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Different antisemitisms: on three distinct forms of antisemitism in contemporary Europe. With special focus on Sweden
No full textThis article studies eight European countries, investigating how the level of antisemitism as registered in national populations relates to the perception of antisemitism by the Jewish population in the same country. Furthermore, the article empirically identifies distinct aspects of antisemitism, deconstructing the concept of antisemitism and breaking it up into three kinds of empirically differently based and composed antisemitisms (note the plural!): classic antisemitism, Israel-derived antisemitism and Enlightenment-based antisemitism. The article also elaborates on some more general implications for the understanding of the character of antisemitism in contemporary Europe, and based on that, presents some perspectives on the development of the three distinct antisemitisms in contemporary Europe
Hispano-Hebrew strophic poetry
No full textThe conquest of Spain by the Arabs, allegedly prompted by leaders of the Jewish population after the fall of the Visigothic regime, 711, opened up an era in Medieval European history which stands unmatched as far as cultural enlightenment is concerned. Philosophy, belles lettres and the natural sciences flourished in the academies established by the Arab savants in the main urban centres. In the wake of the cultural revolution, a new branch of scholarship came into being – Hebrew philology. From the midst of this syncretistic, Mozarabic, milieu a remarkable poetic genre emerged. The study of Mozarabic (from Arabic, musta’riba, to become Arabicized) poetry has proved as one of the most fertile and controversial fields of research for Semitist and Romanist scholars during the past decades
Moses: Freud's ultimate project
No full textMoses and Monotheism was the last work of Sigmund Freud, known as the founder of psychoanalysis. It is not a study of psychoanalytical issues, but mainly a study of the biblical figure Moses, albeit with psychoanalytical applications. Freud attempted to prove that Moses’ original monotheistic religion, which he, an Egyptian, gave to the Israelites, was one without sacrifices and priests, whereas the Israelite religion known from the Bible was not even strictly monotheistic. Moses’ religion, according to Freud, was the religion of Ikhnaton, the similarity of which to Israelite religion Freud was in fact among the first to realize. The religion of Moses, which Freud thought he was able to reconstruct, was in my view actually Judaism, which later developed from Israelite religion. Freud was a stern atheist, but nevertheless also an uncompromising Jew, who never thought atheism would exclude Jewishness. As such he stands as a fine example of Judaism being something more and other than religion and ethnicity. Freud worked on Moses and Monotheism during his five last years. What apparently motivated him was Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, which presented a threat to Freud personally as well as to his life’s work, since the Nazis outlawed psychoanalysis. This threat became a reality when Germany occupied Austria in 1938. Freud fled to London where he finished Moses and Monotheism, published only months before his death in September 1939. In this work Freud’s appreciation of Judaism finds a remarkable expression
Western Yiddish berkhes or barkhes, its origin and offshoots in Scandinavian languages
No full textIt is a well-known fact that the bread term mentioned in the heading has displaced and superseded in Western Yiddish the universal word for “Sabbath bread” khale, over which the benediction for bread is commonly though not necessarily pronounced. It is likewise a universally accepted theory among serous scholars that the term berkhes, the older form, is connected with the Hebrew word for ‘benediction’, among Ashkenazim pronounced brokhe, plural brokhes. The nature of the connection is not clear, however, and the reason is twofold. First, neither of the two forms brokhe, brokhes seem to correspond very well to berkhes. There may have been metathesis of the r, but what about the e of the stressed syllable? A qamets cannot turn into an e without a plausible reason. No such reason can be discerned
Knowing and decorating the world: illustrations and textual descriptions in the maps of the fourth edition of the Mercator-Hondius Atlas (1613)
No full textThis article analyses the Mercator-Hondius Atlas maps in the context of constructing knowledge of the world. In what follows, we analyse the elements of continental geographies and ocean spaces on the maps presented in the atlas. We take as our starting point the tension between empirical and theoretical knowledge and examine the changes occurring in the ways of representing land and sea on atlas maps which are evident in the Mercator-Hondius Atlas. Consequently, we investigate how the world was represented through information in pictorial and textual form. We argue that the maps in the Mercator-Hondius Atlas make explicit not only the multiple cartographical traditions and the layered nature of atlases as artefacts. They also exemplify the various coexisting functions of the atlas
The biography of a book: the Turku copy of the 1613 Mercator-Hondius Atlas
No full textIn this article we look at the printing and publishing history of the 1613 edition of the Mercator-Hondius Atlas. Our main focus is on the editions published by the Hondius family in the early seventeenth century. We take a closer look at the 1613 Latin edition, focusing on one specific, previously unrecorded copy currently held by the Donner Institute in Turku. We relate our findings to the more general issues concerning the production, context and history of the atlas
The aesthetic turn
No full textThis paper considers alternative styles of philosophy, based on art or science, through an investigation of Rudolf Carnap and Martin Heidegger. Carnap’s criticism of Heidegger’s account of das Nichts is analysed in relation to Immanuel Kant’s theory of the imagination. Heidegger’s account of the work of art demonstrates philosophies that take science as their model, over-emphasize cognition, and do not adequately consider the importance of apprehension
Art and religion in contemporary society
No full textArt + Religion in the 21st century by Aaron Rosen (2015) is reviewed by Malin Fredriksson
Targumim och versionerna. En forskningshistorisk överblick och jämförande exempel
No full textThe idea that Targumic renderings of scriptural passages could be of use for a comparative study of the ancient Versions is not new. The focus of this study are Septuagint, Peshitta and Vulgata. Many scholars observed similarities and agreements between the Targums and the Versions and drew their own conclusions from this. The character of the similarities could be defined e.g. as double translations, a corresponding use of the vocabulary, figurative translations of anthropomorphic expressions, exegetical agreements etc. Opinions differed, however, on the exact nature of the relationship
Nordisk judaistik – presentation
No full textThe Scandinavian Society for Jewish Studies, founded 1973, hereby presents the first issue of a quartetly, Nordisk Judaistik / Scandinavian Jewish Studies. Jewish studies is understood to be knowledge and research relating to the Jewish people, its history, religion, culture and social conditions