We would like to announce an international colloquium on “Interreligious Horizons in Psalms and Psalms Studies” organized by Prof. Dr. Christian Frevel (Department of Catholic Theology, Ruhr-University Bochum) in cooperation with the Dormition Abbey on Mount Zion in Jerusalem and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Title: “By my God I can leap over a wall” – Interreligious Horizons in Psalms and Psalms Studies: An International Colloquium in Memory of Erich Zenger (* July 5, 1939 - † April 4, 2010)
Date: July 29-31, 2019
Venue: Dormition Abbey, Mount Zion, P.O.Box 22, 9100001 Jerusalem, Israel
If you wish to participate in this conference please feel free to register by e-mail to pforte@dormitio.net
Description of the colloquium: There is hardly any need to justify the fact that Jerusalem is a special place of intra- and interreligious encounter of the so-called Abrahamic religions. The variety of confessions, denominations and religions in such a density at the narrowest of spaces is second to none. Adding the historical dimension, which potentiates the diversity of perspectives, the power of Jerusalem has a unique characteristic regarding the interreligious dialog compared to all other religious melting pots of modernity. The multi-religious lived space is characterized by cohabitation and snippets of shared religious experience. Thus, the historical and actual Jerusalem is a promising place for the academic reflection of mutual contact and religious encounter.
The colloquium will take the Psalms and the Psalter as a case study. Throughout history the Psalms represent an important part of the Christian-Jewish spirituality in practice. Alongside the character of David, the prophet, the Psalms are also appreciated in the Qur'an and the Muslim tradition. There is plenty of shared experience through the history although the Psalms are not part of the explicitly shared tradition. However, academic exchange on the interpretation of the Psalms took place in antiquity as well as in the Middle Ages until modern times. Addressing the present and coming Jerusalem as a lived and believed space, the Psalms are an outstanding study object to explore the prospects and limits of an interreligious dialog starting from the treatment of religious traditions and their reception. Hence, it is time to explore the capability of the Psalms and Psalms studies in the interreligious dialog.
The role of the Psalter with its hymns and laments, its longing for peace, and its hope for the blessing of the world of nations will be explored in this colloquium which brings Jewish, Christian, and Muslim academics in a fruitful exchange. The city of Jerusalem is as well subject matter as the place of venue. “In the Psalms, there sounds an idea [...] that the city grants its inhabitants something which is not simply the product of its inhabitants” (Erich Zenger).
The Colloquium deals with four topics:
I. Interreligious horizons in Psalms and Psalms studies
II. Psalms in the Muslim-Christian-Jewish dialog
III. Psalms in Jerusalem - Jerusalem in the Psalms
IV. Contextualizing Psalms in an interfaith dialog
Program
Monday, July 29
14.00-14.30 Welcome Addresses
14.30-15.00 Christian Frevel, Bochum
Brief introduction
15.00-15.45 Ludger Schwienhorst-Schönberger, Vienna
Abraham’s God. Religions and interreligious understanding in Erich Zenger’s approach to the Psalms
16.15-17.00 Dorothea Erbele-Küster, Mainz
Reception aesthetics of the Psalms. A source for intercultural and interreligious dialog
17.00-17.45 Till Magnus Steiner, Jerusalem
City of God. Jerusalem as a place of encounter with God and the other
18.15 Vespers in the Dormition Church
20.15-21.15 Bernd Janowski, Tübingen
Public lecture: “JHWH knows the way of the righteous” (Psalm 1:6). The Psalter and the ethos of recognition
Tuesday, July 30
9.00-9.45 Meira Polliack, Tel Aviv
Witnesses of exchange. David’s image in the Psalter in a comparative exegetical perspective
9.45-10.30 Mustafa Abu Sway, Jerusalem
A Muslim’s reading of Psalms
11.00-11.45 Sivan Nir, Tel Aviv
The true order of the Psalms. The impact of Muslim prophetic biography on medieval Jewish exegesis of the Psalms
12.15 Sext in the Dormition Church
14.00-15.30 Florian Lippke, Tübingen
Guided tour: “Standing within your gates.” Locating Psalms in the history of Jerusalem
16.15-17.00 Ronny Vollandt, Munich
The Arabic Psalms fragment found in the Umayyad mosque in Damascus
17.00-17.45 Carl S. Ehrlich, Toronto
Judaism and the Psalms. Life and liturgy
18.15 Vespers in the Dormition Church
20.15-21.15 Angelika Neuwirth, Jerusalem
Public lecture: The emergence of the Qur'anic proclamation out of liturgy
Wednesday, July 31
8.00-10.45 Angelika Neuwirth, Jerusalem
Guided tour: The Temple Mount and the Qur'an. New and old insights
11.15-12.00 Dalit Rom-Shiloni, Tel Aviv
Praise and protest in a theodical discourse in Psalms
12.15 Sext in the Dormition Church
14.00-14.45 Nancy Rahn, Berne
Kingdom of all nations and kingdom of all times. Explorations into a main topic of the Psalter and its potential for interreligious encounters
14.45-15.30 Shani Tzoref, Potsdam
Prayer and prophecy. Psalms as liturgy and scripture in Qumranic and medieval Jewish exegesis
16.00-16.45 Martin Wallraff, Munich
Framing the text. Early Christian prologues to the Psalter
16.45-17.30 Yael Sela, Jerusalem
Between Jerusalem and Athens. Moses Mendelssohn’s Psalms translation
17.30-18.15 “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!”
Round table: The interreligious potential of Psalms
18.30 Prayer for peace in the Dormition Church
