5. Annemarie Schimmel-Lectures an der Universität Bonn
"Without Sovereignty: Political Thought and Political Values in Pre-Modern Judaism" lautet das Thema der kommenden Annemarie-Schimmel-Lectures an der Universität Bonn. Am Dienstag, den 8. Juni 2027, um 17 Uhr im Gangolf-Saal des Bonner Münsters macht Alan Mittleman vom Jewish Theological Seminary aus New York den Auftakt. Am 15. und 21. Juni, jeweils 17 Uhr, folgen zwei weitere Vorlesungen im Senatssaal (Universität Bonn), zu denen alle Interessierten herzlich eingeladen sind.
Without Sovereignty: Political Thought and Political Values in Pre-Modern Judaism
This series of three lectures will explore the persistence of political thought, life, and organization among the Jews after the loss of their ancient state. From antiquity through the Middle Ages, Jews often used political concepts to describe their communal bond. The concept of covenant (Bund), although theological on its face, has profound political meaning. Ancient and medieval writers such as Philo, Josephus, and Maimonides thought of the Torah as the constitution of the Jewish people. Judaism, as its antagonist, Spinoza, knew well has a strong political dimension. Judaism is not simply a religion in the modern sense, but a theo-political phenomenon.
These lectures will develop the theme of Judaism as a theo-politics. They will ask such questions as: What are the basic political ideas of Judaism? What political values flow from them? How do political values and more purely spiritual and ethical ones relate to one another? What forms of communal organization were implemented by Jewish communities over the centuries? How did they express these values and manage conflicts between them? What was politics like without a sovereign state?
Lecture I: From Theocracy to Republicanism: The Arc of the Jewish Political Tradition (08.06.2027 - Gangolfsaal)
Although the focus of this series is on the post-biblical period of Jewish history, we must begin with the Bible, the source of Judaism’s basic political ideas. The first lecture will explore the basic political ideas of Judaism by looking at such biblical tropes as covenant, consent, kingship, and separation of powers. Covenant thought entailed consent to divine rule, but the value of consent also enabled the human partners to the covenant eventually to choose their own forms of governance in response to the vicissitudes of history. From divine rule (theocracy), followed by divinely established Davidic kinship, there eventually developed a practical, republican, and “secular” politics. How can such a politics, with its character of worldly human action, co-exist with the religious tradition’s comprehensive holy law? The law is supposed to cover all aspects of life. What room is there for political activity? From arguments about kingship in the Bible to medieval tensions between rabbis and communal leaders, the tensions between the sacred and the profane characterized—and continue to characterize—Jewish politics.
Lecture II: Medieval Jewish “Aristocratic Republicanism” (15.06.2027 - Senatsaal)
A decent society turns raw political power into legitimate authority by ordering power to just ends and constraining it by just norms. What constituted legitimate authority in the semi-autonomous Jewish communities of medieval Europe? What was the medieval community’s “theory” of power? How were its leaders appointed? Whose interests did they represent? How were conflicts between the wealthy and the masses negotiated and resolved? How did the community cope with the tension between religious authorities, who subordinated communal matters to religious law, and secular leaders who resisted that subordination? In what ways did relatively secular reasoning and action justify itself in a pervasively religious society? This lecture will explore the inner constitution and character of the medieval Jewish community (kahal) as it developed in Ashkenaz (the Rheinland and beyond).
Lecture III: Individual and Community; Rights and Obligations (21.06.2027 - Senatsaal)
Jewish communities, before the Emancipation of the 19th century, existed by sufferance. The gentile rulers, when it benefitted them, allowed the Jews a measure of self-rule. The fragility and uncertainty of Jewish life demanded interdependence and solidarity within the Jewish community. How, under such expectations, could individuals have any liberty? What did the individual owe to the community? What did the community owe the individual? The balance between obligations and rights was, of course, very different from the synthesis of modern liberalism. Nonetheless, the dilemmas of reconciling individual rights and community obligations remain familiar. The lecture will explore these dilemmas through using concrete cases that arose in Jewish law in areas such as taxation and welfare policy, the right to leave (the community) and the right to enter it as a migrant. Is the “common good” a political value in Judaism? Are “civil rights” such a value?
Die Annemarie Schimmel-Lectures des International Center for Comparative Theology and Social Issues (CTSI)
Die Annemarie-Schimmel-Lectures sind eine Vorlesungsreihe zu Fragen des interreligiösen Dialogs und der Komparativen Theologie, die seit 2023 jährlich im Juni an der Universität Bonn stattfindet. In diesem Rahmen stellen die weltweit führenden Köpfe der Komparativen Theologie ihre aktuelle Forschung einem breiten Publikum vor. In den Spuren der Namensgeberin Annemarie Schimmel soll die Exzellenz religionsbezogener Forschung ebenso gefördert werden wie der interreligiöse Austausch. Das CTSI bündelt die interdisziplinären Forschungsprojekte aus dem Bereich der Komparativen Theologie und gehört zur Katholisch-Theologischen Fakultät der Universität Bonn.
Weitere Infos unter:
https://www.ctsi.uni-bonn.de/en/ctsi_scholarships/annemarie-schimmel-lectures
Die Namensgeberin: Annemarie Schimmel
Annemarie Schimmel (1922-2003) war eine der wichtigsten Islamwissenschaftlerinnen des 20. Jahrhunderts. Mit ihren Werken und Übersetzungen, insbesondere zur islamischen Mystik, hat sie Brücken zwischen Ost und West sowie zwischen Islam und Christentum gebaut. Sie war langjährige Professorin an der Harvard-Universität und hielt Vorträge auf der ganzen Welt. Bis heute genießt sie ein großes Ansehen in islamisch geprägten Ländern und ist eine Inspirationsquelle für die theologischen Wissenschaften. Annemarie Schimmel ist auf dem Poppelsdorfer Friedhof in Bonn bestattet.
Plakat folgt (PDF)
Einladung folgt (PDF)