PROGRAMME AND ABSTRACTS - Università degli Studi di Messina
PROGRAMME AND ABSTRACTS - Università degli Studi di Messina
PROGRAMME AND ABSTRACTS - Università degli Studi di Messina
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Società Italiana <strong>di</strong> Storia delle Religioni<br />
European Association for the Study of Religions<br />
International Association for the History of Religions<br />
9 th EASR Conference<br />
and IAHR Special Conference<br />
La religione nella storia della cultura europea<br />
Religion in the History of European Culture<br />
14-17 September 2009<br />
University of <strong>Messina</strong><br />
Department for the Study of Late Antiquity, Middle Ages and Humanism<br />
<strong>PROGRAMME</strong> <strong>AND</strong> <strong>ABSTRACTS</strong><br />
1
Conference Organiser:<br />
Organising Committee<br />
Prof. Giulia Sfameni Gasparro – gasparro@unime.it<br />
Organising Committee<br />
Prof. Concetta Giuffrè Scibona<br />
Prof. Cesare Magazzù<br />
Prof. Maria Antonietta Barbàra<br />
Dr. Concetta Aloe Spada<br />
Dr. Augusto Cosentino<br />
Dr. Mariangela Monaca<br />
E<strong>di</strong>torial Office<br />
Dr. Augusto Cosentino<br />
Dr. Mariangela Monaca<br />
Contributors<br />
Dr. Anna Multari<br />
Dr. Chiara Terranova<br />
Dr. Caterina Schiariti<br />
Secretary<br />
http://ww2.unime.it/easr09/eng/index.html<br />
Email: easr09@unime.it<br />
phone: +39 090 3503212<br />
fax: +39 090 3503931<br />
2
CONTENTS<br />
Programme .........................................................................................4<br />
Summary of Plenary Sessions ...........................................................5<br />
Abstracts of Plenary Sessions............................................................6<br />
Abstracts of Panels...........................................................................10<br />
Summary of Sessions.......................................................................31<br />
Session 1 ..........................................................................................31<br />
Session 2 ..........................................................................................35<br />
Session 3 ..........................................................................................37<br />
Session 4 ..........................................................................................39<br />
Session 5 ..........................................................................................40<br />
Abstracts of Papers ..........................................................................41<br />
3
<strong>PROGRAMME</strong><br />
- Aula Magna, Main Hall of University, Piazza Pugliatti<br />
Time Mon 14 th<br />
08.00-10.00 Registrations<br />
10.00-11.40 Conference Opening<br />
11.40-13.00 Plenary Session: Keynotes<br />
13.00-15.00 Lunch<br />
15.00-17.00 Plenary Session: Keynotes<br />
- Conference Hall of Accademia Peloritana, Piazza Pugliatti<br />
Mon 14 th<br />
17.00-19.00<br />
Meeting of EASR Executive Committee<br />
- Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, Polo Annunziata<br />
Time Tue 15 th<br />
Wed 16 th<br />
09.00-10.40 Sessions and Panels Sessions and Panels<br />
10.40-11.00 Coffee Break Coffee Break<br />
11.00-12.20 Sessions and Panels Sessions and Panels<br />
12.20-13.00 Plenary Session Plenary Session<br />
13.00-15.00 Lunch Lunch<br />
15.00-17.00 Sessions and Panels Sessions and Panels<br />
17.00-17.20 Coffee Break Coffee Break<br />
17.20-19.00 Sessions and Panels Sessions and Panels<br />
Time Thu 17 th<br />
10.00-10.40 Plenary Session<br />
11.00- 13.00 EASR General Assembly<br />
13.00- 15.00 Lunch<br />
4
Mon 14 th , Main Hall of University<br />
10.00-11.40<br />
SUMMARY OF PLENARY SESSIONS<br />
11.40-13.00 Keynotes:<br />
Chair: Prof. Gherardo Gnoli<br />
Conference Opening<br />
Prof. Francesco Tomasello, Chancellor of the<br />
University of <strong>Messina</strong><br />
Prof. Vincenzo Fera, Dean of the Faculty of Letters<br />
and Philosophy<br />
Prof. Gherardo Gnoli, SISR President<br />
Prof. Rosalind Hackett, IAHR President<br />
Prof. Tim Jensen, IAHR General Secretary<br />
Prof. Maya Burger, EASR President<br />
Prof. Kim Knott, EASR General Secretary<br />
Prof. Giulia Sfameni Gasparro, Conference<br />
Organiser<br />
Prof. Armin Geertz<br />
Prof. Enrico Montanari<br />
15.00-17.00 Chair: Prof. Peter Antes<br />
Tue 15 th , Au<strong>di</strong>torium, Faculty of<br />
Letters and Philosophy, 12.20-13.00<br />
Wed 16 th , Au<strong>di</strong>torium, Faculty of<br />
Letters and Philosophy, 12.20-13.00<br />
Thu 17 th , Au<strong>di</strong>torium, Faculty of<br />
Letters and Philosophy, 10.00-10.40<br />
Keynotes:<br />
Prof. Tim Jensen<br />
Prof. Jörg Rüpke<br />
Prof. Giovanni Filoramo<br />
Chair: Prof. Donald Wiebe<br />
Keynote: Prof. Kim Knott<br />
Chair: Prof. Emilio Suárez de la Torre<br />
Keynote: Prof. Maya Burger<br />
Chair: Prof. Mar Marcos<br />
Keynote: Prof. Kari Elisabeth Børresen<br />
11.00-13.00 EASR General Assembly<br />
5
<strong>ABSTRACTS</strong> OF PLENARY SESSIONS<br />
Kari Elisabeth Børresen, University of Oslo, Norway<br />
The Formation and Significance of Christian Gender Models in European Culture.<br />
This paper will outline the historical construction of theological anthropology, from Late<br />
Antiquity to the 20 th century, with focus on women’s gradual achievement of creational imago<br />
Dei, cf. the new holistic definition of human Godlikeness, accepted in Western theology after<br />
the II Vatican Council. Nevertheless, the Catholic and Orthodox Churches continue to proclaim<br />
pre-modern sexology, where men and women are created with gender-specific, non<br />
interchangeable rights and duties. In consequence, this majority of Christendom still opposes<br />
women’s reproductive autonomy and upholds women’s cultic incapability, cf. the Vatican<br />
refusal to sign the UN’s Convention of Women (CEDAW 1979), and the CIC, canon 1024<br />
(1983). The ensuing collision with the secular principle of Universal Human Rights (UDHR<br />
1948) is in Europe aggravated by the emergence of Islam. The paper will also analyse the<br />
concordant anthropology of these variants of monotheistic religion. A main challenge in the<br />
EU, cf. national concordats with the Holy See, is that socio-political gender equality is less<br />
developed in the so-called Catholic and Orthodox countries than in the Northern welfare states,<br />
which are more influenced by Protestant culture. In a global perspective, it is necessary to<br />
clarify the conflict between collective liberty for pre-modern religions, which prescribe genderspecific<br />
female rights, and the 21st-century actualisation of women’s universal human rights.<br />
6<br />
Thu 17 th , 10.00-10.40, Au<strong>di</strong>torium<br />
Maya Burger, President of the EASR, University of Lausanne, Switzerland<br />
Europe and In<strong>di</strong>a: an essay in creative misunderstan<strong>di</strong>ng<br />
The title alludes to the book by Wilhelm Halbfass (In<strong>di</strong>a and Europe: an essay in<br />
understan<strong>di</strong>ng, Suny Press 1988) as well as to a term from translation theory in order to<br />
accentuate that his perspective deserves to be supplemented. Since the 18 th century it is no<br />
longer a history of exchange, but a common history of mutual interaction and interrelation.<br />
Halbfass asserted that both, In<strong>di</strong>a and Europe or Europe and In<strong>di</strong>a have to be stu<strong>di</strong>ed<br />
simultaneously to understand the one and the other. However, the impact of In<strong>di</strong>a on the<br />
history of ideas in Europe has not always been adequately acknowledged. Its influence on the<br />
history of religions as an European academic <strong>di</strong>scipline has not been stu<strong>di</strong>ed with the same<br />
intensity and commitment. The encounter with In<strong>di</strong>a (apart from the more general, abstract<br />
theorizing about the encounter with the so called “other”) has had a lasting impact on the<br />
formative period of the history of religions (for example W. Hegel, F. M. Müller, M. Eliade),<br />
and, thus, on the shaping of our perception of In<strong>di</strong>an history. Its epochalization uses mostly<br />
European categories. But this is an episode in the European history of religions. It promises to<br />
be creative to turn back to some decisive moments in this history in order to situate theoretical<br />
debates of the <strong>di</strong>scipline in the light of this encounter. Examples of (European) constructions of<br />
In<strong>di</strong>an history can be contrasted with In<strong>di</strong>an constructs. 'History of religion' can mean what<br />
happens in and with a religion in the course of time, it can also mean the historiography, the<br />
writing about what happened to a religion in history – and this is an important aspect of our<br />
academic <strong>di</strong>scipline. However, to write history is to make history, in Europe as much as in<br />
In<strong>di</strong>a.<br />
Wed 16 th , 12.20-13.00, Au<strong>di</strong>torium
Giovanni Filoramo, University of Torino, Italy<br />
Dangerous liasons. Roman Catholic Church and Jewish Communities in the History of<br />
Religious Europe<br />
The history of relations between Jews and Catholic Church has experienced three stages. In the<br />
first the policy of the Church has fluctuated between two positions, both already present in<br />
Paul: an attitude of openness towards the Jews in view of their final conversion (Rom 9-11)<br />
that makes their presence in Christian society needed; and a policy of exclusion, linked to the<br />
dangers that may come to the Christians because of mixing with Jews imitating their practices<br />
and customs (Gal 4-5). With notable exceptions, in the societas Christiana until the modern<br />
age has prevailed the first position. The rupture of confessional unity and the religious conflicts<br />
that followed helped the second position, encouraging the process of ghettoization. The third<br />
period, dominated by the emergence of racial antisemitism, culminated in the Holocaust. A<br />
common thread that binds the three periods is the continuation of a tra<strong>di</strong>tion of anti-Judaism of<br />
ideological nature. It has fed during the twentieth century a Catholic anti-Semitism. The Shoah<br />
has put in place a process of self-criticism, which led the Catholic Church to re<strong>di</strong>scover the<br />
profound bond with the Jews as "elder brothers".<br />
Mon 14 th , 16.20-17.00, Aula Magna<br />
Armin W. Geertz, University of Aarhus, Denmark<br />
Religion, cognition and culture: A European idea?<br />
This lecture is based on work being done at a research unit that I head at the University of<br />
Aarhus called Religion, Cognition and Culture (RCC). It was originally designated as a special<br />
research area by the Faculty of Theology at the University and is currently in the process of<br />
being integrated as a full-fledged research unit in the Department of the Study of Religion. The<br />
RCC is closely integrated with university-wide conglomerates in Aarhus, such as the research<br />
initiative MINDLab, the Center for Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), and the<br />
Cognition, Communication, and Culture (CCC) network, all consisting of researchers from the<br />
humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, health sciences, the university hospitals and the<br />
psychiatric hospital. In a recent statement developed by the RCC, we assume that humans are<br />
simultaneously biological and cultural beings. In hominin history these two aspects of human<br />
biology and human culture have never been separate. Each newborn human is both unfinished<br />
and uniquely equipped, biologically and cognitively organized to flourish in socio-cultural<br />
environments that its genes could never anticipate. All this matters to explanations for how<br />
religious minds function. So a perspective on minds not limited to brains is required. Thus we<br />
must approach cognition as embo<strong>di</strong>ed and <strong>di</strong>stributed. We must analyze religion by studying<br />
the functional organization of the human brain, its interaction with the social and cultural<br />
worlds that it inhabits and mo<strong>di</strong>fies, and its developmental constraints and flexibility. Humans<br />
are mental creatures as well as embo<strong>di</strong>ed agents, who interact with the world. Core features of<br />
cognition – for example our moral intuitions, social intelligence and epistemic hunger – are<br />
powered by interpersonal dynamics. Cognition happens not only inside heads, but between<br />
heads, among heads and without heads (i.e. in cultural artifacts and systems). The RCC is a<br />
European institution obviously. But there is also nothing like it in the United States, and those<br />
institutions that work with cognition and religion in England follow the American example,<br />
7
whereas other European centers such as the one in Groningen and the research project in<br />
Helsinki share assumptions similar to the RCC. I therefore ask in my paper if the programmatic<br />
insistence on maintaining the links between religion, cognition and culture is a peculiarly<br />
European approach. And if so, why? A brief look at some of the lines of earlier research in<br />
<strong>di</strong>fferent <strong>di</strong>sciplines, I claim, may give us an answer.<br />
Mon 14 th , 11.40-12.20, Aula Magna<br />
Tim Jensen, IAHR General Secretary, University of Southern Denmark, Odense,<br />
Denmark<br />
The EASR within the world scenario of the IAHR 2000-2009. Observations and Reflections.<br />
The EASR was founded at an IAHR Special Conference in Cracow, Poland (May 2000), and it<br />
became affiliated with the IAHR at the IAHR XVIIIth World Congress in 2000 in Durban, SA.<br />
Since 2001, the EASR has held an annual conference each and every year, and it has, I think,<br />
also adopted new member associations each and every year. The EASR, consequently, is now a<br />
successful and rather powerful IAHR regional association with (2009) 21 (22?) member<br />
associations. Though the proper celebration of the EASR decennial then coincides, not with<br />
this conference but with the IAHR XXth World Congress in Toronto in August 2010, I<br />
welcome this invitation to share with the EASR members and conference participants some of<br />
the observations and reflections on the EASR and the IAHR (and the relation between the two)<br />
which I have done during the last 9 years, first serving the EASR as General Secretary (2000-<br />
2004), then (2005-2009) serving the IAHR as General Secretary.<br />
Mon 14 th , 15.00-15.40, Aula Magna<br />
Kim Knott, EASR General Secretary, University of Leeds, United Kingdom<br />
Theoretical and methodological resources for breaking open the secular and exploring the<br />
boundary between religion and non-religion.<br />
The secular con<strong>di</strong>tion, secularism and the associated non-religious ideological categories of<br />
agnosticism and atheism have particular significance in contemporary Europe (which,<br />
accor<strong>di</strong>ng to Grace Davie, is ‘the exceptional case’). Given that these concepts and their<br />
associated fields of belief, practice and organisation represent a counter-field of interest for<br />
scholars of religion, as well as an increasingly important arena in the politics of religion, we<br />
ignore them at our peril. I will present some resources for their investigation, with reference to<br />
several examples of religious/secular controversy. Furthermore, I will examine what happens<br />
around the boundary between the religious and secular and make a case for a reconstitution of<br />
the object of our stu<strong>di</strong>es to include ‘non-religion’ as well as ‘religion’.<br />
Enrico Montanari, University of Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy<br />
8<br />
Tue 15 th , 12.20-13.00, Au<strong>di</strong>torium<br />
Comparative Method and Historic-Religious “Commitment”: the Concept of “Saecular Faith”<br />
in R. Pettazzoni.<br />
Pettazzoni’s historicist conception is not non-religious nor irreligious: it proposes a “secular<br />
faith” in a “religion of this world”, and therefore it is presented as a “third way” between<br />
Catholic faith and secular agnosticism, defined “defeatist”. This “secular faith”, recognizable in
some trends of thought between the 19 th and the 20 th century, also includes history of religions<br />
as a way of wordly “salvation”: this is a perspective, in a way, comparable to M. Eliade’s<br />
conception (history of religions considered as “saving <strong>di</strong>scipline”), though <strong>di</strong>fferent for<br />
contents and aims. During the fifties, Pettazzoni defined in a better way the outlines of his<br />
“secular faith”, connecting it with a “sacralization of the profane”, considered as a religious<br />
valorization of working and precisely as a redemption characteristic of the con<strong>di</strong>tion humaine<br />
(Malraux). Another source of his thought is a reflection on the legacy of polytheism,<br />
understood not in the recent neo-pagan deformations, but in a recall (of classicist origin) of<br />
values which are constitutive of the “civic” <strong>di</strong>mension of modern society. This “religious”<br />
commitment of Pettazzoni doesn’t privilege religion as a category compared to the “categories<br />
of the spirit” fixed by Croce, nor it excludes it. In Pettazzoni, “religious history” is an<br />
ineliminable ingre<strong>di</strong>ent of the history of civilizations, along with the history of arts, of<br />
economy, of philosophy, etc. In this sense, through the proposal of a “religion of the State”,<br />
<strong>di</strong>alectically compared with a “religion of Man”, the concept of religion appears to be<br />
broadened and not reduced, removed or nullified (accor<strong>di</strong>ng to the outlines of an “absolute<br />
historicism”): in this way, it makes easier the elaboration of an inclusive “historical science of<br />
religions”, which is compatible and complementary with a perspective of “phenomenological”<br />
type.<br />
Mon 14 th , 12.20-13.00, Aula Magna<br />
Jörg Rüpke, University of Erfurt , Germany<br />
Hellenistic and Roman Empires and Euro-Me<strong>di</strong>terranean Religion.<br />
The history of religion in the classical period has for various reasons been classified as part,<br />
prehistory or left behind of the history of religion of Europe. This paper will briefly address the<br />
formation of an Euro-Me<strong>di</strong>terranean political and cultural space (with its many contacts<br />
beyond) and inquire into the characteristics of a religious “koine” within that cultural space. I<br />
will argue that "religion" itself underwent important changes throughout this period, lea<strong>di</strong>ng to<br />
a form of religion that would be formative for later periods, too. Apart from legal and<br />
organizational features, pride of place is given to the space accorded to in<strong>di</strong>vidual religious<br />
practices and concepts of legitimate and deviant religious actions. Here, the paper will<br />
concentrate on developments between the age of Cicero and late antiquity. Changes in<br />
terminology will be analyzed as well as the argumentation in treatises "On superstition" and the<br />
like (e.g. Cicero, Seneca, Plutarch, Tertullian, Codex Theodosianus). The hypothesis will be<br />
tested that the enlargement of the concept of religion entailed a mo<strong>di</strong>fication of definitions of<br />
religious deviance. This proved important for later developments.<br />
Mon 14 th , 15.40-16.20, Aula Magna<br />
9
<strong>ABSTRACTS</strong> OF PANELS<br />
PANEL 1<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.00-12.00, Classroom 4<br />
Wanda Alberts, University of Bergen, Norway<br />
Tim Jensen, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark<br />
Textbooks and syllabuses for religion education (RE): the notion of<br />
religion and the representation of in<strong>di</strong>vidual religions<br />
Textbooks for education about religion are often as influential on knowledge about religions as<br />
are the syllabuses or general frameworks for the school subject. In this panel, we would like to<br />
analyse textbooks and syllabuses for (non-confessional) education about religion from <strong>di</strong>fferent<br />
European countries. We wish to take a closer look at the general notion of religion showing in<br />
implicit or explicit ways in textbooks and syllabuses. Furthermore, we would like to <strong>di</strong>scuss<br />
the representation of in<strong>di</strong>vidual religions (and other worldviews). Accor<strong>di</strong>ng to what kind of<br />
patterns or notion of religion are they represented and which aspects of religion do the<br />
representations focus upon?<br />
9.00 Wanda Alberts The notion of religion in Norwegian syllabuses and<br />
textbooks for RE<br />
9.20 Bo<strong>di</strong>l Liljefors Persson Romanticism, Colonialism and Images of In<strong>di</strong>genous<br />
Religions. A Study of Representations of American In<strong>di</strong>an<br />
Religions in Swe<strong>di</strong>sh Textbooks.<br />
9.40 Christofer Bochinger<br />
Katharina Frank<br />
Religion and Values in German Speaking Textbooks<br />
10.00 Mariachiara Giorda L'insegnamento della religione in Italia: temi e problemi<br />
10.20 Discussion<br />
11.00 Tim Jensen The Notion of 'Religion' in Danish National Curricula for<br />
Primary and upper-secondary Public Schools Religion<br />
Education<br />
11.20 Elisabetta Porcu Religions and Me<strong>di</strong>a in Japan<br />
11.40 Ingvild S. Gilhus What become of the <strong>di</strong>vine? Superhuman beings in guides<br />
to the history of religions<br />
12.00 Discussion<br />
10
PANEL 2<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.00-17.00, Classroom 4<br />
Wanda Alberts, University of Bergen, Norway<br />
Tim Jensen, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark<br />
Non-confessional RE in European Post-communist Countries<br />
In this panel we want to initiate the mapping, analyses and <strong>di</strong>scussions of Religion Education<br />
in public schools in post-communist countries in Europe. Consequently, proposals mapping<br />
and <strong>di</strong>scussing the situation at large as well as the situations in in<strong>di</strong>vidual countries, in regard<br />
to elementary school as well as upper-secondary schools, are welcome. As for the situation in<br />
in<strong>di</strong>vidual countries the paper should describe and analyse relevant laws, syllabuses or<br />
curricula as well the training of the teachers teaching RE. Textbooks can also be included, and<br />
so may relevant public, political and educational, <strong>di</strong>scussions regar<strong>di</strong>ng RE.<br />
15.00 Wanda Alberts A brief Report on The recent Debate about The<br />
Obligatory Subject "Ethics" in Berlin<br />
15.20 Jenny Berglund RE on the borders<br />
15.40 Marianna Shakhnovic Teaching about Religion in Russia: Standards,<br />
Curricula and Textbooks<br />
16.00 Zrinka Stimac The School Subject "Culture of Religion" in Bosnia<br />
and Herzegovina: a Symbol of External<br />
Modernisation of a post-communist Society?<br />
16.20 Tuba Isik-Yigit «Muhammad als Gesandter Gottes», als<br />
Gegenstand in ausgewählten Lehrplänen für den<br />
islamischen Religionsunterricht<br />
16.40 Discussion<br />
11
PANEL 3<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.00-12.20 / 15.00-19.00, Classroom 8<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00-10.40, Classroom 8<br />
Giovanni Casa<strong>di</strong>o, University of Salerno, Italy<br />
Raffaele Pettazzoni:<br />
uno stu<strong>di</strong>oso italiano nel concerto internazionale della IAHR<br />
Raffaele Pettazzoni:<br />
an italian scholar in the International Context of the IAHR<br />
This section is addressed to honour 50 years after his death Raffaele Pettazzoni (1883-1959),<br />
the man who was the founder of the study of the history of religions in Italy and the most<br />
universal scholar of religion in the past century at a world level, with select contributions by<br />
eminent scholars from all the parts of the world with which he was in contact and where his<br />
oeuvre is still read and influential. Presentations are aligned accor<strong>di</strong>ng to three main foci: 1.<br />
Crucial issues of his activity in the field of the study of religion, both in its i<strong>di</strong>ographic and<br />
nomothetic aspects. 2. Reception and evaluation of his work in the various national tra<strong>di</strong>tions<br />
of the academic study of religions. 3. Interaction with the political and academic milieus of his<br />
times, focused on the liaison with his closest colleagues and <strong>di</strong>sciples. Some papers are based<br />
on fresh materials available in the Fondo Pettazzoni della Biblioteca comunale “G.C. Croce” at<br />
San Giovanni in Persiceto and offer new views that promise to be groundbreaking for any<br />
future research.<br />
9.00 Domenico Accorinti Il carteggio Raffaele Pettazzoni-Herbert J. Rose, 1927-<br />
1958<br />
9.20 Mustafa Alici The Idea of God in Ancient Turkish Religion accor<strong>di</strong>ng to<br />
Raffaele Pettazzoni: a Comparison with Turkish historian<br />
of religions Hikmet Tanyu<br />
9.40 Mehmet Ay<strong>di</strong>n L'Histoire des Religions au début du 20ème siècle dans<br />
l'Empire Ottoman<br />
10.00 Paola Sofia Baghini Il carteggio Buonaiuti-Pettazzoni<br />
10.20 François Boespflug Pettazzoni et le comparatisme iconographique en<br />
l'Histoire des Religions<br />
11.00 Sergio Botta Raffaele Pettazzoni and the Challenge of Native American<br />
Religions<br />
11.20 Pierangelo Carozzi Pestalozza e Pettazzoni: i "Dioscuri" della Storia delle<br />
Religioni italiana<br />
11.40 Eugen Ciurtin Pettazzoni's Lesson: the Increase and Decrease of the<br />
Generalist History of Religions<br />
12
12.00 Discussion<br />
15.00 Francisco Diez de<br />
Velasco<br />
La influencia de Raffaele Pettazzoni en Ángel Álvarez de<br />
Miran y en la Historia de las Religiones en España<br />
15.20 Mario Gan<strong>di</strong>ni Il fondo Pettazzoni della Biblioteca comunale "G.C.<br />
Croce" <strong>di</strong> San Giovanni in Persiceto<br />
15.40 Fabio Scialpi Raffaele Pettazzoni e le religioni in<strong>di</strong>ane<br />
16.00 Alberto Latorre La Storia delle Religioni tra «ragioni <strong>di</strong> prudenza» e<br />
ragion <strong>di</strong> Stato. Uno spaccato della ricerca storicoreligiosa<br />
al tempo del Fascismo e della reazione antimodernista<br />
nella corrispondenza tra Israel Zoller e<br />
Raffaele Pettazzoni<br />
16.20 Ivar Maksutov Raffaele Pettazzoni and Religious Anthropology<br />
16.40 Discussion<br />
17.20 Riccardo Nanini Raffaele Pettazzoni e la fenomenologia della religione<br />
17.40 Colette Nieri Il primo Pettazzoni e la genesi delle ricerche sulle origini<br />
dell'idea <strong>di</strong> Dio<br />
18.00 Okuyama Michiaki Rethinking "The All Knowing God" in China<br />
18.20 Discussion<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00-11.20<br />
9.00 Bryan Rennie Pettazzoni from the Perspective of the Anglophone<br />
Academy<br />
9.20 Michael Stausberg Raffaele Pettazzoni and Italian Politics 1938-1948<br />
9.40 Gerard Capdeville Pettazzoni, Leland e gli Etruschi<br />
10.00 Valerio S. Severino Sacrology. A Name for a Science (October 1959)<br />
10.20 Mihaela Timus Pettazzoni and the Iranian <strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong>es<br />
11.00 Discussion<br />
13
PANEL 4<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.00-11.40, Classroom 13<br />
Sarah Claerhout, Ghent University, Belgium<br />
The European Experience and the Concept of Religion<br />
Today, several scholars question the utility of ‘religion’ as an analytical tool, its clarity as a<br />
term, its theological neutrality and its vali<strong>di</strong>ty as a description of reality. Some call for<br />
abandoning the concept altogether, while others suggest that it has <strong>di</strong>storted the tra<strong>di</strong>tions of<br />
nonwestern cultures rather than describing them. Some say that religion has no ontological<br />
reality, but is always a construct; others propose that particular religions like ‘Hinduism’,<br />
‘Buddhism’, ‘Taoism’, are creations of the modern West. Many of these challenges to the<br />
concept of religion appear cogent, but they present us with a perplexing puzzle that has not<br />
been sufficiently appreciated: generations of Europeans from the early modern period until<br />
today have perceived religion in their own culture and in the alien cultures they encountered.<br />
The concept of religion helped them to give structure to their experience of themselves and of<br />
other cultures. If the concept of religion is all that problematic, how do we explain the fact that<br />
it was central to the European cultural experience for centuries on end? Did Europeans<br />
hallucinate when they saw religions, <strong>di</strong>d they all make basic cognitive mistakes, or were they<br />
merely under the influence of particular power constellations? This panel will explore the role<br />
of the concept of religion in the modern European experience. By looking at <strong>di</strong>fferent historical<br />
and cultural contexts, it will trace the process through which Europeans recognized themselves<br />
and others in the descriptions in terms of ‘religion’. Focusing on the European experience of<br />
In<strong>di</strong>a in particular, the papers will examine the relation of the concept of religion to other basic<br />
concepts central to how Europe understood itself and others, such as ‘nation’, ‘conversion’,<br />
‘the secular’, ‘human nature’.<br />
9.00 Philippe Bornet "Nature" and "Religion" in missionary accounts (18th-19th<br />
centuries)<br />
9.20 Sarah Claerhout Conversion, Religion and the Protestant Reformation<br />
9.40 Jakob De Roover ‘Religion’ and the European Conception of Human Nature<br />
10.00 Raf Gelders The In<strong>di</strong>an Religion by Any Other Name<br />
10.20 Marianne<br />
Keppens<br />
11.00 Discussion<br />
11.20 Discussion<br />
The European Concept of Religion and the Idea of a Hindu<br />
Nation<br />
14
PANEL 5<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.00-12.20, Classroom 7<br />
Nicola Cusumano, University of Palermo, Italy<br />
Memoria e religione nel mondo greco<br />
Memory and Religion in the Greek World<br />
The connection between memory and religion seems to be quite “structural”, since every<br />
system of beliefs and dromena recalls a specific “collective memory”, which, in its turn, needs<br />
to be focused upon as a specific historical object, especially when the social existence takes the<br />
shape of a religious experience. This issue, whose wide significance is well-known, will centre<br />
on the Greek world, where the social area of the polis provides an accurately co<strong>di</strong>fied field of<br />
connections between myth, rite and society. Our work aims at giving value, through this panel<br />
case-stu<strong>di</strong>es, to the tools and procedures used to preserve the philia and the koinonia of a social<br />
cosmos from threats and tensions of the anomia, the violence and the loss of origins, for which<br />
suitable tools of settling and repair are researched. Within this frame, memory and oblivion<br />
play an essential role in keeping, defen<strong>di</strong>ng and “rebuil<strong>di</strong>ng” the identity of a group, whether<br />
polis or ethnos, through reinterpretation or regaining processes. Myths and rites help, therefore,<br />
to legitimate correct and shared behaviours about the past; they suggest solutions to the always<br />
imminent risks of the oblivion through the creation of symbolic spaces and representations<br />
suitable to the “policies” and “practices” of memory, as important in ancient societies as in<br />
contemporary ones.<br />
9.00 Daniela Bonanno La memoria, i culti misterici e il recupero delle origini dei<br />
Messeni in Pausania<br />
9.20 Gian Franco Chiai Sulle origini e gesta dei nostri dèi: iscrizioni e memorie<br />
storico-religiose locali in età ellenistico-romana<br />
9.40 Nicola Cusumano -<br />
Annalisa Bennardo<br />
Vincolare la memoria: l'orkos implacabile in Erodoto<br />
10.00 Barbara Marino Memoria, violenza e oblio: gli alastores<br />
10.20 Daniela Motta Memoria eroica e polis: Achille ed Atene nella Historia<br />
Nova <strong>di</strong> Zosimo<br />
11.00 Isabella Solima Una dèa e il suo territorio: Artemide nel Peloponneso e la<br />
memoria cultuale nei contesti locali<br />
11.20 Adrian Mihai Espace et mémoire dans l’épitaphe de Potidée<br />
11.40 Discussion<br />
12.00 Discussion<br />
15
PANEL 6<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.00-12.20 / 15.00-17.00, Classroom 9<br />
Fabio Mora, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
La ricezione del testo sacro<br />
The Circulated Sacred Text<br />
The study of sacred, canonical texts may not substitute the empirical observation of the<br />
religious communities which are founded on them. But their reception and regular use of these<br />
texts is very important in their religious identities. The circulated text, i.e. the sacred text not as<br />
it was written, but as it is (collectively) read, rewritten, quoted should remain central in the<br />
study of a “written” religion. This is true for every religion with sacred text(s), but develops<br />
some special sense, in those religions who do not have only a single sacred text by a single<br />
human author (as Islam does), but rather a collection of texts by <strong>di</strong>fferents authors over time, or<br />
do share part of their sacred texts with other religious communities, as the Christians do with<br />
the Jews, the Mormons with both Christians and Jews, the Bahais with the Moslems. Here<br />
praxis and theory should carefully be compared – theory often simplifies and does not express<br />
the real religious dynamics. All Christians do accept the Old Testament as sacred text and<br />
postpone it to the New, but Christian confessions could be usefully be classified, and besser<br />
understood, by analyzing how much they do istitutionally read and quote the two Testaments,<br />
by their respective Anthologized Bibles – such an analysis would however show that not the<br />
two corpora, but every single book, group of books or section of book polarizes the attention of<br />
<strong>di</strong>fferent confessions. Historically Christianity as a whole is as much defined by respect for<br />
New Testament as by selective lack of interest for Torah and practical oblivion of its legal<br />
parts, but every single confession show <strong>di</strong>fferent attitudes to every single book of both<br />
Testaments. Judaism acknowledges theoretically three levels of sacredness to its Bible: Torah<br />
must be read completely in liturgical assemblies, Prophets are read only selectively, Writings<br />
are not to be read liturgically, with the (late) exception of the five Megillot; but in the detail<br />
how much is the Hebrew anthology of Bible (other than Torah) dominated by the Christian<br />
interference? Outside the Christian-Jew schisma, which is the respective role of the Christian<br />
Testaments and their own Scripture among the Latter Day Saints? Papers may be submitted in<br />
any of the official languages of the Congress and should either deal with comparative issues in<br />
the experience of sacred texts or with the empirical reshaping of the sacred text in any single<br />
religious confession.<br />
Cohen Naomi<br />
16<br />
The Haftarot (the lections froms Prophets) chosen to be read in the<br />
Synagogue Service<br />
Ibba Giovanni Gli scritti mosaici ed enochici nel giudaismo tra il II secolo a.C. ed il I d.C.<br />
Morgenstern Matthias Anmerkungen zur talmu<strong>di</strong>schen Bibelhermeneutik
Baral<strong>di</strong> Luca Dalle parole al reale: l'omiletica come fonte per lo stu<strong>di</strong>o dell'ebraismo<br />
Piperno Umberto<br />
17<br />
L'interpretazione politica della Bibbia nel commento <strong>di</strong> don Izhaq<br />
Abravanel<br />
9.00 Naomi Cohen The Haftarot (the lections from Prophets) chosen to be read in<br />
the Synagogue Service<br />
9.20 Giovanni Ibba Gli scritti mosaici ed enochici nel giudaismo tra il II secolo a.<br />
C. ed il I d.C.<br />
9.40 Matthias<br />
Morgenstern<br />
Anmerkungen zur talmu<strong>di</strong>schen Bibelhermeneutik<br />
10.00 Luca Baral<strong>di</strong> Dalle parole al reale: l'omiletica come fonte per lo stu<strong>di</strong>o<br />
dell'ebraismo<br />
10.20 Umberto Piperno L'interpretazione politica della Bibbia nel commento <strong>di</strong> don<br />
Izhaq Abravanel<br />
11.00 Fabio Mora Ad ognuno la sua Bibbia: antologizzazione liturgica e citazioni<br />
normative nelle varie confessioni cristiane<br />
11.20 Roberto Osculati Cornelio Giansenio (1510-1576), la evangelica historia, il<br />
tempo presente<br />
11.40 Daniele Garrone La Bibbia, vademecum del laico protestante?<br />
12.00 Discussion<br />
15.00 Douglas J. Davies James, John and Hebrews in the Book of Mormon<br />
15.20 Christian Euvrard Mormon Perception of their Scriptures: the case of French<br />
Mormons<br />
15.40 Pamela Brubaker Scriptures Embraced by the Church of the Jesus Christ of the<br />
Latter-day Saints<br />
16.00 Marinella<br />
Cantelmo<br />
16.20 Xicoténcatl<br />
Martinez-Ruiz<br />
16.40 Discussion<br />
Figure bibliche nell'opera <strong>di</strong> Pirandello<br />
Entering the Heart (h•dayam): Outlining an "iterative<br />
schema" in Abhinavagupta's Vārttika
PANEL 7<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.00-12.00, Classroom 5<br />
Marco Pasi, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands<br />
Correnti e idee esoteriche in Italia dal Settecento ai giorni nostri<br />
The presence of esoteric currents and ideas in Italy<br />
from the 18 th century to our days<br />
A significant amount of research has been done in Italy on the history of esoteric ideas, but this<br />
has been mainly focused on the Middle Ages or the early modern period. From the presence of<br />
magic, alchemy, and astrology in me<strong>di</strong>eval thought, to the revival of Hermetic and Neoplatonic<br />
ideas during the Renaissance up to the Scientific Revolution, the importance of this field of<br />
research for the history of Italian culture has been widely acknowledged. But the permanence<br />
of these ideas and cultural tra<strong>di</strong>tions in Italy in the period that begins with the Enlightenment,<br />
has perhaps received less attention from academic scholars, and still offers many interesting,<br />
potentially fruitful threads for research. These include for instance the influence in Italy of<br />
Swedenborgianism and of animal magnetism, the sprea<strong>di</strong>ng of an esoterically oriented highdegree<br />
freemasonry, the impact of spiritualism, occultism, tra<strong>di</strong>tionalism, neopaganism, and,<br />
more recently, of New Age ideas. The announcement of the preparation of a volume devoted to<br />
the history of esotericism in Italy in the prestigious series of the Annali Einau<strong>di</strong> is perhaps the<br />
occasion to focus on these <strong>di</strong>fferent currents and ideas in the late modern period. Proposals<br />
focusing on historiographical aspects, i.e. in particular on the history of the study of esoteric<br />
currents and ideas in the 20th century in Italy, will also be particularly welcome. Proposals can<br />
be submitted either in Italian or in English. Both languages will be accepted for the panel.<br />
9.00 Gian Mario<br />
Cazzaniga<br />
L'esoterismo come problema storiografico nella cultura<br />
filosofica italiana del XX secolo<br />
9.20 Francesca M.Crasta Swedenborg e l'Italia tra Settecento e Novecento<br />
9.40 Alessandro<br />
Grossato<br />
L'architettura esoterica <strong>di</strong> Giuseppe Jappelli<br />
10.00 Marco Pasi La presenza della Società Teosofica e della Società<br />
Antroposofica in Italia<br />
10.20 Thomas H. Hakl Le presenze femminili nella biografia <strong>di</strong> Julius Evola<br />
11.00 Francesco Baroni Tra esoterismo, New Age e mistica cristiana: le dottrine del<br />
Cerchio Firenze 77<br />
11.20 Discussion<br />
18
PANEL 8<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.00-17.00, Classroom 5<br />
Tuula Sakaranaho - Helena Kupari, University of Helsinki, Finland<br />
Conceptualizing Religiosity: Perspectives of Social Memory<br />
During recent decades an interest in understan<strong>di</strong>ng collective or social memory has rapidly<br />
grown in social and cultural stu<strong>di</strong>es. Memory as a social phenomenon is usually approached as<br />
a reflexive process in action, which involves <strong>di</strong>fferent dynamics of producing, conveying,<br />
sustaining and reconstructing shared memory in <strong>di</strong>fferent contexts. The focus on memory has<br />
also proven very applicable to the study of religious groups, beliefs and practices. This process<br />
emphasizes how people adhering to a religious tra<strong>di</strong>tion must presuppose a shared memory of<br />
the past, which in turn is often used to legitimize the present social order. In the sociology of<br />
religion, in particular, the concept of memory has been used as a key to the understan<strong>di</strong>ng of<br />
religion in the modern world undergoing the process of secularisation. Moreover, memory<br />
offers a fruitful approach in studying rituals and other performative and embo<strong>di</strong>ed experiences<br />
of religion, just to mention a few possible objects of interest. This panel welcomes research on<br />
religion and social or collective memory from a variety of perspectives. In particular, we invite<br />
papers which <strong>di</strong>scuss empirical cases in light of theoretical insights, or theoretical papers as<br />
such.<br />
15.00 Tuula Sakaranaho Religion and Collective Memory. Rhetorical Viewpoints<br />
