idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
The Jewish roots of Christianity were very rarely denied; Israel was an 'other' which was equally a 'm(other)', inspiring shifting portions of love and hate appropriate to even the most well-adjusted of individuals. Yet at least from the very beginning of the Renaissance, there were other cultures that vied for the key place in the Pantheon of those societies which had contributed to the crystallization of Europe, 'others' who could not be dismissed out of hand as inferior, and whose civilizations could not be subjected to a condescending gaze. Most prominent of these great non-Western cultures was Israel's own extinct 'other', ancient Egypt, which since the middle of the fifteenth century was thought to be the seat of esoteric wisdom. For reasons which will become clear, the chief contemporary inheritor of the elevated status accorded to Egypt was China: It took on the role of a model society which had reached impressive heights of organization and achievement - without the supposed benefits of Christianity. Over the centuries, China rose to the status of an earthly utopia, and then declined swiftly to that of a hellish den of degradation. Yet it was at that moment that another Eastern civilization rose to take its place, India, initially as the birthplace of the European mother tongue, but soon as the home of a model religious system to which Christianity could usefully be compared. As if in reaction, the Chinese empire struck back, in that just as the Chinese were becoming the targets of ideological racism in the West, European biblical critics thought that they had found hidden manuscripts deep within Chinese territory which could fundamentally change God's written message to mankind the world over.
In this lecture I look at the changing positions of these great civilizations - Israel (with its own other, Egypt), China, and India - over a long period of time, mostly the early modern period, but extending up to the nineteenth century. In a sense, this is a discussion of shifting English and European stereotypes of other cultures, ultimately in some cases leading, if not quite up to hatred, then to more insidious contempt and a sense of superiority.
David Katz:
Professor am Department of History der Universität Tel-Aviv (The Abraham Horodisch Chair for the History of Books) und ständiger Visiting Fellow am Wolfson College, Oxford University. Studium in New York und Oxford, Promotion 1978.
Publikationen zuletzt:
The Jews in the History of England, 1485-1850 (1994); Messianic Revolution: Radical Religious Politics to the End of the Second Millennium (zus. mit Richard H. Popkin, 1999); Everything Connects: In Conference with Richard H. Popkin (Hg., zus. mit James E. Force, 1999); God's Last Words: Reading the English Bible from the Reformation to Fundamentalism (2004); The Occult Tradition from the European Renaissance to American Fundamentalism (im Erscheinen).
Information on participating / attending:
Kontakt: Zentrum für Literaturforschung, Jägerstr. 10/11, 10117 Berlin, Tel: 20 19 21 73
Date:
05/12/2004 20:00 - 05/12/2004
Event venue:
Zentrum für Literaturforschung, Jägerstr. 10/11, R. 06
10117 Berlin-Mitte
Berlin
Germany
Target group:
Scientists and scholars, Students
Email address:
Relevance:
transregional, national
Subject areas:
History / archaeology, Language / literature, Law, Philosophy / ethics, Politics, Religion, Social studies
Types of events:
Entry:
05/07/2004
Sender/author:
Claudia Schulz
Department:
Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO)
Event is free:
unknown
Language of the text:
German
URL of this event: http://idw-online.de/en/event10650
You can combine search terms with and, or and/or not, e.g. Philo not logy.
You can use brackets to separate combinations from each other, e.g. (Philo not logy) or (Psycho and logy).
Coherent groups of words will be located as complete phrases if you put them into quotation marks, e.g. “Federal Republic of Germany”.
You can also use the advanced search without entering search terms. It will then follow the criteria you have selected (e.g. country or subject area).
If you have not selected any criteria in a given category, the entire category will be searched (e.g. all subject areas or all countries).
