Scripture & The Enemy: Scriptural Reasoning in the University Conference 2019, 1-3 July 2019, Faculty of Divinity
This three-day international conference will explore how emnity and/or enemies are treated in the textual traditions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
Academics and researchers will present papers that examine the ways in which engaging with pre-modern texts and traditions can illuminate and challenge contemporary assumptions about emnity/enemies.
Guiding questions include:
- Do these texts and traditions call for wholesale elimination of enmity, or is an ongoing functional role attributed to it?
- Do these texts and traditions depict or call for cultivation of ‘good enemies’ without demonisation, polarisation or essentialising?
- Are the most salient enemies always recognisably ‘other’ (that is, affiliated with a ‘different’ cultural group or religious tradition)?
- What do these texts and traditions say about ‘enemies’ that are not persons?
The programme (subject to change):
Monday, 1 July 2019
2.00–3.00: Arrival, Tea/Coffee
3.00–3.30: Welcome and Introductions
(Julia Snyder and Daniel Weiss)
3.30–4.30: Text Study 1 (small groups)
4.30–5.30: Discussion Session 1
Daniel Weiss (UK), Thou shalt have no enemies before me: Hatred, Vengeance, Third Party Evaluation, and the Suspension of Judgment in the Hebrew Bible
Hannah Hashkes (Israel), A Friendly Look at the Notion of EIVA (Animosity) in Rabbinic Law
Tuesday, 2 July 2019
9.00–10.30: Text Study 2 (small groups)
10.30–11.00: Tea/Coffee
11.00–12.30: Discussion Session 2
Faiza Masood (UK),The Role of Satan in Human Relations: A Quranic Examination
Kumar Aniket (UK), Role of External and Internal Enmity in Group Formation
Laurie Zoloth (USA), Bad Guy: Sin and Doubt in Climactic Change
12.30–2.00: Lunch (provided)
2.00–3.30: Text Study 3 (small groups)
3.30–4.00: Tea/Coffee
4.00–5.30: Discussion Session 3
David Barr (Canada), Figuring the Enemy: Christian Interpretations of the Muslim Threat in the Sixteenth Century
Nauman Faizi (Pakistan), Friendship at any cost? Sir Syed contra Mehdi Ali
Julia Snyder (Germany),Scripture and Violence
Wednesday, 3 July 2019
9.00–10.30: Text Study 4 (small groups)
10.30–11.00: Tea/Coffee
11.00–12.30: Discussion Session 4
Jim Fodor (USA), ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’: What Kind of Moral Psychology?
Jason Fout (USA), Being Loved as an Enemy
Miriam Feldmann Kaye (Israel), ‘Scriptural Reasoning’ in Jerusalem: Theological Discord and Discourses of Diagnosis in Hospitals
12.30–2.00: Lunch (provided)
2.00–3.30: Discussion Session 5
Mark James (USA), Blessed are the Scriptural Peacemakers: Origen, Wisdom, and the Harmonization of Scripture
Peter Kang (USA), Memory, Enmity and Clement of Alexandria’s ‘Unmindfulness of Injury’
Hanoch Ben-Pazi (Israel), ‘From Foe to Friend’ (S.Y. Agnon): Models of Brotherliness in the Hebrew Bible. Love and Hatred, Foe and Friend