15.20 Helena Kupari Doing religion - Remembering religion. Social memory in the<br />
lived religion of Orthodox Karelian women<br />
15.40 Heikki Pesonen Religious Foundamentalism, Social Remembering and Social<br />
Identity<br />
16.00 Outi Fingerroos Death, Rituals and the Places of Memory<br />
16.20 Milan Fujda Maintaining tra<strong>di</strong>tion <strong>di</strong>fferently: Me<strong>di</strong>a and the<br />
transformation of religious community<br />
16.40 Discussion<br />
19
PANEL 9<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.00-19.00, Classroom 14<br />
Donald Wiebe, University of Toronto, Canada<br />
Ennio Sanzi, Carla Sfameni, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Da una sponda all’altra del Me<strong>di</strong>terraneo nella Tarda Antichità:<br />
tra<strong>di</strong>zioni religiose a confronto<br />
From One Side to the Other of the Me<strong>di</strong>terranean Sea in Late Antiquity:<br />
Religious Tra<strong>di</strong>tions in Comparison<br />
The Me<strong>di</strong>terranean area in late antiquity is a relevant field for a historical-comparative analysis<br />
of important religiousphenomena, such as the so-called Oriental Cults, Magic and, of course,<br />
Christianity and its “heresies”. The aim of this panel is to analyse noteworthy aspects of these<br />
religious phenomena, and to consider the <strong>di</strong>fferent interpretations of the same phenomenon in<br />
<strong>di</strong>fferent contexts (for example the various and specific ways in which the same symbol can be<br />
used and interpreted or the way in which the same existential problem, for instance, salvation,<br />
was expressed in <strong>di</strong>fferent situations). In this perspective, the aim of this panel is not to analyze<br />
every single religious phenomenon or a single aspect of a specific phenomenon but, on the<br />
contrary, to show how the same attitude that is characteristic of the cultural climate of Late<br />
Antiquity could be present in religious contexts that were quite <strong>di</strong>fferent from each other. In<br />
order to highlight the more or less common lines that are characteristic of this historicalreligious<br />
background, we propose a broad area of analysis that both attests to popular beliefs<br />
and that relate to the way of thinking of the intellectuals. In ad<strong>di</strong>tion to literary, epigraphic and<br />
papyrological sources, particular attention will be given to the analysis of archaeological and<br />
iconographical evidence.<br />
15.00 Ennio Sanzi Magia e Culti orientali. Osservazioni storico-religiose su alcune<br />
testimonianze in lingua copta, ovvero sulla necessità <strong>di</strong> non<br />
lavorare sulle traduzioni<br />
15.20 Carla Sfameni Immagini e identità religiose nella Tarda Antichità: alcuni<br />
esempi da contesti privati<br />
15.40 Maria Vittoria<br />
Cerutti<br />
“Le vie” o “la via”? Tra identità nazionali e prospettive<br />
universalistiche nel paganesimo tardo-antico<br />
16.00 Luther H. Martin The Mithraic Diaspora and the Continuity of Cult Identity,<br />
Second-Fourth Century A.D.<br />
16.20 Angela Maria<br />
Mazzanti<br />
16.40 Discussion<br />
Il Logos nell'uomo. Questioni antropologiche in scritti giudaicoellenistici<br />
17.20 Panayotis Pachis Religion and Politics during the Graeco-Roman Age: the Case<br />
20
of Isis/Sarapis Cult<br />
17.40 Ilaria Ramelli Bardaisan as a Christian Philosopher: A Reassessment of His<br />
Christology<br />
18.00 Anna Multari La componente magica nei papiri magico-me<strong>di</strong>cali copti<br />
18.20 Discussion<br />
21
PANEL 10<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.00-18.20, Classroom 8<br />
Concetta Giuffré Scibona, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Misteri, Dionisimo, Orfismo: tra analogie, tangenze e <strong>di</strong>fferenze<br />
Mysteries, Dionysism, Orphism. Analogies, tangencies and <strong>di</strong>fferences<br />
On the basis of the historical-comparative method and analysis of the sources, the aim is to<br />
examine issues relative to the analogies, relations of historical transmission and opposition,<br />
<strong>di</strong>fferences and possible convergences of the phenomena evoked in the title, in the common<br />
context of “mystical” cults. Particular attention will be paid to ritual factors and soteriological<br />
perspectives, of both a locative and utopian nature.<br />
15.00 Alberto Bernabè Novedades sobre el Papiro de Derveni<br />
15.20 Paola Corrente Paralleli <strong>di</strong> Dioniso con <strong>di</strong>vinità del Vicino Oriente<br />
15.40 Richard Gordon On Typologies and History: "Orphic Themes" in Mithraism<br />
16.00 Miguel Herrero Dionisismo y Cristianismo<br />
16.20 Discussion<br />
16.40 Francesco Massa I rapporti tra Dionisismo e Cristianesimo nella storiografia<br />
religiosa europea (fine XIX-inizio XX secolo)<br />
17.20 Marco Antonio<br />
Santamaría<br />
17.40 Ana Isabel Jiménez<br />
San Cristobal<br />
18.00 Discussion<br />
Orfismo y mundo helenístico<br />
Novedades sobre las laminillas órficas<br />
22
PANEL 11<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.00-12.20 / 15.00-18.00, Classroom 12<br />
Annika Hvithamar, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark<br />
Ivar Kh. Maksutov, Moscow State University, Russia<br />
Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Europe:<br />
tra<strong>di</strong>tions and transformations<br />
Throughout the 20 th century the Orthodox Church has been treated as the forgotten branch of<br />
Christianity. The political situation in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe meant that the<br />
study of religions was restricted and that students and scholars of religion were cut off from the<br />
study of religion in the West. In reverse the same could be said about the study of Eastern and<br />
Central European religion in the Western hemisphere. The developments of dogmatic, religious<br />
tenants, religious life, etc. were little stu<strong>di</strong>ed and instead the focus was on the political<br />
suppression of religion and religious freedom.<br />
However religious life was not at a still stand. Religious thinking, religious life and study of<br />
religions were continued, although separated, and immigrants from Eastern and Central Europe<br />
continued their tra<strong>di</strong>tions in a new setting.<br />
But what is the status quo? How is religion stu<strong>di</strong>ed today and how is it lived? How does the<br />
study of religions develop when many of the <strong>di</strong>scussions of the relationship and borderlines<br />
between theology and religious stu<strong>di</strong>es <strong>di</strong>d not reach Eastern Europe until after 1989? Should<br />
contemporary Eastern European stu<strong>di</strong>es in religion first and foremost catch up with the<br />
Western study of religion, should it basically continue the pre-revolutionary road – or is there a<br />
road in between?<br />
The panel is a contribution in further reflection on Orthodox Christianity and on its ways of<br />
representing or embodying tra<strong>di</strong>tion in Europe in the twenty-first century.<br />
11.00 Ivar Kh. Maksutov Orthodox Anthropology and Psycology in Post-Soviet<br />
Russia: Friends or Foes?<br />
11.20 Annika Hvithamar Translating Orthodoxy: the Danish Orthodox Congregations<br />
11.40 C. Herteliu<br />
A. Isaic-Maniu<br />
T. Andrei<br />
V. Ileanu Bogban<br />
The Implications of Self-Mentioned Religious Affiliation on<br />
the Social Elements. Case Study on Romanian Population<br />
12.00 Daniela Dumbrava Theology and History of Religions in the Middle Orient. The<br />
Hermeneutic Language of Father Andrei Scrima<br />
15.00 Helena Kupari An Evacuee Religion? The Case of the Finnish Orthodox<br />
Community<br />
23
15.20 Ciprian Burlacioiu Orthodox Diaspora in Wester Europe: between tra<strong>di</strong>tion and<br />
innovation<br />
15.40 Elena Sergeeva Tra<strong>di</strong>tional Consciousness and Contemporary<br />
Transformation in the Old Believers Communities<br />
16.00 Anna Sokolova The New Time - The Old Beliefs: Russian Folk Orthodoxy in<br />
Changed World<br />
16.20 Anna B.Yudkina The Bridge Symbol in Contemporary Russian Wed<strong>di</strong>ng<br />
Tra<strong>di</strong>tion<br />
16.40 Berit<br />
Thorbjørnsrud<br />
17.20 Discussion<br />
17.40 Discussion<br />
24<br />
The Problem of the Orthodox Diaspora. Rebuil<strong>di</strong>ng the<br />
Orthodox Church in Norway<br />
PANEL 11bis<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00-10.40, Classroom 12<br />
Ivar Kh. Maksutov, Moscow State University, Russia<br />
Workshop<br />
International Online- Conference for the Study of Religions:<br />
2007, 2008, 2009
PANEL 12<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00-12.20, Classroom 5<br />
Attilio Mastrocinque, University of Verona, Italy<br />
Jörg Rüpke, University of Erfurt, Germany<br />
L’esperienza religiosa in santuari nel mondo romano<br />
Religious experience in sanctuaries in the Roman world<br />
For the ancient Me<strong>di</strong>terranean, "religious experience" is a term that is not usually associated<br />
with the public temples of cities or villages, but rather confined to "mystery religions" or even<br />
attributed to "oriental origins". This panel explores forms of religious experiences located in or<br />
stimulated by sanctuaries and architectural space for the whole spectre of religious<br />
infrastructure and groups. The architectural and iconographic structuring of Mithraic caves, the<br />
exotic interior of Isis sanctuaries, the sequence of rooms in oracular sanctuaries and healing<br />
cults as well as the use of images and mirrors in or<strong>di</strong>nary city temples will be addressed. Thus<br />
at the same time, the panel relates to questions of long-<strong>di</strong>stance religious exchange as well as to<br />
reflections about the concepts and terminology of the History of Religions.<br />
9.00 Attilio<br />
Mastrocinque<br />
L'incontro con Fauno nella religione romana: il caso <strong>di</strong> Bona<br />
Dea<br />
9.20 Jörg Rüpke On religious experiencies that should not be made in<br />
Sanctuaries<br />
9.40 Marlis Arnhold The Community as Option for Religious Experience in<br />
Sanctuaries of Roman-Imperial Italy<br />
10.00 Valentino<br />
Gasparini<br />
10.20 Discussion<br />
Il tempio <strong>di</strong> Iside a Pompei: palcoscenico <strong>di</strong> una performance<br />
religiosa<br />
11.00 Charles Guittard De la Curie du Palatin à la Regia du Forum: l'itinéraire des<br />
Saliens comme exemple de rituel guerrier<br />
11.20 Katharina Waldner Gardens and Caves of the Nymphs: Religious experience in a<br />
"Natural" environment<br />
11.40 Richard Gordon The Mithraic Temple as a site for Religious Experience<br />
12.00 Discussion<br />
25
PANEL 13<br />
Wed 16 th , 10.00-12.20 / 15.00-19.00, Classroom 9<br />
Mario Mazza, University of Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy<br />
Giovanni Casa<strong>di</strong>o, University of Salerno, Italy<br />
Natale Spineto, University of Torino, Italy<br />
La storiografia storico-religiosa italiana tra la fine dell'800<br />
e la seconda guerra mon<strong>di</strong>ale<br />
Se la storia delle religioni si impone, nelle <strong>Università</strong> europee, nell’ultimo trentennio del XIX<br />
secolo, in Italia la prima cattedra della materia è istituita solo nel 1923. Raffaele Pettazzoni,<br />
che ne <strong>di</strong>venta titolare, ha un ruolo fondamentale per lo sviluppo successivo della <strong>di</strong>sciplina,<br />
ma la sua attività scientifica non esaurisce il quadro <strong>degli</strong> stu<strong>di</strong> religiosi italiani del suo tempo.<br />
Lo scopo <strong>di</strong> questo panel è <strong>di</strong> stu<strong>di</strong>are la situazione <strong>di</strong> tali stu<strong>di</strong> fra la fine dell’800 e la seconda<br />
guerra mon<strong>di</strong>ale, per porre in risalto le figure <strong>di</strong> stu<strong>di</strong>osi, le tra<strong>di</strong>zioni <strong>di</strong> ricerca, le prospettive<br />
<strong>di</strong> analisi dei fatti religiosi che hanno preceduto l’istituzione della prima cattedra ufficiale, che<br />
si sono proposte come alternative rispetto all’insegnamento <strong>di</strong> Pettazzoni oppure hanno<br />
affrontato, sul piano teorico o nella pratica della ricerca, le problematiche comparative – che<br />
costituiscono il centro dell’interesse della storia delle religioni – dal punto <strong>di</strong> vista offerto dagli<br />
stu<strong>di</strong> specialistici su aree religiose particolari. Per la prima volta, verrà proposto uno sguardo<br />
generale e <strong>di</strong> sintesi su questi argomenti, attraverso una serie <strong>di</strong> ritratti <strong>di</strong> alcune delle figure<br />
più rappresentative, nei <strong>di</strong>versi settori delle ricerche sull’Estremo Oriente (Puini), sull’In<strong>di</strong>a<br />
(Tucci), sul mondo semitico (Castelli, Levi Della Vida), sul mondo classico (Macchioro,<br />
Pestalozza, Turchi), sul cristianesimo (Buonaiuti, Omodeo, Labanca, La Piana, Salvatorelli),<br />
sulle tra<strong>di</strong>zioni popolari (Cocchiara).<br />
9.00 Mario Mazza Adolfo Omodeo<br />
9.20 Gherardo Gnoli Giuseppe Tucci<br />
9.40 Giuseppe Giarrizzo Giorgio La Piana<br />
10.00 Natale Spineto Luigi Salvatorelli e la Scienza delle Religioni<br />
10.20 Discussion<br />
11.00 Pierangelo Carozzi Uberto Pestalozza tra Altertumswissenschaft e metodo<br />
combinatorio<br />
11.20 Roberto Alciati Teologia e Storia delle Religioni in Salvatore Minocchi<br />
11.40 Alessandro D'Amato Superstizioni e sopravvivenze magico-religiose nell'opera <strong>di</strong><br />
Giuseppe Cocchiara <strong>degli</strong> anni Trenta<br />
12.00 Discussion<br />
26
15.00 Cristiana Facchini Orientalistica e Ebraismo. Note culturali su David Castelli e<br />
Giorgio Levi della Vida<br />
15.20 Giovanni Casa<strong>di</strong>o Ernesto Buonaiuti<br />
15.40 Felice Israel Giorgio Levi della Vida storico <strong>di</strong> Israele<br />
16.00 Alessandro Saggioro Pietro Tacchi Venturi<br />
16.20 Paolo Siniscalco Baldassarre Labanca<br />
16.40 Discussion<br />
17.20 Federico Squarcini <strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong> <strong>di</strong> Area, Orientalismo e Storia delle religioni. Note su<br />
pionerismo e originalità nell'opera <strong>di</strong> Carlo Puini (1839-<br />
1924)<br />
17.40 Chiara O. Tommasi<br />
Moreschini<br />
18.00 Marisa Tortorelli<br />
Ghi<strong>di</strong>ni<br />
Nicola Turchi<br />
Macchioro e l'Orfismo<br />
18.20 Discussion<br />
27
PANEL 14<br />
Wed 16 th , 17.20-19.00, Classroom 5<br />
Jörg Rüpke, University of Erfurt, Germany<br />
Kocku von Stuckrad, University of Groningen, Netherlands<br />
Workshop:<br />
How to write a History of Religion of Europe?<br />
Early in 2009, Hans G. Kippenberg, Jörg Rüpke, and Kocku von Stuckrad published a twovolume<br />
"Europäische Religionsgeschichte" with the subtitle of a plural of pluralisms ("ein<br />
mehrfacher Pluralismus"). This panel will - after a short introduction into this textbook -<br />
review the concept and achievement of the volumes. Starting from this book, so far published<br />
only in German, the <strong>di</strong>scussion will lead into the problems of writing a regional, or better:<br />
continental, history of religion and of identifying specific traits of such a regional history and<br />
of the religious tra<strong>di</strong>tions present in that geographical space. The composition of the panel will<br />
help to develop a broad view on these topics by taking into account <strong>di</strong>fferent tra<strong>di</strong>tions in<br />
research and teaching about Europe.<br />
Jörg Rüpke<br />
Eugen Ciurtin<br />
Giovanni Filoramo<br />
Ingvild S. Gilhus<br />
Kocku von Stuckrad<br />
28
PANEL 15<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.00-18.00, Classroom 11<br />
Marcello Massenzio, University of Roma “Tor Vergata”, Italy<br />
Paolo Scarpi, University of Padova, Italy<br />
Storia delle religioni come storia comparata:<br />
il mondo occidentale, l'altro e l'origine del fatto religioso<br />
History of religions as comparative history:<br />
West, the Other and the origin of the religious fact<br />
The History of religions as comparative history was born as a product of western reflexivity in<br />
order to explain western historical and <strong>di</strong>stinctive patterns in relation to the "Other". At the<br />
same time, the <strong>di</strong>scipline was charged of a crucial problem, that is the origin of the religious<br />
fact, which, beyond the <strong>di</strong>fferent hypotheses and conjectures, had not any evenemential<br />
answer. However, the possible answer not only faces the religious fact as historical-cultural<br />
product, but also <strong>di</strong>scusses on the very same categories through which the religious fact has<br />
been tra<strong>di</strong>tionally explained. In Italy the History of religions has moved in this perspective<br />
applying the method of contrastive comparison.<br />
15.00 Marcello Massenzio<br />
Andrea Alessandri<br />
Ernesto de Martino e il problema del Sacro<br />
15.20 Paolo Scarpi Dalla Storia delle Religioni alle Scienze delle Religioni: dal<br />
metodo al contenitore<br />
15.40 Maddalena Del<br />
Bianco Cotrozzi<br />
La storia dell'Ebraismo nella scuola storico-religiosa<br />
italiana<br />
16.00 Nicola Gasbarro Raffaele Pettazzoni e la formazione del monoteismo per<br />
rivoluzione<br />
16.20 Discussion<br />
16.40 Chiara Cremonesi Religioni e conflitti: la comparazione oggi tra strategie<br />
retoriche e prospettive storiche-religiose<br />
17.20 Paolo Taviani La "religione" dei Celti negli stu<strong>di</strong> <strong>di</strong> Raffaele Pettazzoni e<br />
<strong>di</strong> Angelo Brelich: un problema <strong>di</strong> definizioni<br />
17.40 Rachela Permenter The Persistence of the White Man’s In<strong>di</strong>an and the<br />
Ungraspable Religious Fact<br />
18.00 Discussion<br />
29
PANEL 16<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.00-16.40, Classroom 5<br />
Kim Knott, University of Leeds, United Kingdom<br />
Veikko Anttonen, University of Turku, Finland<br />
Theorizing the Sacred: Secular and Religious Approaches<br />
The panel is designed to <strong>di</strong>scuss analytic potential of the semantic study of vernacular terms<br />
denoting ‘sacred’ in Indo-European and Finno-Ugric languages at the emic level of operation<br />
(lat. sacer, sanctus; Greek hieros, hagios; Gothic weihs, heilig; Finnish pyhä) and theoretical<br />
benefits of conceptualization of the ‘Sacred’ into an etic level category. The issue of sacrality is<br />
not approached from “top down”, i.e. from theological or metaphysical standpoint, but from<br />
“bottom up” by delineating socio-cultural and cognitive ‘parameters’ which lay foundation for<br />
sacred-making behavior in specific social contexts.<br />
15.00 Kim Knott Theorizing the Sacred: introduction<br />
15.20 Veikko Anttonen Theorizing the 'Sacred' as a Category Boundary<br />
15.40 Pekka Tolonen False Prophets and corrupt Clergy. Drawing the Boundary<br />
of Sacred in the Early 13th Century Southern France<br />
16.00 Elek Bartha On the Virtual Borderline between the Sacred and the<br />
Profane<br />
16.20 Discussion<br />
30
SUMMARY OF SESSIONS<br />
SESSION 1<br />
“Religious Europe” in the Me<strong>di</strong>terranean context:<br />
between Asia and Africa. Contacts and influences<br />
A1) Antiquity<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.00-12.20 / 15.00-19.00, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00-11.20, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
Chair Prof. Emilio Suárez de la Torre<br />
9.00 Pietro Mander Ra<strong>di</strong>ci nel pantheon sumerico-babilonese <strong>di</strong> Hecate <strong>degli</strong><br />
Oracula Chaldaica<br />
9.20 Carlo Santaniello Un mito babilonese e la colpa del demone in<br />
Empedocle B115 D-K<br />
9.40 Sergio Ribichini Religione fenicia e storia delle religioni: qualche caso <strong>di</strong><br />
stu<strong>di</strong>o<br />
10.00 Johannes<br />
Bronkhorst<br />
10.20 Discussion<br />
Rites without Symbols or What can we learn from the Ve<strong>di</strong>c<br />
Horse Sacrifice?<br />
11.00 Ales Chalupa Seven Mithraic Grades: an Initiatory or Priestly Hierarchy<br />
11.20 Jann Lahe Gnosticism and Mystery Religions<br />
11.40 Carlo Donà La cerva cornuta: dal mito al folklore<br />
12.00 Discussion<br />
Chair Prof. Sergio Ribichini<br />
15.00 Stefano Caneva I culti regali nel primo ellenismo, fra <strong>di</strong>namiche sociali e<br />
ricezione intellettuale<br />
15.20 Rasmus<br />
Tvergaard<br />
15.40 Emilio Suárez de<br />
la Torre<br />
16.00 Mariangela<br />
Monaca<br />
16.20 Discussion<br />
Cosmological Dynamics in Greek Religion<br />
La religión en el espacio de la cultura griega: la<br />
multifuncionalidad de Apolo<br />
La religione greco-romana: Ugo Bianchi ed il metodo storicocomparativo<br />
16.40 Pia De Simone Le opere straor<strong>di</strong>narie e la <strong>di</strong>vinità: il rapporto tra ta daimònia<br />
e la theiòtes nel paganesimo<br />
17.20 Giorgio Ferri Il vincolo tra Roma e i propri dèi<br />
31
17.40 Rita Rescigno I Penates tra Lares, Genius e Iuno<br />
18.00 Francesca<br />
Prescen<strong>di</strong><br />
18.20 Discussion<br />
La vittima e la sua storia<br />
Chair Prof. Carlo Santaniello<br />
9.00 Sonia Macrì Lights, shadows, pro<strong>di</strong>gious reflections: <strong>di</strong>vinatory use of<br />
gemstones in classical lapidaries<br />
9.20 Florence Pasche<br />
Guignard<br />
A Contrastive Comparison of Imitation, Cross-dressing and<br />
Identity in Ritual and Poetic Contexts<br />
9.40 Chiara Terranova La religione come elemento unificante nei rapporti tra popoli e<br />
culture: per la definizione del ruolo storico-religioso <strong>di</strong><br />
Anfiarao<br />
10.00 Discussion<br />
10.20 Adolfo Zavaroni Divinità nord-umbre invocate nel Bellum Sociale in funzione<br />
antiromana<br />
11.00 Dalibor Papoušek The Centrality of Jerusalem in the Earliest Christianity<br />
11.20 Ina Wunn The Religion of Ancient Malta<br />
11.40 Discussion<br />
A2) Late Antiquity<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00-12.20 / 15.00-19.00, Classroom 6<br />
Chair Prof. Teresa Sardella<br />
9.00 Vincenzo Aiello Conflitti religiosi nell'Africa vandala<br />
9.20 Rosalba Arcuri Vescovi e barbari <strong>di</strong>nanzi alla crisi dell'impero: Orienzio e la<br />
Gallia del V secolo<br />
9.40 Elena Caliri Gregorio Magno e l'Africa<br />
10.00 Lietta De Salvo Teoderico e la tolleranza religiosa<br />
10.20 Discussion<br />
11.00 Concetta Aloe Conversione e "miracoli" nella letteratura apocrifa<br />
11.20 Rosanna<br />
Barcellona<br />
Ebrei e cristiani così vicini così lontani<br />
11.40 Marco Toti Alcune osservazioni sul lessico dell'ascesi in età tardoantica<br />
12.00 Discussion<br />
32
Chair Prof. Lietta De Salvo<br />
15.00 Teresa Sardella Ebrei e Cristiani tra somiglianze e <strong>di</strong>ssimiglianze: cibo e sesso<br />
nella normativa cristiana tra il IV e il VI secolo<br />
15.20 Giovanni Tosetti Il valore teologico della bellezza poetica: la proposta <strong>di</strong><br />
Gregorio Nazianzieno tra innovazione e tra<strong>di</strong>zione<br />
15.40 Clau<strong>di</strong>a Neri Ai primor<strong>di</strong> dell'Europa: il movimento monastico<br />
16.00 Maria Antonietta<br />
Barbàra<br />
Prospero <strong>di</strong> Aquitania rappresentante dell'agostinismo nel V<br />
secolo<br />
16.20 Santo Toscano Elementi <strong>di</strong> dottrina dello Stato nell'elaborazione del<br />
Cristianesimo antico<br />
16.40 Discussion<br />
17.20 Augusto<br />
Cosentino<br />
17.40 Giuliano<br />
Chiapparini<br />
Le origini dello gnosticismo: a quarant’anni dal Congresso <strong>di</strong><br />
<strong>Messina</strong> (1966)<br />
I Valentiniani <strong>di</strong> Ireneo <strong>di</strong> Lione: efficacia del metodo della<br />
Storia delle Religioni nella ricostruzione <strong>di</strong> una dottrina<br />
gnostica del Tardo Antico<br />
18.00 David W. Kim Thomasine Community and its Textualization in Late Antiquity<br />
18.20 Pavel Titz In<strong>di</strong>an statuette in Pompei: In<strong>di</strong>an Inkling of What?<br />
18.40 Discussion<br />
B) Middle Ages<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00-12.00 / 15.00-17.00, Classroom 7<br />
Chair Prof. Saverio Guida<br />
9.00 Saverio Guida Il punto su trovatori e catarismo<br />
9.20 Britt Istoft Me<strong>di</strong>eval Catharism as a Me<strong>di</strong>terranean Phenomenon<br />
9.40 N. M. Farrè Crusa<strong>di</strong>ng and Mission: Relationship between Religious<br />
Convertion and Military Conquest in Ramon Llull's Thought<br />
10.00 Discussion<br />
10.20 Luciano Catalioto Monachesimo greco e Chiesa latina nella Sicilia normanna:<br />
laboratorio culturale e sperimentazione politica<br />
11.00 Carla Del Zotto From Religion to National Identity: the Northern Peoples<br />
11.20 Nuccio D’Anna San Columba e i Monaci Culdei d’Irlanda<br />
11.40 Discussion<br />
Chair Prof. Alessandro Musco<br />
15.00 Salvatore<br />
D’Agostino<br />
Religio e Fides in Arnau De Vilanova<br />
33
15.20 Giuseppe Allegro Fede, rivelazione e teologia in Pietro Abelardo<br />
15.40 Vincenzo M.<br />
Corseri<br />
Nicola Cusano e Guillaume Dufay, ovvero l’armonia come<br />
dottrina.<br />
16.00 Fabio Cusimano Il monachesimo benedettino come fattore unificante per<br />
l'Europa altome<strong>di</strong>evale<br />
16.20 Paola D'Aiello Una riflessione sulle Waridat wa Taqdīsat <strong>di</strong> Sohravar<strong>di</strong>, tra<br />
neoplatonismo e zoroastrismo<br />
16.40 Discussion<br />
C) Modern Age<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.00-12.20, Classroom 6<br />
Chair Prof. Luther Martin<br />
9.00 Raffaele Manduca Due centri una periferia. Strutture ecclesiatiche e <strong>di</strong>namiche<br />
istituzionali della Sicilia Spagnola<br />
9.20 Steffen Dix Voyages to the East and Religious Encounters: the Pilgrimage<br />
of Fernão Mendes Pinto (1509-1583)<br />
9.40 Carmelina<br />
Gugliuzzo<br />
10.00 Pietro Ioly<br />
Zorattini<br />
10.20 Discussion<br />
Popular Forms of Religious Association in Malta during<br />
Modern Ages<br />
Conversioni <strong>di</strong> acattolici nella Venezia dell’Ottocento<br />
11.00 Charles Carter Putting Mormonism to Academic Scrutiny in France: between<br />
intellectual curiosity and internal misunderstan<strong>di</strong>ng<br />
11.20 Maria Luisa<br />
Tobar<br />
11.40 Paul van der<br />
Velde<br />
12.00 Discussion<br />
Il teatro come addottrinamento religioso: la Madonna della<br />
Lettera in Añorbe y Corregel<br />
The ancient Buddha in Modern Times<br />
D) Contemporary Age<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.00-19.00, Classroom 6<br />
Chair Prof. Richard Gordon<br />
15.00 Karina<br />
Bagramova<br />
Tribal Masks and Orthodox Icons: Religious Images in<br />
Secular European art in 1900-1930<br />
15.20 Ugo Dessì Religious Responses to Globalization in Japan<br />
15.40 Tatyana Folieva The Principle of Freedom of Coscience and the Russian<br />
Orthodox Church<br />
16.00 Frans Jespers Europe’s Third Religion?<br />
34
16.20 Discussion<br />
16.40 Oliver Scharbrodt Muslims in Ireland and their Societies of Origin in Asia and<br />
Africa<br />
17.20 Hans Noot Religious Education that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-<br />
Day Saints is doing in Europe<br />
17.40 Janis Priede Esoteric Discourse in the Schools of Contemporary Latvia<br />
18.00 Fabio Mora Protestantesimo europeo e protestantesimo americano<br />
18.20 Cesare Magazzù Paolo VI e l’Europa<br />
18.40 Discussion<br />
SESSION 2<br />
The History of the “History of Religions”<br />
A) A European “invention”?<br />
B) Reflections on the religious phenomenon and theories of culture<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.40-12.00 / 15.00-16.20, Classroom 12<br />
Chair Prof. Veikko Anttonen<br />
9.40 Ábrahám Kovács Religion versus Theology? A Hungarian Case<br />
10.00 Xavier Gravend-<br />
Tirole<br />
10.20 Corneliu Cicortas<br />
Horia<br />
11.00 S. N. Ivashkin - S.<br />
V. Panov<br />
What's wrong about multiple religious belonging? The case<br />
for religious creolization<br />
Il sacro come teatro: Mircea Eliade e Jerzy Grotowski a<br />
confronto<br />
Philosophy of revelation and conceptualization of the<br />
Orthodoxy<br />
11.20 Olga Breskaya Christian Tra<strong>di</strong>tion and Contemporary Practice in Eastern<br />
Orthodoxy - How Human Values talk about Religion<br />
11.40 Discussion<br />
15.20 Anita Stasulane Creating of rituals: the ritualised behaviour of theosophists<br />
15.40 Leo Lestingi Fra secolarizzazione e deprivatizzazione della religione: il<br />
contributo <strong>di</strong> Peter L. Berger<br />
16.00 Tina Mahlamäki The <strong>di</strong>scussions and image of Emanuel Swedenborg in the<br />
19th century newspapers of Finland<br />
16.20 Discussion<br />
35
C) Methodologies and theories on the origin and nature of religion:<br />
the contribution of European culture and the current scientific debate<br />
Tue 15 th , 16.00-19.00, Classroom 13<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00-12.20 / 15.00-18.20, Classroom 13<br />
Chair Prof. Maya Burger<br />
16.00 Jaco Beyers What is Religion? An African Understan<strong>di</strong>ng<br />
16.20 Olav Hammer Modern Jesus Legends and the Modalities of Religious<br />
Innovation<br />
16.40 Marianna<br />
Shakhnovich<br />
17.20 Discussion<br />
17.40 Michaela<br />
Ondrašinová<br />
Ancient Greek and Roman Versions of Comparative<br />
Religion and Contemporary Perspective<br />
To Share or not to Share? Detra<strong>di</strong>tionalized Spirituality<br />
and the Christian Tra<strong>di</strong>tion<br />
18.00 Antonia Bertocchi Il modello "Eureka" per un rinnovamento epistemologico<br />
del metodo comparativo<br />
18.20 Shumongal Sramon What is This Religion?<br />
18.40 Discussion<br />
Chair Prof. Giovanni Filoramo<br />
9.00 Bulcsu Hoppal Karl Kerenyi's Views on the Method of Religious <strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong>es<br />
9.20 Vla<strong>di</strong>mir Bahna Myth, ritual and conceptual blen<strong>di</strong>ng. Mircea Eliade and<br />
cognitive science of religion<br />
9.40 Cézar Enia Le temps et l’éternité dans les religions archaïques selon<br />
Mircea Eliade. Les éléments préfiguratifs de l’Incarnation<br />
dans l’ontologie primitive<br />
10.00 Douglas J. Davies Darwin and Evolution Theory in the British Study of<br />
Religion<br />
10.20 Discussion<br />
11.00 Jurij Babinov -<br />
Tomas Bubìk<br />
Various Historical Constructions and Deconstruction of the<br />
History of Religions<br />
11.20 Daniel Bancila Ionut Interpreting Mandeism and Manichaeism in the<br />
Religionsgeschichtliche Schule<br />
11.40 Antony Feneuil Connaître philosophiquement Dieu? Théologie naturelle et<br />
philosophie de la religion chez Bergson<br />
12.00 Discussion<br />
36
Chair Prof. Armin Geertz<br />
15.00 Olga Goreva Nietsche's Theory of Religion in the light of modern<br />
Europe's Experience<br />
15.20 Alexandra Grieser Relationships between religion and science: Popularisation<br />
as a key concept for its analysis<br />
15.40 Willy Pfändtner The Limitations of European Philosophy of Religion<br />
16.00 Liviu Damian At the Convergence of the Discipline of Knowledge:<br />
Theology, Historiography and Science. The Cognitive and<br />
the Existential Dimension of Theology and Historiography<br />
and its Societal Implications in the Post-modern<br />
Epistemological Dilemma<br />
16.20 Discussion<br />
16.40 Giusi Furnari Religione e filosofia in Benedetto Croce. Linee <strong>di</strong> una<br />
lettura<br />
17.20 Giovanna Faraone Filosofia e religione in Giovanni Gentile<br />
17.40 Carles Salazar Cognition, Evolution and Symbolism: New and Old<br />
Approaches to Anthropology of Religion<br />
18.00 Discussion<br />
SESSION 3<br />
Meeting and conflicts between peoples and cultures;<br />
the role of religions in the European scenario.<br />
From Antiquity to the present day.<br />
Tue 15 th , 17.20-19.00, Classroom 4<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00-12.00 / 15.00-18.20, Classroom 4<br />
Chair Prof. Attilio Mastrocinque<br />
17.20 Natallia<br />
Vasilevich<br />
Identities of Orthodox Christianity in Central and Eastern<br />
Europe after Collapse of Communism<br />
17.40 David Zbiral Mapping Religious Diversity: the Inquisitorial Classifications of<br />
Heresy<br />
18.00 Sarah Ljubibratic Jews and New Christians under the Roman Inquisition. A<br />
Maltese variant of Marranism? Jewish Slaves in the<br />
Me<strong>di</strong>terranean Sea<br />
18.20 Andrei Oisteanu Christians versus Jews in Central-Eastern Europe. Stereotypes<br />
and accusation: from deicide to ritual infanticide<br />
37
18.40 Discussion<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00-12.00 / 15.00-18.20<br />
Chair Prof. Panayotis Pachis<br />
9.00 Yoshimi Orii Theological Conflict on the Concept of Acasus (Coincidence) in<br />
the Catholic Mission in Japan during the 16th and 17th cent.<br />
9.20 Anna Panteleeva Messianic Judaism in Russia (some features)<br />
9.40 Salvatore Drago Protestantesimo liberale e cattolicesimo conservatore? Il ruolo<br />
delle religioni per la formazione del pensiero economico<br />
dell'Europa in età moderna<br />
10.00 David Václavík Multi<strong>di</strong>mensional Secularization in Central Europe<br />
10.20 Discussion<br />
11.00 Ulf Plessentin<br />
Thomas Zenk<br />
The "Return of Religion" and the Return of the Criticism of<br />
Religion - The "New Atheism" in Recent German and American<br />
Culture<br />
11.20 Michael Berman Soul Retrieval via the Internet<br />
11.40 David Thurfjell Revivalism and the Struggle for acceptance among European<br />
Roma<br />
12.00 Discussion<br />
Chair Prof. Peter Antes<br />
15.00 Tomas Gal Electronic Jihad against Europe<br />
15.20 Attila Kovács Visual Representation of Jerusalem and Palestinian Islamic<br />
Movements<br />
15.40 Susanne Olsson European Fatawa<br />
16.00 Barbara Sturnega La missione profetica <strong>di</strong> San Francesco per il mondo<br />
musulmano: la vita e le opere dell’islamologo italiano Padre<br />
Giulio Basetti Sani.<br />
16.20 Discussion<br />
16.40 Ann af Burén Religion and Sexuality - Negotiating Islam and Homosexuality at<br />
the borders of Europe<br />
17.20 Ney De Souza The Influence of Religion on the Brasilian Culture<br />
17.40 Edgar da Silva<br />
Gomes - Elton<br />
de Oliveira<br />
Nunes<br />
18.00 Discussion<br />
Religion's History in Brasil: a view from the european political<br />
cultural influence<br />
38
SESSION 4<br />
Europe: centre for the “<strong>di</strong>ffusion” of religious tra<strong>di</strong>tions and pole of<br />
“attraction”. From Antiquity to the present day<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.00-19.00, Classroom 14<br />
Chair Prof. Paola Ricci<br />
15.00 Paola Ricci Un esempio <strong>di</strong> simbiosi ebraico-tedesca: il Freies<br />
Ju<strong>di</strong>sches Lehrhaus<br />
15.20 Lucrezia Lorenzini Antigiudaismo religioso e antigiudaismo politico-sociale<br />
tra silenzio e memoria futuri<br />
15.40 Shemsi Krasniqi Croyances anciennes et temps modernes. Le cas du<br />
Kosovo<br />
16.00 Jenny Berglund Save the Children from the Wahabiyya. Europe as Pole<br />
of Attraction for the al-Ahbash. Strategies used by the al-<br />
Ahbash Movement to gain Space in European Societies<br />
16.20 Discussion<br />
17.20 Paola Sofia Baghini L'eucaristia tra avodà e misteri. Una rassegna<br />
bibliografica<br />
17.40 Giovanna Costanzo Le ra<strong>di</strong>ci cristiane dell'Europa in Paul Ricoeur<br />
18.00 Lucrezia Piraino Rahel Varnaghen: il paradosso dell'identità ebraica nei<br />
salotti illuministici berlinesi<br />
18.20 Andrea Borella Il destino americano <strong>di</strong> una tra<strong>di</strong>zione religiosa europea:<br />
il Vecchio Or<strong>di</strong>ne Amish<br />
18.40 Discussion<br />
39
9.00 Giancarlo<br />
Germanà<br />
Bozza<br />
9.20 L. Guzzar<strong>di</strong><br />
- S. Sirugo<br />
SESSION 5<br />
Religion: Art and Archaeology<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00-12.20, Classroom 14<br />
Chair Prof. Augusto Cosentino<br />
9.40 L. Guzzar<strong>di</strong><br />
- S. Sirugo -<br />
P. Marchese<br />
10.00 Chiara<br />
Siligar<strong>di</strong><br />
10.20 Discussion<br />
11.00 Nikita<br />
Gaiducov<br />
11.20 Valeria<br />
Kosiakova<br />
11.40 Maria<br />
Rybakova<br />
Le aree sacre presso i porti nelle città della Sicilia sud-orientale<br />
Ritualità sepolcrali cristiane e islamiche nell'area cimiteriale <strong>di</strong><br />
Contrada Stafenna (Noto), fra il tardoantico e l'altome<strong>di</strong>evale<br />
Palazzolo Acreide: la ricerca archeologica nella Chiesa Madre <strong>di</strong><br />
San Nicolò. Nuovi dati sulla tra<strong>di</strong>zione religiosa<br />
E<strong>di</strong>fici ecclesiastici rurali tardoantichi: Cilicia Campestris e Alto<br />
Tell Tunisino a confronto<br />
Judaic and Christian motives in the Sarcophag of the Vatican<br />
Museum<br />
Between Asia and Europe: Reconsidering St. Basil's Red Square<br />
Cathedral Architecture<br />
Art and Asceticism<br />
12.00 Discussion<br />
40
<strong>ABSTRACTS</strong> OF PAPERS<br />
Domenico Accorinti, independent scholar, Italy<br />
Il carteggio Raffaele Pettazzoni–Herbert J. Rose, 1927–1958<br />
It is a well-known fact that scholarly correspondences are an important source for our<br />
understan<strong>di</strong>ng of behind-the-scenes philological activity, and the one between Raffaele<br />
Pettazzoni (1883–1959), Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Rome, and<br />
Herbert Jennings Rose (1883–1861), Professor of Greek at the University of St Andrews, does<br />
not <strong>di</strong>sappoint our expectations. Rose was one of the scholars with whom Raffaele Pettazzoni<br />
kept in touch for a long time. They, both born in 1883, had met for the first time in Paris at the<br />
International Congress of History of Religions (8–13 October 1923), and then they met again at<br />
least on five other occasions: London, Jubilee Congress of the Folk-Lore Society (19–25<br />
September 1928); Lund, 5th International Congress of the History of Religions (27–29 August<br />
1929); London, 1st International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences<br />
(I.C.A.E.S.) (30 July–4 August 1934); Rome, 8th International Congress of History of<br />
Religions (17–23 April 1955); Amsterdam, 150th anniversary of The Netherlands Academy (4<br />
May 1958). The 218 letters (129 Rose, 89 Pettazzoni) which they exchanged with each other<br />
from 1927 to 1958 – except in the years of the Second World War – bear witness to a<br />
continuous and productive relationship between the two scholars, cemented by the translation<br />
into English, made by Rose, of Pettazzoni’s The All-knowing God: Researches into Religion<br />
and Culture (London, Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1956), and Essays on the History of Religions<br />
(Leiden, Brill, 1954), as Rose himself later recalled in a letter written to Mario Gan<strong>di</strong>ni on 15<br />
March 1960. The majority of the correspondence, of which I am preparing an e<strong>di</strong>tion for Brill,<br />
deals with comments on these two books of Pettazzoni, data on published articles and papers of<br />
both scholars, historical information, criticisms of others’ works, and mention of meetings and<br />
programmes of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR).<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.00, Classroom 8<br />
Vincenzo Aiello, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Conflitti religiosi nell'Africa vandala<br />
In Roman imperial age Northern Africa was certainly a region of great economic and cultural<br />
vitality. It was well soon affected by a large Christian presence, which in fact excited the rise<br />
of the Christian literature in this region. However this cultural vitality determined also violent<br />
conflicts inside Christian community: for instance, Donatist schism inflamed the Christian<br />
communities of the region for a long time, from the first decades of the IV to the end of the VI<br />
century A.D. In such a context we have to understand the consequences of the arrival of<br />
Vandal people in 429 A.D. The presence of these Germanic and Aryan people obviously<br />
determined a strong conflict between the Nicean community and the invaders. We know this<br />
event only through Orthodox authors, above all through the mysterious Victor Vitensis, who<br />
wrote the cruel Historia persecutionis Africanae provincae. Of course, the aim of these authors<br />
was to present Aryan invaders in the worst way to ask for Constantinople's army intervention.<br />
We don't know if Vandals tried to impose their faith to all the inhabitants of the region; their<br />
aim was probably not to overcome Orthodox community, but to protect their own identity<br />
inside a wider Roman and Orthodox population. So, the conflict between Aryan Vandals and<br />
41
Orthodox Romans must be stu<strong>di</strong>ed without preju<strong>di</strong>ces and with the most careful analysis of all<br />
the evidences, also to find other economic and social reasons about this conflict.<br />
Wanda Alberts, University of Bergen, Norway<br />
The Notion of Religion in Norwegian Syllabuses and Textbooks for RE<br />
42<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00, Classroom 6<br />
In Norway, the subject Religion, livssyn og etikk (RLE) is compulsory in the grunnskole, which<br />
comprises the first 10 school years. The new name and syllabus for the subject (which was<br />
called KRL, Kristendoms- religions- og livssynskunnskap until summer 2008) are the result of<br />
a decade of negotiations about integrative religious education in Norway, which was<br />
introduced in 1997. The subject Religion og etikk in the videregående skole, the upper<br />
