ religion and a new religiosity, which will certainly have impact on further presence of the Church in the society.

Pilgrimage as post-secular therapy

Lisbeth Mikaelsson — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200

This article describes the institutionalized pilgrim role and then turns to the therapeutic discourse which is so prominent in the modern pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Both the role and the discourse can be related to the concept of post-secularity, demonstrating that complex cultural fields such as religion and therapy, become intertwined in new ways through modern pilgrimage. This article also shows that churches cooperating in this type of pilgrimage are adapting to the post-secular age, finding a new sort of raison d’être in a multi-religious, international world. Here the author refers to the Church of Norway and its role in Norwegian pilgrimage. The latter is modelled upon the Santiago example.

The epidemiology of lost meaning: a study in the psychology of religion and existential public health

Cecilia Melder — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200

The existential dimension of spirituality has proven to be of great importance over the last two decades when it comes to studies of self-rated health and quality of life. We see the positive effects it has on blood pressure, depression and life expectancy for chemotherapy and HIV patients, to mention just a few examples. In the public health sector, it is interesting to note that this existential/spiritual dimension had already been present in the early years when the term public health first came into the Swedish language. In the year 1926 public health was defined as ‘a people’s physical and spiritual health’. During the intervening years of major medical and scientific technical improvements in the field, the existential/spiritual perspective had been put aside, but now once again this dimension has come into focus. The central question is, how does the existential dimension of health, understood as a person’s ability to create and maintain functional meaning making systems, affect the person’s self-rated health and quality of life? The working theories and basic perspectives in this article are drawn from health research with attention to the existential dimension, public health from the perspective of the psychology of religion, and object relations theory.

Contesting spiritual dimensions of health: salutogenic approaches to post-secular quests for quality of life

Maria Leppäkari — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200

This article dwells on three key concepts: spirituality (religion, meaning making), health (being well, wellness) and the contemporary post-secular individual search for significance. Within a classic salutogenic and health promotional frame of reference, dimensions of health are usually referred to in terms of the physical, mental, social and spiritual. Following development of the classical approaches, cultural, ecological and existential subcategories have been added to the concepts in order to clarify the contents. Scholars in the field of health promotion argue that these dimensions of health and well-being are, in a general way, closely interrelated. This article explores the ways in which spirituality and well-being interact. It is influenced by the author’s previous research in religious studies and current experiences of health promotion work. This article is divided into five sections: salutogenesis and health promotion; quality of life and spirituality; previous research on religion and health; indifference and fundamentalism, and some final remarks.

Are you content with being just ordinary? Or do you wish to make progress and be outstanding?' New ritual practices in contemporary Sweden

Anne-Christine Hornborg — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200

This article examines the emergence and features of new practices in contemporary Sweden, which are being sold to individuals as therapy or coaching in order for them find their ‘inner potential’ as a means to achieve health, self-realisation and prosperity in life as well as in work. The focus on the inner self and the formation of a new personhood demands new ritual creativity, responding to the individual’s longing for intense experiences of transformation and the authentic self. The development of a new outlook on the self is thus the focus of these practices, that is to say, individuals are encouraged to stage new ways to perform themselves. In this construction of a new self, or the image of an ideal self, the layman therapist or coach is very much in demand. In order to discuss these new practices, the Health Academy Europe (Hälsoakademin Europa) is chosen. One reason for a closer study of this enterprise is that it was one of the coaching enterprises chosen in 2009 by the Swedish public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) to give employment coaching, when the Swedish government allocated 300 million euros to buy the services of 1,500 coaches to help approximately 250,000 unemployed Swedes to get work.These new practices could be classified as new rituals, adapted to late modern society with a focus on the individual, the inner self and prosperity. The ambition is to encourage the participant to design a new, empowered self in order to turn dreams into reality and to find hope for better circumstances in life.

