Religious Cultures in the Early Modern Period:
Tradition, Authority, Heterodoxy
23-25 May 2005
Research Workshop of the Israel Science Foundation
Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought, Ben-Gurion University
Monday 23 May
9:00- Greetings
9:30-11:15 Orthodoxy and Dissent
Chair: Zeev Gries, Ben-Gurion University
William Kolbrener, Bar-Ilan University. "Love of God" in the Age of Philosophy
Arthur Marotti, Wayne State University. Catholicism in Protestant England
Aaron Landau, Ben-Gurion University. Jews and Moors at the Crossroads: Alterity and Dissent in Shakespeare and Cervantes
11:15-11:45 Coffee Break
11:45-13:00 Milton and Theology
Chair: Jon Whitman, Hebrew University
Sanford Budick, Hebrew University. Samson Agonistes, Job and the Achievement of Moral Freedom
Albert Labriola, Duquesne University. Jewish Christianity in Milton's Paradise Lost: The Son as Angel of the Lord
13:00-14:30 Lunch Break
14:30-15:45 Intercultural Dynamics
Chair: Mayer I. Gruber, Ben-Gurion University
Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, Ben-Gurion University. Print Shops, Hebraists, Converts and the Shaping of Jewish Tradition
Avraham Oz, Haifa University. Nationhood and Religion in Early Modern Drama
15:45-16:15 Coffee Break
16:15-18:00 Religion and Art
Chair: Katrin Kogman-Appel, Ben-Gurion University
Nirit Ben-Aryeh Debby, Ben-Gurion University. Art and Sermons: Mendicants and Muslims in Florence
Ellen Spolsky, Bar-Ilan University. Iconoclasm in 16th Century England
Daniel M. Unger, Ben-Gurion University. The Sacrament of Penance: Art and Politics at the Beginning of the 17th Century
Tuesday 24 May
9:30-11:15 Biblical Exegesis
Chair: Barbara Hochman, Ben-Gurion University
Avi Gross, Ben-Gurion University. Solomon Molkho's Biblical Self-Perception.
Lawrence Besserman, Hebrew University. Job in the King James Bible: Traditional Religious Belief and Its Critique
Michael Rony, Ben-Gurion University. Jewish Philosophical Commentaries on the "Tower of Babel" Story
11:15-11:45 Coffee Break
11:45-13:00 Sermons I
Chair: Michael Heyd, Hebrew University
Matt Goldish, Ohio State University. The Sermons of Hakham Solomon Aailion and Clerical Heresy in Late 17th Century England
Marc Saperstein, George Washington University. Saul Levi Morteira and Heresy
13:00-14:30 Lunch Break
14:30-15:45 Sermons II
Chair: Haim Kreisel, Ben Gurion University
Jeanne Shami, University of Regina. Anxious Conformity: John Donne and the Early-Modern Protestant Pulpit in England
Chanita Goodblatt, Ben-Gurion University. Miserere Mei Deus: Donne's Exegetical Strategy as Polemic
15:45-16:15 Coffee Break
16:15-18:00 Mystical Movements and Issues
Chair: Boaz Huss, Ben-Gurion University
Moshe Idel, Hebrew University. Kantian Philosophy and the Kabbalah
Dror Ze'evi, Ben-Gurion University: Sufis, Preachers and Beardless Youths: The Struggle for the Soul of slam in the 17th Century
Noam Flinker, Haifa University. Kabbalah and Literary Theurgy in Shakespeare and Milton
Wednesday 25 May
10:00-11:15 Jewish-Christian Polemics
Chair: Yosef Kaplan, Hebrew University
Golda Akhiezer, Hebrew University: The Karaite Polemicists in Poland
Daniel Lasker, Ben-Gurion University/Yale University. The Impact of the Reformation on the Jewish-Christian Debate
11:15-11:45 Coffee Break
11:45-13:00 Women in Religious Society
Chair: Edward Fram, Ben-Gurion University
Leah Bornstein-Makovetsky, Bar-Ilan University: The World of the Jewish Woman in Spanish and "Musta-Arabic" Society
Anne Lake Prescott, Barnard College: Anne Locke and Sister Anne de Marquets:Time, Psalter and Ritual
13:00-14:30 Lunch Break
14:30-16:15 Issues in Theology
Chair: Guy Stroumsa, Hebrew University
Elhanan Yakira, Hebrew University. Spinoza and the Critique of Religion: The Birth of Modern Political Thought
Jason Rosenblatt, Georgetown University. Selden and Stubbe on Idolatry, Blasphemy, and the Passion Narrative
Achsah Guibbory, University of Illinois at Champagne/Barnard College. The Church of England, Judaism and the Jewish Temple in 17th Century England