secondary school, has raised less public interest than RLE. In this paper, I am going to analyse<br />
the notion of religion in the syllabuses for both subjects, RLE and Religion og etikk.<br />
Furthermore, I will analyse the notion of religion in textbooks for these subjects, as it is<br />
presented in the general introductions and as it serves as a basis for the representation of<br />
in<strong>di</strong>vidual religions.<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.00, Classroom 4<br />
A brief Report on the recent Debate about the Obligatory Subject "Ethics" in Berlin<br />
On April 26, 2009 the inhabitants of Berlin decided in a referendum to keep the subject Ethik<br />
(ethics), which was introduced in 2006, obligatory in the years 7-10 in Berlin schools. This<br />
outcome was a defeat for the pressure group "pro Reli", which had initiated the referendum and<br />
hoped to establish confessional RE as an elective that children may choose instead of Ethik. In<br />
my brief report on the prece<strong>di</strong>ng events, I would like to highlight the interesting role that Berlin<br />
(as an own federal state) has had with respect to education about religions in reunified<br />
Germany.<br />
Roberto Alciati, University of Torino, Italy<br />
Teologia e Storia delle Religioni in Salvatore Minocchi<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.00, Classroom 4<br />
The role of Salvatore Minocchi in the Italian debate on the study of religion is well described<br />
in the biography written by Attilio Agnoletto (Morcelliana 1964), but quite a few contributions<br />
have been published after that research. Then, the private archive of Minocchi at the National<br />
Library in Florence is still undervalued. The aim of this paper is to offer an analytical rea<strong>di</strong>ng<br />
of a specific moment in Minocchi’s biography: the Italian echo to the Réville-Harnack <strong>di</strong>spute<br />
about the opportunity of the theological faculties (1901-1902). Thirty years after the<br />
suppression of the theological faculties in Italy (1873), Minocchi is convinced that this<br />
important decision do still determine the role of the research and the teaching of historicalreligious<br />
subjects in Italy.<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.20, Classroom 9
Mustafa Alici, University of Rize, Turkey<br />
The Idea of God in Ancient Turkish Religion accor<strong>di</strong>ng to Raffaele Pattazzoni: a Comparison<br />
with Turkish historian of religions Hikmet Tanyu.<br />
Italian historian of religions Raffaele Pettazzoni (1883- 1959) is, along with others such as E.<br />
B. Tylor, R. R. Marett, A. Lang, W. Schmidt, N. Söderblom, on the way to search the early<br />
religion and culture of the humankind. Pettazzoni has maintained that the idealized God of<br />
Heaven could be traced in almost every early religion and culture and could be concluded as<br />
the All Knowing One. In The All- Knowing God Pettazzoni also dealt with Supreme God of the<br />
Ancient Turks named Tengri in the Chapter XV (Ugro- Finns, Uralo- Altaics, Siberians) under<br />
the subtitle of “ Turko-Mongol and Related Peoples”. For him Tengri lives in the sky, and as a<br />
personified deity, knows and sees everything. As for Hikmet Tanyu (1917- 1992), the <strong>di</strong>sciple<br />
of German phenomenologist Annemarie Schimmel, is considered as the founder of the Turkish<br />
History of Religions in the Republican era, having the chair in Ankara University from 1959 to<br />
1985. Like Pettazzoni Tanyu, especially in The Religious History of Turks and also in The<br />
Belief of Supreme God of Turks in Pre Islamic Period, has maintained that the ancient Turkish<br />
religion was based on the faith of Heavenly Supreme Being called Gok Tengri (Sky God). Yet<br />
he cleared out two common mistakes found in the works of the scholars <strong>di</strong>scussing the ancient<br />
Turkish idea of God: one mistake was to consider the spiritual beliefs of Altaics and Yaquts to<br />
constitute the smilar ancient Turkish religion as a whole; the other mistake was that ancient<br />
Turkish faith could be called Shamanism. In ad<strong>di</strong>tion, he defended in his works the notion that<br />
the ancient religion of the Turks had had a monotheistic character.Both Pettazzoni and Tanyu<br />
have common and in some respects very <strong>di</strong>stinctive opinions from those of other scholars<br />
dealing about early Turkish God. This paper tries to compare the ideas of these two scholars<br />
about that along with those of other actual scholars on the subject.<br />
Giuseppe Allegro, Officina <strong>di</strong> <strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong> Me<strong>di</strong>evali of Palermo, Italy<br />
Fede, rivelazione e teologia in Pietro Abelardo<br />
Concetta Aloe, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Conversione e “miracoli" nella letteratura apocrifa<br />
43<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.20, Classroom 8<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.20, Classroom 7<br />
In apocryphal writings, which make up a parallel corpus along with the canonical books, from<br />
where they take the same form and literary genre (Gospels, Acts, Epistles, Revelation),<br />
“miracles” occur frequently, in particular miraculous healings as a means of conversion.<br />
Therefore the circumstances and the ways through which the message of salvation takes place<br />
will be analysed, in order to evaluate the influence of the Apostle’s “facies”, thaumaturgist or<br />
“magician”, on the general economy of the works taken into consideration.<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.00, Classroom 6
Veikko Anttonen, University of Turku, Finland<br />
Theorizing the Sacred as a Category Boundary<br />
Having been <strong>di</strong>scontent with the notion of hierophany proposed by Mircea Eliade more than<br />
half-century ago (see Eliade 1959) as a concept for pointing out places and situations in which<br />
‘the sacred’ manifested I have aimed at identifying generative mechanisms that become<br />
operative in and have an effect on the cognitive organization of perceptions, emotions and<br />
bo<strong>di</strong>ly behavior. Sharing a similar theoretical objective, Thomas A. Tweed has recently<br />
introduced the notion of sacroscapes as a scholarly concept for making sense of religion and<br />
<strong>di</strong>stinguishing it from other cultural forms (Tweed 2006: 61). Accor<strong>di</strong>ng to Tweed, invitation<br />
to look at religions as sacroscapes involves ways of seeing and <strong>di</strong>stinguishing “movements<br />
and flows” which have left traces and transformed peoples and places, social arenas and natural<br />
terrains (Tweed 2006: 62). In my paper in the panel I shall take a closer look at the role played<br />
by terms denoting ‘sacred’ in various languages in the European cultural and religious history.<br />
I shall argue that semantic contents of terms denoting ‘sacred’ in vernacular of various<br />
languages constitute the so-called primary religious data (cf. I<strong>di</strong>nopulos and Yonan 1996),<br />
which – if properly theorized – provides access to insights into constraints that underlie the<br />
formation of religious ideas and behavior in general and historically and geographically<br />
contingent religious representations in particular.<br />
Rosalba Arcuri, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
44<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.20, Classroom 5<br />
Vescovi e barbari <strong>di</strong>nanzi alla crisi dell’impero: Orienzio e la Gallia del V secolo<br />
The identification between Roman ecumene and Corpus Christianorum, in a providential<br />
vision of the same empire, became problematic owing to the crisis crossed by the imperial<br />
institution in the early decades of fifth century, together with the great barbaric migrations that<br />
concerned the Occident. A new history’s theology becomes popular in the Christian thought. It<br />
integrates the new gentes among the transient human realities. A transience that Roma, once<br />
believed aeterna, is not able to escape. As the other Gallic writers in these years, Orientius<br />
turns himself to the spiritual life. He is conscious to live in a new age, the age of a necessary<br />
integration with the new ethnicities appeared on the stage of European history. The <strong>di</strong>plomatic<br />
mission to the Romans in favour of Toulousian Visigoths, related by Vita Orientii in the Acta<br />
Sanctorum, reveals the basic part of the bishops in the defence of their city, but also their<br />
awareness about the need to establish a less polemic <strong>di</strong>alogue among cultures.<br />
Marlis Arnhold, Max Weber Center, Germany<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.20, Classroom 6<br />
The Community as an Option for Religious Experience in Sanctuaries of Roman -Imperial Italy<br />
The segmentation of society in Roman Imperial Italy is a process that already started during the<br />
Hellenistic Period, and which received further input with the transformations from Republican<br />
to Imperial Roma. Religion, that is to say, believes, rituals and myth, plays a major role in this<br />
process, as it serves as a legitimizing cover, helps to create various forms of identity, and still<br />
remains a way to gain and show prestige. My contribution to this conference panel aims to deal<br />
with <strong>di</strong>fferent examples of communities, such as the family, clubs, and devotees of certain<br />
cults/rituals (e.g. the Taurobolium, Christian cults etc.). Furthermore light is shed on small
sanctuaries visited and maintained by the people living and working nearby, as they can be<br />
found in horrea, streets, and neighbourhoods. Looking at such examples the question derives,<br />
how religion functions within these contexts and in how far being part of such communities<br />
may offer <strong>di</strong>fferent options for personal religious experiences – or may restrict them. As it<br />
comes to an increase of social pluralism, one also has to ask for the changes, religion<br />
undergoes, and the impact of and from the tendencies towards “local religions”.<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.40, Classroom 5<br />
Mehmet Ay<strong>di</strong>n, Selçuk University of Konya, Turkey<br />
L'histoire des religions au début de 20ème siècle dans l'Empire Ottoman<br />
The stu<strong>di</strong>es of “History of Religions”, having been an important <strong>di</strong>scipline in the History of<br />
Islam, began to be important again in the late XIXth. and early XXth. Centuries in the otoman<br />
Madrasas. The stu<strong>di</strong>es of History of Religions in the Otoman Madrasas relied on two important<br />
sources: The first is the writings of the kind of “Milal va Nihal” (Monographs on Religions and<br />
Sects), while the second is such Works as Chantepie de la Saussaye by E. Durkhaim. At that<br />
period, the stu<strong>di</strong>es of Raffaele Pettazzoni were not known yet in Turkey, though he already<br />
published his “La Religione Primitiva in Sardegna” in Rome in 1912. The fact that such stu<strong>di</strong>es<br />
were not known to the Turkish scholars is due to the fact that the general stu<strong>di</strong>es in the field of<br />
History of Religions were the focus of interest at that time. So the writings of R. Pettazzoni<br />
came to be known only in the late 1940s.<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.40, Classroom 8<br />
Jurij A. Babinov, University of Opole, Poland<br />
Tomas Bubík, University of Pardubice, Czech Republic<br />
Various Historical Constructions and Deconstructions of the History of Religions<br />
History of science in<strong>di</strong>cates that each scientific <strong>di</strong>scipline and theory cannot exist without<br />
cognitive models and stereotypes it generates. The history of religions was, during its own<br />
history, undoubtedly formed by certain philosophical and worldview ideas (scientism,<br />
positivism, historicism, scientific atheism and religious views). A good way to demonstrate the<br />
use of stereotypes in the history of religions is the example of the Czech religious study during<br />
the 20th century. For example religions of In<strong>di</strong>a were not merely stu<strong>di</strong>ed, but simultaneously<br />
evaluated using stereotypes typical for the European colonialism period such as the western<br />
search for a doctrine in the “oriental chaos”, emphasis on the western cultural and biological<br />
activity as opposed to the perceived oriental passivity, or the criticism of In<strong>di</strong>an cast system for<br />
the sake of criticism of Catholic hierarchy. On one hand, the functioning of science and human<br />
thinking is basically dependent on stereotypes but, simultaneously, it is necessary to critically<br />
validate and deconstruct them as well together with the previous scientific results. This<br />
contribution concentrates on a critical analysis of the various usages of the historical method in<br />
European scientific reflection of religions, especially In<strong>di</strong>an religions, Islam, Christianity and<br />
Buddhism.<br />
45<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.00, Classroom 13
Paola Sofia Baghini, University of Verona, Italy<br />
L’eucaristia tra avodà e misteri. Una rassegna bibliografica<br />
Nel 1922 il benedettino Odo Casel (1886 – 1948), in un’opera <strong>di</strong> chiaro impianto storicoreligioso,<br />
Liturgie als Mysterienfeier, propone un’originale lettura del rito eucaristico in<br />
particolare e della liturgia cristiana in generale, fondata sull’analogia cultuale esistente tra il<br />
cristianesimo delle origini e i culti misterici greco-romani. Il mistero è in entrambi i casi<br />
anamnesi, cioè riflesso e ripresentazione dell’azione salvifica <strong>di</strong> un <strong>di</strong>o. Il concetto <strong>di</strong> azionememoria,<br />
i simboli (pane, acqua, vino), i gesti (la consacrazione) e il linguaggio solenne<br />
rimandano, tuttavia, anche alla cena rituale ebraica, al seder pasquale, in cui è presente altresì<br />
la <strong>di</strong>mensione del servizio o avodà. Questa rassegna bibliografica intende offrire una<br />
panoramica <strong>degli</strong> stu<strong>di</strong> storico-religiosi sulle origini del rito eucaristico a partire dal testo <strong>di</strong><br />
Casel.<br />
Il carteggio Buonaiuti-Pettazzoni<br />
46<br />
Wed 16 th , 17.20, Classroom 14<br />
Ernesto Buonaiuti fu giornalista – fondò e <strong>di</strong>resse perio<strong>di</strong>ci come la “Rivista storico-critica<br />
delle scienze teologiche”, il “Bollettino <strong>di</strong> letteratura critico-relgiosa”, la “Rivista <strong>di</strong> scienza<br />
delle religioni” e le “Ricerche Religiose” - scrittore e dal 1915 docente <strong>di</strong> Storia del<br />
Cristianesimo presso la Regia <strong>Università</strong> <strong>di</strong> Roma, come successore <strong>di</strong> Baldassarre Labanca.<br />
Karina G. Bagramova, independent scholar, Russia<br />
Tue 15 th , 10.00, Classroom 8<br />
Tribal Masks and Orthodox Icons: “Religious” Images in “Secular” European Art in 1900 s -<br />
1930 s<br />
In the beginning of 20 th century, when European society was greatly changed and new<br />
generations were looking for <strong>di</strong>fferent ways of life, artists were searching for new methods of<br />
depicting all these changes. But they could not find sources in their cultural surroun<strong>di</strong>ngs and<br />
searched for it in strange places. Gauguin shipped to Tahiti, looking for natural and original<br />
life. Picasso was looking for new ways of approaching reality in primitive art, in tribal masks.<br />
Matisse was seeking for the knowledge in Eastern Christianity: he was deeply impressed by<br />
Russian icons, when arrived to Moscow in 1911. Forms and ideas, which they found in<br />
religious tra<strong>di</strong>tions of foreign cultures, mo<strong>di</strong>fied their own artistic approaches and greatly<br />
influenced upon their works. Thus, the most interesting and outstan<strong>di</strong>ng artists of European<br />
“secular” art in 1900s and further, while searching for new sources and methods in picturing<br />
the “Other”, used and absorbed “religious” approaches to Transcendence and in such a way<br />
brought to contemporary art “religious” ideas of foreign cultures, which continues to live inside<br />
of it even nowadays. In my paper I will provide a side-by-side comparison of “religious”<br />
images in original (tribal, Eastern Orthodox) cultures and “secular” (Gauguin, Picasso,<br />
Matisse) forms of them, made by European artists in 1900s-1930s, in order to approach
methodological questions of how could we really put a border between “secular” and<br />
“religious”, if we really could.<br />
Vla<strong>di</strong>mir Bahna, Institute of Ethnology, Slovakia<br />
47<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.00, Classroom 6<br />
Myth, Ritual and Conceptual Blen<strong>di</strong>ng. Mircea Eliade and Cognitive Science of Religion<br />
Myth and ritual are central aspects of religious tra<strong>di</strong>tions and important objects of scientific<br />
study of religions. In many cases myth and ritual appear to be together in (strong or less<br />
evident) correlation. For Mircea Eliade the connection between myth and ritual was one of the<br />
fundamental ideas. Already before him the correlation between myth and ritual was the matter<br />
of interest in the study of religions (e.g. B. Malinowski or the whole Myth and Ritual School),<br />
but Mircea Eliade went a big step further. For him a ritually re-enacted myth detaches the ritual<br />
participant from profane time and re-enters him to the sacred time. In other words the ritual<br />
enables to experience the myth. Based on fin<strong>di</strong>ngs about conceptual blen<strong>di</strong>ng this paper will<br />
argue, that Eliade's particular idea about the connection between ritual and myth can be<br />
explained by cognitive processing. Conceptual blen<strong>di</strong>ng is the ability of human mind to<br />
integrate two or more conceptual arrays of <strong>di</strong>fferent domains as inputs into a novel conceptual<br />
array whose frame structure draws selectively from the frame structures of the inputs. The<br />
inputs in our case are the myth (remembered story) and the ritual (perceived sequence of<br />
actions). The aim is not to re-evaluate Eliade's “eternal return” concept, but to show that we<br />
should and can integrate cognitive science in to the study of religion.<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.20, Classroom 13
Daniel Bancila Ionut, Humboldt University of Berlin, Deutschland<br />
Interpreting Mandeism and Manichaeism in the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule<br />
In 1904 Hermann Gunkel (1862-1932) described with the following words the method he and<br />
some of his collegues in Göttingen were proposing: „<strong>di</strong>e 'religionsgeschichtliche' Forschung<br />
will mit der Erkenntnis vollen Ernst machen, daß <strong>di</strong>e Religion, auch <strong>di</strong>e b i b l i s c h e<br />
Religion, wie alles Menschliche ihre G e s c h i c h t e hat“ (H. Gunkel, Review of Max<br />
Reischle: Theologie und Religionsgeschichte, in Deutsche Literaturzeitung 25 [1904], pp.<br />
1100-1110, here p. 1109). Essentially a theological project, this method was to coagulate a<br />
somehow compact network of scholarly friends which was dubbed in the epoch as the “History<br />
of Religion School” (“Religionsgeschicltliche Schule”). The paper will try to provide the<br />
theoretical frame of reference which enabled some scholars of the “Religionsgeschichtliche<br />
Schule” to refer to and integrate in their great “Corpus Hellenisticus” project the new data on<br />
Manichaeism (after the <strong>di</strong>scoveries in the Turfan oasis) and Mandeism (after the translations<br />
made by Mark Lidzbarski) in the first serious attempt to read the texts of both religions<br />
together, long before the <strong>di</strong>scovery of the Cologne Mani Codex or Nag Hamma<strong>di</strong> texts. After a<br />
short overview of the structure of the “School” and of the methods employed, I will focus on<br />
the rea<strong>di</strong>ngs of three late “members” of it: Richard Reitzenstein (1861-1931), Wilhelm Bousset<br />
(1865-1920) and the early Rudolf Bultmann (1884-1976).<br />
Luca Baral<strong>di</strong>, University of Bologna, Italy<br />
Dalle parole al reale: l’omiletica come fonte per lo stu<strong>di</strong>o dell’ebraismo<br />
48<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.20, Classroom 13<br />
The me<strong>di</strong>eval Hebrew sermon drew on the Midrash for its hermeneutics and exegetical<br />
method, but the close relationship between Jewish and Christian culture founded a new form of<br />
homiletics. Renaissance homilies were largely influenced by ethical literature, philosophy and<br />
qabbalah, and the historical development con<strong>di</strong>tioned the aim of Jewish preachers. The<br />
structure and the aesthetics of Hebrew sermons allow us to portray a literary profile of Italian<br />
Jewish preaching, and to outline the impact of homilies and sermons on Jewish society.<br />
Maria Antonietta Barbàra, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Prospero <strong>di</strong> Aquitania: rappresentante dell’agostinismo nel V secolo.<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.00, Classroom 9<br />
The author examines the works of Prosper of Aquitaine, an unknown but very important writer<br />
for the history of the doctrine of Augustine, in particular the doctrine of grace. Prosper is<br />
apologist of Augustine; in De ingratis and in <strong>di</strong>spute with Cassian, polemicist; his statements<br />
in the Liber sententiarum are <strong>di</strong>rectly taken from Augustine, or they are translations or<br />
reworking of the thought of Augustine. The author is involved in the <strong>di</strong>spute concerning the<br />
doctrine of Prosper, though his doctrine of grace is a faithful reproduction of the Augustinian<br />
model, or if he has watered down or even abandoned the view of the teacher with regard to the<br />
predestination and to the reprobatio post praevisa demerita; if Prosper said the universal<br />
salvific wile of God expressed in the De vocatione omnium gentium; whether and to what
extent he demostrates a degree of authonomy in christological terminologies and has<br />
partecipated in the Tomus of Pope Leo the Great <strong>di</strong>rected to Flavian.<br />
Rossana Barcellona, University of Catania, Italy<br />
Ebrei e cristiani: così vicini così lontani<br />
49<br />
Wed 16 th , 16.00, Classroom 6<br />
We think we can usefully isolate the complicated question of the relationship between Jewry<br />
and Christians inside the conciliar rules and limite our research to a small portion of space and<br />
time (occidental late-antiquity) in order to point out some aspects of that relationship. If we<br />
compare conciliar rules of Gaul and Spain (V-VI cent.), and these with the civil legislation of<br />
the time, it’s possible to observe all the social problems connected to the coexistence of the two<br />
religions. Precisely, we’re going to inquire how the theological gap between Jewish and<br />
Christian religions is reflected in real life. Two levels of problem cross themselves in the set of<br />
conciliar rules: the theological <strong>di</strong>fferences – very deep <strong>di</strong>fferences, accor<strong>di</strong>ng to ecclesiastical<br />
hierarchy – seem not to be so strong in real life. Physical proximity of social experience seems<br />
to struggle with theological-spiritual <strong>di</strong>stance. If considered from this point of view, the<br />
question of Jewry and Christians relationship focuses the inherent relational structures and the<br />
necessity of ideological and social borders.<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.20, Classroom 6
Francesco Baroni, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, France<br />
Tra esoterismo, New Age e mistica cristiana: le dottrine del Cerchio Firenze 77<br />
Il “Cerchio Firenze 77” è probabilmente il gruppo spiritico italiano del Novecento più noto<br />
presso il grande pubblico. Celebre per i fenomeni parapsicologici che si verificavano durante le<br />
sedute, non lo è meno per l’ingente mole <strong>di</strong> pubblicazioni che ha prodotto. A partire dal 1977,<br />
infatti, vengono pubblicati i messaggi ottenuti per più <strong>di</strong> trent’anni attraverso il me<strong>di</strong>um<br />
Roberto Setti (1930-1984). Le dottrine descritte nei volumi del “Cerchio” compongono una<br />
trama complessa, in cui si intrecciano fili culturali provenienti da lontano. Ciò che forse più<br />
colpisce lo storico è la presenza, precoce vista l’epoca in cui si sono tenute le sedute, <strong>di</strong> molti<br />
temi tipici della spiritualità New Age. Con un linguaggio sorprendentemente moderno, ma non<br />
privo <strong>di</strong> suggestioni orientali, l’universo è descritto dai maestri del “Cerchio” come un’intricata<br />
realtà olistica, costituito da trame <strong>di</strong> eventi possibili (le “varianti”), le quali non sono, in ultima<br />
analisi, che le <strong>di</strong>verse sembianze dell’unica Realtà riflesse e moltiplicate nelle singole<br />
coscienze microcosmiche. Le rivelazioni dottrinali da parte <strong>di</strong> entità <strong>di</strong>sincarnate sono una<br />
costante nella storia dell’esoterismo occidentale. Dalla metà dell’Ottocento tale fenomeno si è<br />
strutturato nelle forme specifiche dello spiritismo, poi del channeling, dando origine ad una<br />
fioritura letteraria straor<strong>di</strong>naria, nel complesso ancora poco stu<strong>di</strong>ata dagli storici delle religioni.<br />
Per esaminare questa letteratura da un punto <strong>di</strong> vista storico-religioso è necessario prescindere<br />
dai fenomeni “paranormali” che l’hanno prodotta. L’oggetto <strong>di</strong> stu<strong>di</strong>o dello storico saranno le<br />
idee in essa contenute, la loro origine, la loro influenza e la loro <strong>di</strong>ffusione, nonché le<br />
<strong>di</strong>namiche culturali e sociali che ne hanno sotteso il manifestarsi. Eludendo la questione del<br />
“fenomeno” parapsicologico, e concentrandosi sui testi in quanto prodotti culturali, lo storico<br />
adotta una prospettiva metodologica equilibrata, e può stu<strong>di</strong>are con legittimità scientifica delle<br />
realtà fondamentali nel panorama religioso contemporaneo.<br />
Elek Bartha, University of Debrecen, Hungary<br />
On the Virtual Borderline between the Sacred and the Profane<br />
50<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.20, Classroom 5<br />
The significance of the issues of the sacred, sacredness, and sanctification is quite obvious in<br />
the spatial and temporal structures of culture and everyday life for the students and researchers<br />
in religious stu<strong>di</strong>es. The quality represented by what is sacred and thus <strong>di</strong>fferent from the<br />
mundane or or<strong>di</strong>nary, is separated from the profane sphere by boundaries identifiable in the<br />
hierarchy of things and activities. However, most of these boundaries are not very <strong>di</strong>stinct, as<br />
there are possibilities for overlapping or for transitional zones between the two in<strong>di</strong>vidual<br />
spheres, represented by phenomena that are marked by features of transitionality. Sacred<br />
entities tend to exert a gravitational effect upon their environment in time and place, the pull of<br />
which may vary accor<strong>di</strong>ng to the spatial and temporal <strong>di</strong>stance from the center of gravity and<br />
may also depend on other impacts and factors appearing within the specific field of force. My<br />
presentation will focus upon concrete examples taken from case stu<strong>di</strong>es in the religious life in<br />
Central Europe, through which I wish to illustrate particular ways of how the borderline<br />
between the sacred and the profane normally operates. My aim is to describe and analyze the<br />
nature of the periphery of sacred spaces and sacred times with the help of examples of sacral<br />
buil<strong>di</strong>ngs and other spatial elements and objects.<br />
Wed 16 th , 16.00, Classroom 5
Jenny Berglund, Södertörn University, Sweden<br />
Save the Children from the Wahabiyya. Europe as Pole of Attraction for the al-Ahbash.<br />
Strategies used by the al-Ahbash Movement to gain Space in European Societies<br />
The Association of Islamic Charitable Projects, often referred to as the al-Ahbash, depicts itself<br />
as representing the “orthodox” centre of Sunni Islam and a moderate voice of Islam. The<br />
organisation has as one of its goals to combat “extremists” in “the west”. Extremists for the al-<br />
Ahbash are those who adhere to the theology of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, Ibn Taymiiya and Sayyid<br />
Qutb, i.e. theologians that are often held at high esteem within various islamist movements.<br />
This paper <strong>di</strong>scusses the strategies used by the al-Ahbash to accomplish their goals in Europe.<br />
It shows that one of their strategies is to train teachers for Islamic Religious Education that are<br />
supposed to “save the children from the wahabiyya” and that establishing Muslim schools in<br />
Europe is seen as a way to gain space in societies. The paper is based on interviews of the al-<br />
Ahbash representatives in Sweden and the UK.<br />
RE on the Borders<br />
51<br />
Wed 16 th , 16.00, Classroom 14<br />
Across Europe, national educational systems provide forceful links between states and citizens.<br />
The mandatory school is a primary locus for socialisation of young people, aiming to make<br />
them socially and culturally competent within bounded state territories. In geographical areas<br />
bordering on those of other states, however, this primary function of educational systems is<br />
challenged by ambiguities and tensions connected to liminality and inter-cultural experiences.<br />
In border areas, the unavoidable requirement of educational policy and syllabi to reproduce<br />
nations’ official symbols, narratives, goals, beliefs, historical sensitivities, and territorial<br />
demarcations typically faces resistance by the liminal state itself – increasing the complexity<br />
and contestedness of education. This project is designed to study religious education in a set of<br />
schools physically located on either side of four national borders in the Baltic-Barent area.<br />
Along this <strong>di</strong>vide <strong>di</strong>fferent combinations of religious and educational thought and organisation<br />
meet. Official national Lutheran-Protestant, Russian Orthodox, and Catholic tra<strong>di</strong>tions interact<br />
in a multiplicity of ways with post-communist, secular, liberal democratic, statist and federal<br />
political systems. Whilst thus being a cultural-religious <strong>di</strong>vide, the Baltic- Barent brim is also<br />
the political boundary between post-Soviet Russia and the European Union(+Norway); i.e. a<br />
former extension of the Berlin Wall. The purpose of the project is to trace and analyse the role<br />
and impact of liminality in religious teaching and educational policy implementation – i.e. how<br />
religion is taught and education thought – in northeastern European border communities.<br />
Michael Berman, independent scholar, England<br />
Soul Retrieval via the Internet - Bringing Keti Back from the Land of the Dead<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.20, Classroom 4<br />
Soul loss is the term used by both in<strong>di</strong>genous and neo-shamans alike to describe the way parts<br />
of the psyche become detached when we are faced with traumatic situations. In psychological<br />
terms, it is known as <strong>di</strong>ssociation and it works as a defence mechanism, a means of <strong>di</strong>splacing<br />
unpleasant feelings,impulses or thoughts into the unconscious. In shamanic terms, these split<br />
off parts can be found in what is referred to by Carlos Castaneda as non-or<strong>di</strong>nary reality and
are only accessible to those familiar with its topography. Soul retrieval entails the shaman<br />
"journeying" (in an ecstatic, demonstrative or imitative trance state) to find the missing parts<br />
and then returning them to the client seeking help. This paper consists of an account of a soul<br />
retrieval that was carried out over the internet by the neo-shamanic practitioner Jonathan<br />
Horwitz, the founder of the Scan<strong>di</strong>navaian Centre of Shamanic <strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong>es, to bring my partner<br />
Keti out of a coma caused by an aneurism. It has been suggested that “By performing a<br />
liturgical order the participants accept, and in<strong>di</strong>cate to themselves and to others that they accept<br />
whatever is encoded in the canon of that order” (Rappaport, 1999, p.119) provided, of course,<br />
they are not acting. It will be argued, however, that as the ritual in this case took place while<br />
the patient was in a coma, neither acceptance nor belief is necessarily required on the part of<br />
the patient in order for the process to be effective, and that what is required is actually<br />
something else.<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.20, Classroom 4<br />
Albero Bernabè, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain<br />
Novedades sobre el Papiro de Derveni<br />
El papiro de Derveni fue descubierto en 1962 en Derveni, cerca de Salónica, y publicado<br />
oficialmente en 2006. Datado en el s. IV a. C. es conocido sobre todo porque contiene un<br />
comentario filosófico de algunos versos atribuidos a Orfeo. Pero en las columnas I-VI el autor<br />
no comenta el texto, sino se refiere a ritos religiosos celebrados por magos en honor de las<br />
Erinis, que son también objeto de su comentario e interpretación, y le llevan a <strong>di</strong>sertar sobre los<br />
terrores del Hades, el papel de la justicia, y el significado de los ritos. Después de la e<strong>di</strong>ción<br />
oficial, Janko (ZPE 166, 2008, 37-51) ha mo<strong>di</strong>ficado la <strong>di</strong>sposición de algunos fragmentos<br />
utilizados para reconstruir las primeras columnas, lo que ha dado lugar a un texto muy<br />
<strong>di</strong>ferente. Sobre él han trabajado luego Tsantsanoglou (en prensa) y Bernabé (en prensa). El<br />
nuevo texto permite conocer mejor el ritual órfico descrito y las opiniones del comentarista<br />
sobre las Erinis/Euménides y sobre los démones. Sus ideas se encuadran en una tra<strong>di</strong>ción<br />
interpretativa que se extiende desde Hesíodo hasta época romana.<br />
Antonia Bertocchi, independent scholar, Italy<br />
52<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.00, Classroom 8<br />
Il modello "Eureka" per un rinnovamento epistemologico del metodo comparativo<br />
Quasi un secolo fa, il 2 gennaio 1912, tracciando <strong>di</strong> getto il modello"Eureka", come per una<br />
improvvisa illuminazione, Raffaelle Pettazzoni ci ha lasciato una preziosa ere<strong>di</strong>tà che sarebbe<br />
rimasta sconosciuta se il Prof. Gan<strong>di</strong>ni non l'avesse tratta dall'oblio. Il suo interesse sta nel fatto<br />
<strong>di</strong> presentare caratteri sistemici ante litteram, che forniscono input per un'impostazione<br />
scientifica della problematica, cara al Maestro, della scelta <strong>di</strong> una data religione come<br />
para<strong>di</strong>gma comparativo.<br />
Tue 15 th , 18.00, Classroom 13
Jaco Beyers, University of Pretoria, South Africa<br />
What is Religion? An African Understan<strong>di</strong>ng<br />
Western thought has influenced the way of understan<strong>di</strong>ng religion. Western philosophy<br />
supported the separation between the sacred and profane. Modernism focusing on the thinking<br />
man, reduced religion to a set of correctly formulated dogmas and doctrines. Western thought,<br />
dominated by Christianity, created through a theology of religions a hierarchical structure of<br />
world religions. This study is not an attempt to add a new definition of what religion is. There<br />
is no single theoretical perspective on what religion is. The study of religion is concerned with<br />
a variety of <strong>di</strong>fferent phenomena all grouped together under the hea<strong>di</strong>ng of religion. Religion is<br />
not the sum of all its parts, neither the reduction to one element. Such functional and<br />
substantial definitions have proved to be insufficient. Some scholars have even suggested that<br />
the term religion be abandoned. Can an African understan<strong>di</strong>ng of religion make a contribution<br />
to the understan<strong>di</strong>ng of what religion is? Such a question requires an African understan<strong>di</strong>ng of<br />
religion as well as an understan<strong>di</strong>ng of African religion. Religion from an African perspective<br />
puts emphasis on the human effort to systematize in society the continuation of a central<br />
religious experience. Tra<strong>di</strong>tion expressed in rituals and ethics, become the social expressions of<br />
these religious experiences. The moment when the concept of religion is fixed in African<br />
society, there is no separation between transcendental and immanent reality. The social and<br />
religious spheres become one. African scholars do not present one unified understan<strong>di</strong>ng of<br />
religion. Some scholars would even argue that an African understan<strong>di</strong>ng is nothing more than<br />
an internalized form of Western perspectives. To characterize Tra<strong>di</strong>tional African Religion as a<br />
type of religion minimizes the contribution that an African understan<strong>di</strong>ng can have on religion.<br />
Perhaps for some, African thought does not present any new insights into what religion is, but<br />
it reminds us of important aspects of religion long been forgotten.<br />
53<br />
Tue 15 th , 16.00, Classroom 13<br />
Cristofer Bochinger, University of Bayreuth, Bavaria - Katharina Frank, University of<br />
Zürich, Switzerland<br />
Religion and Values in German Speaking Textbooks<br />
Religious Education is very often expected to convey to the pupils not only knowledge about<br />
“religion” or “religions”, but also ethical norms and values. In this paper, we will analyse how<br />
“values” are transmitted in <strong>di</strong>fferent textbooks. The paper starts from two observations: First,<br />
teachers tend to rely much more on textbooks than on syllabuses and curricula (which they<br />
often do not even know) while preparing their classes. Second, it can be stated that they often<br />
use textbooks from <strong>di</strong>fferent origins (e.g. Suisse or German, confessional or non-confessional),<br />
even when they are supplied with official teaching material by their respective school<br />
authorities (e.g. in the Suisse cantons). Therefore, it is an important question, how the relation<br />
between “religion” and “values” is presented in the textbooks. In our paper, we will compare<br />
textbooks de<strong>di</strong>cated to <strong>di</strong>fferent models of religious education or religion education<br />
(confessional and non-confessional): Which kinds of “values” are regarded as important for the<br />
pupils? Are there typical <strong>di</strong>fferences related to the <strong>di</strong>fferent models of education? What can be<br />
concluded for the composition of textbooks for non-confessional religion education?<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.40, Classroom 4
François Boespflug, University of Strasbourg, Belgium<br />
Pettazzoni et le comparatisme iconographique en l'histoire des religions<br />
Daniela Bonanno, University of Palermo, Italy<br />
La memoria, i culti misterici e il recupero delle origini dei Messeni in Pausania<br />
54<br />
Tue 15 th , 10.20, Classroom 8<br />
The fourth book of Pausanias’ Periegesis may be read as a journey across the collective<br />
memory of the Messenian ethnos, condemned to a painful <strong>di</strong>aspora for over three hundred<br />
years. The possibility of a homecoming is linked to a small secret object, which, if properly<br />
kept, would guarantee the recovery of the lost land accor<strong>di</strong>ng to the oracles. The legend has it<br />
that this object has been hidden in the mounts of Ithome by Aristomenes, the hero of the<br />
Messenic resistance against Sparta’s oppression and an expert of oracular knowledge. Many<br />
years later a dream vision reveals to Epaminondas and to the Argive commander Epiteles the<br />
exact site where Aristomenes supposedly buried the secret object. A thin sheet of tin on which<br />
the mysteries of the Great Goddesses are inscribed is <strong>di</strong>scovered inside a small bronze hydria –<br />
lost traces both of buried memories and of a new identity to be re<strong>di</strong>scovered and promoted. The<br />
theme of the recovered sacred memory, central to several ancient cultures of the<br />
Me<strong>di</strong>terranean, allows historians and politicians to legitimize new states of affairs by<br />
representing them simply as ways of recovering the forgotten past.<br />
Andrea Borella, University of Torino, Italy<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.00, Classroom 7<br />
Il destino americano <strong>di</strong> una tra<strong>di</strong>zione religiosa europea: il Vecchio Or<strong>di</strong>ne Amish<br />
Sorti da una scissione all’interno del mondo anabattista, gli Amish presero la via dell’America<br />
a partire dagli inizi del <strong>di</strong>ciottesimo secolo, per sfuggire alle persecuzioni alle quali erano<br />
sottoposti, da parte <strong>degli</strong> stati cattolici e protestanti, in Europa. Assimilitisi alla societa’<br />