Clinical services instead of sermons

Tuija Hovi — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200

Today, we are facing the decline of institutional religion. In Finland, the decrease in membership of the mainstream Evangelical Lutheran Church has been unusually rapid over the past few years, but, at the same time, the variety of religious supply has significantly increased. In addition to non-Christian spiritual and religious alternatives, innumerable lay movements, functions and practices are also offering their services within the Christian field, both in non-denominational circles and in those more or less linked to the mainstream church. The changes that occur in the religious field in Finland take place largely within the Christian cultural field. In addition to the obvious organisational changes taking place in the religious landscape of Finland, there is a certain fragmentation of contemporary religious attitudes. Such changes have been identified throughout the Western world—conventional definitions of ‘believing’ and ‘belonging’ do not seem to fit anything properly anymore. Furthermore, ‘practising’ and ‘participating’ as dynamic aspects of religiosity make the general view even more nuanced. An example of religious involvement within this frame is a Christian intercessory prayer service called the Healing Rooms. It is a religious practice that is attempting to accommodate the contemporary situation of post-secular Finland, and simultaneously advocating its traditional mission of evangelicism.

Body-mind unity and the spiritual dimension of Modern Postural Yoga

Maria Kapsali — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200

This article is concerned with the connection between body and mind that the practice of yoga is expected to develop and it aims specifically to examine the relationship between this body–mind connection and the spiritual dimension of yoga practice. The article particularly focuses on contemporary forms of yoga. Since these forms feature predominantly the practice of yoga postures or asanas, the term Modern Postural Yoga is employed.The phenomenological approach renders yoga ahistorical and ostensibly concentrates on the individual and her experience. The cultural materialist viewpoint cannot account for the ways in which yoga can act as a technique for empowerment and spiritual cultivation. More importantly, both currents seem to exist as possibilities within the same class,even within the same body.

Healing chants and Singing Hospitals: towards an analysis of the implementation of spiritual practices as therapeutic means

Céline Grünhagen — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200

This article combines two very interesting fields of research: the one concerning issues of health and well-being in ‘post-secular’ religious practices, the other one striving towards a wider recognition and comprehension of the aural or acoustic side of religions and religious practice, respectively. Due to their favourable qualities, singing and chanting are increasingly implemented in therapeutic programmes. The Singing Hospitals is an international network of medical professionals, music therapists, musicologists, neurobiologists and related groups or initiatives. They aim to promote the beneficial effects of singing for health and healing in healthcare settings on an international level. The potential to experience transcendence and to be affirmed in one’s own spirituality as it is ascribed to chanting accords with its beneficial effects on human health. In post-secular societies the human body, mind and psyche are increasingly understood as being interwoven with the world and the cosmos and with other human, non-human and also divine beings.

Facing suffering and death: alternative therapy as post-secular religious practice

Anne Kalvig — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200

The idea of religious practice being ‘post-secular’ raises questions concerning secularisation, sacralisation and the various meanings of the prefix ‘post’. This paper investigates a kind of practice that is ever increasing in late modern, Western societies and elsewhere; namely, the practice of alternative therapy and the conceptualisations and world-views pertaining to it. The focus is on the themes of suffering and death in relation to alternative spirituality and therapy. Some answers are given to the following questions: is alternative therapy a kind of post-secular religious practice? If so, what kinds of answers or consolations does alternative therapy offer in the face of suffering and death? How do possible ‘alternative theodicies’ relate to holism as a paradigmatic principle? To what extent does, for example, ‘reincarnationism’ seem to function as explanatory model regarding suffering, evil and death?

The philosophy of nature as a springboard into social realism: about Ibsen's Emperor and Galilean and a post-secular interpretation of the drama by Hilda Hellwig

Tina Hamrin-Dahl — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200

Friedrich von Schelling was a significant cultural influence when Henrik Ibsen lived in Germany in the 1850s. However, because of Schelling’s Naturphilosophie, which stood out as irreconcilable with the scientific philosophy of the positivists, Schelling came to be more and more neglected after the mid-nineteenth century. His pronounced idealism, belief in God, and metaphysical comments were branded ‘old-fashioned’ soon after his death. Today, Schelling is mentioned in contexts where ideas about ‘mindfulness’ are of importance. In 1979 a clinic for Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) was founded and although originally articulated as an element of Buddhism, it is pointed out by committed practitioners that there is nothing inherently religious about mindfulness. It is however about integrating the healing aspects of Buddhist meditation practices with the concept of psychological awareness and healing. To a high degree in Western countries, psychotherapists have adapted and developed mindfulness techniques. When it comes to metaphysics, Schelling’s influence on the religious ideas that were accepted by Ibsen was never acknowledged. This text will throw some light upon Schelling as a source of inspiration for Ibsen and his milieu. Is it so, that Schelling’s ideas not until our ‘post-secular’ epoch have come into their own? Ibsen producers and actors are familiar with ‘New World Mindfulness’ and the history of mindfulness in the West.

