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
Tuesday, 23 September 2014
Monday, 25 August 2014
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
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
Friday, 22 August 2014
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
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
Monday, 7 July 2014
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
/PD
Thursday, 12 June 2014
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!
/PD. Pictures: Ann Jeanette Søndbø Ekberg
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. |
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| Communal lunch during the break between the two defenses at Govindas. |
/PD. Pictures: Ann Jeanette Søndbø Ekberg
Sunday, 30 March 2014
Lund blog
Two blogs a month - wasn't that what I promised? I'll have to hurry up... *Badconscience*
As I am still living and studying in Lund, this blog unavoidably gets focused a lot on this little town that tries to belong to Sweden, while the rest of the country thinks that it's almost Danish. Sorry for that. ;-)
On Wednesday, we here in Lund had a thesis seminar, where we and our supervisors talked about the status quo of our dear master theses. Funnily enough it seems that our supervisors have more faith in our chances of finishing in time (i.e. beginning of June) than we have ourselves. Let's wait and see who will be right.
The afternoon was also an excellent opportunity to take some pictures with the entire fourth cycle in Lund. As one of us normally studies on distance, we don't get to gather too often in front of Theologicum with the four of us. We also took some pictures with the supervisors and with Avram, a student from a previous cycle who also finishes his thesis right now.
The day ended with a dinner at an Italian restaurant together with some 5th cycle students (also one from Copenhagen, hooray!) and with other people who for some inunderstandable reason know what the abbreviation RRE stands for. Härligt! As quite some people said: "we should do this more often."
/PD
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As I am still living and studying in Lund, this blog unavoidably gets focused a lot on this little town that tries to belong to Sweden, while the rest of the country thinks that it's almost Danish. Sorry for that. ;-)
On Wednesday, we here in Lund had a thesis seminar, where we and our supervisors talked about the status quo of our dear master theses. Funnily enough it seems that our supervisors have more faith in our chances of finishing in time (i.e. beginning of June) than we have ourselves. Let's wait and see who will be right.
The afternoon was also an excellent opportunity to take some pictures with the entire fourth cycle in Lund. As one of us normally studies on distance, we don't get to gather too often in front of Theologicum with the four of us. We also took some pictures with the supervisors and with Avram, a student from a previous cycle who also finishes his thesis right now.
The day ended with a dinner at an Italian restaurant together with some 5th cycle students (also one from Copenhagen, hooray!) and with other people who for some inunderstandable reason know what the abbreviation RRE stands for. Härligt! As quite some people said: "we should do this more often."
/PD
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| Fourth cycle in Lund. Fltr: Anna, Thomas, Rasuole & Paula |
Tuesday, 25 February 2014
Open Lectures - more info
It has been mentioned before, but now there is an official invitation for RRE's open lectures at the Lund Faculty, coming from our coordinator Andreas Westergren. Read!
Visualizing Holiness in Judaism, Christianity and Islam
The Religious Roots of Europe Open Lectures, Spring 2014
In spite of cautions against the use of images of the holy, depictions of saintly figures have played a profound role in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In a series of open lectures, this tension will be examined. Three concrete examples of visualization of holiness will be given in history (Krueger) and in the present (Lund and Markussen). The first lecturer, Derek Krueger, is a well-renowned scholar in the study of Late Antiquity and early Byzantium, with a particular interest in saints' stories and gender issues. He is the author of Writing and Holiness: The Practice of Authorship in the Early Christian East. In the second lecture, we turn to the present, and to Jewish superheroes, with the help of Martin Lund. Last year he defended a thesis, Rethinking the Jewish-Comics Connection, at the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies. Finally, Hege Irene Markussen will display how the Imam Ali has been depicted on posters. She is an expert on the Alevites in Turkey, and has published Teaching History, Learning Piety: an Alevi Foundation in Contemporary Turkey.
Welcome!
Thursday MARCH 13, 18.15, room 118
Visual Celebrations of the Biblical Drama in Early Byzantium
Prof. Derek Krueger, University of North Carolina at Greenboro
Wednesday MARCH 26,16.15, room 118
A Graphic Chain of Tradition: Jewish Memory, Appropriation, Edification, and Polemics in Superhero Comic Books
Dr. Martin Lund, Lund University
Tuesday MAY 20, 16.15, room 118
Visualization of the Imam Ali in Popular Prints
Dr. Hege Irene Markussen, Lund University
10 September, 16.15, room 118
All lectures take place at the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Allhelgona Kyrkogata 8, Lund. For more information, email andreas.westergren@teol.
Another nice thing: below blog about the lighter side of RRE was written by our newest blogger, Thomas Hermansson. He's a fourth-cycle student at Lund University. Thomas, thanks for helping out - we hope to read more from your hand.
/PD
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