moderna nel Vecchio Continente, dove l’ultima comunita’ Amish scomparve nel 1937, essi<br />
rappresentano una realta’ rigogliosa e forte della propria identita’ negli Stati Uniti d’America.<br />
Profondamente ra<strong>di</strong>cati nel credo anabattista, gli Amish conservano vive in maniera<br />
straor<strong>di</strong>naria le loro tra<strong>di</strong>zioni. Quest’ultime rimangono, anche oggi nel Nuovo Mondo,<br />
intimamente europee. Cio’ rende i fedeli della Chiesa Amish, e in special modo gli<br />
appartenenti al Vecchio Or<strong>di</strong>ne, profondamente <strong>di</strong>fferenti rispetto ai membri <strong>di</strong> altre comunita’<br />
che, sebbene <strong>di</strong> origine europea, hanno ormai completamente sviluppato caratteri propriamente<br />
“americani”. I principi car<strong>di</strong>ne della cultura Amish rimangono i medesimi che <strong>di</strong>edero vita<br />
all’Anabattismo: la separazione tra Chiesa e Stato, l’assoluto pacifismo e il Battesimo <strong>degli</strong><br />
adulti. Gli anabattisti, ne’ cattolici, ne’ protestanti, hanno coltivato in varie forme queste loro<br />
specificita’ a partire dal sorgere del movimento in Svizzera nel 1525. Gli Amish parlano tra<br />
loro un <strong>di</strong>aletto appartenente alle lingue dell’alto germanico, comunemente chiamato<br />
Pennsylvania Dutch che, nonostante raccolga influenze del moderno inglese, si basa sui <strong>di</strong>aletti<br />
delle zone della Germania e della Svizzera del <strong>di</strong>ciottesimo secolo da dove gli Amish<br />
provengono. Oltre alla lingua essi mantengono molte altre usanze che trovano il loro<br />
fondamento nella tra<strong>di</strong>zione agricola, ma anche in alcune forme <strong>di</strong> paganesimo tipiche
dell’Europa Centrale. Ad esempio la pratica <strong>di</strong> celebrare le nozze il giove<strong>di</strong>’. Se e’ noto che<br />
l’Europa si e’ caratterizzata come centro <strong>di</strong> “<strong>di</strong>ffusione” del cristianesimo nelle Americhe, sia<br />
nella versione anglosassone protestante, sia in quella cattolica latina, meno stu<strong>di</strong>ato e’ il pur<br />
significativo apporto dei movimenti anabattisti <strong>di</strong> origine germanica o centroeuropea. Oltre agli<br />
Amish, nel Nuovo Mondo hanno infatti trovato una terra d’elezione gruppi religiosi come i<br />
Mennoniti, i Brethrens e gli Hutteriti. Ma se talune <strong>di</strong> queste comunita’ appaiono<br />
completamente inserite nel contesto d’immigrazione, per gli aderenti ai gruppi del Vecchio<br />
Or<strong>di</strong>ne le ra<strong>di</strong>ci europee rappresentano un patrimonio imprescin<strong>di</strong>bile. Talvolta<br />
ingenerosamente stigmazzitati come “tedeschi” gli Amish del Vecchio Or<strong>di</strong>ne non riven<strong>di</strong>cano<br />
alcuna specifica appartenza “terrena”. Religiosamente, ritengono infatti il “Cielo” l’unica loro<br />
Patria.<br />
Wed 16 th , 18.20, Classroom 14<br />
Philippe Bornet, University of Lausanne, Switzerland<br />
"Nature" and "Religion" in the European Construction of In<strong>di</strong>a (18-19 th centuries)<br />
The paper intends to show how the idea of ‘nature’ had a crucial importance in the<br />
qualification and understan<strong>di</strong>ng of In<strong>di</strong>a and In<strong>di</strong>an ‘religions’ among missionaries and<br />
scholars, between the 18th and 19th centuries. Two examples will be briefly examined and<br />
contrasted: the French Jesuit Gaston-Laurent Coeurdoux (1694-1778) and William Ward<br />
(1769-1823), a Baptist missionary in Bengal (Serampore). We shall first examine Coeurdoux’s<br />
Moeurs et coutumes des In<strong>di</strong>ens (1777). In<strong>di</strong>an religion, we are told, is typically a religion of<br />
nature, based on the worship of the elements of earth, water and fire. If those practices are<br />
clearly identified as idolatry, Coeurdoux expresses a theory accor<strong>di</strong>ng to which they were once<br />
only allegories. We shall then focus on the figure of Ward and his A view of the History,<br />
Literature, and Religion of the Hindoos (1817). In this work, Ward asserts that the ‘primary<br />
elements were the first objects of worship among this people’. He then proceeds to describe<br />
gods and rites in relation to those natural elements. In conclusion, we shall ask to what extent<br />
the respective political, religious and philosophical framework of our two authors explains<br />
their <strong>di</strong>vergence of views.<br />
Sergio Botta, University of Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy<br />
Raffaele Pettazzoni and the Challenge of Native American Religions<br />
Olga Breskaya, University of Brest, France<br />
55<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.00, Classroom 13<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.00, Classroom 8<br />
Christian Tra<strong>di</strong>tion and Contemporary Practice in Eastern Orthodoxy - How Human Values<br />
talk about Religion<br />
Every religion forms the certain type of a personality, its social and in<strong>di</strong>vidual features. These<br />
personality features are closely connected with religious dogmatic, statements of religious<br />
anthropology and social doctrines, and also with the character of institutional religious action<br />
in public life.The Christian tra<strong>di</strong>tion of anthropological thought since the researches of
apostolic messages unequivocally specifies the basic features for the in<strong>di</strong>vidual. The Christian<br />
doctrine of ‘personalism’ which was not known in the Greek and Roman anthropology viewed<br />
the person as a unique phenomenon and simultaneously containing the essence of being. The<br />
personalism doctrine entails practical attitudes to personal development in in<strong>di</strong>vidual and social<br />
aspects – <strong>di</strong>sclosing of ‘talents’, freedom, solidarity, responsibility, formation of humanistic<br />
values. The sociologists of religion analyzing the features of the religious person in Orthodoxy<br />
make an accent on communitarian character of values in Orthodox community which are<br />
represented by researchers as prevailing above in<strong>di</strong>vidual features. Some researchers try to<br />
show that group values and relations for the orthodox person is more important than selfdevelopment<br />
of the person, and the value of religious authority is more important than personal<br />
religious creativity. Within the framework of this report the attempt to make the bilateral<br />
analysis of values for personal development of the Christian will be made, being based on<br />
theoretical approach of Christian anthropology and results of 3 case-stu<strong>di</strong>es in 2004, 2006, and<br />
2007 which have been conducted by the author in the Western Belarus (Brest) in Orthodox<br />
community. The case-study results show the independent description by respondents the social<br />
and in<strong>di</strong>vidual features and values inherent to them as in<strong>di</strong>viduals and group members. The<br />
results of case-stu<strong>di</strong>es in many respects change the settled stereotypes concerning in<strong>di</strong>vidual<br />
and group values and features of modern Christians which are represented in contemporary<br />
sociological literature concerning the features of Orthodox believer, still leaving many<br />
questions open for sociologists. Real picture of social and in<strong>di</strong>vidual values, reproducing in<br />
Christian community, helps to understand the basis for formation of the type of personality and<br />
social organization and also value dynamics of Christian culture today.<br />
Johannes Bronkhorst, University of Lausanne, Switzerland<br />
Rites without Symbols or What can we learn from the Ve<strong>di</strong>c Horse Sacrifice?<br />
56<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.20, Classroom 12<br />
“Rituals are symbolic actions.” This and similar statements occur again and again in the<br />
scholarly literature on ritual. This paper presents a critical reflection on this claim, by<br />
concentration on a number of recognized rituals which, either as a whole or in part, are quite<br />
independent of any form of symbolism. Point of departure will be the Ve<strong>di</strong>c Horse Sacrifice, in<br />
which a ruler lets a horse roam freely for a year in territories of neighbouring rulers. The<br />
neighbouring rulers need to study very little symbolism to understand that the fact that they<br />
cannot, or dare not, stop the horse establishes the sacrificing king as their superior. There are<br />
numerous other examples of this and similar kinds, enough to oblige scholars to rethink their<br />
understan<strong>di</strong>ng of ritual.<br />
Pamela Brubaker, Pennsylvania State University, USA<br />
Scriptures Embraced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<br />
Tue 15 th , 10.00, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
Unique to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Book of Mormon: Another<br />
Testament of Jesus Christ is considered a sacred work of scripture comparable to the Holy<br />
Bible. Referred to as the keystone of this religion, the Book of Mormon provides insight into<br />
God’s dealings with a people who once lived on the American continent. The book of Doctrine
and Covenants is another scriptural text utilized by Latter-day Saints, which consists of<br />
revelations and declarations of more modern origin. An ad<strong>di</strong>tional compilation of scripture that<br />
teaches about various aspects of this faith is the Pearl of Great Price. This book is comprised of<br />
translations, revelations, and narrations of both modern and ancient accounts. The principles,<br />
stories, and insights found in all three of these books, along with the Holy Bible, are regularly<br />
stu<strong>di</strong>ed by church members. Not only do church leaders and members teach from all four<br />
books of scripture, but one of the church’s missions is to share these books with all people,<br />
inclu<strong>di</strong>ng those of other faiths. In an effort to provide greater understan<strong>di</strong>ng into how Latterday<br />
Saints use these books of scriptures, this study examines how leaders of the Church of<br />
Jesus Christ teach from the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and<br />
the Pearl of Great Price. Semiannually, members of the Church from around the world gather<br />
to hear instruction and counsel from church leaders in Salt Lake City, Utah, at General<br />
Conference. Over a two-day period church leaders take turns speaking during four two-hour<br />
conference sessions to all church members. These conference sessions are broadcast via<br />
satellite, transmitted through the Internet, or viewed live from the conference center in Salt<br />
Lake City. Each conference is comprised of talks from general authorities, which consists of<br />
the first presidency (the president/prophet of the church and his two counselors) and the<br />
quorum of the twelve apostles. Other general authorities and general auxiliary leaders beyond<br />
these 15 leaders who regularly speak during this two-day period include members of the<br />
quorums of the seventy and general presidencies who preside over the Relief Society, Young<br />
Women, Young Men, Primary, Sunday School, and Bishopric organizations. Local or regional<br />
church leaders are not asked to speak at these meetings. Following the conference, the speeches<br />
are translated into more than 85 languages and <strong>di</strong>stributed worldwide through church<br />
magazines or in video and au<strong>di</strong>o files online. The messages delivered by these leaders regularly<br />
reference and are grounded in principles found in the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, the<br />
Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. Using a content analysis, this study will<br />
provide insight into the speeches delivered during the four main sessions of General<br />
Conference over a five-year period and explore how church leaders regard the Book of<br />
Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Holy Bible.<br />
Specifically, this study will examine the books of scripture church leaders refer to most often<br />
as well as what and how they teach from multiple scriptural texts. From this analysis, insights<br />
into what church leaders teach members concerning the importance of the Book of Mormon,<br />
the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price in relation to the Holy Bible will also<br />
be <strong>di</strong>scussed.<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.20, Classroom 9<br />
Ann af Burén, University of Södertörn, Sweden<br />
Religion and Sexuality – Negotiating Islam and Homosexuality at the Borders of Europe<br />
Turkey, through its geographical position in both Europe and in the Middle East, is not<br />
separated from “western” societies and the concepts developed there. There is a longstan<strong>di</strong>ng<br />
tra<strong>di</strong>tion of intercultural meetings, cultural appropriation, and reinterpretation in both <strong>di</strong>rections<br />
– processes that not only are reflected in religious affairs but also among groups of sexual<br />
minorities. This paper explores in what way religion has shaped the notion of sexuality for<br />
“homosexual” Muslims in Istanbul. My expectation is that by <strong>di</strong>scussing these questions we<br />
will not only learn about the local context, but also about the European situation, European<br />
notions about religion and religious subjects and about sexuality and sexual categories,<br />
whatever they might be.<br />
57
Elena Caliri, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Gregorio Magno e l’Africa<br />
58<br />
Wed 16 th , 16.40, Classroom 4<br />
Pope Gregorius Magnus sent about fifty letters to administrators, priests, prelates and<br />
important people living or domicilied in Africa. This small corpus of letters mostly deals with<br />
doctrinal matters, problems and considerations about heresy, denunciations about the Africa<br />
clergy’s heavy con<strong>di</strong>tion of corruption, tormented by the plague of simony and by the spread<br />
of the Donatists, and about the Pope’s respective attempts in order to reform and to purgue the<br />
ecclesiastical hierarchies. It has been debated for long about the Donatists’ “revival” in the VI<br />
century, especially in some areas such as Numi<strong>di</strong>a, which was the least influenced region<br />
among the three ecclesiastical provinciae in the north of Africa. There are lots of<br />
interpretations and they all are <strong>di</strong>vergent. Accor<strong>di</strong>ng to the communis opinio, the Donatism<br />
survived the Vandals and they would have strengthened later but they would have been wiped<br />
out by the Arabic conquest; accor<strong>di</strong>ng to another thought, on the contrary, in the VI century the<br />
violent bitterness that had characterized both Catholics and the Donatists in the past would<br />
have been <strong>di</strong>ssolved and they would have been become a group of peaceful people living<br />
togheter. They would have reached an equilibrium that the Pope tried to destroy one way or<br />
another, even through the secular authority’s repeated intervention. The picture of the African<br />
church that may be deduced from Gregorius Magnus’s letters confirms the image of an evident<br />
peculiarity, of a strong inclination towards the independence, where the papal authority was<br />
definitely ineffective.<br />
Stefano Caneva, Scuola Superiore <strong>di</strong> <strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong> Storici, San Marino, Italy<br />
I culti regali nel primo ellenismo, fra <strong>di</strong>namiche sociali e ricezione intellettuale<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.40, Classroom 6<br />
Lo sviluppo dei culti regali costituisce uno dei tratti più significativi nel panorama cultuale del<br />
primo ellenismo. I più recenti ritrovamenti papiracei ed epigrafici hanno contribuito a<br />
illuminare molti dei meccanismi <strong>di</strong> istituzione e conduzione dei culti, introdotti, da e per i<br />
Diadochi, nel III secolo a.C. Ciò consente una più ricca documentazione del fenomeno e,<br />
conseguentemente, una più articolata catalogazione tipologica dei vari culti. L’ampiezza <strong>di</strong> tale<br />
documentazione apre altresì la via al <strong>di</strong>battito sulla portata <strong>di</strong> tale fenomeno nel panorama del<br />
Me<strong>di</strong>terraneo ellenizzato, caratterizzato da una fitta rete <strong>di</strong> contatti fra persone, merci e culture,<br />
nonché dalla progressiva costruzione <strong>di</strong> uno scenario comune, nel quale le <strong>di</strong>alettiche <strong>di</strong><br />
scambio ed egemonia che sovrintendono alla propagazione delle realtà politiche e culturali<br />
vengono a costituirsi secondo modalità ed estensioni nuove. In questo quadro, il successo dei<br />
culti regali mette sul tavolo prospettive e problematiche eterogenee, che vanno dalla rilevanza<br />
socio-politica dell’istituzione <strong>di</strong> culti e feste nel campo delle <strong>di</strong>namiche <strong>di</strong>plomatiche fra città e<br />
stati, anche <strong>di</strong> tra<strong>di</strong>zioni <strong>di</strong>verse, all’effettiva valutazione <strong>degli</strong> onori cultuali in quanto<br />
fenomeno religioso, fino al problema della ricezione dei culti presso le élites intellettuali<br />
dell’epoca. Nel corso dell’intervento saranno tematizzate alcune delle principali questioni<br />
aperte, con una particolare attenzione per le prospettive e gli approcci teorici che sottostanno<br />
alla definizione dei singoli temi e alla selezione delle metodologie con cui essi sono affrontati.
1. la costituzione e la conduzione dei culti come tavola delle trattative fra il potere centrale e le<br />
realtà locali; come catena nella quale a ogni nodo - caratterizzato da una portata geografica e<br />
posizione gerarchica specifiche - corrisponde la temporanea definizione <strong>di</strong> un equilibrio<br />
politico, sancito nella formulazione dello statuto del sovrano e dei sud<strong>di</strong>ti. Attraverso un<br />
processo <strong>di</strong> scambio e <strong>di</strong> influenze reciproche, le parti in causa mettono a frutto il proprio<br />
potere contrattuale e stabiliscono, nella definizione delle caratteristiche del culto, un accordo.<br />
Per citare un esempio, in Egitto, la politica templare tolemaica mostra come al rispetto della<br />
tra<strong>di</strong>zione religiosa egizia corrisponda la ratifica della legittimità dei dominatori stranieri da<br />
parte del clero locale, attraverso il ricorso al protocollo rituale e iconografico della regalità<br />
faraonica.<br />
2. la valutazione del culto regale come fenomeno religioso e la sua <strong>di</strong>ffusione, anche in<br />
relazione con le testimonianze su pratiche cultuali private e su iniziative non centralizzate<br />
relative al culto per i sovrani.<br />
3. la percezione dei culti regali presso le élites intellettuali contemporanee, che <strong>di</strong> volta in volta<br />
si attesta fra l’elaborazione <strong>di</strong> motivi ideologici e la ricezione/rielaborazione della realtà<br />
cultuale su un piano teorico, che investe problematiche come il rapporto e la permeabilità fra<br />
sfera umana e <strong>di</strong>vina e fra tempo <strong>degli</strong> dei e tempo <strong>degli</strong> uomini. In questo quadro,<br />
un’attenzione particolare meritano i casi <strong>di</strong> Ecateo <strong>di</strong> Abdera ed Evemero, presso i quali la<br />
contemporanea <strong>di</strong>vinizzazione dei sovrani <strong>di</strong>viene modello da proiettare sul passato remoto,<br />
offrendo, nel quadro dell’aggiornamento <strong>di</strong> una tra<strong>di</strong>zione risalente almeno a Pro<strong>di</strong>co <strong>di</strong> Ceo,<br />
una ricostruzione teorica dell’evoluzione della civiltà.<br />
Marinella Cantelmo, University of Salento, Italy<br />
Figure bibliche nell’opera <strong>di</strong> Pirandello<br />
59<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.00, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
The problematic relationship between the evangelical resurrection of Lazarus and the<br />
resurrection’s motif and biblical reminiscences in one of the last texts of Pirandello will be<br />
analyzed.<br />
Gerard Capdeville, University of Paris-Sorbonne<br />
Pettazoni, Leland e gli Etruschi<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.40, Classroom 9<br />
Nel 1892, l’americano Charles Godfrey Leland publicò a Londra Etrusco-Roman Remains in<br />
popular tra<strong>di</strong>tion, frutto <strong>di</strong> una lunga inchiesta in Romagna Toscana: tramite informatori locali,<br />
aveva raccolto tra<strong>di</strong>zioni e canti popolari, che conservavano ricor<strong>di</strong> delle antiche <strong>di</strong>vinità<br />
etrusche, con nomi appena alterati: Tigna, Turanna, Faflon … Sembra che il libro sia allora<br />
passato inosservato, ma quasi quaranta anni dopo alcuni stu<strong>di</strong>osi italiani – M.R. Corso, G.<br />
Furlani – e stranieri – R. Bloch – criticarono sentitamente questo stu<strong>di</strong>o considerato non<br />
scientifico, mentre R. Pettazzoni, al 1° Congresso Internazionale Etrusco (Firenze, 1928) si<br />
pronunciò per una ricerca approfon<strong>di</strong>ta e sistematica nel folklore italiano, per verificare e<br />
completare il lavoro <strong>di</strong> Leland. Ma tutti i suoi informatori erano ormai spariti e con loro tutto<br />
quelle che rimaneva dell’ere<strong>di</strong>tà etrusca.<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.40, Classroom 8
Pierangelo Carozzi, University of Verona, Italy<br />
Pestalozza e Pettazzoni: i “Dioscuri” della Storia delle Religioni italiana<br />
Nel cinquantesimo anniversario della scomparsa <strong>di</strong> Raffaele Pettazzoni, la ricognizione storica<br />
del suo carteggio intercorso, fin dalla giovinezza, con Uberto Pestalozza, iniziatore primo della<br />
storia delle religioni in Italia – ne professò la <strong>di</strong>sciplina dal novembre 1912 a Milano, presso la<br />
Regia Accademia scientifico-letteraria – ci permette <strong>di</strong> ricostruire i prodromi e gli avvii, le<br />
formulazioni metodologiche e i primi risultati, la recezione scientifica e accademica italiana e<br />
internazionale, <strong>di</strong> una scienza e del suo insegnamento nel contesto culturale europeo. Il ruolo<br />
svolto da codesti due “<strong>di</strong>oscuri” della Storia delle religioni italiana ne risulta illuminato e<br />
particolarmente descritto, collocando la figura e l’opera <strong>di</strong> entrambi, ma soprattutto <strong>di</strong><br />
Pettazzoni, nel doveroso e impegnativo compito <strong>di</strong> introdurre e consolidare la nostra <strong>di</strong>sciplina<br />
tra le specializzazioni della ricerca storica.<br />
Uberto Pestalozza tra Altertumswissenschaft e metodo combinatorio<br />
60<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.20, Classroom 8<br />
Nel clima <strong>di</strong> rinnovamento storico e culturale, in cui si venne a trovare l’Italia, tra la fine<br />
dell’Ottocento e gli inizi dell’Novecento, si situano la figura e la ricerca <strong>di</strong> Uberto Pestalozza,<br />
primo storico delle religioni italiano. Se dall’autunno 1912 presso la milanese Accademia<br />
scientifico - letteraria, dove peraltro aveva ricevuto la sua comprovata preparazione scientifica,<br />
sotto la guida <strong>di</strong> illustri maestri, il Pestalozza introdusse ufficialmente nell’<strong>Università</strong> italiana<br />
la Storia delle religioni – aprendo per codesta <strong>di</strong>sciplina un itinerario lungo, <strong>di</strong>fficoltoso, ma<br />
fecondo <strong>di</strong> risultati – codesto promettente avvio si deve ascrivere non solo alla strenua volontà<br />
del Pestalozza, ma lo si deve necessariamente collegare al ruolo svolto dalla scuola e<br />
dall’ambiente milanesi in cui si era venuto formando. Anzitutto i rapporti <strong>di</strong> amicizia e fedeltà<br />
con gli esponenti, laici ed ecclesiastici, della locale vicenda modernistica – fu tra gli altri,<br />
fondatore e redattore della rivista “Il Rinnovamento” – che lo coinvolsero in prima persona<br />
nello stu<strong>di</strong>o e nel <strong>di</strong>battito, allora urgente, delle problematiche religiose affrontate nelle loro<br />
inelu<strong>di</strong>bili implicazioni con storia, filosofia e testimonianza <strong>di</strong> fede professata. E ancor più il<br />
<strong>di</strong>scepolato vissuto a stretto contatto con i docenti <strong>di</strong> chiara fama che allora professavano<br />
<strong>di</strong>scipline umanistiche all’Accademia scientifico-letteraria. Mette conto rilevare l’importanza<br />
avuta per il Nostro da parte <strong>di</strong> due suoi famosi maestri: Elia Lattes e Grazia<strong>di</strong>o Isaia Ascoli.<br />
Appartenenti entrambi alla tra<strong>di</strong>zione filologico - letteraria e storico-antropologica che,<br />
soprattutto <strong>di</strong> matrice germanica, illustrò la ricerca e l’eru<strong>di</strong>zione europea ottocentesca: il<br />
primo iniziò Pestalozza alla “scienza dell’antichità”, che professava in sintonia con le scuole<br />
tedesche dalla cattedra milanese; il secondo lo introdusse, attraverso la me<strong>di</strong>azione linguistica<br />
<strong>di</strong> impronta indo-europea, in quel metodo combinatorio che gli permetterà <strong>di</strong> cogliere lo<br />
spessore antropologico del fatto religioso, in una prospettiva <strong>di</strong> comparazione storico-culturale.<br />
Pertanto, se la Storia delle religioni in Italia ebbe in Pestalozza il suo “operoso pioniere”, fu<br />
grazie a lui se il metodo storico comparativo, su base filologico - documentaria e antropologico<br />
- comparativa, permeò subito, da allora e in seguito, anche attraverso Pettazzoni e la sua scuola<br />
e l’amplificarsi della prospettiva <strong>di</strong> ricerca, l’in<strong>di</strong>rizzo metodologico della scuola italiana.<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.00, Classroom 9
Charles Carter, University of Bordeaux, France<br />
Putting Mormonism to Academic Scrutiny in France: between Intellectual Curiosity and<br />
Internal Misunderstan<strong>di</strong>ng<br />
There is a three-fold <strong>di</strong>mension to the newly heightened academic interest in Mormonism.<br />
Besides being external and internal, this academic interest crosses borders and goes global with<br />
the faith. Thus, together with the creation of Mormon <strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong>es programs in the United States,<br />
students of Mormonism can observe an increase in the number of websites or forums created<br />
out of personal initiatives, increase in the number of academic endeavors (master’s theses, PhD<br />
<strong>di</strong>ssertations, academic conferences, etc.). Indeed, more and more Mormons in France and in<br />
Europe are emulating their American fellow believers as they make their faith the subjectmatter<br />
of their research. But, what is it like for a French Mormon to study his faith from within<br />
in the twenty-first century? How do such scholars situate themselves when it comes to<br />
academic rigor and the commitment to Mormonism as it is understood by fellow French<br />
Mormons? It is the purpose of this paper to address those questions in the form of<br />
autobiographic presentation; hoping that such will contribute to the study of religions in<br />
general.<br />
Giovanni Casa<strong>di</strong>o, University of Salerno, Italy<br />
Ernesto Bonaiuti<br />
61<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.00, Classroom 6<br />
Ernesto Buonaiuti (1881 - 1946) was an Italian historian and philosopher of religion. A<br />
Christian priest (later defrocked and excommunicated), he lost his seat at the University of<br />
Rome due to his opposition to Fascism and Italian government’s agreement with Catholic<br />
Church. As a scholar in history of Christianity and religious philosophy he was one of the most<br />
important exponents of the modernist current. Although chair of “storia del cristianesimo”<br />
(1916-1931), he was a full fledged historian of religions. His contribution to the field is<br />
polyvalent: 1. Religio-historically based research on crucial topics in the study of religion (e.g.<br />
Gnosticism, Manichaeism, Heresy, Protestantism, Millenarianism, and asceticism); 2.<br />
mentorship of key-figures in the Italian and European historical study of religion (M. Eliade, E.<br />
Benz, A. Pincherle, A. Donini; 3. foundation and e<strong>di</strong>torship until death of a lea<strong>di</strong>ng<br />
international journal of religious stu<strong>di</strong>es, Ricerche religiose (1925-1954; renamed Religio in<br />
the period 1934-1944).<br />
Luciano Catalioto, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.20, Classroom 9<br />
Monachesimo greco e Chiesa latina nella Sicilia normanna: laboratorio culturale e<br />
sperimentazione politica<br />
Nel vasto alveo tematico relativo al ruolo della religione nell’evoluzione culturale europea è<br />
possibile collocare una struttura portante del complessivo quadro me<strong>di</strong>evale del Mezzogiorno<br />
d’Italia, cronologicamente compresa tra il 1061, data d’inizio della conquista normanna della<br />
Sicilia islamica, e la fine del XII secolo, quando l’azione condotta a <strong>Messina</strong> da Riccardo Cuor<br />
<strong>di</strong> Leone negli anni della terza crociata avrebbe prodotto un drammatico azzeramento dell’etnia
e della cultura greca nell’isola. L’opera <strong>di</strong> ricristianizzazione, condotta dagli Altavilla<br />
attraverso il sistematico ricorso a congregazioni e gruppi identitari <strong>di</strong> professione cattolica ed<br />
ortodossa sopravvissute agli anni dell’emirato (827-1061), lascia emergere la forte impronta<br />
culturale greca presente soprattutto nel Valdemone (San Salvatore in Lingua Phari, San Filippo<br />
de Demenna, Sant’Angelo <strong>di</strong> Brolo, San Filippo d’Argirò, ...) dove Ruggero I, nell’arco <strong>di</strong><br />
appena un ventennio, significativamente eresse e rifondò <strong>di</strong>verse se<strong>di</strong> benedettine (Lipari,<br />
Catania, Patti, Troina, Palermo, Agrigento, Mazara, Siracusa, Santa Maria de Scalis, ...) e circa<br />
venti monasteri greci, deputati al controllo politico ed economico del territorio, ma depositari e<br />
garanti al tempo stesso <strong>di</strong> un importante settore culturale altrove in declino. Grazie alla<br />
rinascita dell’ellenismo registrata in quegli anni ed all’orientamento scientifico che la vita <strong>di</strong><br />
corte mantenne vivo sino all’età dei Guglielmi (basti citare Enrico Aristippo, Maione <strong>di</strong> Bari, il<br />
notaio-l’ammiraglio Eugenio, il logoteta Leone ed il camerario Nicola), la cultura bizantina, <strong>di</strong><br />
cui furono custo<strong>di</strong> non solo le se<strong>di</strong> greche, riuscì a trovare consistenti canali d’irra<strong>di</strong>azione<br />
verso l’Occidente, contribuendo ad affidare gran parte del patrimonio classico all’Umanesimo.<br />
In particolare il cenobio basiliano <strong>di</strong> San Filippo <strong>di</strong> Fragalà, che era stato fucina feconda per il<br />
grammatico Leone <strong>di</strong> Centuripe e gli omileti Filippo Filagato da Cerami e Leonzio <strong>di</strong> Fragalà,<br />
raggiunse l’acme della prosperità nella prima età normanna, quando risulta il maggiore<br />
monastero greco ed il principale centro della rinascita basiliana del Mezzogiorno. Dopo il<br />
consolidamento della <strong>di</strong>nastia normanna in Sicilia, si registrò un crescente declino della cultura<br />
italo-greca ed un incremento del flusso <strong>di</strong> monaci latini (cistercensi, cluniacensi, certosini e<br />
agostiniani), soprattutto attraverso le fondazioni sorte precocemente in Calabria, come Santa<br />
Eufemia e Mileto, che furono propulsori nel XII secolo <strong>di</strong> una cultura alimentata dai centri<br />
monastici cluniacensi d’Oltralpe e <strong>di</strong>ffusa pure, nella temperie della riforma monastica e della<br />
lotta per le investiture, presso gli ambienti della Curia pontificia. Mentre quin<strong>di</strong> la cultura<br />
bizantina si stemperava nella progressiva latinizzazione, prendeva corpo un nuovo<br />
orientamento culturale in cui larga parte avrebbe avuto la Chiesa romana riformata. I modelli<br />
letterari trattati dalla cronistica ufficiale normanna furono me<strong>di</strong>ati dagli ambienti monastici con<br />
una sorprendente flessibilità in cui temi religiosi ed ecclesiologici si legano alla politica, ma<br />
vennero proposti strumentalmente anche nella produzione documentaria <strong>di</strong> <strong>di</strong>verse se<strong>di</strong><br />
episcopali ed abbaziali (<strong>Messina</strong>, Catania, Lipari-Patti, Cefalù), mostrandosi eccezionale<br />
strumento <strong>di</strong> rielaborazione e trasmissione <strong>di</strong> precise ideologie politico-religiose, come la<br />
trasposizione in chiave provvidenziale dei modelli etici del ciclo Carolingio e <strong>di</strong> quello<br />
Bretone, attinta dalla successiva tra<strong>di</strong>zione letteraria aulica e popolare (Nicolò Speciale,<br />
Simone da Lentini, Francesco Maurolico, tra<strong>di</strong>zione orale e iconografica, Opera dei Pupi...).<br />
Molte carte dell’Archivio capitolare <strong>di</strong> Patti, peraltro, offrono testimonianza eccezionale dei<br />
nuovi esiti linguistici, frutto del passaggio dal me<strong>di</strong>olatino al volgare siciliano e del tentativo <strong>di</strong><br />
definire una nuova cultura <strong>di</strong>ffusa controllata dalla monarchia. Il ciclo iconografico <strong>di</strong> Santa<br />
Maria <strong>di</strong> Ravanusa, ad esempio, è da considerare una sorta <strong>di</strong> corrispettivo me<strong>di</strong>terraneo<br />
dell’Arazzo <strong>di</strong> Bayeux ed una significativa rappresentazione, sul versante figurativo, dell’epos<br />
narrato in cronaca da Goffredo Malaterra, benedettino proveniente dal cenobio normanno <strong>di</strong><br />
Saint-Evroul-sur-Ouche, vivaio cluniacense <strong>di</strong> monaci colti ed esperti negli affari <strong>di</strong> questo<br />
mondo, come Orderico Vitale e Roberto <strong>di</strong> Grantmesnil. In definitiva, il sostrato religioso<br />
cristiano, emerso in seguito alle politiche <strong>di</strong> normalizzazione demica attuate dagli Altavilla con<br />
il ricorso a vecchie e nuove strutture benedettine e basiliane, avrebbe profondamente<br />
impregnato, nella lunga durata, la vicenda culturale del Mezzogiorno d’Italia, quando<br />
l’arretratezza sociale ed economica non consentiva alcuna possibilità alternativa <strong>di</strong><br />
partecipazione all’elaborazione della nuova cultura.<br />
62<br />
Wed 16 th , 10.00, Classroom 7
Gian Mario Cazzaniga, University of Pisa, Italy<br />
L'esoterismo come problema storiografico nella cultura filosofica italiana del XX secolo<br />
Il neo idealismo italiano (Croce, Gentile, Gramsci) rimuove la presenza <strong>di</strong> filoni esoterici dalla<br />
tra<strong>di</strong>zione italiana, fermandolo fra Cusano e Bruno, filoni peraltro ancora assai influenti sui<br />
gruppi <strong>di</strong>rigenti risorgimentali, facendo propria la filosofia hegeliana della storia che vede<br />
come punto d’arrivo della storia umana il cristianesimo ed il suo esito finale laicizzato nella<br />
forma dello stato moderno. Ciò determina una separazione fra masse che sod<strong>di</strong>sfano i propri<br />
bisogni spirituali nei culti cristiani e <strong>di</strong>rigenti che operano sul terreno della scienza e dei valori<br />
umanistici, separazione che anche il marxismo neoidealista italiano del secondo dopoguerra<br />
farà propria. Nel mondo della ricerca filoni esoterici restano influenti e forse egemoni<br />
nell’orientalistica e nella storia delle religioni, senza che peraltro le scuole prevalenti negli<br />
stu<strong>di</strong> storici e filosofici sembrino esserne influenzate. Il confronto con culture e para<strong>di</strong>gmi altri,<br />
indotto dalla globalizzazione dei mercati e dagli stessi flussi migratori, ripropone oggi un<br />
ripensamento <strong>di</strong> questa storia filosofica <strong>di</strong>mi<strong>di</strong>ata.<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.40, Classroom 5<br />
Maria Vittoria Cerutti, University “Cattolica” of Milano, Italy<br />
'Le vie' o 'la via'? Tra identità nazionali e prospettive universalistiche nel paganesimo<br />
tardoantico"<br />
Nella Tarda Antichità, dal II al IV sec.d.C., auctores pagani <strong>di</strong> ispirazione platonica e <strong>di</strong><br />
cultura greco-romana pur se <strong>di</strong> provenienza orientale, elaborano una trama <strong>di</strong> riflessioni sul<br />
valore, se non sulla 'verità' , delle 'filosofie barbariche' in rapporto alla cultura greco-romana e<br />
alle sue acquisizioni filosofico-religiose. Una indagine comparativa delle loro posizioni al<br />
riguardo, consente <strong>di</strong> illuminare, insieme agli aspetti <strong>di</strong> continuità e <strong>di</strong> novità che<br />
caratterizzano le <strong>di</strong>verse tappe <strong>di</strong> questo percorso tematico, anche una <strong>di</strong>alettica tra , da un<br />
lato, la legittimazione della pluralità delle tra<strong>di</strong>zioni religiose etnico-nazionali circumme<strong>di</strong>terranee,<br />
compresa la giudaica, e, dall'altro lato, la tensione a un superamento delle stesse<br />
nella <strong>di</strong>rezione <strong>di</strong> una, peraltro problematica, prospettiva universalistica.<br />
Aleš Chalupa, University of Brno, Czech Republic<br />
Seven Mithraic Grades: an Initiatory or Priestly Hierarchy?<br />
63<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.40, Classroom 14<br />
The paper tries to answer some questions concerning the character of Mithraic grades which<br />
has been recently raised and problematize the previously ‘canonical’ understan<strong>di</strong>ng of these<br />
grades as initiatory, successive and mandatory for all Mithraists (Clauss 1990). The paper<br />
incorporates the thorough evaluation of previous scholarship on this topic and also includes<br />
new important finds of Mithraic items relevant to this topic (Mithraic album from Virunum,<br />
Mainz Vessel, frescoes from the mithraeum in Hawarti etc.).<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.00, Classroom Aula Magna
Gian Franco Chiai, Academic of Sciences of Berlin, Germany<br />
Sulle origini e gesta dei nostri dèi: iscrizioni e memorie storico-religiose locali in età<br />
ellenistico-romana<br />
Inscriptions represent a useful source for reconstructing the cults, rituals and religious<br />
mentality of the ancient world. Religious institutions (temples, sanctuaries, religious<br />
communities etc.) used to expose epigraphical texts in the sacral spaces in order to make<br />
evident to others their particular relation to the worshiped god. From this point of view the<br />
inscriptions are important documents for studying how religious institutions and communities,<br />
often in competition one another, constructed and reconstructed their cultural identity, history<br />
and religious memory. The aim of this conference is to offer an overview of the epigraphical<br />
testimonies of the Hellenistic and Roman eras and the <strong>di</strong>fferent strategies of communication of<br />
the sacral texts (confessional inscriptions, aretalogiai, de<strong>di</strong>cations ex voto, prayers etc.) in the<br />
local contexts.<br />
Giuliano Chiapparini, University “Cattolica” of Milano, Italy<br />
64<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.20, Classroom 7<br />
I Valentiniani <strong>di</strong> Ireneo <strong>di</strong> Lione: efficacia del metodo della Storia delle Religioni nella<br />
ricostruzione <strong>di</strong> una dottrina gnostica del Tardo Antico<br />
Il contributo ha lo scopo <strong>di</strong> illustrare succintamente la particolare efficacia del ricorso alla<br />
metodologia della Storia delle Religioni in relazione ad una fonte eresiologica complessa come<br />
è Ireneo, Adv.Haer. I 1-8 ('Grande Notizia'). L'esemplificazione sottolinea la necessità da parte<br />
dello stu<strong>di</strong>oso a) <strong>di</strong> una consapevole collocazione storica della fonte (datazione, fasi <strong>di</strong><br />
realizzazione); b) <strong>di</strong> un’avvertita sensibilità filologica (testo critico, modalità <strong>di</strong> costruzione del<br />
testo); c) del ricorso alla comparazione come presupposto per un'adeguata ermeneutica<br />
(tipologie, varianti ecc.). Il caso <strong>di</strong> Ireneo <strong>di</strong> Lione e dei Valentiniani si presenta, per altro,<br />
come particolarmente aderente al tema “La Religione nella storia delle cultura Europea”. Esso,<br />
infatti, costituisce un'espressione della complessità dei rapporti nell'area me<strong>di</strong>terranea, che<br />
hanno reso possibile nel Tardo Antico il <strong>di</strong>ffondersi in Occidente (prima a Roma, poi nella<br />
Valle del Rodano) <strong>di</strong> dottrine gnostiche provenienti dalla zona siro-egizia. Tali rapporti hanno<br />
riguardato, però, anche l'opposizione stessa a tale <strong>di</strong>ffusione come si evince dalla figura stessa<br />
<strong>di</strong> Ireneo <strong>di</strong> Lione: egli, originario dell'Asia Minore, si trasferisce a Roma al seguito <strong>di</strong><br />
Policarpo attorno alla metà del II sec. e, sulle orme <strong>di</strong> quel maestro, conduce una severa critica<br />
nei confronti della dottrina valentiniana non solo durante gli anni della sua permanenza<br />
romana, ma pure durante il suo episcopato nella Valle del Rodano, dove tale dottrina si era<br />
ra<strong>di</strong>cata <strong>di</strong> pari passo con la Grande Chiesa. In sede <strong>di</strong> conclusione, si evidenzia come il<br />
