The unexpected return of religion to politics and culture, and the dramatic resurgence of religious violence throughout the world have brought to our attention, more than ever, the power of martyrdom.
To understand this phenomenon in its different historical contexts, we wish to analyze from a comparative perspective several particularly meaningful cases over the course of some 1800 years among Jews, Christians and Muslims. In a series of seminars, we will present case studies drawn from Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Reformation and contemporary Islam. We will study the formation of the idea of martyrdom in its various guises, with particular emphasis on the phenomenon of "voluntary martyrdom". The School is geared toward graduate students from Israel and abroad, and will be conducted as a series of seminars. Texts will be read in translation. Participants are encouraged to present their own work on the topic.
Directors :
Haym Soloveitchik, Yeshiva University, and Guy G. Stroumsa, The Hebrew University.
Speakers :
Brad Gregory, Notre Dame University
Stephen Jaeger, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Willem van Henten, University of Amsterdam
Diego Olstein, The Hebrew University
Eldad Pardo, The Hebrew University
Haym Soloveitchik, Yeshiva University
Guy G. Stroumsa, The Hebrew University
Daniella Talmon, Ben-Gurion University
Philippa Townsend, Princeton University
For more details please visit the IAS (The Institute for Advanced Studies) website at www.as.huji.ac.il/schools/jewish3/