A guide for the perplexed: a student's navigation through Jewish studies in Sweden

Natalie Sasha Vanessa Lantz — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0300

This article presents a student’s perspective on Jewish studies in Sweden over the past ten years. By identifying the milestones of her own educational and professional path, the author discusses three questions of particular interest for a student wanting to pursue any kind of Jewish studies in a Nordic country, using Sweden as an example, namely: 1) How to compose a curriculum that leads to doctoral studies? 2) What can be said about the ‘identity’ of Jewish studies in Sweden? 3) Can a degree in the subject field of choice also lead to a career outside the academic framework?

Creativity, Community, Change: Functions of and motives for singing niggunim

Ruth Illman — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0300

Jewish musical practices stemming from Kabbalah and Hasidic mystical traditions are currently the object of growing attention among a variety of different Jewish communities in Europe and North America, as well as in non-Jewish spiritual circles. This article focuses on contemporary practices of niggunim – the (mostly) wordless melodies with roots in Hasidic Jewish traditions, sung, chanted and sometimes danced in preparation for, or as a form of, ardent prayer. The practice is seen as an example of the expressive, engaging, emotional and embodied forms of prayer that currently attract many Jews of different institutional attachments. As niggunim travel into new contexts, they are reframed and reconsidered in order to meet the needs and expectations of contemporary religious communities, characterised by a liberal and egalitarian, global and transformative religiosity. The article seeks to explore the different functions niggunim are put to today and the motives which drive different people to engage in the practice. The analysis is based on ethno-graphic material in the form of in-depth interviews conducted among progressive Jews in the London area. As a conclusion, the article suggests an approach to contemporary niggunim practices that incorporates perspectives from both literature and ethnography in order to deepen the understanding of the motives for and functions of singing niggunim today.

Positioning oneself and being positioned in the 'community': an essay on Jewish ethnography as a 'Jew-ish' ethnographer

Ben Kasstan — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0300

This article offers a reflexive and anthropological contribution to the current volume of Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis. It reflects on the experience of conducting anthropological work at home – or across homes – I considered this research to be an experience of ‘Jewish ethnog-raphy’ as a Jewish ethnographer. However, my own ‘Jew-ish’ background meant that I had become ‘neither- fish nor fowl’ within the field-site, which proved both to be an obstacle to, and an opportunity for, conducting the research. It utilises this experience to challenge the conceptual use of the term ‘community’, which encapsulates considerable diversity but obscures the nuanced differences that can pervade a social body. These reflections demonstrate how positionality can be used as a tool for postgraduate students to untangle the complexities of conducting ethnographic research at ‘home’ or in relation to religious minority groups, where significant intra-group differences of practice and worldviews exist, but may otherwise be concealed by the image of ‘community’.

May He Speedily Come: the role of the Messiah in Haredi and Hardal Judaism

Mia Anderssén-Löf — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0300

This article studies the understanding of redemption in general, and in particular the role of the Messiah in redemption as it is expressed by representatives of two Jewish perspectives: the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) and the Hardal (nationalist ultra-Orthodox). Although both perspectives see the shift from exile to redemption as an event which is brought about by God, both also see ways to accelerate or decelerate that event. Both have developed a strategy according to their respective interpretations of how the shift from exile to redemption will appear. To the Haredim, the solution calls for the Jewish people to repent, live piously and wait for the Messiah to emerge; to the Hardalim, the solution calls for the Jewish people to abandon the passive approach and engage in the process of redemption, which has already begun even though the Messiah delays. Hence, both present a strategy for expediting the End, and can thus be considered messianic.

Moses: Freud's ultimate project

Risto Olavi Nurmela — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0300

Moses and Monotheism was the last work of Sigmund Freud, known as the founder of psychoanalysis. It is not a study of psychoanalytical issues, but mainly a study of the biblical figure Moses, albeit with psychoanalytical applications. Freud attempted to prove that Moses’ original monotheistic religion, which he, an Egyptian, gave to the Israelites, was one without sacrifices and priests, whereas the Israelite religion known from the Bible was not even strictly monotheistic. Moses’ religion, according to Freud, was the religion of Ikhnaton, the similarity of which to Israelite religion Freud was in fact among the first to realize. The religion of Moses, which Freud thought he was able to reconstruct, was in my view actually Judaism, which later developed from Israelite religion. Freud was a stern atheist, but nevertheless also an uncompromising Jew, who never thought atheism would exclude Jewishness. As such he stands as a fine example of Judaism being something more and other than religion and ethnicity. Freud worked on Moses and Monotheism during his five last years. What apparently motivated him was Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, which presented a threat to Freud personally as well as to his life’s work, since the Nazis outlawed psychoanalysis. This threat became a reality when Germany occupied Austria in 1938. Freud fled to London where he finished Moses and Monotheism, published only months before his death in September 1939. In this work Freud’s appreciation of Judaism finds a remarkable expression.

