Compact seminar in Oslo

At the end of September, the 5^th cycle was on a seminar in Norway’s capital, Oslo. Heikki sent me some pictures of the seminar, which I – shamefully – only manage to post now. (Sssh, don’t tell him.) From what I have heard, they have had a great time, visiting a synagogue service, a Friday prayer in a mosque and a short Christian service. They also had a Shabbat dinner at home of teacher Gunnar Haaland –is this becoming a tradition?

Heikki, thanks for the Pictures!

 

 

 

 

/PD

 

Open Lectures Lund

It has taken some time, but they're coming up again - Lund's Open Lectures! Every term ther RRE program in Lund organises three lectures about an RRE-related theme. They are open to everyone, RRE-affiliated or not and are often continued with a drink in the pub. Feel welcome! The best news: it will be able to follow the lectures on distance as well. Read below on how to do that.

 The Religious Roots of Europe Open Lectures, Autumn 2014

Parting of the Ways between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

From a contemporary perspective we perceive Judaism, Christianity and Islam as three world religions. Even if they share historical and ideological roots, they are still separate entities, with different legacies and groups of believers. Sometimes the difference is emphasized to the point of making us see them as contrasting cultures, or even civilizations. But when did these religions part ways? And how did they part? And are there ideas or practices where they still have not parted, or where they could meet again? In a series of open lectures, the "parting of the ways" will be discussed from a historical perspective. In the first lecture, Dr. Magnus Zetterholm will speak about disagreements within the early Jesus movement as the first stage in the parting of the ways between Judaism and Christianity. Zetterholm - who has been awarded for his study - belongs to an increasing number of scholars who argue for a much later "separation" than previous scholars did. Later, Dr. Holger Zellentin from the University of Nottingham, will bring us to another debated issue: the impact of Christianity and Judaism on early Islam. He will read the Holy Qur'an as a crossroads between the three religions. And finally, the well-known former Professor of Islamology at Lund, Jan Hjärpe, will help us disentangle the parting of the ways between Shia and Sunni Islam - a matter of utmost relevance for understanding the present Middle East. Welcome!

Oct 9, 16.15 LUX C126

 Dr. Magnus Zetterholm

The Politics of Separation: How the Jewish Jesus Movement became an Anti-Jewish Religion

Nov 4, 17.15 LUX C121

Dr. Holger Zellentin, University of Nottingham

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: The Qur'an as a Crossroads

Dec 4, 16.15 LUX C121

Prof. Jan Hjärpe

The many Islams: What about Sunnism and Shiism and the role of religious affiliation?

All lectures take place at LUX, Helgonavägen 3, Lund.

For more information, email andreas.westergren@teol.lu.se.

If you go to the following page: http://chat.play.du.se/ you will be able to log in to the room that is stated in the schedule. It should be possible to attend without logging in, but to ask questions you need your STIL-identity. 

/PD

Everyone's gone - Rome and Oslo

What a week it is for RRE! The fifth cycle is currently in Oslo, studying for the Contemporary course. If that means what it meant last year, they will visit several religious congregations and possibly also be offered a great shabbat-meal at the home of one of our teachers! We hope for a report with pictures by next week.

The sixth cycle has left around this weekend to Rome for the traditional twee-week opening excursion of the program. Something not so traditional is that they will be the first students to study in the new 'The Study of Ancient Religion'-course, which has replaced the previous courses Method & Theory and Religion and Society. We are curious to hear about their experiences!
For the rest, I don't think the Rome trip will have changed too much, which means that I dare to link to an older blogpost: Must Dos in Rome. In general, the sixth cycle has made the better choice for a travel destination, as the weather forecast predicts 24 degrees for Rome. (And only 13 for Oslo. Well, one should after all be reminded of the Scandinavian program...)

Btw, wondering what the fourth cycle is doing? Well, those lazy ones that aren't done yet (including the undersigned) are at home, working on their theses... ;-)

/PD

Welcome, sixth cycle!