metodo della Storia delle Religioni impe<strong>di</strong>sce derive decostruttive come quelle invalse<br />
recentemente da più parti fra gli stu<strong>di</strong>osi della religione: nel caso specifico, lungi dal negare<br />
ra<strong>di</strong>calmente l'effettiva esistenza storica dello Gnosticismo antico e dal collocare fin dalle<br />
origini il pensiero <strong>di</strong> Valentino e dei continuatori fuori dall'alveo gnostico, si prende atto che il<br />
Valentinianesimo costituisce, a tutti gli effetti, una compiuta espressione della sensibilità<br />
gnostica.<br />
Wed 16 th , 17.40, Classroom 6
Horia Corneliu Cicortas, University of Napoli “L’Orientale”, Italy<br />
Il sacro come teatro: Mircea Eliade e Jerzy Grotowski a confronto<br />
Fin dall’adolescenza, Mircea Eliade (1907-1986) è stato affascinato dal mondo del teatro, col<br />
quale si è familiarizzato anche grazie alle sue amicizie e frequentazioni <strong>degli</strong> ambienti teatrali<br />
della Bucarest interbellica. Il mondo del teatro, con la sua sacralità “laica” che si rivela <strong>di</strong> volta<br />
in volta nella rappresentazione scenica, ha fornito allo storico delle religioni romeno<br />
un’occasione non solo <strong>di</strong> riflessione teorica ma anche <strong>di</strong> produzione letteraria; basti pensare<br />
alle pièces teatrali più note, come “Iphigenia” o “La colonna infinita”, ma anche ai racconti<br />
<strong>degli</strong> anni ’70, come “Incognito a Buchenwald” o “Uniformi <strong>di</strong> generale”, dove il simbolismo<br />
del teatro è visto come esercizio magico-spirituale. E’ questa l’ottica in cui il presente<br />
contributo intende stabilire, partendo dai loro specifici contesti, parallelismi e convergenze tra<br />
l’opera <strong>di</strong> Mircea Eliade e quella, anch’essa pionieristica nel campo teatrale, <strong>di</strong> Jerzy<br />
Grotowski (1933-1999), grande regista polacco che ha rivoluzionato il teatro contemporaneo,<br />
riportandolo alle sue origini rituali e alla sua essenza trasformativa.<br />
Eugen Ciurtin, University of Bucarest, Rumania<br />
65<br />
Tue 15 th , 10.20, Classroom 12<br />
Pettazzoni’s Lesson: the Increase and Decrease of a Generalist History of Religions<br />
Fifty years after the death of Raffaele Pettazzoni, there is little doubt he incarnated “the most<br />
universal scholar of religion of the past century at a world level”. To rewrite today some of his<br />
finest comparative books would require the expertise and support of many scholars and<br />
institutions across countless fields and <strong>di</strong>sciplines. The autonomy, unity and integrity of the<br />
history of religions as a comparative and universal project Pettazzoni admittedly illustrated by<br />
the constant and careful increase of his own project, from a particular monograph to synthesis<br />
works on crucial themes with combined sources and methods. He thus absorbed all relevant<br />
results of his and previous generations of scholars, representing in a specific way the<br />
embo<strong>di</strong>ment of the <strong>di</strong>scipline for decades. There are above all unambiguous parallelisms<br />
between the aim and methods of a generalist history of religions and the construction of<br />
Pettazzoni’s own work as a generalist one. From his very first contributions “conceived in so<br />
ju<strong>di</strong>cious and temperate a spirit” (R. R. Marrett, review of Pettazzoni 1912, in Folklore 23<br />
(1912), no. 3, pp. 389-391, here 391), his work traveled from “formazione” through “sviluppo”<br />
to a certain kind of scholarly “onniscienza” impossible to envision today. In Eliade’s words, his<br />
lesson was “what to do, not how to do it”. However, the universal generosity of a generalist<br />
task was quickly superseded by other evolutions within the field, all of them in a way or<br />
another connected with the increase of specialization, and the very viability of an in<strong>di</strong>vidual<br />
generalist project turns out to be obsolete. Despite the value of a “what-to-do” task which<br />
consequently was praised as the best in<strong>di</strong>vidual achievement during his days, I will argue that<br />
Pettazzoni’s work as a whole was not the first, but the last, if not the single one possible of this<br />
magnitude. I will then try to show that his manifold accomplishments describe the<br />
configuration of the history of religions in a specific moment of its history even better than his<br />
own project. Having accor<strong>di</strong>ngly long term consequences, which interfere with nowadays<br />
developments and debates, his lesson of “what to do” in front of the insurmountable variety of<br />
religious histories, sources, and themes is still decisive despite the decrease and failure of a<br />
generalist history of religions two generations after his acme. I will concentrate my analysis,<br />
which is a part of a larger critical study of Pettazzoni’s achievements, on the relationship
etween Dio (1922), Confesione dei peccati (1929-1936), Onniscienza <strong>di</strong> Dio (1955) and the<br />
contributions to Numen (1954-1959), relying also on the 3,000 pages of Materiali published<br />
with utmost minutiae in San Giovanni in Persiceto by Mario Gan<strong>di</strong>ni during the last three<br />
decades.<br />
Sarah Claerhout, Ghent University, Belgium<br />
Conversion, Religion and the Protestant Reformation<br />
66<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.40, Classroom 8<br />
How could Europeans view religion as a constitutive force in their own society and other<br />
societies, if the concept is so <strong>di</strong>fficult to make sense of? Part of the answer, so my paper will<br />
suggest, is to be found in the dynamics set in motion by the Protestant Reformation, which<br />
shaped the modern concept of religion. On the basis of my research on the process of<br />
conversion in the work of the magisterial reformers, I will argue that the Reformation<br />
established certain conceptual patterns which became pivotal to the modern European cultural<br />
experience. The reformers linked the corruption of religion to the degeneration of society and<br />
this went hand in hand with specific descriptions of both western and non-western societies in<br />
these terms. True faith (on the basis of a new process of inner conversion) and reform of<br />
society (on the basis of a range of normative principles such as equality, toleration, freedom of<br />
conscience) were connected in the same way. My paper will examine this linking of religion<br />
and society in the Reformation and trace its impact on the contemporary study of religion.<br />
Naomi Cohen, University of Tel Aviv, Israel<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.20, Classroom 13<br />
The Haftarot (the lections from Prophets) chosen to be read in the Synagogue Service<br />
While the NT contains the earliest explicit mention of the custom of rea<strong>di</strong>ng a Haftarah (a<br />
lection from Prophets) following imme<strong>di</strong>ately upon the Torah rea<strong>di</strong>ng on the Sabbath (see Acts<br />
13:15, and Luke 4:17), it is not clear from these whether, or perhaps to what extent, they refer<br />
to what were considered to be tra<strong>di</strong>tional pericopes. Today, the Synagogue lections from the<br />
Prophets that follow the Torah rea<strong>di</strong>ng on Sabbath morning are standar<strong>di</strong>zed. Though not all<br />
rites are identical it is clear that they have been chosen with an eye to an associative<br />
connection, whether linguistic, ideational, or something else, with the weekly Torah portion.<br />
{bring examples}. There are however exceptions for special Sabbaths where a rea<strong>di</strong>ng relating<br />
to the holiday replaces the rea<strong>di</strong>ng assigned to the relevant Torah portion {expand}. An<br />
important instance of this, are the Haftarah rea<strong>di</strong>ngs for the Sabbaths of ‘Admonition,<br />
Consolation and Repentance’ that belong to the period of mourning for the destruction of the<br />
Temple in Jerusalem (see Zechariah 8:18-19), the weeks of Consolation following it, and those<br />
for the period of Repentance that follow them <strong>di</strong>rectly: The Ten Days of Repentance, that<br />
include the New Year and the Day of Atonement. A study of Philo’s very rare quotations from<br />
the Prophets reveals that the vast majority of them are found in these very Haftaroth. This<br />
suggests, prima facie, that they had already been chosen to be read in Philo’s day.<br />
Tue 15 th , 10.00, Classroom 9
Paola Corrente, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain<br />
Paralleli <strong>di</strong> Dioniso con <strong>di</strong>vinità del Vicino Oriente<br />
Com’é noto, Dioniso è il “<strong>di</strong>o che arriva” al mondo religioso greco, secondo la definizione <strong>di</strong><br />
uno <strong>degli</strong> stu<strong>di</strong>osi più acuti del <strong>di</strong>onisismo, e per questo, già dall’antichità, fu oggetto <strong>di</strong><br />
supposizioni sulla sua origine straniera. In questa esposizione si commenteranno le<br />
informazioni presenti nei testi <strong>di</strong> quegli autori classici, come Erodoto o Plutarco, che danno<br />
informazioni sulle somiglianze <strong>di</strong> Dioniso con altre <strong>di</strong>vinità dell’area me<strong>di</strong>terránea. Stando ai<br />
testi che si prenderanno in considerazione, ci sono quattro <strong>di</strong>vinitá che già gli antichi<br />
consideravano simili a Dioniso: il <strong>di</strong>o traco- frigio Sabazio, l’egizio Osiris, Yahweh, il <strong>di</strong>o<br />
<strong>degli</strong> ebrei, e Orotal-Dushara, <strong>di</strong>vinità dei nabatei l’una e <strong>degli</strong> arabi l’altra, che finirono per<br />
identificarsi. Fra tutti, i paralleli più conosciuti e stu<strong>di</strong>ati sono quelli con Osiris e Sabazio,<br />
mentre la questione relativa al mondo ebraico e a Yahweh si presenta più complicata, dato che<br />
le nostre fonti usano criteri piuttosto arbitrari nella loro analisi, e, infine, <strong>di</strong> maggiore interesse<br />
resulta la similitu<strong>di</strong>ne con Orotal e Dushara, dal momento che non esiste ancora uno stu<strong>di</strong>o<br />
comparativo fra queste <strong>di</strong>vinitè e il <strong>di</strong>o greco. Nel panel si cercherà <strong>di</strong> fare una esauriente<br />
panoramica sullo stato della questione.<br />
Vincenzo M. Corseri, Officina <strong>di</strong> <strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong> Me<strong>di</strong>evali of Palermo, Italy<br />
67<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.20, Classroom 8<br />
Nicola Cusano e Guillaume Dufay, ovvero l’armonia come dottrina. Appunti per una<br />
comparazione tra pensiero religioso e musica nella prima metà del XV secolo<br />
Il Quattrocento è per antonomasia il secolo in cui l’uomo ritorna a porre sé stesso come un<br />
perfetto microcosmo davanti al mistero insondabile <strong>di</strong> Dio. In filosofia, a raccogliere e<br />
sintetizzare le molteplici in<strong>di</strong>cazioni convergenti circa la crisi della scolastica è il car<strong>di</strong>nalefilosofo<br />
Nicola Cusano, un pensatore per il quale i limiti della conoscenza umana, che procede<br />
dal noto all’ignoto, non consentono <strong>di</strong> colmare l’infinita <strong>di</strong>stanza che separa l’uomo da Dio. La<br />
mente umana è misura delle cose che hanno limiti, Dio è infinito, cioè senza limiti, quin<strong>di</strong> è<br />
incomprensibile la sua essenza. Di Lui si può <strong>di</strong>re solo ciò che non è, non ciò che è (con un<br />
esplicito richiamo al neoplatonismo cristiano dello pseudo-Dionigi). Solo alcune metafore<br />
possono avvicinare la mente all’infinito, la cui caratteristica è la coincidenza <strong>degli</strong> opposti, il<br />
luogo metafisico <strong>di</strong> tutte le cose, che si esplicano con la creazione. L’uomo racchiude in sé,<br />
contratto, l’intero universo: è, cioè, un armonioso microcosmo che trova in Cristo, nella sua<br />
duplice natura, la contrazione <strong>di</strong> Dio stesso. A questo proposito, è utile introdurre la nozione <strong>di</strong><br />
armonia come un punto centrale dell’impianto speculativo del pensatore <strong>di</strong> Cues. Questa, nel<br />
secondo libro del De docta ignorantia, il suo in<strong>di</strong>scusso capolavoro filosofico, viene presentata<br />
come il prodotto della concordanza dei termini e dei piani visti, in ambito umano e politico,<br />
come similitudo; è un’armonia assoluta, invece, quella che si manifesta nell’aequalitas,<br />
l’ambito puramente <strong>di</strong>vino, irraggiungibile all’uomo. Questa concezione metafisica –<br />
squisitamente cristologica – può trovare, a mio parere, una sua immagine speculare nella<br />
complessa e ricercata musica <strong>di</strong> Guillaume Dufay, senza dubbio il più influente e<br />
rappresentativo compositore europeo del XV secolo. Dufay fu un nor<strong>di</strong>co che si trovò (proprio<br />
come Cusano) per lungo tempo a operare in Italia, <strong>di</strong>venendo trait d’union <strong>di</strong> due mon<strong>di</strong><br />
musicali apparentemente inconciliabili: quello “settentrionale”, improntato al puro<br />
contrappunto, e quello umanistico-me<strong>di</strong>terraneo, più aperto alla concezione verticale (oggi<br />
<strong>di</strong>remmo armonica) e all’improvvisazione: due tendenze che egli riuscì a fondere in un<br />
personale para<strong>di</strong>gma compositivo. La sua musica indaga l’or<strong>di</strong>ne intimo della creazione che si<br />
manifesta nelle cose e l’armonia che ne determina il senso ineffabile. Sia Cusano che Dufay –
il primo come giurista, teologo e filosofo, il secondo in qualità <strong>di</strong> musicista – parteciparono ai<br />
principali concili ecumenici della prima metà del Quattrocento ed entrambi furono uomini <strong>di</strong><br />
profonda religiosità e <strong>di</strong> fine dottrina. Ripercorrere sinteticamente l’esperienza che con<strong>di</strong>visero<br />
– in particolare al concilio <strong>di</strong> Basilea-Ferrara-Firenze (1431-1439) –, scrutare la visione<br />
unitaria su cui si accentra la loro concezione della Chiesa e della fede, è il compito che mi<br />
prefiggo <strong>di</strong> affrontare sinteticamente nel corso della mia comunicazione.<br />
Augusto Cosentino, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Le origini dello gnosticismo: a quarant’anni dal Congresso <strong>di</strong> <strong>Messina</strong> (1966)<br />
68<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.40, Classroom 7<br />
From 13 to 18 April 1966, there was in <strong>Messina</strong> an important Conference on “the origins of<br />
Gnosticism”, promoted by Prof. Ugo Bianchi. The Conference brought together top scholars of<br />
the time, allowing the comparison and synthesis between <strong>di</strong>fferent positions and definitions of<br />
Gnosticism. Following generations of scholars, to this day, were forced to deal with that<br />
definition. The following years saw bitter <strong>di</strong>sputes about. All subsequent stu<strong>di</strong>es had to take<br />
account of that “final document” to accept, in whole or in part, or to criticize it. This report<br />
tries to give an account of this wide <strong>di</strong>versity of views and stu<strong>di</strong>es of recent years that seek to<br />
overcome the positions of <strong>Messina</strong> Conference.<br />
Giovanna Costanzo, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Le ra<strong>di</strong>ci cristiane dell’Europa in Paul Ricoeur<br />
Wed 16 th , 17.20, Classroom 6<br />
L’aspirazione a lasciare un’ere<strong>di</strong>tà preziosa <strong>di</strong> cui far custo<strong>di</strong> i propri <strong>di</strong>scendenti ha da sempre<br />
affascinato l’uomo. La questione <strong>di</strong>venta più complessa quando il dono consiste nel lascito<br />
della propria storia, del proprio patrimonio spirituale, ovvero <strong>di</strong> quella parte <strong>di</strong> sé che si<br />
considera come la più nobile e immortale, tale da essere ricordata e rammentata come un<br />
racconto simile a quelli che arricchivano la nostra infanzia. Il lungo lavoro <strong>di</strong> ricerca e <strong>di</strong><br />
stu<strong>di</strong>o dal filosofo francese Paul Ricoeur è attraversato dal tema dell’identità narrativa, dal<br />
soggetto che si costruisce, si sperimenta, si conosce attraverso i suoi desideri, i suoi gesti, i<br />
racconti <strong>di</strong> sé agli altri. E nel racconto, soprattutto, che il soggetto si riconosce e si scopre<br />
come attraversato da una tra<strong>di</strong>zione che lo fonda e lo costituisce, una tra<strong>di</strong>zione che evidenzia<br />
delle ra<strong>di</strong>ci comuni, presenti nel Testo per eccellenza che è la Sacra Scrittura, che evidenziano<br />
l’esistenza <strong>di</strong> cuore pulsante e vitale all’interno <strong>di</strong> un popolo. È questo il senso dell’intreccio<br />
fra filosofia e rivelazione, fra filosofia e Sacra scrittura da cui il pensatore francese si muove<br />
per scoprire come un comune ethos europeo può <strong>di</strong>ventare il necessario collante per la<br />
comunità europea ancora da costruire.<br />
Wed 16 th , 17.40, Classroom 14<br />
Francesca M. Crasta, University of Cagliari, Italy<br />
Swedenborg e l'Italia tra Settecento e Novecento<br />
Il tema del mio intervento verte sulla ricostruzione dei rapporti e <strong>degli</strong> scambi intellettuali<br />
intercorsi fra Emanuel Swedenborg e la cultura italiana settecentesca. L’interesse per l’opera e<br />
per il pensiero swedenborghiani, per quanto resti circoscritto, si spinge fin sulle soglie del
Novecento, caratterizzandosi come un elemento <strong>di</strong> particolare rilievo, in coincidenza con<br />
l’affermarsi <strong>di</strong> correnti massoniche e <strong>di</strong> esigenze sia religiose che filosofiche <strong>di</strong> tipo alternativo.<br />
Chiara Cremonesi, University of Padova, Italy<br />
69<br />
Tue 15 th , 10.00, Classroom 5<br />
Religioni e conflitti: la comparazione oggi tra strategie retoriche e prospettive storicoreligiose<br />
Investigating the sacred <strong>di</strong>mension as an historical product, hence operable and subject to<br />
human decisional processes - perspective characterizing the Italian School of History of<br />
Religions - seems particularly urgent today: the necessity of investigating the hierogenesis by<br />
means of a contrastive comparison appears as an ethical and epistemological alternative to the<br />
rhetorical strategies structuring the “maps” of " the religions in war".<br />
Fabio Cusimano, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Wed 16 th , 16.40, Classroom 11<br />
Il monachesimo benedettino come fattore unificante per l'Europa altome<strong>di</strong>evale<br />
Quando si affronta la storia del monachesimo latino me<strong>di</strong>evale, specialmente nell’arco<br />
cronologico che precede lo sviluppo dei movimenti cluniacensi e cistercensi, un elemento da<br />
tenere in considerazione è la primigenia assenza <strong>di</strong> unità: ogni monastero possiede, infatti, una<br />
propria identità.<br />
Proprio da questa multiforme realtà monastica altome<strong>di</strong>evale nasce l’esigenza <strong>di</strong> una riforma<br />
che riconduca le <strong>di</strong>fferenti espressioni del carisma monastico ad una uniformità liturgica<br />
(me<strong>di</strong>ante il controllo dell’osservanza religiosa) e ad una coesione “politica”. Per volontà <strong>di</strong><br />
Carlo Magno e del suo successore Ludovico il Pio, il nobile <strong>di</strong> origine visigota Benedetto <strong>di</strong><br />
Aniane (747 ca. – † 821) fa della Regola <strong>di</strong> san Benedetto (imposta come unico co<strong>di</strong>ce<br />
<strong>di</strong>sciplinare e liturgico) lo strumento principe <strong>di</strong> un grande progetto <strong>di</strong> unificazione religiosa e<br />
culturale.<br />
Allo scopo <strong>di</strong> stabilire la superiorità della Regola <strong>di</strong> san Benedetto sulle altre regole monastiche<br />
allora presenti, Benedetto <strong>di</strong> Aniane si pone in una posizione <strong>di</strong> confronto e <strong>di</strong> coesistenza con<br />
le regole monastiche antiche (elevato è il numero <strong>di</strong> quelle <strong>di</strong> tra<strong>di</strong>zione orientale), compilando<br />
una raccolta <strong>di</strong> tutte le regole <strong>di</strong> cui è a conoscenza: si tratta del Liber ex regulis <strong>di</strong>versorum<br />
Patrum collectio, meglio noto come Codex Regularum, una silloge contenente ventotto regole.<br />
Mosso dal desiderio <strong>di</strong> rendere maggiormente intelligibile il suo sforzo unificatore, volto al<br />
<strong>di</strong>alogo con la tra<strong>di</strong>zione, compone una seconda opera, la Concor<strong>di</strong>a Regularum. È uno stu<strong>di</strong>o<br />
delle <strong>di</strong>verse legislazioni monastiche condotto con “metodo comparativo” e mirante a<br />
<strong>di</strong>mostrare la priorità della Regola <strong>di</strong> san Benedetto, esaminata per capitoli: un commento alla<br />
Regola benedettina formato da estratti <strong>di</strong> altre regole monastiche e destinato a mostrare come<br />
tutta la tra<strong>di</strong>zione monastica si trovi già condensata nell'opera <strong>di</strong> san Benedetto da Norcia.<br />
Purtroppo tale ideale <strong>di</strong> unità spirituale si scontra con un clima <strong>di</strong> instabilità politicoamministrativa:<br />
già alla morte <strong>di</strong> Benedetto <strong>di</strong> Aniane (821), infatti, la <strong>di</strong>nastia carolingia si<br />
avvia verso pesanti lotte fratricide per la spartizione dei territori dell’Impero; con il trattato <strong>di</strong><br />
Verdun (843) i tre figli del defunto Ludovico († 840) si spartiscono il territorio carolingio,<br />
dando vita al primo nucleo dei tre gran<strong>di</strong> stati nazionali (Francia, Germania e Italia). Ci<br />
troviamo <strong>di</strong> fronte ad una Europa poco omogenea: è la fine dell’ideale carolingio unitario,
elaborato dagli intellettuali <strong>di</strong> corte e dai monaci consiglieri <strong>di</strong> Carlomagno.<br />
Wed 16 th , 16.00, Classroom 7<br />
Nicola Cusumano - Annalisa Bennardo, University of Palermo, Italy<br />
Vincolare la memoria: l'orkos implacabile in Erodoto<br />
The necessity to build a common base of shared values on which to establish any type of social<br />
relationship and overcome the use of violence for the resolution of arguments has often found<br />
more effective answers drawing from the sacred sphere and its resources. With its complex<br />
verbal and gestural structure and its close connection with the other effective enunciated forms<br />
the oath is an instrument, both religious and political at the same time, which permits the<br />
preservation of the memory of the expressed affirmations and the commitments taken on.<br />
Thanks to the convergence of actions and words, both functional towards the creation of<br />
bin<strong>di</strong>ng situations, the oath is a guarantee as much on the past as on the future. In virtue of the<br />
evocative force and performative power of just a word which is also an action, it has the<br />
authority to achieve what can be affirmed and to cast the present and its certainties into the<br />
future. It is above all in the archaic cultures, when the <strong>di</strong>scrimen between religious and political<br />
facts is not yet clearly defined and there lacks an autonomous law system, which the oath<br />
<strong>di</strong>scloses its irreplaceable role which supports the memory, safeguar<strong>di</strong>ng social dynamics in all<br />
its public or private forms. The wealth of the cases presented in the Histories by Herodotus<br />
offers a phenomenology of the oath, useful to illustrate the mechanisms and the coherent<br />
symbolic universe of reference. The oaths illustrate, in an exemplary manner, the search for<br />
guarantees against neglect, mutability and deception with gestures that evoke images of<br />
irrevocability, with the use of immanent and durable items, with signs and ritual cuts, with<br />
formulas able to involve and threaten to upset the established order.<br />
Salvatore D’Agostino, Officina <strong>di</strong> <strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong> Me<strong>di</strong>evali, Palermo, Italy<br />
Religio e Fides in Arnau De Vilanova<br />
70<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.40, Classroom 7<br />
Tra il 1301 ed il 1305 Arnau de Vilanova, me<strong>di</strong>co, teologo catalano, componeva due opere, il<br />
Tractatus de Adventu Antichristi e l’Expositio super Apocalypsi, destinate ad avere un grande<br />
riverbero, sia nella vita dell’autore sia in alcune scelte politiche <strong>di</strong> Federico III d’Aragona re <strong>di</strong><br />
Trinacria . In queste, infatti, Arnau prevede l’imminente arrivo dell’Anticristo e la conseguente<br />
fine dei tempi e, dunque, la necessità, da parte <strong>di</strong> tutta la cristianità, <strong>di</strong> preparasi alla lotta<br />
contro il demonio ed i suoi seguaci.<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.00, Classroom 7<br />
Paola D’Aiello, Officina <strong>di</strong> <strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong> Me<strong>di</strong>evali of Palermo, Italy<br />
Una riflessione sulle Waridat wa Taqdīsat <strong>di</strong> Sohravar<strong>di</strong>, tra neoplatonismo e zoroastrismo<br />
La mia comunicazione si articola in due fasi: la prima descrive l’importanza che le concezioni<br />
neoplatoniche rivestirono per il filosofo persiano Sohravardī, e la seconda come egli seppe fare<br />
<strong>di</strong> esse un originalissimo uso, identificando le gerarchie angeliche tipiche dell’or<strong>di</strong>ne<br />
emanatistico neoplatonico, con altrettante <strong>di</strong>vinità tratte dall’universo religioso zoroastriano.<br />
La religione del profeta Zarathustra infatti, rimase patrimonio culturale <strong>di</strong> fondamentale
importanza in Iran, anche dopo l’avvento dell’islam e in Sohravardī in particolare, questo<br />
retroterra preislamico viene valorizzato e riscoperto, nonché assimilato a concezioni filosofiche<br />
(come appunto il neoplatonismo) che si svilupparono anche, e con gran<strong>di</strong>ssimo peso, in scenari<br />
occidentali, influenzando profondamente cultura e religione europee. In questo pensatore, nato<br />
a Sohravard nel 1154 d.c. e morto ad Aleppo nel 1191 d.c., è particolarmente evidente un<br />
fenomeno <strong>di</strong> contaminazione <strong>di</strong> elementi <strong>di</strong> <strong>di</strong>fferenti culture, che risulta interessante per lo<br />
stu<strong>di</strong>oso <strong>di</strong> storia delle religioni, in quanto convoglia in sé tra<strong>di</strong>zioni religiose <strong>di</strong>fferenti, la<br />
musulmana, la zoroastriana ed anche, in una veste che si serve <strong>di</strong> contributi della letteratura<br />
evangelica apocrifa e gnostica, la cristiana. Quanto detto sopra sarà esemplificato attraverso gli<br />
scritti <strong>di</strong> Sohravardī riuniti sotto il nome <strong>di</strong> Waridat wa Taqdīsat, preghiere rivolte alle<br />
gerarchie angeliche «neoplatonico-zoroastriano-islamiche». Si esaminerà la liturgia de<strong>di</strong>cata a<br />
Dio, che Sohravardī, identificandolo con Ahura Mazda, il Dio <strong>di</strong> Zarathustra, chiama Luce<br />
delle luci, secondo una concezione che si può rintracciare, seppure come idea <strong>di</strong> fondo e<br />
operando le dovute <strong>di</strong>fferenze, in filosofi occidentali come per esempio, Roberto Grossatesta;<br />
si descriveranno successivamente le preghiere de<strong>di</strong>cate alle intelligenze celesti e alle loro<br />
identificazioni con gli angeli zoroastriani. Mi sembra che questi brevi scritti del filosofo<br />
persiano siano significativi ai fini della <strong>di</strong>mostrazione <strong>di</strong> come egli rappresenti lo spirito <strong>di</strong><br />
un’epoca, quella me<strong>di</strong>evale, in cui come mai, si ebbero circolazioni <strong>di</strong> idee, contatti, influenze<br />
e scambi culturali e religiosi tra Oriente e Occidente, che fanno <strong>di</strong> essa una tra le più complesse<br />
ed interessanti della storia dell’umanità.<br />
Wed 16 th , 16.20, Classroom 7<br />
Alessandro D’Amato, University of Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy<br />
Superstizioni e sopravvivenze magico-religiose nell’opera <strong>di</strong> Giuseppe Cocchiara <strong>degli</strong> anni<br />
Trenta<br />
Per circa un decennio, durante gli anni Trenta del secolo scorso, il folklorista ed etnologo<br />
Giuseppe Cocchiara (1904-1965) si de<strong>di</strong>cò allo stu<strong>di</strong>o delle superstizioni e delle sopravvivenze<br />
magico-religiose presenti, in particolar modo, nella cultura popolare siciliana. L’esito <strong>di</strong> tale<br />
interesse <strong>di</strong> stu<strong>di</strong>o va ricercato nella pubblicazione <strong>di</strong> tre brevi monografie – tutte e<strong>di</strong>te nel<br />
1932 – e <strong>di</strong> almeno cinque importanti saggi, ospitati dalla rivista «Lares», tra il 1936 e il 1940.<br />
Il <strong>di</strong>venire progressivo <strong>di</strong> tali ricerche coincise con un sostanziale mutamento nella prospettiva<br />
intellettuale <strong>di</strong> Cocchiara, il quale, strada facendo, abbandonò la fiducia nei concetti e nei<br />
meto<strong>di</strong> dell’evoluzionismo, per aderire all’epistemologia storicista, in special modo attraverso<br />
l’interme<strong>di</strong>azione <strong>di</strong> Raffaele Pettazzoni. Lo storico delle religioni, tra l’altro, era stato<br />
l’artefice del viaggio <strong>di</strong> stu<strong>di</strong>o in Inghilterra, compiuto da Cocchiara tra il 1929 e il 1930, con il<br />
quale il giovane stu<strong>di</strong>oso siciliano ebbe modo <strong>di</strong> confrontarsi con la realtà dell’evoluzionismo<br />
<strong>di</strong> matrice britannica. Proprio all’evoluzionismo e all’influenza da esso esercitata va ascritta<br />
l’attenzione <strong>di</strong> Cocchiara per le tematiche delle superstizioni e delle sopravvivenze magicoreligiose,<br />
reinterpretate soprattutto in chiave regionalistica, poiché riferite al contesto siciliano.<br />
L’elemento accomunante tali lavori fu la tensione genealogica che li caratterizzò, poiché<br />
Cocchiara andò costantemente alla ricerca delle ra<strong>di</strong>ci storiche e mitologiche poste alla base<br />
delle superstizioni e delle sopravvivenze magico-religiose considerate. In tale contesto, <strong>di</strong><br />
conseguenza, un ruolo <strong>di</strong> primo piano fu assunto dall’utilizzo <strong>di</strong> quel metodo della ricerca delle<br />
origini che ebbe ampio consenso nell’ambito evoluzionista e che, in seguito all’adesione<br />
storicista dei primi anni quaranta, fu progressivamente abbandonato, per far posto alla<br />
comprensione storica dei fenomeni e a una nuova fase della propria attività <strong>di</strong> stu<strong>di</strong>oso.<br />
71<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.40, Classroom 9
Nuccio D’Anna, Roma, Italy<br />
San Columba e i monaci culdei d’Irlanda<br />
La relazione si sofferma su un aspetto poco conosciuto del monachesimo irlandese, quello che<br />
tratta l’apparizione e la <strong>di</strong>ffusione dei Culdei. Si tratta <strong>di</strong> un or<strong>di</strong>ne <strong>di</strong> eremiti sulla cui esistenza<br />
si hanno notizie abbastanza atten<strong>di</strong>bili, ma sulla cui strutturazione le fonti sono molto vaghe. Il<br />
testo comincia col delineare la figura <strong>di</strong> san Columba, irl. Colum Cill, “Colomba della Chiesa”,<br />
lo straor<strong>di</strong>nario abate che non solo fondò il celebre monastero <strong>di</strong> Iona, ma costituì attorno al<br />
proprio insegnamento e alla propria regola una familia Columbae antesignana <strong>di</strong> quello che poi<br />
sarà l’or<strong>di</strong>ne benedettino, che per alcuni secoli resse la struttura monacale delle isole del nord<br />
ovest europeo. Particolare importante che aiuta a capire il particolare tipo <strong>di</strong> spiritualità che<br />
animava molti monaci irlandesi, la grande <strong>di</strong>ffusione <strong>di</strong> monaci che davano a se stessi il nome<br />
<strong>di</strong> “Columba” (Colombano, Columb, Column, ecc.) testimonia una spiritualità legata in modo<br />
enigmatico allo Spirito Santo e ai suoi simboli che, secondo modalità molto arcaiche, essi<br />
assumevano volentieri come eteronomi per significare la funzione “quasi mistica” ed<br />
eminentemente contemplativa che si sentivano chiamati a compiere. Fu da Iona che<br />
cominciarono a sciamare ondate <strong>di</strong> monaci pellegrini che a poco a poco riuscirono a convertire<br />
le popolazioni semi-selvagge dei Pitti e <strong>degli</strong> Scotti che a loro volta <strong>di</strong>vennero la base <strong>di</strong><br />
numerosissime vocazioni che portarono alla e<strong>di</strong>ficazioni <strong>di</strong> conventi e chiese famose. Molto<br />
probabilmente attorno all’insegnamento <strong>di</strong> san Columba si or<strong>di</strong>narono anche i misteriosi<br />
Culdei dalla “tunica bianca”, famosi per le durissime austerità alle quali si sottomettevano<br />
volentieri, per l’in<strong>di</strong>scussa alta spiritualità, per i frequentissimi ritiri eremitici che<br />
privilegiavano e per le loro forme sacramentali che li <strong>di</strong>fferenziava profondamente dalle<br />
ingiunzioni liturgiche “latine”. Le loro particolari forme <strong>di</strong> preghiera come la crosfigill,<br />
l’abitu<strong>di</strong>ne <strong>di</strong> recitare il salterio immersi nell’acqua gelida dei fiumi o dei mari, la cosiddetta<br />
“tonsura celtica” che all’interno della loro vocazione eremitica simbolizzava una con<strong>di</strong>zione<br />
spirituale riconducibile alla mistica, l’uso <strong>di</strong> celebrare forme liturgiche non sempre derivate<br />
dalla chiesa universale e la costante presenza dell’Anamchara, il Padre spirituale assimilabile<br />
non ad un confessore, ma ad uno speciale maestro che doveva assicurare la “presenza” dello<br />
Spirito Santo, ne fanno una categoria <strong>di</strong> contemplativi e <strong>di</strong> peregrini assolutamente unica, non<br />
presente in altre aree del continente.<br />
72<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.20, Classroom 7<br />
Edgar da Silva Gomes - Elton de Oliveira Nunes, PUCSP, São Paulo, Brazil<br />
Religion’s History in Brazil: a view from the european political cultural influence<br />
The religion has a strong origin on the brazilian political cultural field, because of the<br />
inheritance by the Christian catholic formation from iberical roof. We had also African<br />
religious influences and yet In<strong>di</strong>an influences , that have caused <strong>di</strong>fferences and becomes on<br />
the religious rituals that have also caused new manners of expression the popular religiosity<br />
like others religious roof, recently named new Christian denominations. And they have been<br />
formed to reach <strong>di</strong>fferent faith experiences among population. This sharing is a kind of<br />
communication as much as a hope to show the History stu<strong>di</strong>es situation of the religions in<br />
Brazil through out college institutions. These stu<strong>di</strong>es are priority found at the American,<br />
Germany and French schools. It´s totally necessary that brazilian universities research and<br />
study <strong>di</strong>fferent schools, because of the complex from religion, and we need to set and fit the
stu<strong>di</strong>es accor<strong>di</strong>ng to our history and then , we can make a study about brazilian religion based<br />
on fundamentals surveys of stu<strong>di</strong>es.<br />
Douglas J. Davies, University of Durham, UK<br />
James, John and Hebrews in the Book of Mormon<br />
73<br />
Wed 16 th , 17.40, Classroom 4<br />
This paper will explore aspects of the presence of texts originating within John’s Gospel, The<br />
Epistle to the Hebrews, and the Epistle of James within the Book of Mormon. The focus of the<br />
paper will consider the influence of the textual material upon significant theological structures<br />
within Latter-day Saint thought. Particular attention will be paid to Johannine texts in relation<br />
to the development of Mormon Trinitarian thought and aspects of Mormon piety; to Hebrews<br />
and the role of Melchizedek in the formation of the LDS priesthoods, to the theme of<br />
repentance and to blood sacrifice within Mormon spirituality; and to the <strong>di</strong>stinctive use of<br />
James in Joseph Smith’s early religious quest. The paper will conclude with a consideration of<br />
the dependence of Mormonism upon non-Mormon Christianity at the textual level and will<br />
raise the question of whether Mormonism in the future will, in more general terms, be as<br />
dependent upon non-Mormon Christianity as it has in the past.<br />
Darwin and Evolutionary Theory in the British Study of Religion<br />
Tue 15 th , 10.20, Classroom 9<br />
This paper will be in three sections. First, a very brief outline of the influence of Darwin’s<br />
work on biological evolution upon the great development of the study of religion in later<br />
nineteenth century Great Britain, considering E.B.Tylor, William Robertson Smith, and Sir<br />
James Frazer. Second, a more detailed description of the influence of evolutionary thought<br />
upon the work of Frank Byron Jevons whose extensive stu<strong>di</strong>es on religion and evolution were<br />
influential over the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Third, a final brief note of<br />
recent developments in British anthropology relating to theories of religion to ask whether they<br />
show continuity or <strong>di</strong>scontinuity with the aims of the nineteenth century early anthropologists<br />
and historians of religion.<br />
Jakob De Roover, University of Ghent, Belgium<br />
‘Religion’ and the European Conception of Human Nature<br />
Wed 16 th , 10.00, Classroom 13<br />
From early modern times, the concept of religion has played a central role in European debates<br />
on human nature. Starting with theological claims about the presence of an innate awareness of<br />
God in the human soul, such debates continue today with speculations about the biological and<br />
cognitive origins of religion. My paper will analyze a decisive moment in the formation of the<br />
European conception of human nature: the <strong>di</strong>scovery of nations and ‘tribes’ without religion.<br />
During the sixteenth and seventeenth century, many travelers and missionaries reported to the<br />
European reader that they had found such people without religion in the Americas, Asia and<br />
Africa. The question as to how human societies could lack religion captured the public
imagination until the late nineteenth century. Today, we explain away this issue by saying that<br />
early modern Europeans used a ‘narrow Christian concept of religion’ (focusing on belief in<br />
God) and thus failed to see that these nations and tribes merely had a <strong>di</strong>fferent kind of religion.<br />
I will argue that this is a pseudo-explanation and that the blindness is really ours: we fail to see<br />
how the debate about people without religion was never settled on cognitive grounds. The<br />
contemporary European understan<strong>di</strong>ng of the link between religion and human nature is a piece<br />
of cultural superstition.<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.40, Classroom 13<br />
Lietta De Salvo, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Teoderico e la tolleranza religiosa<br />
Through a comparison of Cassiodoro's Variae about the Hebrews (II 27; III 45; IV 33; IV 43;<br />
V 37), the reserch will analyze the behaviors of Theodericus toward the bishops and the<br />
institutions of the Christian church (The 9; The 26; II 18; III 14; III 37; IV 18). The purpouse<br />
of the reserch is to establish if Theodericus was really tolerant about religion.<br />
Pia De Simone, University of Salerno, Italy<br />
74<br />
Wed 16 th , 10.00, Classroom 6<br />
Le opere straor<strong>di</strong>narie e la <strong>di</strong>vinità: il rapporto tra ta daimònia e la theiòtes nel paganesimo<br />
Ney De Souza, PUCSP University, São Paulo, Brazil<br />
The Influence of Religion on the Brazilian Culture<br />
Tue 15 th , 16.40, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
The current profile of religion in Brazil is from an ancient eastern and, in its part, a product<br />
from these two inheritance came from the old branch of Christianity from Latin, French and<br />
Germany. The characteristics framed by the three forms and the new Christianities were born<br />
from the grown of the markets, army, politics, religious and cultural influence of the European<br />
catholic powers in the world, from the second half of XV century long toward Africa and Asia<br />
and going into the next century toward America to change its realities. In this sense of<br />
expansion Portugal and Spain had a high role. This piece of Study presents the results of a<br />
survey that has its main subject in the European religious influence and the common sense<br />
among In<strong>di</strong>an and African cultures in the frame thought and the current brazilian culture.<br />
Maddalena Del Bianco Cotrozzi, University of U<strong>di</strong>ne, Italy<br />
La storia dell'Ebraismo nella scuola storico-religiosa italiana<br />
Wed 16 th , 17.20, Classroom 4<br />
The aim of this paper is to present the main trends in research on the history of Judaism<br />
accor<strong>di</strong>ng to the tra<strong>di</strong>tion of the Italian school of History of Religions and the history of this<br />
<strong>di</strong>scipline in the Italian universities.
