Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies

The Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies is a DFG-Kolleg-Forschungsgruppe directed by Prof Dr Giuseppe Veltri. It opened in October 2015 and will run for nine years. The central aim of the Maimonides Centre is to explore and research scepticism in Judaism in its dual manifestation as a purely philosophical tradition and as a more general expression of sceptical strategies, concepts, and attitudes in the cultural field.

The Maimonides Lectures on Scepticism are scheduled two to three times a semester. In these lectures, eminent scholars focusing on various aspects of scepticism are invited to present and discuss their research at an evening lecture.

Tuesday 11 July 2023, 18:00
Michael Brenner (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München/American University, Washington DC)

Is There Jewish Historiography? Is There Jewish History? Are There Jews?

In the nineteenth century, Jewish historiography took shape as a discipline, growing out of the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement. Historians such as Isaac Marcus Jost, Heinrich Graetz, and Simon Dubnov had their different interpretations of Jewish history, but they all shared the belief in a single coherent story of the Jews. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, every major university in the United States, along with many in Europe, had its own positions in Jewish history. However, there is also a growing relativisation when it comes to national histories and area studies in general. Can we still talk about a Jewish people and a Jewish culture? What does it mean to be Jewish in the twenty-first century and how will the constant changing of the definition of what Jews are influence the writing of Jewish history in the generations to come?
The first major account of Jewish history for the twenty-first century, David Biale’s Cultures of the Jews, stands for a new approach that tells the story of the Jews by many authors and as that of many cultures. What will be the next steps in writing Jewish history? Can we even still speak of a Jewish history? And how should we teach such a multi-layered history to the next generation of students? This lecture does not provide an answer to this question, but wishes to open the discussion into these and related issues overshadowing our field today.

Date
9–10 August 2023

Convenor
Ran Segev (Universität Hamburg)

Abstract
It is widely accepted that Judaism and Christianity helped to form a long-lasting barrier between humans—created in God’s image and destined to rule the planet—and all other living creatures. To this day, the human-animal distinction permeates human society, culture, and religion. Yet recent studies have nuanced our understanding of the human-animal boundary, offering valuable insights into the shared worlds that arise through interspecies interactions. Across periods and areas of study, scholars have also demonstrated how different attitudes and environmental ethics have been applied to animals in various religious sources, breeding scepticism and doubt about the line that separates humans and animals.
This interdisciplinary workshop aims to rethink the perceived borders between humans and animals within religious culture and theology. We seek to examine critical interpretations of the human-animal relationship within religious traditions and to reveal voices that either promoted moral consideration for animals or challenged dogmatic assumptions about humans’ uniqueness and supreme role in creation. Our goal is to contextualise these voices in broader theoretical and historiographical perspectives that will open new ways to consider animals in the history of thought, scepticism, and religious traditions

The Institute for Jewish Philosophy and Religion would like to invite applications for an interim professor (part-time position/50% FTE, salary level: fixed rate based on W2, fixed until 30 September 2024). The position will commence on 1 October 2023. The application deadline is 7 July 2023.

Giuseppe Veltri has been awarded the honour of the Order of the Star of Italy on the occasion of the Italian Republic Day. The event was held on 8 June at the invitation of the city of Hannover at the New City Hall. The Order of the Star of Italy (Italian: Ordine della Stella d’Italia) is an Italian order of chivalry that was founded in 2011. It was reformed from the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity (Italian: Stella della solidarietà italiana) by the eleventh president of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano. This distinction represents a particular honour on behalf of all those, Italians abroad or foreigners alike, who have demonstrated special merit in the promotion of friendly relations and cooperation between Italy and other countries and the promotion of ties with Italy.

As of June 2023, Chiara Rover, who is a research associate at the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies, will act as the centre’s second co-director alongside Stephan Schmid and director Giuseppe Veltri. Congratulations, Chiara!

Isaac (Tsachi) Slater, research associate, will leave the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies on 30 June 2023. He will take up a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, USA. We wish you a great start at Notre Dame University, Tsachi!