We are looking forward to the final conference of this term’s Oxford Seminar in Advanced Jewish Studies, ‘Philosophy in Scripture’: Jewish Philosophical Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in the Late Medieval Period. The conference will take place on 13 and 14 June from 9:00-17:00 UK Time each day in the Catherine Lewis Lecture Theatre of the Clarendon Institute. There is no entrance fee, and no registration is necessary. A full programme will be posted in due course but, in the meantime, you may find the conference schedule below.
Monday, 13 June 2022
9:30-9:45—Introduction: Paul B. Fenton
9:45-11:15—Panel 1: Post-Maimonideanism in the Islamic East (1)
Chair: Raphael Dascalu
Y. Tzvi Langermann—‘The Philosophical Interpretation of Scripture among Yemenite Exegetes’
Paul B. Fenton—‘Philosophical Elements in R. David II Maimonides’ Torah Commentary’
11:15-11:30—Tea and Coffee Break
11:30-13:00—Panel 2: Post-Maimonideanism in the Islamic East (2)
Chair: Rachel Katz
Raphael Dascalu—‘Sa‘īd Ibn Dāwūd al-‘Adanī: Popularising Philosophy in 15th-Century Egypt and the Levant’
Ilan Moradi—‘The “Vision of the Divine” (Ex. 33, 18 and 23) according to the 17th-Century Judaeo-Persian Philosopher Rabbi Judah ben Eleazar’
13:00-14:00—Lunch Break (lunch provided for speakers only)
14:00-15:30—Panel 3: Science in the Hebrew Bible: Between East and West
Chair: Andrea Gondos
Tamás Visi—‘The Meteorological Interpretation of the Creation Narrative in the Late Middle Ages’
Oded Horezky—‘Biblical Law in Medieval Provence: Science vs Politics’
16:00-16:15—Closing Session
Oded Horezky—Presentation on Manuscript Database
19:00—Dinner (for presenters only)
Tuesday, 14 June 2022
9:30-11:00—Panel 4: The Confrontation between Kabbalah and Philosophy
Chair: Israel Sandman
Nathan Wolski—‘‘It does not sit well in my heart’: Allegorising the Eschatological Banquet in Midrash ha-Ne‘lam’
Andrea Gondos—‘Biblical Narratives in a Kabbalistic Key: Sin, Heresy, and the Destruction of Divine Unity in Ma‘arekhet ha-Elohut’
11:00-11:30—Tea and Coffee Break
11:30-13:00—Panel 5: Science and Scripture: Between Western Christendom and Western Islamdom
Chair: Shira Weiss
David Wirmer—‘Philosophical Solitude and Spiritual Medicine: Reading Ibn Bāǧǧa’s Tadbīr al-mutawaḥḥid’
Andrew Berns—‘Jewish Perspectives on Medicine in Scripture from Late Medieval Iberia and Italy’
13:00-14:00—Lunch Break (lunch provided for speakers only)
14:00-16:15—Panel 6: Continuity and Discontinuity in Post-Maimonidean Iberia
Chair: Oded Horezky
Rachel Katz—‘Embodiment (?) in Isaac Arama’s Works’
Shira Weiss—‘Scholastic Influences on Joseph Albo’s Book of Principles’
Israel Sandman—‘Philosophy and Tradition: Appreciating the Paradox of Judah ha-Kohen’s Midrash ha-Ḥokhmah’