Carla Del Zotto, University of Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy<br />
Dalla religione all’identità nazionale: i popoli del Nord<br />
75<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.40, Classroom 11<br />
The paper focuses on Ibn Fadlan’s Risala, a 10 th century report about the Volga region and the<br />
Rūs, tra<strong>di</strong>ng and plundering warrior groups, who are often referred to in the Arabic sources as<br />
madjûs (‘worshippers of fire’). The Muslim author provides a vivid and detailed description of<br />
a cruel funerary rite and pagan worship carried out by the Rūs. The account reveals the social<br />
supremacy of the Scan<strong>di</strong>navians over the Slavs, but Ibn Fadlan doesn’t make any ethnic<br />
<strong>di</strong>stinction between the two peoples, describing a unique intermixture of religious elements<br />
from <strong>di</strong>fferent cultures. Unlike the Old Icelan<strong>di</strong>c Sagas, written between the 12 th and 13 th<br />
centuries, the Risala shows evidence of a wide religious syncretism and of a wavering ethnicity<br />
among the Nor<strong>di</strong>c people of the Viking age. Only afterwards, the conversion to Christianity of<br />
Scan<strong>di</strong>navians and Slavs, resulting in new kingdoms being founded in the Middle Ages, will<br />
also lead to a sense of national identity.<br />
Francisco Diez de Velasco, University of La Laguna, Canarias, Spain<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.00, Classroom 7<br />
La influencia de Raffaele Pettazzoni en Ángel Álvarez de Miran y en la Historia de las<br />
Religiones en España<br />
Se revisará la relación <strong>di</strong>scipular de Ángel Álvarez de Miranda, catedrático de Historia de las<br />
Religiones en la Universidad de Madrid desde 1954 hasta su muerte en 1957 con Raffaele<br />
Pettazzoni, que fue el <strong>di</strong>rector de su tesis italiana (sobre la sacralidad del toro). Los estu<strong>di</strong>os<br />
que bajo la <strong>di</strong>rección de Pettazzoni empren<strong>di</strong>ó en la Universidad de Roma modelaron sus<br />
formas de hacer historia de las religiones, desde una perspectiva generalista y comparada. Los<br />
avatares de la historia universitaria en España llevaron a que la cátedra terminase<br />
desapareciendo y por tanto que la influencia pettazzoniana, que era muy fuerte en Álvarez de<br />
Miranda, fuese menos destacada posteriormente.<br />
Ugo Dessì, University of Kyoto, Japan<br />
Religious Responses to Globalization in Japan<br />
Steffen Dix, University of Lisboa, Portugal<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.00, Classroom 8<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.20, Classroom 6<br />
Voyages to the East and Religious Superpositions: A Peregrinação (The Travels) by Fernão<br />
Mendes Pinto (1509?-1583)<br />
Fernão Mendes Pinto (1509?-1583) was a Portuguese <strong>di</strong>scoverer and writer who travelled<br />
throughout the East for twenty years. These journeys are documented in his autobiographical
work A Peregrinação, which is considered nowadays to be one of the most fascinating<br />
accounts of the first contacts Europeans made with Asian cultures and religions hitherto almost<br />
unknown to the Christian world. As implied by the title of the work, A Peregrinação (The<br />
Travels or The Peregrinations), Fernão Mendes Pinto himself sees his travels as a spiritual<br />
adventure and a test of his Christian faith. In his encounters with “pagan” religions, especially<br />
in China, Pinto becomes increasingly critical in his attitude and compares, for instance, the<br />
belligerent attitude and the hypocrisy of European missionaries with the kind of utopia, a world<br />
free of sin and injustice, of the “pagans”. The conclusion that Pinto draws is summarised in his<br />
stating that one may also exist with God’s laws without ever having heard of Christ. Pinto<br />
thereby clearly states that it is possible to live accor<strong>di</strong>ng to highly moral norms outside the<br />
Church. In this sense, A Peregrinação is a unique document in that it is one of the first<br />
critiques of Christian missions in the history of Western ideas. The principle aim of this<br />
communication is to present the spiritual transformation of a European Christian who develops<br />
an increasingly universal deism throughout his encounters with non-Christian religions.<br />
Carlo Donà, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
La cerva cornuta: dal mito al folklore<br />
76<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.20, Classroom 6<br />
The horned hind is an impossible animal, like the unicorn or the phoenix. In nature, only male<br />
deers have horns, which every year fall and grow. In myth, in literature and in visual arts,<br />
however, since Homeric age, and during all the classical period and the Middle Age, hinds with<br />
horns are quite common. Why? What does this motif really mean? When <strong>di</strong>d it spread? And<br />
what was its history and <strong>di</strong>ffusion? These are the questions put forward (and, I hope, al least<br />
partially solved) in the present paper. The horned hind was, probably, only the theriomorphic<br />
form of a great goddess, mother and owner of the land, attested in Siberian petroglyphic since<br />
the neolithic period. We can follow the cultural history of this goddess step by step, throughout<br />
Europe, from her classical hyposthasis (Artemis Ephesia, for instance), till the fairy-hind of<br />
romances and folktales.<br />
Salvatore Drago, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.40, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
Protestantesimo liberale e Cattolicesimo conservatore? Il ruolo delle Religioni per la<br />
formazione del Pensiero economico nell’Europa in età moderna<br />
Partendo dalle più recenti valutazioni storiografiche, sia in ambito economico rivolto a cogliere<br />
il processo ed il ruolo dell’economia in stretta relazione costruttiva con gli aspetti eticoreligiosi,<br />
sia nel settore religioso che ha favorito la <strong>di</strong>slocazione della storia delle Religioni da<br />
un piano settoriale ad una <strong>di</strong>mensione più ampia comprendente anche il loro legame con il<br />
pensiero economico, tanto da creare un superamento definitivo e propositivo <strong>di</strong> anacronistiche<br />
impostazioni metodologiche e contenutistiche circa l’inconciliabilità del binomio Religione/i ed<br />
economia, Chiesa/e e commercio, scopo della relazione, tenendo conto delle importanti<br />
valutazioni concettuali espresse nei lavori pionieristici del tedesco M. Weber L’Etica<br />
protestante e lo spirito del capitalismo del 1904 e dell’italiano A. Fanfani, Cattolicesimo e<br />
Protestantesimo nella formazione storica del capitalismo, del 1935, consiste nell’analizzare il
precipuo e fondativo ruolo delle due maggiori Religioni europee, il Protestantesimo –<br />
comprendente anche il luteranesimo, il calvinismo e l’anglicanesino – ed il Cattolicesimo, per<br />
la nascita e l’affermazione, nell’Europa del Settecento illuministico, in un periodo non solo <strong>di</strong><br />
ri<strong>di</strong>mensionamento in senso laico dei maggiori Stati e <strong>di</strong> assestamento del ruolo assolutistico<br />
del Papato e del cristianesimo nella vita socio-politica, ma anche <strong>di</strong> trasformazione<br />
internazionale del capitalismo <strong>di</strong> mercato con l’abbandono graduale del mercantilismo cinqueseicentesco<br />
e l’imposizione del liberismo fisiocratico ed industriale, <strong>di</strong> una nuova prospettiva<br />
etica centrata, per la crescita del progresso, sul ruolo determinante dell’uomo, della ragione e<br />
delle arti tecniche, da cui sarebbe scaturita l’in<strong>di</strong>pendenza concettuale e metodologica del<br />
pensiero economico. Si trattava <strong>di</strong> un pensiero economico settecentesco ed illuminato non solo<br />
dalla laicità della sua fondazione epistemologica, naturalmente sganciata dai rimasugli<br />
scolastico-teologici <strong>di</strong> memoria me<strong>di</strong>evale, ma, paradossalmente, in molte sue parti legato<br />
fruttuosamente a certi aspetti del fenomeno religioso, come quello Protestante, raffigurante un<br />
senso più “razionale” e liberistico, e quello Cattolico, che esprimeva, invece, un significato più<br />
moderato tendente a rivalutare il pensiero economico entro l’ambito della giuris<strong>di</strong>zione<br />
teologica. Se la Religione rappresenta il fenomeno culturale più importante nella storia<br />
dell’umanità, ad essa va ricondotta anche la ra<strong>di</strong>ce <strong>degli</strong> aspetti economici europei<br />
settecenteschi raffiguranti uno stretto legame tra homo oeconomicus e homo religiosus.<br />
Daniela Dumbrava, Pontificio Istituto Orientale, Roma, Italy<br />
77<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.40, Classroom 4<br />
Theology and History of Religions in the Middle Orient. The Hermeneutic Language of Father<br />
Andrei Scrima<br />
Theology and History of Religion converged into a real and pragmatic inter-religious <strong>di</strong>alogue<br />
into the academic environment in Beirut between 1975-1979. Following 1) the correspondence<br />
between an orthodox monk – Andrei Scrima – and a Jesuit father – Augustin Duprй la Tour –<br />
and 2) the typewritten course – *L’expйrience spirituelle et ses langages* made by A. Scrima –<br />
the scholar has one of the most valuable primary sources for the history of the contemporary<br />
<strong>di</strong>alogue between the Christian and the Islam religion by way of academic education,<br />
contrasting sharply with the so called “civil war” in Lebanon (1976-1979). This is the story of<br />
an historical paradox. The purpose of this paper is to argue how <strong>di</strong>scipline as history of<br />
religions and comparative theology – Christian and Islamic – was possible to converge indeed,<br />
despite the massacre between civil peoples, both Christians and Muslims (Kuarantina, Damour,<br />
Tel-al-Zaatar) and subsequent to the invasion of the Syrian troops in Lebanon. The<br />
methodological approach followed by Andrei Scrima into his lessons was to define an<br />
epistemological space related to the historical context of the referents, means the Christian and<br />
Muslim students from the University S. Joseph, Beirut and this epistemological space was<br />
called: the spiritual life. His affinity with Heidegger and Wittgenstein was crucial to<br />
reformulate the semantics of *the contemporary theological language.<br />
Wed 16 th , 12.00, Classroom 12
Cézar Enia, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, France<br />
Le temps et l’éternité dans les religions archaïques selon Mircea Eliade: les éléments<br />
préfiguratifs de l’Incarnation dans l’ontologie primitive<br />
In a previous article, I tried to show that, contrary to the commonly accepted belief, the<br />
historian of religion Mircea Eliade, does not conceive time from the perspective of eternity,<br />
that is, he does not read the historical religions in relation to the archetypal para<strong>di</strong>gm of the<br />
eternal return, because he considers the Incarnation of Christ to be the supreme hierophany and<br />
the other hierophanies to be its prefigurations. That means, among other things, that he does<br />
not interpret Christianity from the perspective of the primitive religion, as many has blamed<br />
him to do, but, quite on the contrary, he uses Christianity as a model to understand archaic<br />
religion. The purpose of this lecture is to present Eliade’s conception of time and eternity in<br />
archaic religion in such a way that one can recognize how, for him, despite the so-called<br />
Platonic structure of the primitive ontology, the Incarnation of Christ is already operational<br />
inside of it.<br />
Christian Euvrard, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, France<br />
Mormon Perception of their Scriptures: the case of French Mormons<br />
78<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.40, Classroom 13<br />
Mormons, or members of the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints, have the unique<br />
position in the Christian world of believing in “continuing revelation” and in an open canon. In<br />
ad<strong>di</strong>tion to the Bible, they believe that the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price and the<br />
Doctrine and Covenants are Scriptures revealed since the days of their foun<strong>di</strong>ng prophet:<br />
Joseph Smith. We will investigate the place of each “Standard Work” in the life, teachings and<br />
preaching of Latter-day Saints through the available data from the US. We will compare it to<br />
the practices of French Mormons in personal and family life, as these have appeared through<br />
our surveys in 2007 and 2009. We will try to answer, in the light of statistics, if the “modern<br />
Scriptures” really play a more important part in the life of today’s converts.<br />
Cristiana Facchini, University of Bologna, Italy<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.00, Classroom 9<br />
Orientalistica ed Ebraismo. Note culturali su David Castelli e Giorgio Levi della Vida<br />
This paper will explore the relationship between the <strong>di</strong>sciplinary field of "Oriental <strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong>es",<br />
that was structured and developed in European universities during the second half of 19 th<br />
century and the construction of Judaism, the religion of the Jews. Because of the religious<br />
polemical tra<strong>di</strong>tion, Judaism has been perceived through the accumulation of negative images<br />
and <strong>di</strong>scourse. Scholarly <strong>di</strong>scourse in 19 th century developed a partially new representation of<br />
Judaism - drawing from the field of Biblical scholarship and Oriental <strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong>es. I will approach<br />
the Italian reaction to these fields of scholarship through the investigation of the works of<br />
David Castelli and Giorgio Levi della Vida, who both were orientalists and Jews. Though their<br />
contribution to history of Judaism was accomplished within the European intellectual context<br />
they, nevertheless, had to translate it into the Italian intellectual field with its peculiar and<br />
national traits. Their representation of Judaism will be analysed in the background of the
scholarly field, their biographical heritage as part of a Jewish minority, and Italian culture,<br />
from the seconf half of 19 th century to the rise of Fascism.<br />
Giovanna Faraone, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Filosofia e religione in Giovanni Gentile<br />
79<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.00, Classroom 9<br />
Religion is one of the most important themes in the whole Giovanni Gentile’s intellectual<br />
route. In the early historical works Religion is considered a decisive factor for the cultural<br />
scene of Italian Risorgimento and a source of inspiration for the new philosophy which was its<br />
lea<strong>di</strong>ng spirit. At the beginning of the 20 th century Gentile takes part in the debate about<br />
Modernism, starting from an idealistic point of view about Religion, which he considers a<br />
philosophia inferior, and nevertheless a primary factor in the cultural life. But the originality,<br />
and mainly the importance, of Gentile’s idea of Religion appear from the speculative point of<br />
view. Gentile changes the tra<strong>di</strong>tional definition of transcendence, but he upholds the<br />
authenticity and the value of his interpretation of Christianity as a Religion of <strong>di</strong>vine and<br />
human “Spirit”. Therefore, through Gentile’s thought this paper <strong>di</strong>scusses the most important<br />
theoretical cruxes of the relation between Religion and Philosophy, Religion and rational<br />
thought: the cultural value of Religion; the <strong>di</strong>alectic between authority and freedom in the<br />
acknowledgment of the dogmas of faith; the peculiar definition of the concepts of immanence<br />
and transcendence within the context of a “Religion of the spirit”; the fertility of Gioberti’s<br />
concept of “poligonia” of Truth that is, under many points of view, similar to the late<br />
perspectives of Theology, influenced by hermeneutics philosophy and no more by the<br />
Scholastic one.<br />
N. M. Farrè, University of Lleida, Spain<br />
Wed 16 th , 17.20, Classroom 13<br />
Crusa<strong>di</strong>ng and Mission: Relationships between Religious Conversion and Military Conquest in<br />
Ramon Llull’s Thought.<br />
In Ramon Llull’s Libre de contemplació en Déu we find a certain scepticism concerning the<br />
crusades’ spiritual efficacy (a minority position but by no means exceptional, e.g. Roger<br />
Bacon). Refusal of or precaution against the use of arms appears in later writings such as<br />
Blanquerna or, very clearly, in the Libre contra Anticrist. From the crusades’ military defeats<br />
Llull draws the conclusion that God does not approve armed action against infidels. Holy Land<br />
can only be conquered in the apostles’ way, i.e. by preaching, praying e ab escampament de<br />
làgremes e de sang. But throughout his life, Llull’s multifarious personality shows <strong>di</strong>fferent<br />
and qualified attitudes. His lea<strong>di</strong>ng ideal, the mission, begins to show signs of accommodation<br />
with some preliminary projects of military crusade. Those projects take a rather scrupulous<br />
account of the political interests of his time (church politics, outlawing the Order of the<br />
Temple, the politics of the Houses of France and Aragon, etc.). Thus, even though up to 1285<br />
we find in Llull’s work an strictly missionary ideal, from then onwards mission and crusade<br />
will appear increasingly correlated. In 1288, the new point of view comes out quite clearly in<br />
Liber tartari et christiani: mission, preaching, and crusa<strong>di</strong>ng must be complementary. By
1292, Llull takes up again the crusade principle with renewed interest and conceives ambitious<br />
projects (Liber de fine, Liber de adquisitione Terrae Sanctae). This paper seeks to explore how<br />
Llull’s ideas about mission and crusades evolve and interact with his historical and religious<br />
context, how a brilliant philosopher’s mind reacts to events such as the loss of Saint John of<br />
Acre and other eastern lands, how the purest missionary ideal gives way to an assessment of<br />
the crusades’ benefits, which are seen as conquest by force with the final aim of sprea<strong>di</strong>ng the<br />
authentic faith to the greatest amount of people. Though issues of military strategy have a<br />
major importance in Llull’s work, he never abandoned the virtually utopian ideal of peaceful<br />
conversion. His treatment of infidels oscillates between sympathy and dogmatism, respect and<br />
coercion.<br />
Antony Feneuil, University of Genève, Switzerland<br />
80<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.40, Classroom 7<br />
Connaître philosophiquement Dieu ? Théologie naturelle et philosophie de la religion chez<br />
Bergson.<br />
Parce qu’elle prétend parler de Dieu à partir de la seule raison, la théologie naturelle semble<br />
bien être la seule manière légitime, pour le philosophe, de le faire. Et pourtant, le philosophe<br />
livré à l’exercice de la théologie naturelle s’expose à la critique pascalienne du Dieu « des<br />
philosophes et des savants », critique qui ne vaut pas du seul point de vue théologique, mais<br />
aussi bien de celui de la philosophie. Accuser, en effet, le Dieu des philosophes de n’être pas<br />
celui des croyants, ce n’est pas seulement <strong>di</strong>squalifier la philosophie aux yeux de la foi, mais<br />
aussi bien reprocher au philosophe d’utiliser arbitrairement le nom de Dieu pour désigner l’un<br />
de ses concepts et, par là même, de laisser intact le véritable problème de Dieu. Aussi la<br />
philosophie est-elle sommée de s’intéresser non pas seulement au concept de Dieu telle qu’elle<br />
le construit, mais à Dieu tel qu’il est cru. Autrement <strong>di</strong>t, d’élaborer non une théologie naturelle<br />
mais bien une philosophie de la religion. Une autre <strong>di</strong>fficulté, tout aussi considérable, surgit<br />
alors. Celle de ne plus s’intéresser, en lieu et place de Dieu, qu’aux croyances des hommes.<br />
Comment, en effet, le philosophe pourrait-il, de la considération des religions, choses humaines<br />
s’il en est, tirer une connaissance de Dieu, alors même que les religions elles-mêmes – du<br />
moins certaines d’entre elles et, en particulier, le christianisme – ne cessent de poser sa<br />
transcendance par rapport aux choses humaines ? Si la théologie naturelle, en visant Dieu,<br />
n’atteint que les constructions rationnelles de l’homme, il semble que la philosophie de la<br />
religion, partant de Dieu tel qu’il est cru, ne puisse jamais aboutir qu’à des pratiques, des<br />
<strong>di</strong>scours, des formes d’organisation sociale ou des fonctions biologiques certes utiles à la<br />
connaissance de l’homme mais non pertinentes relativement à la question de Dieu. C’est cette<br />
double impasse pour la connaissance de Dieu que nous voudrions exposer, et explorer, en<br />
interrogeant particulièrement la démarche bergsonienne. Celle-ci, en effet, est l’exemple parfait<br />
d’une tentative pour fonder la connaissance philosophique de Dieu non pas sur une théologie<br />
naturelle mais sur une philosophie de la religion. Nous devrons poser la question de savoir ce<br />
qui, dans cette philosophie de la religion, permet à Bergson de croire dépasser la connaissance<br />
de la seule nature humaine, et comment s’opère ce dépassement, s’il s’opère effectivement.<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.40, Classroom 13
Giorgio Ferri , University of Roma “Tor Vergata”, Italy<br />
Il vincolo tra Roma e i propri dèi<br />
The bond between the gods and the place is of basic importance in ancient religions. The<br />
Romans very often reflected upon this matter, expecially when the very existence of the city<br />
was put in danger. That happened, for example, after the sack of the city by the Gauls. In this<br />
occasion, accor<strong>di</strong>ng to Livy’s historical account, the intervention of Marcus Furius Camillus<br />
was decisive in order to avoid the migration of the population to Veii. He reminded his fellowcitizens<br />
which ties existed between Roma’s site and the gods who stayed there. In this sense,<br />
two elements mentioned by the <strong>di</strong>ctator prove to be particularly representative, both<br />
«guarantee» of salus and imperium: the Capitol and the so-called pignora imperii. The former<br />
was the most sacred hill of Roma, seat of its most worshipped temple, consecrated to Iuppiter<br />
Optimus Maximus; as to the latter, among which the Palla<strong>di</strong>um stands out, we can understand<br />
their importance from the tra<strong>di</strong>tions which relate the struggle between Roma and<br />
Constantinople in Late Antiquity about their possession, and from the fact that the concept will<br />
be assumed by the Christians, too. Another good point of view to cast light upon the bond<br />
between Roma and its gods is the tra<strong>di</strong>tion concerning the secret tutelary deity of the city.<br />
Accor<strong>di</strong>ng to the authors who hand down this information, the Romans hid its identity to avoid<br />
the risk that enemies could evoke it. Besides, this tra<strong>di</strong>tion tells us much about the historical<br />
moments when the Romans pondered on this topic and about some particular features of<br />
Roman religious thought. Then, something more can be said about the secret tutelary god,<br />
starting from the genii locorum category. The genius was the deity, often with indeterminate<br />
and elusive aspects, more deeply bound with the place, from which it received its<br />
characterization. Finally, we consider the figure of the Dea Roma.<br />
Outi Fingerroos, University of Jyväskylä, Finland<br />
Death, Rituals and the Places of Memory<br />
81<br />
Tue 15 th , 17.20, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
In my paper I will concentrate on the funeral tra<strong>di</strong>tion in the city of Viborg during and after the<br />
Civil War of 1918. The Civil War of 1918 set the whole nation (Finland gained independence<br />
in 1917) before <strong>di</strong>rect aggression and “Red” revolutionism. The ”Whites” won the war at the<br />
expense of the ”Reds”. Young nation was compelled to define its relation to Reds and Whites<br />
– Whites were chosen. Also the Lutheran church was officially against Red anarchy and<br />
bolshevism. In my paper I concentrate on the public reminiscence of Red deaths and the places<br />
of memory of the Civil War 1918 in the city of Viborg. I see public and private rituals to be<br />
connected with national, political, and cultural regimes. I argue that the memorised past and the<br />
places of memory are <strong>di</strong>fferent representations of reality. In that way publicly shared rituals are<br />
a way for the community and even for the Finnish nation to define “normality”. Every mortal<br />
person has a special value defined by public rituals and memory.<br />
Tue 15 th , 16.00, Classroom 5
Tatyana Folieva, University of Volgograd, Russia<br />
The Principle of Freedom of Coscience and the Russian Orthodox Church<br />
Milan Fujda, Masaryk University, Czech Republic<br />
82<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.40, Classroom 6<br />
Maintaining tra<strong>di</strong>tion <strong>di</strong>fferently: Me<strong>di</strong>a and the Transformation of Religious Community<br />
The presentation is concerned with the issue of forming and maintaining of tra<strong>di</strong>tion,<br />
community and identity in the context of me<strong>di</strong>ated communication. Communication is<br />
generally viewed in social sciences as a fundamental me<strong>di</strong>um in creating and maintaining<br />
social formations and identities. Whether me<strong>di</strong>ated or face-to-face communication dominantes<br />
in social interaction makes significant <strong>di</strong>fference in the way the social is assembled, the<br />
authority operates, the identities are created and maintained, and tra<strong>di</strong>tions and memories are<br />
shared. Religious groupings in contemporary Europe widely <strong>di</strong>ffer in the forms of<br />
communication predominating in them: from locally based communities operating mainly<br />
through the face-to-face interaction to groupings totally dependent on the internet and<br />
operating only in a virtual space. All possibilities on the scale between these two poles actually<br />
appear. What <strong>di</strong>fferences these <strong>di</strong>verging modes of communication produce with reference to<br />
the formation of groupings and identities, and for maintenance of tra<strong>di</strong>tions is the topic of my<br />
presentation. The presentation is based on the ongoing field research among various groupings<br />
like the visitors to Osho Sugama Me<strong>di</strong>tation centre in Lažánky, Yoga in Daily Life full-time<br />
members and Sri Chinmoy <strong>di</strong>sciples in Brno.<br />
Tue 15 th , 16.20, Classroom 5<br />
Giusi Furnari, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Religione e filosofia in Benedetto Croce. Linee <strong>di</strong> una lettura<br />
Croce defined his philosophical thought “philosophy of spirit”: in a methodological perspective<br />
it means method for history; in an ontological one, it means absolut historicism. Through such<br />
a theory, the liberalism puts on philosophical and ethical features, and becomes “religion of<br />
freedom”. Religiously inspired, Croce’s way of thinking is strong molded from a personal<br />
engagement. The root of this orientation is to find in the early education of the thinker, and<br />
particularly in the role of his mother and teachers. From a theoretical point of view, Croce’s<br />
thought finds his source in the philosophies of Kant and Hegel, and in a less important way, in<br />
Augustin. This large philosophical confrontation allows Croce to tighten his religious tension<br />
with an idea of freedom which remains historical and human.<br />
Wed 16 th , 16.40, Classroom 13
Nikita Gaiducov, University of Moscow, Russia<br />
Judaic and Christian motives in the Sarcophag of the Vatican Museum.<br />
Tomas Gal, Slovak Association for the Study of Religion, Slovakia<br />
Electronic Jihad against Europe<br />
83<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.00, Classroom 14<br />
Electronic jihad is a cyberspace phenomenon. This paper deals with it by analyzing historical<br />
development of the Jihad’s concept the time of the Idea establishing, till the present days and<br />
applying those Ideas into cyberspace clash. In this text is the term cyberspace grounded as the<br />
cultural level of Internet communication, supreme to technological levels. The cultural level of<br />
Internet, which made cyberspace possible, is based on specific communication and publication<br />
rules, whose avoidance is considered as conquest in Cyberspace. Electronic jihad is an example<br />
of religiously motivated struggle. In the Cyberspace both kind of jihad were introduced; the<br />
lesser and the greater one. Electronic greater jihad is shown as kind of Internet use for<br />
sprea<strong>di</strong>ng the Islamic faith across the Net. On the other side, electronic lesser jihad is set of<br />
methods interrupting cyberspace “life” and communication. Types of lesser jihad are<br />
decomposed by activists’ declared ideology as modern nationalist, technocratic tra<strong>di</strong>tional<br />
religious focus. In the last decade there was a significant change in the consciousness of the<br />
Cyberspace. In the beginning of the century the technological level of Middle East computer<br />
experts was no match for the westerners. As the examples of cybernetic attacks during the First<br />
electronic Intifada (2001) shows, most of targets were competing (to Islam) religious and<br />
ideological webs. The time of the first incident of publication of Prophet Mohamed’s<br />
caricatures (2005-2006) made a <strong>di</strong>fference, when the most of targets were small business and<br />
in generally all common user webs on Danish domain. In the present days (2008-2009), the<br />
situation changes once again, when there is enough highly qualified computer specialists in the<br />
Middle East, able to challenge professionally supervised Western domains. This paper will<br />
introduce how the technological change of Internet changed also the cultural view on the<br />
Cyberspace and shifted it from the alternate space into just another mass me<strong>di</strong>a. There will be<br />
also introduced, as the concept of sprea<strong>di</strong>ng the religious ideas in the Cyberspace is influenced<br />
by the technological advancement.<br />
Mario Gan<strong>di</strong>ni, “Biblioteca Comunale” of San Giovanni in Persiceto, Italy<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.00, Classroom 4<br />
Il Fondo Pettazzoni della Biblioteca comunale “G.C.Croce” <strong>di</strong> San Giovanni in Persiceto<br />
Si forniscono notizie sulla formazione e sui materiali del Fondo Pettazzoni della Biblioteca<br />
comunale “G.C.Croce” <strong>di</strong> San Giovanni in Persiceto, città natale dello storico delle religioni:<br />
esso è costituito dalla “raccolta pettazzoniana”, cioè dalla raccolta <strong>degli</strong> scritti <strong>di</strong> Pettazzoni e<br />
da pubblicazioni riguardanti la sua vita e la sua opera, da una parte della sua biblioteca privata,<br />
dai suoi manoscritti e dal carteggio.<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.20, Classroom 8
Daniele Garrone, Waldensian University of Roma , Italy<br />
La Bibbia, vademecum del laico protestante?<br />
Nicola Gasbarro, University of U<strong>di</strong>ne, Italy<br />
Raffaele Pettazzoni e la formazione del monoteismo per rivoluzione<br />
84<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.20, Classroom 9<br />
Monotheism is an anthropological revolution as well as a religious one: the men-god<br />
relationship becomes the ordering principle of the world.<br />
Valentino Gasparini, University of Brescia, Italy<br />
Il tempio <strong>di</strong> Iside a Pompei: palcoscenico <strong>di</strong> una performance religiosa<br />
Wed 16 th , 16.00, Classroom 11<br />
A volte il contesto può risultare più forte del concetto stesso. Il tempio <strong>di</strong> Iside a Pompei, anche<br />
grazie al suo eccezionale stato <strong>di</strong> conservazione, rappresenta un’occasione unica per<br />
comprendere cosa significasse nel mondo antico l’esperienza del religioso e, soprattutto, in che<br />
misura l’apparato architettonico e decorativo <strong>di</strong> un santuario interagisse con la ritualità che vi<br />
<strong>di</strong>morava. Fra palme ed ibis, urei e sfingi, scopriamo i connotati <strong>di</strong> un delicato esotismo che<br />
non intende marcare un solco fra romanità e alterità del mondo egizio, bensì calare in modo<br />
organico l’elemento <strong>di</strong> derivazione orientale in quello proprio della tra<strong>di</strong>zione locale. Il<br />
contesto che ne deriva, sapientemente inserito nel tessuto urbano, si trova a rappresentare il<br />
palcoscenico ideale <strong>di</strong> pratiche <strong>di</strong> natura squisitamente cultuale, ma non solo.<br />
Raf Gelders, University of Ghent, Belgium<br />
The In<strong>di</strong>an Religion by Any Other Name<br />
Wed 16 th , 10.00, Classroom 5<br />
The emphasis on the word Hinduism stands central in many stu<strong>di</strong>es of the colonial construction<br />
of Hinduism. It is a commonplace today that the term came into general usage in the nineteenth<br />
century. It was derived from ‘Hindooism,’ first employed in 1787 by the missionary and<br />
subsequently <strong>di</strong>rector of the East In<strong>di</strong>a Company, Charles Grant. This paper suggests that the<br />
emphasis on the modern nature of the term in the debate on the construction of Hinduism is<br />
mislea<strong>di</strong>ng, and shows that as a conceptual unit, the term consolidates the knowledge of In<strong>di</strong>an<br />
tra<strong>di</strong>tions, which Europe gathered in the course of several centuries. First, the term Hinduism<br />
was preceded by other terms to signify the same entity, like ‘the Gentoo religion.’ Second, this<br />
entity was constructed in the books of seventeenth-century Europe. The concept of a Brahmancentred<br />
In<strong>di</strong>an religion prefigures colonial scholarship, suggesting that the construction of<br />
Hinduism was not a colonial project. Rather, this paper locates the construction of the ‘the<br />
In<strong>di</strong>an religion’ in early-modern Christian thought.<br />
Tue 15 th , 10.00, Classroom 13
Giancarlo Germanà Bozza, Accademia delle Belle Arti, Siracusa, Italy<br />
Le aree sacre presso i porti nelle città della Sicilia sud-orientale<br />
Lo stu<strong>di</strong>o delle aree sacre nelle colonie greche d’Occidente costituisce un punto <strong>di</strong> partenza per<br />
la conoscenza della <strong>di</strong>mensione religiosa <strong>di</strong> queste città e per la ricostruzione dei loro rapporti<br />
con la madrepatria. Il santuario costituiva un luogo <strong>di</strong> devozione, ma nello stesso tempo anche<br />
il punto <strong>di</strong> incontro tra l’uomo e la <strong>di</strong>vinità. Attraverso la costruzione <strong>di</strong> un santuario, che<br />
comportava anche un notevole sforzo economico per la comunità, si poteva rendere visibile la<br />
ricchezza e la potenza della città. Come aveva già osservato de Pollignac, nel mondo greco<br />
d’Occidente la potenza <strong>di</strong> una colonia era determinata dalla sua stabilità e quest’ultima era<br />
con<strong>di</strong>zionata soprattutto dalla conquista e dal controllo <strong>di</strong> nuove terre. L’acquisizione <strong>di</strong> un<br />
vasto territorio, oltre ad avere evidenti ragioni economiche, era un elemento in<strong>di</strong>spensabile per<br />
la sopravvivenza della colonia in quanto espressione <strong>di</strong> ricchezza e <strong>di</strong> potenza della politica<br />
della apoikia. Il luogo <strong>di</strong> culto acquisisce una funzione <strong>di</strong> me<strong>di</strong>tatore del messaggio <strong>di</strong><br />
superiorità politico-culturale, rientrando nella categoria della “iconografia del potere”, che<br />
nella letteratura scientifica trova ampio spazio. Sui luoghi <strong>di</strong> culto nelle colonie greche<br />
d’Occidente sono stati fatti molti stu<strong>di</strong> accurati, ma in realtà è stata poco approfon<strong>di</strong>ta la loro<br />
presenza e loro funzione nei primi secoli <strong>di</strong> vita <strong>di</strong> queste città. Da quest’analisi possono<br />
emergere anche dei dati molto importanti per potere determinare il rapporto che legava le<br />
apoikiai con la madrepatria, in quanto i culti rappresentavano una comune matrice per le nuove<br />
comunità. In questo stu<strong>di</strong>o analizzo le aree sacre <strong>di</strong> età arcaica nella Sicilia orientale, in<br />
particolare i santuari <strong>di</strong> Naxos, Megara Hyblaea e Siracusa. Per quest’ultima si presenta un<br />
quadro d’insieme dei materiali rinvenuti nelle aree sacre urbane ed extraurbane. Per completare<br />
il quadro nello stu<strong>di</strong>o è stata inclusa Gela, le cui vicende storiche furono particolarmente legate<br />
a Siracusa in età arcaica. Alla fine <strong>di</strong> questo stu<strong>di</strong>o presento inoltre alcune osservazioni sulla<br />
presenza <strong>di</strong> importazioni greco-orientali e fenicie nei contesti votivi e traccio le rotte<br />
commerciali seguite dai mercanti che portavano questi manufatti, nonché un loro possibile<br />
rapporto con le aree sacre presso cui sono stati rinvenuti.<br />
Giuseppe Giarrizzo, University of Catania, Italy<br />
Giorgio La Piana<br />
85<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00, Classroom 14<br />
Scegliendo Giorgio La Piana (1878-1972), un prete siciliano che lascia all’inizio del<br />
Novecento l’abito e l’Italia per la Harvard Theological School, vorrò porre in rilievo il<br />
contributo che egli ha dato agli stu<strong>di</strong> <strong>di</strong> storia ecclesiastica e religiosa su Roma e su Bisanzio, e<br />
insieme mostrare l’importanza che il modernismo cattolico ha avuto in Italia per aprire alla<br />
comparazione con esperienze religiose collettive e in<strong>di</strong>viduali, e per fondare un originale<br />
in<strong>di</strong>rizzo <strong>di</strong> antropologia religiosa.<br />
Ingvild Sælid Gilhus, University of Bergen, Norway<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.40, Classroom 9<br />
What become of the <strong>di</strong>vine? Superhuman beings in guides to the history of religion<br />
The focus in this paper is on how the concepts of god and gods have been treated in<br />
encyclope<strong>di</strong>as, companions and field guides to the study of religion during the last roughly ten
years. The literature that is examined is standard reference works and therefore important<br />
contemporary accounts of the field of religious stu<strong>di</strong>es. The paper rose rather spontaneously<br />
out of frustration over <strong>di</strong>fficulties with making a syllabus for students of the history of religions<br />
in their first year. We wanted to include gods and other types of superhuman beings among the<br />
themes the students were presented with, not least to get them understand the crucial <strong>di</strong>fference<br />
between insiders’ and scholars’ conception of gods. The marginal existence of superhuman<br />
beings in genres that are intended for students is remarkable. The <strong>di</strong>fficulty to find adequate<br />