Jewish history as a history of immigration: an overview of current historiography in the Scandinavian countries

Christhard Hoffmann — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0300

This article provides a first critical overview of the historiography of Jewish immigration and integration in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. While the experience of immigration has been crucial for Scandinavian Jewry, scholarly interest in Jewish migration history only emerged during the 1980s in connection with the focus on migration and ethnicity in Swedish research and the adaptation of sociological concepts of migration in general historiography. By analysing key historio-graphical works, focusing on their approaches and main narratives, this article aims at a critical methodological self-reflection. It identifies two major approaches to Jewish immigration history in current Scandinavian historiography: the demographic and social history approach, focusing in particular on the role of Jewish immigrants in the labour market, their settlement and housing conditions and their social mobility; and the cultural history approach, reconstructing and preserving the vanished world of Yiddish immigrant culture.

Transnational Ashkenaz: Yiddish culture after the Holocaust

Jan Schwarz — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0300

After the Holocaust’s near complete destruction of European Yiddish cultural centres, the Yiddish language was largely viewed as a remnant of the past, tragically eradicated in its prime. This article reveals that, on the contrary, for two and a half decades following the Holocaust Yiddish culture was in dynamic flux. Yiddish writers and cultural organisations maintained a staggering level of activity in fostering publications and performances, collecting archival and historical materials, and launching young literary talents. This article provides a cultural historical map of a Yiddish transnational network that derived its unity from the common purpose of commemorating and bearing witness to the destruction of the Jewish heartland in Central and Eastern Europe.

Name changes and visions of ”a new Jew” in the Helsinki Jewish community

Laura Katarina Ekholm, Simo Muir — Wed, 25 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0300

This article discusses an organized name-change process that occurred in the 1930s in the Jewish community of Helsinki. Between 1933 and 1944 in approximately one fifth of the Helsinki Jewish families (c. 16 %) someone had their family name changed. We argue that the name changes served two purposes: on the one hand they made life easier in the new nation state. It was part of a broader process where tens of thousands of Finns translated and changed their Swedish names to Finnish ones. On the other hand, the changed family names offered a new kind of Jewish identity. The name-changing process of the Helsinki Jews opens a window onto the study of nationalism, antisemitism, identity politics and visions of a Jewish future from the Finnish perspective.

The faith of the fathers, the future of the youth

Vibeke Kieding Banik — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0300

The article aims to analyse the various descriptions of crises among Norwegian Jewry as they were expressed in Jewish magazines and organizations in the interwar period. By analysing social, organizational and religious work I ask how Jews emigrating from Eastern Europe handled the transition from the Jewish shtetl life to the homogeneity of the Scandinavian societies. Further, I discuss the various solutions to these crises. I suggest that by utilizing fixed ideas of Jewishness, such as ‘traditions’ and ‘Zionism’, the Norwegian Jews in fact created a versatile Jewishness that they labelled ‘national work’. This paved the way to becoming ‘Jewish Norwegians’.

Repatriation and restitution of Holocaust victims in post-war Denmark

Sofie Lene Bak — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0300

Jewish Holocaust survivors faced severe economic and emotional difficulties on returning home to Denmark in 1945. Jewish families had used their savings, sold valuables and property and obtained improvised private loans in order to finance their escape to Sweden. Homes, businesses and property had been subject to theft and abuse. During and after the German occupation, however, Danish authorities worked to mitigate and ameliorate the consequences of Nazi persecution and the Danish government implemented one of the most inclusive and comprehensive restitution laws in Europe, taking into account Jewish victims of deportation as well as victims of exile. The restitution process underlines the dedication of the Danish authorities to the reintegration of the Jewish community and their interest in allaying potential ethnic conflict. Furthermore, the process is a remarkable – but overlooked – missing link between the social reforms of the 1930s and the modern Danish welfare state.