I don't know how it is in other places, but in Lund the new term will start next week, on September 1st. That means that this week is the last week of the holidays or - for the new students of many programs, including RRE - Introduction Week!!

Right now there are many students walking around town with maps, looking slightly puzzled and seeming to be somewhat disappointed with the very autumnish weather. But I am certain that they will soon feel at home, especially whenever they have found out about the Swedish tradition of fika.
A few among these students might actually be prospective RREs - Lund's sixth cycle will have seven students! Their RRE introduction and welcome will be on Wednesday, more news by then. I obviously don't know about the other cities but I assume that they as well will have their introductions sometime this week.

For now: sixth cycle students, welcome to the world of RRE!

We wish you a great time in our program. Thinking about my experiences in the last two years, I could come up with a short list of warnings/predictions to the new students. Whether you take them completely seriously is obviously up to you...

1. If you're not Scandinavian, you might not be able to pronounce the last name of your teacher. The good news that you can always address him/her with the first name.

2. Your coffee consumption will increase. In case you don't drink coffee, you will soon start to. (I speak from experience.) See here the average coffee consumption according to a *very* reliable source and look for the Scandinavian countries.

3. Your understanding of the word 'Europe' will become a lot broader. As may be your understanding of what 'religion' is. Or 'roots'. (Ask Samuel Rubenson for the last one.)

4. You'll come to love Rome.

5. You'll sleep on the floor of your fellow students many a time (and/or host them) during the compact seminars.

6. You will develop a love-hate relationship with AULA.

7. If someone says that they know Latin or Greek, you might yawn. Hebrew, Syriac or Arabic, that's the real thing.

8. ....

Open for any more suggestions from current and former students!

/PD

Denmark calling with course information

Hej alle, har i haft en god sommer?

Soon we'll upload a welcoming message for the new student, but right now we have some good news coming from the theological faculty in København, which could be interesting for both new and old student!

Firstly, Martin Ehrensvärd, coordinator in Denmark, would like to pass on the following message:

"You see, I’m giving a course in Classical Syriac this fall. Syriac is an Aramaic dialect and thus relatively closely related to Hebrew and Arabic. A vast amount of early Christian literature is written in Syriac. The course will start from scratch but will proceed quickly as it presupposes that students have earlier experience with one or more Semitic languages. There will be one Skype-based lesson pr week."

An AULA-page for the course should by now have been created and I assume that the course will head off in the week of September 1st. Who's up for the challenge?`

Moreover, Martin also asked Thomas Hoffmann, professor in Copenhagen, about his upcoming course "The Qur'an and the Bible", which is an interaction course. See here the nice Youtube clip that they made!



/PD

Fin(n)ish(ed) - another graduation!

Is there only good news from Lund? Of course not - this message is somewhat delayed, but on June 16th, two students from Helsinki received their degrees! Their names are Zejian Zeng (from China) and Tanya Milova, who is from Russia. Big congratulations to both of you; you can be proud!  We wish you all luck with whatever future plans you have.

/PD

BREAKING NEWS - Theses being defended!

Is anything happening here in RRE? The blog might give the impression that there's not, but of course there is. Actually, we have BREAKING NEWS.

Right now, two students from Lund are defending their thesis. This morning we discussed the work of Avram Ginju with the title "Beyond the sacred text: the role of emotions in the Rabbinic and Patristic exegesis on Genesis 22". Right now we are to resume with Rasuole Baleisaite-Sabakoniene's thesis "Differences in the ascetic behaviour in the Sahih al-Bukhari and the Synoptic Gospels through the stories related to Muhammad and Jesus."

Very impressive and an inspiration to all of us who will also write our thesis in the coming months or year!

Fltr: Rasuole, professor Samuel Rubenson, and Avram. Introduction before the defense began.

Communal lunch during the break between the two defenses at Govindas.

/PD. Pictures: Ann Jeanette Søndbø Ekberg