literature in companions and field guides written in English led to the question, what has<br />
become of superhuman beings in the study of religion?<br />
Mariachiara Giorda, University of Torino, Italy<br />
L’insegnamento della religione in Italia: temi e problemi<br />
86<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.40, Classroom 4<br />
The question of Religion Education in Italy dates back to the middle of the XIXth century,<br />
when the obligation of an education to catholic religion was established in every degree of<br />
public school. Different stages have led this <strong>di</strong>scipline from the important Concordato (1929),<br />
until to the “new” hour of religion that was decided in 1984 within the revised Concordato and<br />
in the Intesa (1985), just to the present confessional hour of catholic religion, which is not<br />
compulsory. This paper will focus on nowadays status of RE in Italy: we will concentrate on<br />
the last decades of the debate, trying to present some key issues, quantitative and qualitative<br />
dates (laws, syllabuses, curricula, training of the teachers, percentages of students who make<br />
use of RE...). The goal is to underline the potentialities and also the limits of the Italian<br />
situation, to evaluate the state of health of this <strong>di</strong>scipline and to think about future perspectives.<br />
We will present also <strong>di</strong>fferent alternatives which have been effected in the last few years in<br />
some Italian high schools and which are the consequences of the debate about the option of an<br />
education to religions rather than to one religion; we can’t deny that one interesting matter is<br />
the inadequacy of the educational proposal, related to the cultural and religious pluralism of<br />
our society, not only in a scholastic context, but also in the more popular level of the public<br />
debate.<br />
Tue 15 th , 10.00, Classroom 4<br />
Gherardo Gnoli, President of SISR, University of Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy<br />
Giuseppe Tucci<br />
Richard Gordon, University of Erfurt, Germany<br />
The Mithraic Temple as a site for Religious Experience<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.20, Classroom 9<br />
It is a truism that the Mithraic temple incorporated three functions kept physically separate not<br />
only in civic cult but also in the cult of Isis: the housing of the <strong>di</strong>vinity’s statue; the site of<br />
sacrifice; the celebration of a post-sacrificial meal. This <strong>di</strong>fference was marked, at least ideally<br />
(‘correctly’), by the term spelaeum instead of templum. As Ernest Will, Le relief cultuel grécoromain<br />
(1955) showed, this ‘condensation’ correlates with the substitution of a narrative cult-
elief for the cult-statue. We may take ‘condensation’ and ‘narrativity’ as the two keynotes of<br />
the cult, for which a short-hand, also in antiquity, was ‘mystery’. ‘Condensation’ legitimated<br />
the ritual concentration upon the interior of the buil<strong>di</strong>ng itself, which is manifested in a variety<br />
of internal arrangements, which specify the quality of the intended <strong>di</strong>fference from the classic<br />
temple. Moreover, the normative or parade-offering in civic cult, the sacrifice of a bull/ox,<br />
having been idealised in the cult’s foundation-myth, has no place in the temple itself, and thus<br />
no longer supports a specific socio-political system. The other aspect of self-<strong>di</strong>fferentiation is<br />
narrativity, which keyed ritual practice closely to the foun<strong>di</strong>ng-myth. If the po<strong>di</strong>a on either side<br />
of the temple were the locus of communal eating, the central aisle and the cult-niche area were<br />
the stage for ritual. The rituals actually performed certainly <strong>di</strong>ffered in detail from temple to<br />
temple, though the main ones were legitimated by reference to elements of the myth. The paper<br />
will concentrate on the analysis of the iconography of selected rituals, inclu<strong>di</strong>ng the banquetscene<br />
of Mithras and Helios/Sol. The central role of the myth for ritual practice is also clear<br />
from the Mithraic practice of creating free-stan<strong>di</strong>ng sculptures or reliefs depicting in<strong>di</strong>vidual<br />
scenes, some of which are addressed as deities to whom votives could be offered; the two<br />
torch-bearers appear likewise in plural forms in the temple, and as votive-deities in their own<br />
right. Slogans and acclamations functioned as oblique commentaries on the specifically<br />
Mithraic identities formed and reformed in ritual.<br />
On Typologies and History: “Orphic Themes” in Mithraism<br />
87<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.40, Classroom 5<br />
Bianchi’s tripartite model of ‘mystic cults’ in the Greek and Roman world is a deservedly<br />
celebrated feat of synthesis. Its strength lies in the model’s value in focusing attention on<br />
central features of religious systems or constructs: cosmology: pro- or anti-cosmic?; salvation:<br />
intra- or extra-mundane? eschatology: in<strong>di</strong>vidual or collective? At the same time, no typology<br />
can be more adequate than the empirical evidence on which it is based. Bianchi himself found<br />
that Mithraism hardly fitted into his tripartite scheme and had to invent a new sub-type, the<br />
“cosmosophic mysteriosophy”, to accommodate it. This analysis assumed a great deal, above<br />
all, the typological coherence of the cult over its range and over time – the then commonlyaccepted<br />
legacy of Cumont’s approach (backed by the implicit model of an idealised<br />
Christianity). Since then, with the ever-increasing weight of new finds and increased awareness<br />
of the partiality and misrepresentations of the literary sources, many former assumptions have<br />
been questioned, among them the supposed link between cosmic order and the grade-system,<br />
soul-journeys, and the ‘theology of the Lion-headed God’. Local <strong>di</strong>fferences have come to<br />
appear central, making the very idea of a single or coherent cult appear problematic. Bianchi’s<br />
model of Mithraism depended heavily on Numenius (ap. Porphyry, de antro) and Celsus, both<br />
writing in the last quarter of the second century; and upon what he understood as Orphic<br />
‘influences’ upon the cult. This contribution will conclude that these influences represent not<br />
the temptations of “mysteriosophy” i.e. a substantive ‘convergence’, but form part of the<br />
constant reinterpretation and extension of elementary Mithraic themes by in<strong>di</strong>vidual appeal to<br />
widely-available <strong>di</strong>dactic literature, inclu<strong>di</strong>ng the Rhapso<strong>di</strong>es. Such re-interpretation by no<br />
means followed a single <strong>di</strong>rection.<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.40, Classroom 8
Olga Goreva, University of Moscow, Russia<br />
Nietzsche’s theory of Religion in the light of modern Europe’s Experience<br />
Philosophical reflections on the religious phenomena is important part of the study of religions.<br />
In my paper I want to <strong>di</strong>scuss a view of Friedrich Nietzsche on the future of religion. This<br />
German philosopher maintains that religion is a kind of defensive reaction of people on the<br />
world which seems to be meaningless for them. Religion has two main functions: making sense<br />
for the world and an establishment of values in human life. Nietzsche is interested in the<br />
peculiarity of European culture. He attributes to the religion decisive role in the formation of<br />
European worldview. In his point of view, the concept of God now is insolvent and become<br />
obsolete (hence the thesis about “the death of God”). Nietzsche was convinced that the future<br />
of Europe is atheism which would be based on the unfoundedness of the notion of God and on<br />
the scientific thinking. Now we see - this future has not become a reality. We can speak about<br />
post-secularized society, but we have fact: religion has great importance in the life of Europe<br />
and all over the world. The purpose of this paper is to expose which points of the Nietzsche's<br />
theory of religion are still urgent for Europe, and whether they could justify in the future.<br />
Xavier Gravende-Tirole, University of Lausanne, Switzerland<br />
88<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.00, Classroom 13<br />
What's wrong about multiple religious belonging? The case for religious creolization<br />
Alexandra Grieser, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität, München, Germany<br />
Tue 15 th , 10.00, Classroom 12<br />
Relationship between religion and science: popularisation as a key concept for its analysis<br />
Not only in popular opinion religion and science are said to be related to one another in a<br />
singular way, represented in master narratives of power struggles, oppression and liberation,<br />
conspiracy and deco<strong>di</strong>ng the truth, the end either interpreted as the victory of the enlightenment<br />
or the loss of wholeness and trust in unifying powers. Even in recent academic literature this<br />
relationship is often reduced to Christian theology and the natural sciences, and it is determined<br />
by the question whether both positions might possibly be “reconciled” by a <strong>di</strong>alogue.<br />
Nevertheless, inter-relations of science and religion are important elements in European history<br />
(to limit the subject to Europe), not least because of the master narratives mentioned. One must<br />
take a closer look at both sides of the dualism, and this look has to open up historical,<br />
contextual and plural perspectives. Using popularisation as a key term for analysing the role<br />
this relationship played and still plays in the European history of religion, questions come into<br />
focus that help to <strong>di</strong>fferentiate within this field. Popularisation refers to the me<strong>di</strong>ation of<br />
knowledge as well as the creation of a certain quality of knowledge. Beginning with popular<br />
knowledge, we can observe how the opposition of religion and science actually developed,<br />
how religions adopted and even produced scientific patterns and imaginations, how academic<br />
<strong>di</strong>sciplines such as philology and the humanities became the agencies of <strong>di</strong>stributing religious<br />
knowledge and how religions claimed to be the better science. Whether “public understan<strong>di</strong>ng
of science” is connected to “propaganda fide”, whether there are specific aesthetics of popular<br />
knowledge - religious or scientific - and whether popularisation of scientific knowledge is<br />
possible without producing truth claims - these questions arise when we look at me<strong>di</strong>a,<br />
justifications and styles of popularisation of knowledge, and the answers appear as elements of<br />
an interconnected history of science and history of religion.<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.20, Classroom 13<br />
Alessandro Grossato, Pordenone, Italy<br />
L'architettura esoterica <strong>di</strong> Giuseppe Jappelli<br />
L’opera dell’architetto e ingegnere Giuseppe Jappelli (1783-1852), veneziano per nascita ma<br />
d’origine bolognese, iniziato fin dalla giovinezza alla Massoneria, si inscrive principalmente<br />
nell’ambito del Classicismo, come <strong>di</strong>mostra la maggior parte delle sue realizzazioni artistiche e<br />
i progetti rimasti incompiuti, alcuni dei quali particolarmente gran<strong>di</strong>osi, come quello relativo<br />
alla nuova sede dell’<strong>Università</strong> <strong>di</strong> Padova. Ma, come insegna la storia, ogni rinascenza<br />
neoclassica e umanistica si è sempre accompagnata ad una singolare ripresa dell’esoterismo,<br />
sia in ambito intellettuale che artistico. Così è avvenuto nel Quattrocento e nel Cinquecento,<br />
ma anche nel Settecento e nell’Ottocento. Questa apparente contrad<strong>di</strong>zione, proprio per il suo<br />
ripresentarsi nel corso dei secoli, ci può ricordare che alla luce apollinea e all’equilibrio<br />
estetico delle forme classiche si è sempre accompagnata la loro ombra oscura e <strong>di</strong>onisiaca,<br />
<strong>di</strong>rettamente legata alla tra<strong>di</strong>zione dei misteri, così come aveva genialmente intuito Friedrich<br />
Nietzsche ne "La Nascita della Trage<strong>di</strong>a" (1872). E Giuseppe Jappelli, brillante architetto<br />
neoclassico dei primi decenni dell’Ottocento, giustamente considerato l’ultimo rappresentante<br />
del palla<strong>di</strong>anesimo in terra veneta, esemplifica in modo particolarmente notevole questo<br />
para<strong>di</strong>gma. Appoggiandoci agli esempi esistenti a Padova e nella sua provincia, vogliamo porre<br />
in evidenza l’importanza che ha avuto l’esoterismo, non solo massonico, nell’opera artistica <strong>di</strong><br />
Giuseppe Jappelli, sfatando nel contempo alcune leggende e i principali frainten<strong>di</strong>menti a<br />
questo riguardo.<br />
Tue 15 th , 10.20, Classroom 5<br />
Carmelina Gugliuzzo, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Popular forms of religious association in Malta during Modern Age<br />
The aim of this paper is to analyse the importance of the phenomenon represented by the most<br />
popular forms of association present in Malta during Modern Age. The confraternities brought<br />
about a programme of training of the in<strong>di</strong>vidual conscience and of <strong>di</strong>ffusion of messages of<br />
fraternity and justice, fomenting feelings of ‘democracy’ and of rights defence. A lot of<br />
confraternities defended their independence from the ecclesiastical and political power; the<br />
social engagement <strong>di</strong>d not produce only spiritual elevation, but it determined also a new<br />
awareness of human, social and political rights. It seems that in some confraternities the<br />
members clearly showed their <strong>di</strong>ssent towards the clergy allied with the Spanish power. It is<br />
really important to remember that Confraternities constituted the evolution of Middle Ages<br />
guilds and crafts which united various workers under ‘the protection’ of a saint, ruling and<br />
defen<strong>di</strong>ng for the first time the workers’ con<strong>di</strong>tions. After their transformation in religious<br />
confraternities these associations of lay men (involving anyway religious representative<br />
elements of the society) included in their statutes a series of significant tasks, the most<br />
89
important among them being the attention towards poor people, widows, young children,<br />
orphans, young girls who had to marry (with donations), prisoners condemned to death and son<br />
on. The members of a Confraternity assisted not only the spiritual needs of those who had<br />
economic <strong>di</strong>fficulties but also the material ones, helping their families, assisting sick people,<br />
following also the moment and the expenses of the funeral and of the burial. Moreover in<br />
Malta - the fratellanzi (or confraternities) competed over almost every aspects of the festa,<br />
inclu<strong>di</strong>ng the decoration of the streets, the adornment of the statue, the number of guest bands<br />
and, above all, the fireworks. These factions in time became centred on separate social clubs,<br />
and eventually acquired brass bands. The structural position of a ‘partit’ determined the kind of<br />
pressure that it could bring to bear upon the Church. Those of titular saints were, in a sense, the<br />
establishment parties. It is clear that open-air feasts became ‘mass meetings’, they were the<br />
days in which Maltese felt to show their allegiance with Catholic Church, their tra<strong>di</strong>tional<br />
patriotism and their ‘national’ pride.<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.40, Classroom 6<br />
Saverio Guida, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Il punto su trovatori e Catarismo<br />
Il problema dei rapporti fra trovatori e catarismo è stato più volte affrontato con l’intento <strong>di</strong> far<br />
emergere dalla produzione lirica superstite proposizioni in qualche modo riconducibili alle<br />
credenze dualistiche; le ricerche non sono tuttavia approdate a risultati vali<strong>di</strong> e concludenti<br />
perché non si è tenuto conto che sia sul piano dottrinario sia su quello comportamentale non<br />
c’era opposizione assoluta fra boni homines e cristiani tra<strong>di</strong>zionalisti e che, soprattutto, i<br />
rimatori più collusi con il movimento eterodosso erano i più attenti ad evitare lo scontro aperto<br />
con la «Grande Chiesa» e i più accorti ed esercitati nell’uso <strong>di</strong> mezzi espressivi cifrati e nello<br />
spaccio <strong>di</strong> messaggi apparentemente ingenui e irreprensibili, ma <strong>di</strong> fatto assai prossimi<br />
all’ideologia <strong>degli</strong> ‘spirituali’ catari. Secondo me si deve proprio all’anfibologia del dettato, a<br />
sottili artifici comunicativi, ad una plurima possibilità interpretativa, se taluni asserti audaci<br />
sotto il profilo confessionale ed eversivi nei confronti del sistema nozionale e devozionale<br />
tramandato dal clero dominante sono scampati alle maglie della censura ecclesiastica e arrivati<br />
fino a noi. Nella comunicazione che sarà presentata si cercherà <strong>di</strong> illustrare i meto<strong>di</strong> e i percorsi<br />
seguiti da verseggiatori impregnati <strong>di</strong> cultura biblica e protesi al recupero autentico <strong>degli</strong><br />
insegnamenti evangelici «tra<strong>di</strong>ti» dalla Chiesa romana e si tenterà <strong>di</strong> fare il punto sulla<br />
<strong>di</strong>namica della <strong>di</strong>ffusione e della ricezione <strong>di</strong> congegni letterari coperti e allusivi che<br />
incontravano il favore <strong>di</strong> un pubblico abituato a cogliere e apprezzare i sensi trascendenti il<br />
comunicato primo ed esplicito, i giochi locutivi mimetici, gli artifici per mascherare e veicolare<br />
la contestazione nei riguar<strong>di</strong> <strong>di</strong> un magistero e <strong>di</strong> un potere oppressivi e intolleranti.<br />
Charles Guittard, University of Paris, France<br />
90<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00, Classroom 7<br />
De la Curie du Palatin à la Regia du Forum: l'itinéraire des Saliens comme exemple de rituel<br />
guerrier<br />
Le siège de la confrérie archaïque des Saliens, Salii Palatini, prêtres de Mars, chargés de<br />
l’ouverture et de la fermeture de la saison guerrière en mars et en octobre, se trouve sur le
Palatin : il s’agit de la Curia Saliorum. Là auraient été conservés, avec les archives<br />
administratives et les livres sacrés de la confrérie, les 12 boucliers (celui de Mars et ses onze<br />
copies réalisées par Mamurius Véturius) des Saliens, avec leurs lances, ainsi que le bâton<br />
augural de Romulus. Pour ouvrir la saison guerrière, les Saliens mettaient en mouvement les<br />
boucliers sacrés, leurs anciles et se livraient à leurs carmina et à leurs danses. Il est question,<br />
dans les sources littéraires, de lances présentes dans la Regia, intervenant à propos de certains<br />
pro<strong>di</strong>ges. La vibration spontanée des lances de Mars dans le sacrarium Martis constituait un<br />
présage menaçant. La lance <strong>di</strong>te de Mars intervient de façon régulière, selon Servius, lors du<br />
départ en campagne des troupes : le général imprimait un mouvement à la lance de Mars. Le<br />
mouvement de la lance est en relation avec le mouvement des boucliers sacrés,<br />
vraisemblablement ceux des saliens. La topographie complexe de la Regia mérite de retenir<br />
l’attention : elle comprend une chapelle de Mars, une autre de Ops Consivia. Il s’agit de<br />
concilier l’ensemble des données relatives à ces deux é<strong>di</strong>fices mettant en œuvre le potentiel<br />
religieux de la cité, la Curia Saliorum et la Regia, de reconstituer le trajet symbolique des<br />
saliens, d’étu<strong>di</strong>er leur conduite face à la statue de la <strong>di</strong>vinité, dont la présence est sensible dans<br />
tout le rituel en question. Se pose le problème de la statue et de la lance de Mars, vieux débat<br />
dans la religion romaine qui a opposé un temps H. J Rose et G. Dumézil. Le phénomène de la<br />
vibration des lances et des boucliers constitue, au-delà du pro<strong>di</strong>gium proprement <strong>di</strong>t, une<br />
expérience religieuse unique.<br />
91<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.00, Classroom 5<br />
L. Guzzar<strong>di</strong>- P. Marchese- S. Sirugo, Sovrintendenza Archeologica <strong>di</strong> Siracusa, Italy<br />
Palazzolo Acreide: la ricerca archeologica nella Chiesa Madre <strong>di</strong> San Nicolò. Nuovi dati sulla<br />
tra<strong>di</strong>zione religiosa<br />
Il presente contributo intende illustrare i risultati dello scavo effettuato dal Servizio per i Beni<br />
Archeologici della Soprintendenza <strong>di</strong> Siracusa, all’interno della chiesa madre barocca <strong>di</strong> San<br />
Nicolò a Palazzolo Acreide, nel quadro dell’intervento <strong>di</strong> restauro e consolidamento statico<br />
promosso dalla Protezione Civile. I lavori <strong>di</strong> scavo archeologico, effettuati tra giugno e<br />
settembre 2008 sotto i livelli pavimentali della Chiesa moderna hanno consentito <strong>di</strong> avviare,<br />
attraverso l’esame dei dati materiali in<strong>di</strong>viduati e dei reperti recuperati, la lettura della genesi<br />
del monumento religioso sulla scorta delle fonti archivistiche e delle preesistenze strutturali<br />
antecedenti la sua costruzione (in relazione alla stessa collocazione topografica dell’e<strong>di</strong>ficio<br />
posto nel sito della Palazzolo me<strong>di</strong>evale, in stretta relazione con il castello). Sotto i livelli<br />
pavimentali moderni della Chiesa barocca lo scavo stratigrafico ha riportato alla luce un livello<br />
rappresentato da lembi in parte <strong>di</strong> un piano <strong>di</strong> cantiere ed in parte da preparazione pavimentale;<br />
a tale livello è risultato attinente un sepolcreto costituito da sette deposizioni, le cui fosse<br />
sepolcrali ospitavano le casse lignee con il defunto, che presenta ancora resti del corredo<br />
personale (spilloni, fibbie, grani <strong>di</strong> rosari e <strong>di</strong> collane); monete bronzee sono state rinvenute<br />
nello strato <strong>di</strong> suolo connesso al sepolcreto. Lo scavo antropologico ha permesso <strong>di</strong> accertare<br />
che le casse lignee hanno riutilizzato delle tombe a fossa terragna attribuibili ad una fase<br />
anteriore; il sepolcreto sembra dunque al momento attestare due fasi d’uso, <strong>di</strong> cui la fase<br />
seriore va messa in relazione con i settori cimiteriali, scoperti sotto lo strato <strong>di</strong> riempimento del<br />
livello 1. I frammenti <strong>di</strong> mattonella policroma e <strong>di</strong> ceramica in maiolica cinquecentesca<br />
rinvenuti negli strati <strong>di</strong> riempimento, che coprivano il sepolcreto, fanno al momento ipotizzare<br />
che esso possa ricondursi alla fase cinquecentesca della chiesa <strong>di</strong> San Nicolò, la cui esistenza è<br />
attestata dai documenti <strong>degli</strong> archivi ecclesiastici e notarili fin dal XVI secolo con rifacimenti a<br />
seguito danneggiamenti causati alla fabbrica ecclesiastica dal terremoto del 1542. La sommità<br />
del muro, emerso nel limite nord della Trincea 13 e leggibile nella sezione stratigrafica del
Saggio 7, aperto a seguito gli sterri effettuati per i lavori <strong>di</strong> consolidamento statico, può<br />
ricondursi ad un terzo livello (livello 3), costituito da un contesto architettonico <strong>di</strong> epoca<br />
me<strong>di</strong>evale, presumibilmente la fabbrica liturgica me<strong>di</strong>evale. A fasi assai più antiche devono<br />
dunque ritenersi sia i resti murari rinvenuti alla profon<strong>di</strong>tà <strong>di</strong> circa m 4 dal piano pavimentale<br />
moderno nei saggi, aperti tra la navata centrale e quella destra, e le tombe a cassa scoperte<br />
(anche se al momento la mancanza <strong>di</strong> dati stratigrafici e materiali non consentono <strong>di</strong> formulare<br />
ipotesi circa la tipologia e cronologia dei contesti archeologici scoperti). L’approfon<strong>di</strong>mento<br />
dello scavo nel settore a sud – est del primo pilastro posto a sinistra dell’ingresso ha permesso<br />
<strong>di</strong> verificare alla profon<strong>di</strong>tà <strong>di</strong> circa m – 3 dal livello 1 la presenza <strong>di</strong> resti murari più antichi, su<br />
cui s’imposta la fabbrica settecentesca e <strong>di</strong> un piano <strong>di</strong> roccia, in cui sembrano visibili<br />
interventi antropici (taglio <strong>di</strong> latomia o altro), al momento non interpretabili per la limitatezza<br />
dello spazio in cui si può operare, ma che potrebbero ricollegarsi ad un inse<strong>di</strong>amento rupestre<br />
<strong>di</strong> età tardoantica o altome<strong>di</strong>evale.<br />
L. Guzzar<strong>di</strong>- S. Sirugo, Sovrintendenza Archeologica <strong>di</strong> Siracusa, Italy<br />
92<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.40, Classroom 14<br />
Ritualità sepolcrali cristiane e islamiche nell’area cimiteriale <strong>di</strong> contrada Stafenna (Noto), fra<br />
il tardoantico e l’altome<strong>di</strong>evo.<br />
Il presente lavoro intende documentare le <strong>di</strong>fferenti ritualità sepolcrali emerse in c.da Stafenna<br />
(Noto), durante una campagna <strong>di</strong> scavi effettuata nel 1994, per opera della Soprintendenza<br />
BB.CC.AA. <strong>di</strong> Siracusa. L’area indagata, già nota in letteratura per opera dell’archeologo G.<br />
Agnello, ha restituito resti <strong>di</strong> strutture murarie <strong>di</strong> una villa romana e 13 sepolture, da cui<br />
emergono interessanti informazioni tafonomiche. Infatti, nonostante lo scavo delle sepolture sia<br />
avvenuto senza alcuna metodologia antropologica, la cospicua documentazione grafica e<br />
fotografica, ha permesso <strong>di</strong> in<strong>di</strong>viduare le principali forme <strong>di</strong> ritualità del campione. Si tratta <strong>di</strong><br />
sepolture perlopiù singole, prevalentemente a sezione rettangolare, alcune molto strette e<br />
lunghe (35 x 200 cm), altre perimetrate da blocchi <strong>di</strong> pietre e con taglio meno evidente,<br />
probabilmente in relazione alla consistenza del terreno. I corre<strong>di</strong> rinvenuti in associazione ai<br />
defunti sono abbastanza poveri e rarefatti rispetto al numero <strong>degli</strong> inumati; per la maggior parte<br />
dei casi si tratta <strong>di</strong> ceramiche appartenenti alla classe delle ceramiche comuni ed a forme in<br />
sigillata italica, databili intorno alla seconda metà del II secolo d.C., prima metà III sec. d.C.<br />
Dall’osservazione della documentazione grafica e fotografica si evince, inoltre, un altro dato<br />
molto interessante, sul tipo <strong>di</strong> deposizione. Si nota, infatti, che gli in<strong>di</strong>vidui <strong>di</strong> alcune sepolture<br />
localizzate nella parte orientale dell’area indagata, sono in decubito laterale destro, con<br />
orientamento NW – SE, cranio rivolto verso sud, arti <strong>di</strong>stesi e privi <strong>di</strong> corredo. Tali elementi<br />
trovano confronto con <strong>di</strong>versi casi attestati in Sicilia, che in<strong>di</strong>viduano in tale rituale la presenza<br />
<strong>di</strong> un rito musulmano. Per le restanti sepolture, la ritualità <strong>di</strong> deposizione è comune a tutte; gli<br />
inumati giacciono in decubito dorsale con arti superiori raccolti sul ventre e arti inferiori<br />
<strong>di</strong>stesi. Particolare risulta, infine, la posizione del cranio che, dove osservabile, sembra sia stato<br />
addossato alla parete della sepoltura, verticalizzandosi parzialmente (ma sempre in connessione<br />
con il post cranio). Verosimile, inoltre, la presenza <strong>di</strong> terra accumulata sotto il cranio che<br />
fungeva da sostegno.<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.20, Classroom 14
Hans Thomas Hakl, independent scholar, Austria<br />
Julius Evola’s Relations with Women<br />
Male and female are two transcendent categories for Evola which accor<strong>di</strong>ng to Aristotle can be<br />
characterized as “active” and “passive”. A heavy influence exerted by Otto Weininger’s work<br />
Sex and Character strengthened this attitude of his. And when he was 26 he wrote a<br />
provocative essay titled “Woman as object”. At the same time he dressed and behaved as a<br />
dandy giving way to rumours that he was a homosexual although no proof has ever been<br />
produced for this allegation. On the contrary Evola was a known womanizer nicknamed the<br />
“spider” because of all the women en<strong>di</strong>ng up in his “net”. Although he never spoke about it<br />
two famous women had a love affair with him. The first was Sibilla Aleramo (Rina Faccio) an<br />
early feminist, communist and writer, who was friends with the likes of Maxim Gorki, Luigi<br />
Pirandello, August Ro<strong>di</strong>n or James Joyce. She wrote about her love affair with Evola in a<br />
novel. The second famous woman with whom he most probably had an affair was Maria de<br />
Naglowska, a Russian poetess and founder of a satanic sex cult. There are however two further<br />
la<strong>di</strong>es whom I could still interview in the eighties of the last century who talked to me about<br />
their relations with Evola. One was a very successful business woman in Hannover, who freely<br />
admitted to have been in love with him. She also had helped him with translations from<br />
German. The second lady came from an old noble family in Germany and was the first wife of<br />
Ludwig Fer<strong>di</strong>nand Clauss, the renowned German expert on psychological racial traits, greatly<br />
admired by Evola. She told me about Evola’s strong presence during the three or four visits he<br />
paid to her husband. Quite well known are also his cynical remarks about women in general as<br />
they appear in letters or in conversations, one example being the conversation he had in Roma<br />
with the Zen expert Karlfried Graf Dürckheim. Although Evola has the reputation of being a<br />
misogynist this probably was not the case. Otherwise, how could we explain, that he asked<br />
two women to execute his last will.<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.00, Classroom 5<br />
Olav Hammer, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark<br />
Modern Jesus Legends and the Modalities of Religious Innovation<br />
Religious innovations, and an ensuing religious plurality, regularly arise when elements of<br />
religious <strong>di</strong>scourses, practices and social formations migrate across the porous and often quite<br />
arbitrary boundaries between tra<strong>di</strong>tionally defined social arenas and religious tra<strong>di</strong>tions. This<br />
tendency toward innovation and plurality is counteracted by intense <strong>di</strong>sciplining by those who<br />
wish to construct a religious monoculture, erect boundaries between “mainstream” and<br />
“alternative”, and legitimate the former at the expense of the latter. Vestiges of this <strong>di</strong>sciplining<br />
process influence even prevalent theorizing on the development of “alternative” religious<br />
developments. Well-known sociological theories, e.g. Colin Campbell’s concept of the cultic<br />
milieu, presuppose that there is a dominant, nearly monolithic mainstream culture, in<br />
opposition to an underground of <strong>di</strong>vergent and deviant innovations. Departing from a case<br />
study, the development of a number of modern “alternative” Jesus legends from Blavatsky to<br />
Dan Brown, this paper investigates how an anthropologically informed concept of culture and<br />
religion as a profuse repertoire of <strong>di</strong>scourses and practices might elucidate a number of<br />
mechanisms of religious innovation, plurality, hybri<strong>di</strong>ty, and <strong>di</strong>sciplining.<br />
93<br />
Tue 15 th , 16.20, Classroom 13
Miguel Herrero, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain<br />
Dionisismo y Cristianismo<br />
Las visiones modernas del orfismo están inevitablemente teñidas de la comparación, más o<br />
menos consciente, con el cristianismo. Esta inevitable aproximación no es casual, sino que<br />
tiene cierta base en las fuentes antiguas. A partir del siglo II d. C., también los apologistas<br />
cristianos, e incluso la resistencia pagana que reelabora la religión griega, vieron en la tra<strong>di</strong>ción<br />
órfica el pendant de la nueva religión. Los contactos y solapamientos entre ambas religiones<br />
hacían inevitable la toma de posición en un momento en que la autodefinición era la<br />
preocupación central de los teóricos de múltiples religiones en mutua competencia. Los autores<br />
antiguos, cristianos o no, a menudo presentan el orfismo como precedente, alternativa o plagio<br />
del cristianismo. Y de estas actitudes antiguas, enfrentadas en una polémica de la que surgen<br />
muchas de nuestras fuentes más importantes sobre el orfismo, son en parte herederas las<br />
concepciones modernas que tanto debate han provocado en el último siglo. En el panel se<br />
repasarán las principales fuentes antiguas que relacionan orfismo y cristianismo (Clemente de<br />
Alejandría, Orígenes, Lactancio) y el influjo de las proyecciones cristianas en las visiones<br />
modernas (Macchioro, Wilamowitz, Festugière, Dodds, entre otros).<br />
94<br />
Wed 16 th , 16.00, Classroom 8<br />
Clau<strong>di</strong>u Herteliu - Alexandru Isaic-Maniu - Tudorel Andrei- Bogdan Vasile Ileanu,<br />
University of Economics, Bucharest, Rumania<br />
The Implications of Self-Mentioned Religious Affiliation on the Social Elements. Case Study on<br />
Romanian Population<br />
In a country with a majority of 87% of the persons with self-mentioned religion as Eastern<br />
Orthodox, a split by this criteria could be considered as useless. Statistical information given<br />
by the National Institute of Statistics, NGO-s, Universities, other Research Institutes etc. show<br />
that there are significant religious <strong>di</strong>fferences in and between groups these groups regar<strong>di</strong>ng<br />
some social aspects such as: demographical behavior; spear time use , education, social relation<br />
etc. In this paper will be presented few significant associations obtained using some specific<br />
techniques of multivariate statistics using the analysis of data available about Romanian<br />
population.<br />
Bulcsu Hoppal, independent scholar, Budapest, Hungary<br />
Karl Kerenyi's Views on the Method of Religious <strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong>es<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.40, Classroom 12<br />
Karl Kerenyi, Hungarian religious and classical scholar, is one of the founders of modern<br />
stu<strong>di</strong>es in ancient, especially in Greek mythology. In his writings on classical Greek and<br />
Roman religion Kerenyi often rejected the evolutionist and phenomenological approaches in<br />
religious stu<strong>di</strong>es. Later, influenced by C. G. Jung's analytic theory of myths, he tried to<br />
understand the main figures of the classical history of religion in the framework of the theory
of archetypes. We can say, that he was the representative of the so-called mythologist school of<br />
modern religious stu<strong>di</strong>es. As Kerenyi puts in his preface to Dionysos, he favored<br />
“<strong>di</strong>fferentiated thinking about the concrete realities of human life” in contrast to the so-called<br />
“summary thinking” that represented for him the influence of Frazer and other<br />
“phenomenologists”. My paper includes two main parts. In the first part I shall outline the<br />
main points of Kerenyi's thinking from a methodological point of view. In the second part I<br />
shall critically reflect on his views on the method of religious stu<strong>di</strong>es precisely from the<br />
viewpoint of his analytical method. The paper will, however, address methodological issues.<br />
Although my paper concentrates on Kerenyi's views on methodology, its main aim is to<br />
investigate the nature of the method of religious stu<strong>di</strong>es from a more general point of view.<br />
Annika Hvithamar, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark<br />
Translating Orthodoxy: The Danish Orthodox Congregations<br />
95<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00, Classroom 13<br />
During the 20th century Russian Orthodox <strong>di</strong>aspora churches spread all overEurope. In the first<br />
generations these churches were <strong>di</strong>aspora churchescomprised of ethnic Russians and their<br />
descendants. But gradually a new kindof Orthodox Christians has appeared. These have no<br />
affiliation to Russia,and wish to root Orthodox Christianity in their local, national<br />
environment.The presentation will focus on how the Russian Orthodox tra<strong>di</strong>tion today<br />
istranslated into a Danish, predominantly Lutheran context. What happens to Orthodox<br />
Christianity when it is stripped of its national context? How isDanish religious culture<br />
incorporated into the Orthodox congregations? An<strong>di</strong>s anything lost in translation?<br />
Giovanni Ibba, University of Torino, Italy<br />
Gli scritti Mosaici ed Enochici nel Giudaismo tra il II secolo a. C. ed il I d.C.<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.20, Classroom 12<br />
Since II century B.C. to I A.C. Judaism showed many trends, that took one's own convinction<br />
their doctrinal conviction from <strong>di</strong>fferent interpretations on authoritative texts, like Torah,<br />
Nevihim, and Ketuvim. Besides, there were also communities where these books were<br />
considered submit to not as important as those included into enochich corpus (Book of<br />
Whatchers, Book of Astronomy etc), especially from the synthesis of the Essenism between<br />
mosaic and enochich tra<strong>di</strong>tions. A fundamental aspect within Judaic communities in this period<br />
is the interpretation on of the texts, in particular of mosaic tra<strong>di</strong>tion. The interpreter is an<br />
authoritative figure within a community; like Jesus within some Judaism.<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.40, Classroom 9<br />
Pietro Ioly Zorattini, University of U<strong>di</strong>ne, Italy<br />
Conversioni <strong>di</strong> acattolici nella Venezia dell’Ottocento.<br />
In una mia precedente ricerca, I nomi <strong>degli</strong> altri. Conversioni a Venezia e nel Friuli Veneto in<br />
età moderna (Firenze, Olschki 2008), ho analizzato, attraverso la documentazione archivistica
della Pia Casa dei Catecumeni <strong>di</strong> Venezia e <strong>di</strong> alcuni archivi ecclesiastici del Friuli Venezia<br />
Giulia, la storia delle conversioni <strong>degli</strong> acattolici a Venezia e nel Friuli Veneto tra il<br />
Cinquecento e la fine del Settecento, fino alla caduta della Repubblica <strong>di</strong> Venezia. In questa<br />
sede intendo proseguire l’indagine su tale fenomeno durante l’Ottocento, attraverso l’analisi<br />
della documentazione della Pia Casa a tutt’oggi inesplorata, il fondo dell’Ottocento infatti non<br />
è neppure catalogato. Le conversioni del XIX secolo si verificarono nella Venezia austriaca e<br />
in seguito italiana, in un contesto socio-politico e religioso profondamente mutato rispetto a<br />
quello dell’Ancien Régime sotto il governo della Serenissima. In questo periodo mutò non solo<br />