Trauma, memory, testimony: phenomenological, psychological, and ethical perspectives

Claudia Welz — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0300

How can severely traumatized persons re-present the past and its impact on the present if (due to blackout, repression, or dissociation) they could not witness what they went through, or can hardly recall it? Drawing on Holocaust testimonies, this article explores the crisis of witnessing constituted by the Shoah and, more generally, problems of integrating and communicating traumatic experiences. Phenomenological, psychological, and ethical perspectives contribute to a systematic investigation of the relation between trauma, memory and testimony. I will argue that preserving personal continuity across the gap between past and present presupposes not only an ‘inner witness’ – which can, according to a long philosophical tradition, be identified with a person’s conscience – but also a social context in which one is addressed and can respond. An attentive listener can bear witness to the witness by accepting the assignation of responsibility implied in testimonial interaction, and thereby support the dialogic restitution of memory and identity.

ʿĂqēdōt: the binding of Isaac in early modern Polish-Lithuanian Karaite poetry

Riikka Tuori — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0300

This article deals with early modern Polish-Lithuanian Karaite poems which are based on the biblical narrative of the binding of Isaac (Gen. 22). These liturgical poems (ʿăqēdōt) were recited during the ten days between the New Year and the Day of Atonement, known in Karaite tradition as the ten days of mercy. Their main function is to express the frame of mind of the congregants during this yearly period of repentance, eventually culminating in the sounding of the Shofar on the Day of Atonement. The article demonstrates that the Polish-Lithuanian Karaite poets do not only draw from the biblical narrative but rewrite it by using later midrashic and medieval interpretations of the binding of Isaac.

Celsus, Toledot Yeshu and Early Traces of Apology for Virginal Birth of Jesus

Antti Laato — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0300

In this article New Testament passages referring to the birth of Jesus are related to Celsus’ anti-Christian arguments and the Jewish Toledot Yeshu tradition with a new question: Why it was so difficult to speak about the virgin birth of Jesus? It is argued that the concept of the virgin birth of Jesus was seen to be problematic for two reasons: 1) The concept was liable to result in scurrilous rumours, even scoffing and parodic episodes revolving on its sexual aspects. 2) Every attempt to explain that God was in some way the agent when a young girl conceived came too close to Gen. 6:1–4 – the text which explained in ancient Judaism the origin of the demonic world. Therefore, some New Testament authors (for example, the writer of the Gospel of John) deliberately avoided speaking about the virgin birth and instead presented the birth of Jesus in terms of the idea of an incarnated, personified, divine Wisdom. In order to avoid erroneous connotations relating to Gen. 6:1–4, Matthew and Luke followed a tradition where the Holy Spirit (a feminine word in Hebrew and Aramaic) played an active role in the pregnancy.

Jesus-oriented visions of Judaism in antiquity

Karin Hedner Zetterholm — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0300

This article argues that the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions 1.27–72, the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies, and the Didascalia Apostolorum – third and fourth century-texts, which combine adherence to Jesus with Jewish law observance – would have made sense to Jews in antiquity as Jewish, although non-rabbinic visions of the history and calling of the people of Israel, and that they ought to be considered as part of the history of Judaism. Recent years have witnessed an emerging trend to reread texts previously regarded as ‘Jewish-Christian’ or ‘heretical Christian’ as Jewish texts, and as evidence of diversity within Judaism in the post-70 period. This understanding emerges from the related insights that rabbinic Judaism was not the only, or even the dominant form of Judaism during the early centuries ce, that there was no definitive early split between a well defined Christianity and an equally well defined Judaism, and that Jewish self-identity in antiquity seems to have allowed for adherence to Jesus as an option within Judaism. Abandoning the practice of using rabbinic Judaism as the sole criterion for defining Jewishness in this time period allows us to see the theologies developed by such Jesus-oriented groups with a Jewish self-identity as profoundly Jewish, although non-rabbinic, visions of the history and calling of biblical Israel.

Jewish studies in the Nordic countries today

Ruth Illman, Björn Dahla — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0300

The current 27th volume of Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis is based on a symposium arranged by the Donner Institute in March 2015, under the title: ‘Jewish Studies in the Nordic Countries Today’. All the articles published in this volume were initially presented as papers at this conference and have, through a double-blind peer-review process, been selected for this volume.