la fisionomia religiosa dei converten<strong>di</strong> ma, in parte, anche le motivazioni che li spinsero a<br />
questo passo decisivo per l’acquisizione non solo <strong>di</strong> una nuova fede, ma anche <strong>di</strong> una nuova<br />
identità culturale. Lo stu<strong>di</strong>o rientra nella tematica più generale della «conversione» nelle<br />
Religioni monoteiste, che viene interpretata dagli stu<strong>di</strong>osi più recenti non come un evento<br />
puramente religioso, bensì come un fenomeno particolarmente significativo per la formazione<br />
<strong>di</strong> nuove identità socio-culturali. Oltrepassando la frontiera fra una fede e l’altra i neofiti<br />
mutavano non <strong>di</strong> rado anche la propria con<strong>di</strong>zione sociale e il proprio modus viven<strong>di</strong>, in altri<br />
termini riuscivano ad eludere un’identità prestabilita e a oltrepassare gli angusti confini imposti<br />
dall’appartenenza socio-religiosa originaria. La Casa dei Catecumeni può pertanto essere<br />
considerata un vero e proprio spazio <strong>di</strong> confine, in tutta la ricchezza e pregnanza <strong>di</strong> questo<br />
termine, fra in<strong>di</strong>vidui provenienti da culture e religioni <strong>di</strong>verse dalla società cattolica <strong>di</strong><br />
maggioranza.<br />
Tuba Isik-Ygit, Ph. D. – University of Bielfeld, Germany<br />
96<br />
Tue 15 th , 10.00, Classroom 6<br />
«Muhammad als Gesandter Gottes», als Gegenstand in ausgewählten Lehrplänen für den<br />
islamischen Religionsunterricht<br />
Religiöse Entwicklung ist mehr als <strong>di</strong>e bloße Übernahme eines Glaubenssystems und auch<br />
mehr als <strong>di</strong>e Nachahmung religiösen Verhaltens. Im Religionsunterricht soll religiöse Bildung<br />
vermittelt werden, <strong>di</strong>e dem Aufbau der eigenen religiösen Identität im Sinne kritisch-reflexiver<br />
in<strong>di</strong>vidueller Bildung <strong>di</strong>ent. Erfahrungen des gelebten Glaubens, <strong>di</strong>e Partizipation an Riten,<br />
Inhalte und religiöse Tra<strong>di</strong>tionen begleiten <strong>di</strong>e Entwicklung der SchülerInnen und tragen zur<br />
Soziabilität bei. Andererseits unterstützt ein Religionsunterricht <strong>di</strong>e Integration von Schule und<br />
der sozialen Lebenswelt der SchülerInnen. Diese und ähnliche Beiträge möchte der Islamische<br />
Religionsunterricht (IRU) in gleicher Weise leisten. Inwiefern Lehrpläne für einen IRU<br />
inhaltlich darauf vorbereitet sind, ist eine andere, wesentliche Frage. D. h. ausgewählte<br />
Lehrpläne für den IRU an Grundschulen sollen unter <strong>di</strong>versen Gesichtspunkten in Bezug auf<br />
den Gesandten Muhammed analysiert werden. Die Einzelanalysen der Lehrpläne sollen<br />
Aufschluss über <strong>di</strong>e fach<strong>di</strong>daktische Behandlung des Gesandten Muhammed in den Lehrplänen<br />
geben. Fragen wie „Welcher Stellenwert wird Muhammed als Person und als Gottesgesandter<br />
eingeräumt?“, „Wird seine Person oder vielmehr seine Gesandtschaft in den Vordergrund<br />
gestellt?“ und ähnliche sich daraus ergebende Fragestellungen sollen beantwortet werden. Der<br />
transnationale Vergleich (Deutschland, England und Türkei) soll dazu <strong>di</strong>enen, <strong>di</strong>e Resultate<br />
daraufhin zu prüfen, ob sie gegebenenfalls relevante Hinweise für <strong>di</strong>e deutsche<br />
Lehrplanentwicklung hinsichtlich Muhammed als inhaltlicher Gegenstand bieten. Interessant<br />
wird zu beobachten sein, ob nicht bei der Konzipierung der jeweiligen Lehrpläne von einem<br />
bestimmten „Muhammed-Bild“ ausgegangen wurde und wie <strong>di</strong>ese Muhammed-Bilder sich<br />
voneinander unterscheiden.<br />
Tue 15 th , 16.20, Classroom 4
Felice Israel, University of Genova, Italy<br />
Giorgio Levi Della Vida storico <strong>di</strong> Israele.<br />
Britt Istoft, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark<br />
Me<strong>di</strong>eval Catharism as a Me<strong>di</strong>terranean Phenomenon.<br />
97<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.40, Classroom 9<br />
Western religious <strong>di</strong>ssidence in the twelfth century constituted an evangelical movement<br />
seeking to reform the Church. The most powerful of these <strong>di</strong>ssident groups was Catharism,<br />
which had a remarkable success in Southern France as well as Northern Italy. Late twelfth<br />
century texts in<strong>di</strong>cate close contact to similar groups in Eastern Europe, the Bogomils.<br />
Me<strong>di</strong>eval Catharism based its understan<strong>di</strong>ng of Christianity on the belief that the creation of<br />
humankind was a Fall in which angelic spirits were trapped in matter. The trapped angelic<br />
spirits, the human soul, were imprisoned in the material world, not only in one lifetime, but<br />
continually by help of re-incarnation. This cycle only stopped when God sent Christ, in a<br />
spiritual body, to release the entrapped sprits by remin<strong>di</strong>ng them of their origin and by the<br />
laying on of hands, by which one was reunited with one’s heavenly spirit. Some elements of<br />
Catharism may have been influenced by late Antique Gnostic thinking, passed down by way of<br />
texts brought along trade and pilgrimage routes, or maybe, as one inquisitor, Anselm of<br />
Alexandria, has it, by Franks while on crusade (1147) in Constantinople. Thus Me<strong>di</strong>eval<br />
Catharism may be seen as not only connecting Eastern and Western European <strong>di</strong>ssident, but<br />
also – by way of textual influence - as a Me<strong>di</strong>terranean phenomenon.<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.20, Classroom 7<br />
Tim Jensen, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark<br />
The Notions of 'Religion' in Danish National Curricula for Primary and upper-secondary<br />
Public Schools Religion Education<br />
The presentation presents and <strong>di</strong>scusses the results of analyses of the notions of religion in<br />
Danish national curricula for public religion education in primary school (grades 1-9) and in<br />
upper-secondary (Gymnasium). The fin<strong>di</strong>ngs are then related to the two <strong>di</strong>fferent tra<strong>di</strong>tions for<br />
religion education as wells to the <strong>di</strong>fferent kinds of education of the RE-teachers.<br />
Frans Jespers, Nijmegen University, Netherlands<br />
Europe’s Third Religion?<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.00, Classroom 4<br />
At the start of the 21 st century, holistic spirituality seems to become Europe’s third religion,<br />
after Christianity and Islam. Although holistic spirituality, or the esoteric milieu, is very
heterogeneous and hardly institutionalized, a coherent worldview can be <strong>di</strong>stinguished (see<br />
Heelas 2008). This holistic worldview can be <strong>di</strong>scerned within esotericism (e.g. former New<br />
Age), neopaganism, human potential activities, Complementary and Alternative Me<strong>di</strong>cine etc.<br />
On the one hand, tendencies of revitalized popular religion are visible in it (see Partridge<br />
2004). On the other hand, there still is an ‘esoteric elite’ of theosophists etc. Eastern influences<br />
are present as well (Campbell 2007). After characterizing this milieu as a more or less coherent<br />
religion, I have two questions. There are strong in<strong>di</strong>cations that such a holistic religion is<br />
growing over the whole of Europe. E.g. in book shops in the cities you can see this with the<br />
large supply of books and magazines on esotericism, holistic help-yourself-books etc. Of<br />
course, there are regional and national <strong>di</strong>fferences, because of religious and other tra<strong>di</strong>tions<br />
(see Jespers 2009). My first question is, whether this idea is correct. The second is, how can we<br />
measure such tendencies, e.g. with a kind of international scientific network on holistic<br />
spirituality.<br />
Ana Jiménez San Cristobal, University of Madrid, Spain<br />
Novedades sobre las laminillas órficas<br />
98<br />
Tue 15 th , 16.00, Classroom 6<br />
El corpus de laminillas órficas ha aumentado en los últimos años gracias a <strong>di</strong>versos hallazgos<br />
arqueológicos y al redescubrimiento de una lámina de Feras, olvidada durante un siglo en el<br />
Museo Arqueológico de Atenas. Las recientes excavaciones ejecutadas en la región de la<br />
antigua Macedonia han sacado a la luz nuevas laminillas de oro. En la necrópolis de Anfípolis<br />
se halló una lámina rectangular situada sobre el pecho de una mujer enterrada en un sarcófago.<br />
El ejemplar, datado entre los siglos IV-III a. C., presenta un texto relativamente breve pero<br />
muy interesante porque aparece el nombre del <strong>di</strong>os Dioniso. De una tumba de la antigua<br />
Heraclea, cerca de Agios Atanasios, procede otra lámina de oro, sin datar, que contiene un<br />
texto también muy breve con el nombre de un iniciado y una alusión al Soberano del Hades. La<br />
laminilla de Feras, datada entre finales del s. IV a. C. y comienzos del s. III a. C., contiene dos<br />
hexámetros incompletos en los que se mencionan tíasos de iniciados y los nombres de los<br />
<strong>di</strong>oses Baco y Deméter Ctonia. Un análisis comparativo entre las láminas de Anfípolis<br />
Heraclea, Feras y el resto de laminillas áureas inscritas tratará de mostrar las coincidencias en<br />
el soporte, contexto arqueológico y, sobre todo, contenido y función de unas y otras, para<br />
determinar si es lícito incorporar los dos últimos hallazgos macedonios al creciente corpus de<br />
laminillas.<br />
Marianne Keppens, Ghent University, Belgium<br />
The European Concept of Religion and the Idea of a Hindu Nation<br />
Wed 16 th , 17.40, Classroom 8<br />
The past decennia scholars in the domain of postcolonial and religious stu<strong>di</strong>es have argued that<br />
the religion Hinduism is a construction that has come out of the encounter of Europeans and<br />
In<strong>di</strong>ans in the colonial period. One of the claims within this account is that an orientalist and<br />
missionary assumption – namely, that the In<strong>di</strong>an religions form one unified pan-In<strong>di</strong>an religion
- was used by In<strong>di</strong>ans to establish an independent In<strong>di</strong>an nation. In other words, the claim is<br />
that the coming into being of a Hindu religious identity was the result of the fact that In<strong>di</strong>ans<br />
needed a common cultural characteristic and happened to find the western idea of a pan-In<strong>di</strong>an<br />
religion useful for this purpose. In this paper I will argue that the fact that In<strong>di</strong>ans declared<br />
Hinduism to be the religion of the Hindu nation was not the result of a pragmatic reasoning but<br />
a necessary consequence of seeing themselves as a nation. That is, they took over a description<br />
of their culture based on a western concept of what nations are, viz. a people characterized by a<br />
religion and a language. The idea of a Hindu nation, characterized by the religion Hinduism<br />
with Sanskrit as its language, is one of the essential elements in the way Europeans have<br />
experienced and made sense of the In<strong>di</strong>an culture. From the outset the idea of a pan-In<strong>di</strong>an<br />
religion in the European descriptions was intrinsically linked to the idea of a Hindu nation of<br />
In<strong>di</strong>a and both reflect a specifically European understan<strong>di</strong>ng of what nations are.<br />
Tue 15 th , 10.20, Classroom 13<br />
David W. Kim, University of Sydney, Australia<br />
Thomasine Community and Its Textualization in Late Antiquity<br />
The article argues the institutional aptitude of an ancient community for the transmission of the<br />
primitive Christian Logia. It is a historical fact that there was not only a single group of the<br />
religion around 50 C.E., but many sects carrying on <strong>di</strong>fferent cultures of the Jesus tra<strong>di</strong>tion.<br />
The religio-philosophical ideology of the community leader would have affected the policy of<br />
each group in which they themselves established their own identity of the sacred movement.<br />
The Gospel of Thomas, likewise, reflects the in<strong>di</strong>viduality and independence of the Thomasine<br />
community in the history and literature of the Graeco-Roman Christianity. Then, when was the<br />
time the followers started to consider the necessary of the canonization? What were the<br />
internal and external causes to challenge the belief of the community, creating a written<br />
tra<strong>di</strong>tion? Did the ancient group possess an institutional skill or school? If yes, who would<br />
conduct the process of the textualization? The paper, based on the three Greek fragments of<br />
the Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 654, 1, 655, together with the Nag Hamma<strong>di</strong> Codex (NHC) II, 2.<br />
32:10–51: 28, argue a fresh insight that the Thomasine group was historically continued by a<br />
bridging generation between the first and second generations of the community.<br />
Wed 16 th , 18.00, Classroom 6<br />
Valeria Kosiakova, University of Moscow, Russia<br />
Between Asia and Europe: Reconsidering St. Basil's Red Square Cathedral Architecture<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.20, Classroom 14<br />
Ábrahám Kovács, General Secretary HASR, Hungary<br />
Religion versus Theology? A Hungarian Case<br />
99<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.40, Classroom 12
100<br />
Attila Kovács, University of Bratislava, Slovakia<br />
Visual Representation of Jerusalem and Palestinian Islamic Movements<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.20, Classroom 4<br />
Shemsi Krasniqi, University of Prishtina, Kosovo<br />
Croyances anciennes et temps modernes. Le cas du Kosovo<br />
Les croyances et les pratiques rituelles depuis l’antiquité, aujourd’hui, sont présentes au<br />
Kosovo. Leur étude au point de vue d’anthropologie, d’histoire et de sociologie, est très<br />
importante, parce qu’il s’agit d’un syncrétisme culturel très particulier. Au Kosovo on trouve<br />
plusieurs types de croyances et de pratiques rituelles qui viennent de l’antiquité, mais ici, on<br />
parle sur trois types, qui, a mon avis, sont les plus importants: les pèlerinages dans les<br />
montagnes, les cultes des arbres et les rites de passages dans la pierre. En général, ces éléments<br />
culturels archaïques se déroulent dans un cycle temporel (dans les jours précis ou les fêtes<br />
locales) et dans les endroits particuliers. La relation entre la forme extérieure ou l’apparence,<br />
d‘un coté, et le sens intérieur ou l’inhérence, de l’autre coté, représente l’idée principale de<br />
mon étude. Un autre point de vue est celui du changement socio-culturel dans la société<br />
contemporaine du Kosovo. L’influence de la modernité concerne tout d’abord la mo<strong>di</strong>fication<br />
des formes et du contenu des croyances et des pratiques rituelles, et de définir leur sens par<br />
rapport au système des valeurs et du style moderne de la vie.<br />
Helena Kupari, University of Helsinki, Finland<br />
An Evacuee Religion? The Case of the Finnish Orthodox Community<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.40, Classroom 14<br />
During the II WW, 2/3 of the Finnish Orthodox population (of 80 000 people) were evacuated<br />
from their tra<strong>di</strong>tional homelands in Karelia, which had become a battle zone between Finnish<br />
and Soviet armies. After the war these lands were indeed assigned to the SU. The Orthodox,<br />
along with other Karelian evacuees, were resettled to other parts of Finland. The Finnish<br />
Orthodox Church lost 90 % of its infrastructure and embarked on a massive rebuil<strong>di</strong>ng project,<br />
both material and spiritual. In Finland, for decades after the war, Orthodoxy was linked<br />
together with evacuee experience and lost Karelia. My paper traces the 20 th Century history of<br />
the Finnish Orthodox community, focusing on the legacy of the evacuation and post-war<br />
developments. Issues of ethnicity, gender and generation will receive special attention. The<br />
Orthodox evacuees, in many locales, introduced religious plurality to a spiritual landscape<br />
dominated by Lutheranism. What challenges <strong>di</strong>d the Orthodox evacuees face 60 years ago?<br />
How does the Finnish Orthodox community fare today?<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.00, Classroom 12<br />
Doing Religion – Remembering Religion. Social memory in the lived religion of Orthodox<br />
Karelian women<br />
My paper stu<strong>di</strong>es the interrelationship between religious agency and social memory. By<br />
focusing on agency as a “temporally embedded process of social engagement” (Emirbayer &<br />
Mische), I trace the ways in which social memory – shared interpretations concerning past,
101<br />
present and future – influence the lived religion of or<strong>di</strong>nary practitioners. As a case example I<br />
use my research on the religion of elderly Orthodox Karelian women in Finland.<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.20, Classroom 5<br />
Jann Lahe, University of Tallinn, Estonia<br />
Gnosticism and Mistery Religions<br />
The issue of the religious history of Gnosticism has been a topic of debate in science, and no<br />
satisfactory solution has been found to the question to this day. At the appearance of<br />
Gnosticism, the effect of various religions, inclu<strong>di</strong>ng ancient mystery religions, has been taken<br />
into account.Gnosticism has several contact points with many ancient mystery religions. Both<br />
Gnosticism and mystery religions are redemption religions, characterised by the idea that<br />
redemption is for the chosen ones only. In ad<strong>di</strong>tion to general similarities, there are also points<br />
of contact between Gnosticism and specific mystery religions as well. Thus, the Orphic<br />
treatment of people, the soul and its redemption reminds one of the respective approaches in<br />
Gnosticism. The descen<strong>di</strong>ng of the soul through planetary spheres, a teaching acknowledged in<br />
the Mithraic cult, finds many parallels in Gnostic writings. The rituals of the Ophite sects,<br />
described by Epihpanius (Pan 37,5,6-8), in which the serpent was significant, can be found in<br />
the cult of Sabazios. In some Hermetic tractates (CH I, IV and XIII), parallels can also be<br />
found with Gnostic images and ideas. The contacts between Gnosticism and mystery religions<br />
raise the question whether there is reason to talk about the effect of mystery religions on the<br />
appearance of Gnosticism. If the main ideas of Gnosticism are proceeded from (<strong>di</strong>vine element<br />
in a person and its entity of unity with a higher deity; <strong>di</strong>stinction between a higher deity and<br />
lower, <strong>di</strong>vine creatures who have created the world; specific Gnostic redemption teaching,<br />
etc.), certain similarities between Gnosticism and Orphism can be talked about, but the <strong>di</strong>rect<br />
effect of Orphism on Gnostic ideas cannot be proved. The teaching of the journey of the soul<br />
through <strong>di</strong>fferent heavenly spheres, found both in Mithraism and Gnosticism, is a topos widely<br />
spread in the Late Antiquity and it cannot be proved that the Gnostics have borrowed this idea<br />
from Mithraism. On the basis of the comparison of the main ideas of Gnosticism and mystery<br />
religions, it can be stated that the position, accor<strong>di</strong>ng to which the roots of Gnosticism lie in<br />
mystery religions, is highly unlikely. However, it must be considered that some Gnostic groups<br />
(Ophites) have taken examples for the establishment of their rituals from mystery religions and<br />
in the case of the so-called Hermetic Gnosticism found in Hermetic tractates, it is a special case<br />
– a peculiar synthesis of Gnosticism and the spirituality of mystery religions. If the general<br />
similarities between Gnosticism and mystery religions can be explained by the fact that both<br />
Gnosticism and mystery religions appeared and spread in the same cultural space – in the<br />
Me<strong>di</strong>terranean area – and they phenomenologically represent one and the same religion type<br />
(redemption religions), then Ophites and Hermetic Gnosticism are good examples of how the<br />
Gnostics adapted the rites and ideas of the existing religions for their own use.<br />
Alberto Latorre, University of Verona, Italy<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.20, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
La Storia delle Religioni tra «ragioni <strong>di</strong> prudenza» e ragion <strong>di</strong> Stato. Uno spaccato della<br />
ricerca storico-religiosa al tempo del fascismo e della reazione anti-modernista nella<br />
corrispondenza <strong>di</strong> Israel Zoller con Raffaele Pettazzoni.<br />
Per circa trent’anni il Rabbino Capo e semitista, professore <strong>di</strong> Ebraico e lingue semitiche<br />
comparate, Israel Zoller, fu uno <strong>degli</strong> abituali corrispondenti <strong>di</strong> Raffale Pettazzoni, assiduo
102<br />
collaboratore <strong>di</strong> «<strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong> e Materiali <strong>di</strong> Storia delle Religioni», nonché suo interlocutore<br />
privilegiato per l’ebraismo e fidato referente per le questioni <strong>di</strong> filologia semitica. Le<br />
sessantatre lettere <strong>di</strong> Zoller, conservate presso il Fondo Pettazzoni della biblioteca comunale<br />
«G.C. Croce» <strong>di</strong> San Giovanni in Persiceto (Bo), rappresentano la concreta testimonianza <strong>di</strong><br />
questa continuità <strong>di</strong> legami scientifici e umani. Purtroppo, a delineare il quadro complessivo <strong>di</strong><br />
questo intenso scambio epistolare, mancano le missive destinate a Zoller, quasi certamente<br />
andate perdute, in parte, a seguito dell’occupazione nazista <strong>di</strong> Roma e, in parte, a causa della<br />
spartizione dell’archivio privato <strong>di</strong> Zoller. Tuttavia, nel Fondo Pettazzoni sono presenti due<br />
lettere in malacopia <strong>di</strong> Pettazzoni a Zoller, <strong>di</strong> cui la prima, databile settembre 1932, rappresenta<br />
senza dubbio un piccolo, ma significativo spaccato, sia dei rapporti personali che<br />
intercorrevano tra i due e delle rispettive impostazioni metodologiche, ma anche e soprattutto<br />
del pesante clima <strong>di</strong> sospetto e <strong>di</strong> tensione nel quale si conducevano gli stu<strong>di</strong> storico-religiosi<br />
all’epoca della <strong>di</strong>ttatura fascista e della vigile sorveglianza esercitata dalla Chiesa cattolica nel<br />
campo delle <strong>di</strong>scipline storico-religiose, in conseguenza della vicenda modernista e a fronte del<br />
sorgere della psicoanalisi. Le «ragioni <strong>di</strong> prudenza» a cui si appellò Pettazzoni per negare al<br />
semitista la pubblicazione su «<strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong> e Materiali» <strong>di</strong> un articolo avente per oggetto Pesach e la<br />
Pasqua, e il loro raffronto sia con le tesi espresse da Zoller in tale contributo – successivamente<br />
incluso ne Il Nazareno –, sia con la decisa presa <strong>di</strong> posizione <strong>di</strong> quest’ultimo nella risposta<br />
inviata a Pettazzoni, restituiscono dunque l’intensa trama, non solo del prendere forma della<br />
metodologia storico-religiosa, ma specialmente del tumultuoso sorgere della Storia delle<br />
Religioni in Italia, dei contrasti e dei <strong>di</strong>fficili equilibri, talvolta dei compomessi, a cui anche<br />
Pettazzoni dovette ricorrere per consentirne la sopravvivenza negli anni bui del regime fascista<br />
e della reazione anti-modernista.<br />
Leo Lestingi, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Tue 15 th , 16.00, Classroom 8<br />
Fra secolarizzazione e de-privatizzazione della religione: il contributo <strong>di</strong> Peter L. Berger<br />
The cognitive con<strong>di</strong>tion of the believing man has been ra<strong>di</strong>cally changed by modernity. Even<br />
though “return to the sacred” and “revenge of God” are most <strong>di</strong>scussed today with great<br />
emphasis, and consequently, the crisis of the secularization theory; yet some processes that<br />
have beset the believing conscience and the same modern society show irreversibility. The<br />
theory of “religious economy” that seems, in this contribution, to be in <strong>di</strong>rect contrast to the<br />
theory of secularization and that of the “de-privatization of the religious”, is instead an<br />
intelligent refinement of it. It intends to offer a theoretical clarification input, in the light of<br />
Berger’s complex and dynamic sociological theory, on the irreversible sense of secularization<br />
in modern society. The theory is to be deducted, however, from ideological apriorismus and<br />
rigid interpretative cages. The dynamism of the cultural processes of modern and post-modern<br />
society, the continuous transformation of the religious forms, the increasing phenomena of<br />
institutional <strong>di</strong>fferentiation lead to making secularization only a descriptive and interpretative<br />
category of a complex and <strong>di</strong>fferentiated society, subjected to ever purely deterministic and<br />
unilateral processes.<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.20, Classroom 12
Liviu Damian, University of Bucarest, Rumania<br />
103<br />
At the Convergence of the Discipline of Knowledge: Theology, Historiography and Science.<br />
The Cognitive and the Existential Dimension of Theology and Historiography and its Societal<br />
Implications in the Post-modern Epistemological Dilemma<br />
Our approach to the understan<strong>di</strong>ng of things, inclu<strong>di</strong>ng religion, must be epistemological and<br />
so conceptual. The reason we cannot ignore epistemology it is because we cannot avoid the<br />
“truth questions”. If we ignore the “truth questions” in a certain matter we will find ourselves<br />
loosing the objective reasonable way of understan<strong>di</strong>ng it (and nobody operates in the <strong>di</strong>fferent<br />
areas of his life in such a way). The unexamined life is not worth of been living, said Socrates.<br />
To avoid epistemology it is to fall in existentialism which favors the “modes of been” (M.<br />
Heidegger) rather then factual field of knowledge. While today most of the sources for<br />
understan<strong>di</strong>ng things (concerning the in<strong>di</strong>vidual and society) are coming from the side of<br />
sociology/antropology, using <strong>di</strong>fferent categories of "knowledge"(class, gender, race etc) than<br />
those of tra<strong>di</strong>tional philosophy (the questions of origins, destiny, meaning etc) there is still a<br />
posibility of using epistemology by using the concepts of certain societal "problems" (as Karl<br />
Popper would say for natural sciences and historiography) that appear to be relevent in the<br />
study of society and in the field of human knowledge. Epistemology is not dead, as R. Rorty<br />
said. Postmodernism/poststructuralism makes use of the same “cognitive exercise” when<br />
proposes concepts as "solidarity", others of "corporeality", and so on. Of course, R. Rorty<br />
would denied that postmodernism is an exercise or a method etc. Anyway, the present social<br />
theory of knowledge should not fall in the same category of "fundamentalism" (Umberto Eco,<br />
in one of his writings, uses this term for "political correctness", in its american societal<br />
practice), as it was the case with other theories and to became exclusivist in eliminating other<br />
concepts merely fo the sake of the others. If it does so, then it becomes clear that the only<br />
social "reality" is embo<strong>di</strong>ed in the concepts of poststructural understan<strong>di</strong>ng (that is not only<br />
reductionism but also ignorance of factual knowledge). Because if poststructuralism is<br />
antilogocentrical (opposed to logocentrism) then the concept of "solidarity", used to create a<br />
better societal world, by postmodernists as R. Rorty, falls under the same judgment as it was<br />
the case with philosophical and theological realism from their point of view. So far,<br />
postmodernism <strong>di</strong>d not progressed in showing a better way for not using “epistemological”<br />
concepts but more than that it takes the whole social reality into postmodern concepts. The<br />
conceptual proposal here from the postmodernist side is that “solidarity” or “corporeality” are<br />
presented from a neutral position, purely human,and it can help to eliminate, for example,<br />
intolerance that exists in every approach that emphases on value, meaning, factuality,<br />
rationality, objectivity etc. But the problem would be then, from historians of culture and<br />
theologians side in saying that this type of concepts avoid the intrinsic value of our existence<br />
which is generally speaking theological. So, postmodernism proposes concepts that are void of<br />
theological content eliminating in the same time the truth question taking us all into a neutral<br />
ground where there is nothing but uniformity and no meaning of things. While I criticise<br />
scientism (the religion of science) for reducing the term "knowledge" to the sphere of natural<br />
sciences, I still use the term "knowledge/scientia" for historiography and theology, where those<br />
two intellectual activities offers us a particular way of knowing things, human relations and<br />
corporate social meanings and purposes. Hayden White said that the reason for society in<br />
loosing its interest in the study of historiography it is because we lost the interest in religion<br />
and metaphysics (which were marked as "nonsensical" by the natural science positivists). We<br />
<strong>di</strong>scovered that through a study of history/historiography and theology there can be something<br />
of cognitive and existential value on the part of theology through historiography: that is, for<br />
example, the theological concept of "oikonomia" and the concept of "corporeality" connected<br />
to the event of christological "incarnation" (see for example the work of Athanasios the Great).
104<br />
Taking the postmodern verbiage and philosophical challenge, we can say that the concept of<br />
"corporeality" as a mark of natural ethics (Umberto Eco) without the theological value<br />
(christological value) It is not so much a matter of "me" and the "other" as finite beings, but the<br />
finite "me" as corporeal and the "infinite christological Other" with humanity. It is the value of<br />
corporeality given in the "Incorporeal" at the moment of incarnation, and that is in the<br />
christological sense of humanity and human relations. Since we are so bound to our human<br />
con<strong>di</strong>tion, and limited to our cognitive faculties, the only way to know something of value in<br />
history it is not (we would say) through the "cold" rational understan<strong>di</strong>ng of the kantian<br />
numen/phenomenon but through the relationship created by the Other: that is through the<br />
meaning of forgivness, love, righteousness etc. But all these are values, of our human<br />
existence, that can be found with a proper and particular rationality only among humans (and<br />
that is in their societal behaviour: the christological example of the cross). So, rationality and<br />
values are not proper only to natural sciences but to the study of human phenomenology in a<br />
particular way. That particular way is theological (value: the actions of forgiveness, love etc)<br />
and the means are historical/historiographycal: event (the Christological meaning of<br />
incarnation, incorporeal/corporeal, the Other as corporeal. As the"corporeality" of the Other is<br />
not a metaphor and its humanity should not be consider a "metaphor" or we will reduce our<br />
human existence and our relationships to nonsense just because of been too much afraid of<br />
theological realism). Christology show to us that theological realism is at least as realistic as<br />
social realism and it shows to us that finite and the contingent things/beings can receive<br />
theological value (the cross, the human body, the self redefined in christological sense). So, to<br />
know it is also to understand but its applicability is always existential.<br />
Wed 16 th , 16.00, Classroom 13<br />
Sarah Ljubibratic, University of Lausanne, Switzerland<br />
Jews and New Christians under the Roman Inquisition. A Maltese variant of Marranism?<br />
Jewish Slaves in the Me<strong>di</strong>terranean Sea<br />
In the sixteenth century’s Me<strong>di</strong>terranean context, the Maltese archipelago has been established<br />
as a ‘frontière de chrétienté’, while at the same time, it represented the center of the<br />
Me<strong>di</strong>terranean corsairing. During this period, the Islands were controlled by two authorities: on<br />
one hand, the Order of Saint-John of Jerusalem, which received the Island from Charles V in<br />
1524 and settled down in 1530; on a second hand, the Holy Office, established since 1574,<br />
which was in charge of moral and religious order in Malta. Malta being considered as a<br />
corsairing state, the main income of the Order came from the plunders brought back by the<br />
vessels from the expe<strong>di</strong>tions on the East of the Me<strong>di</strong>terranean Sea and along the North African<br />
coast. All the goods and passengers were meant to the Treasury of the Order. The seizures<br />
comprised many Jews who were making their way to the East and the Ottoman Empire. The<br />
Jews, sold into captivity, could only obtain their freedom if ransomed by relatives or by the<br />
Confraternities for the Redemption of Captives (Hevrath Pi<strong>di</strong>om Shevouyim) of Venice and<br />
Leghorn. In view of this context, my work intends to analyse the situation of the Jews of Malta.<br />
In fact, Maltese historiography considers the end of the Maltese Jewish community as a result<br />
of the E<strong>di</strong>ct of Expulsion of 1492 – Malta being under of the Spanish Crown – bringing them<br />
to conversion and to the exile to Sicily. Nonetheless, the arrival of the Knights of St-John of<br />
Jerusalem and the raise of the Christian corsairing lead to the settling of a new Jewish<br />
community on the island: a slave community, in the hands to the Order, and in contact with<br />
free Jewish merchants tributary of a safe-conduct. These in<strong>di</strong>viduals were confronted to two<br />
<strong>di</strong>stinct problems: first, the Inquisition and its goal of maintaining a moral and religious order<br />
on this border-island, where the Jews could have represented a threat; secondly, slavery and
105<br />
ransoming, which became an attractive market during the seventeenth century. In this paper I<br />
will attempt to explore one particular aspect of this configuration. More specifically, I will<br />
explore the Jewish slaves community, detained in the prison of the Order, as a reproduction of<br />
the Venetian ghetto, pointing out its specificities in the Maltese society in a social and<br />
economic perspective.<br />
Lucrezia Lorenzini, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Tue 15 th , 18.00, Classroom 4<br />
Antigiudaismo religioso e antigiudaismo politico-sociale tra silenzio e memoria futuri<br />
Dalla Lettera <strong>di</strong> Barnaba alla Lettera a Diogneto, attraverso le figure <strong>di</strong> Ireneo e <strong>di</strong> Origene, e<br />
lungo l’era costantiniana con Teodosio I e con Ambrogio vengono prodotte documentazioni,<br />
che manifestano le espressioni e lo spirito della polemica antigiudaica. Eusebio <strong>di</strong> Cesarea,<br />
Giustino e Giovanni Crisostomo, Tertulliano, Ambrogio e Bernardo <strong>di</strong> Chiaravalle, Bernar<strong>di</strong>no<br />
da Siena, Giovanni <strong>di</strong> Capestrano e Cesarie <strong>di</strong> Heisterbach porgono, nella loro opera patristica,<br />
suggellata da più <strong>di</strong>fferenziazioni, una testimonianza sulla contrapposizione al perfidus<br />
Iudaeus, deicida, calunniatore <strong>di</strong> Cristo e della Madonna, idolatra e profanatore dell’ostia sacra.<br />
L’elaborazione teologica del tema da parte <strong>di</strong> Agostino, sempre attento a cogliere i semi <strong>di</strong><br />
verità (i logoi stoici) anche dai pagani, introduce però un elemento negativo nel giu<strong>di</strong>zio sugli<br />
ebrei: è la “teoria della sostituzione” dell’antico Israele da parte del nuovo Israele, la chiesa. Le<br />
polemiche antigiudaiche, presenti nel Nuovo Testamento, si svolgono lungo <strong>di</strong>verse <strong>di</strong>rettrici:<br />
storica, teologica, escatologica, ecclesiale, quale forma <strong>di</strong> reazione alle richieste giudaizzanti<br />
presenti in ambienti <strong>di</strong> cristiani provenienti dal paganesimo. A partire dal Me<strong>di</strong>oevo,<br />
soprattutto con la pre<strong>di</strong>cazione francescana, l’antigiudaismo si riveste anche <strong>di</strong> implicazioni<br />
politiche, speculari al rafforzamento dell’identità dei cristiani, sino a giungere all’età moderna,<br />
nella quale si riscontra un progetto politico, tendente a una accentuata separazione tra ebrei e<br />
cristiani. Una nuova era viene instaurata con il Concilio Ecumenico Vaticano II, all’interno del<br />
quale dall’intenzione iniziale <strong>di</strong> stendere una semplice <strong>di</strong>chiarazione sul giudaismo e sui Giudei<br />
come appen<strong>di</strong>ce al decreto sull’ecumenismo si giunse a un documento autonomo, Nostra<br />
Aetate, de<strong>di</strong>cato al rapporto tra la chiesa e le religioni non cristiane. Il recente magistero<br />
universale della chiesa, così come i documenti <strong>di</strong> conferenze episcopali e <strong>di</strong> singole chiese<br />
locali, riba<strong>di</strong>scono il profondo vincolo che valorizza la comunità della chiesa e quella del<br />
popolo ebraico “a livello della propria identità religiosa”, secondo la Scrittura e la tra<strong>di</strong>zione.<br />
Le ripetute espressioni <strong>di</strong> Giovanni Paolo II ieri e <strong>di</strong> Benedetto XVI oggi sottolineano come la<br />
relazione della chiesa con il popolo ebraico è <strong>di</strong>versa da quella che con<strong>di</strong>vide con ogni altra<br />
religione: il futuro comune <strong>di</strong> ebrei e <strong>di</strong> cristiani ha necessità del ricordo, perché non c’è futuro<br />
senza memoria e perché la storia stessa è memoria futuri.<br />
Sonia Macrì, University of Siena, Italy<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.20, Classroom 14<br />
Lights, Shadows, Pro<strong>di</strong>gious Reflections: Divinatory Use of Gemstones in Classical Lapidaries<br />
By employing an anthropological perspective, I will focus on the representation of gemstones<br />
in antiquity, in order to <strong>di</strong>scover why these objects were considered good to make contact with<br />
supernatural world. Greek and Roman lapidaries show that the <strong>di</strong>vinatory use of gems develops
106<br />
from perceptive data. The ra<strong>di</strong>ant light which emanates from gemstones is compared with the<br />
visual ray. The analysis of the literary sources provides us with the peculiar traits of this<br />
relation: the brilliant ray of gemstones does not shine like the human eyes; it is the equivalent<br />
of eyes endowed with an extraor<strong>di</strong>nary sight. The referents are often animals that are able to<br />
see in the darkness or to bear the sight of the sun, such us the wolf and the eagle, and animals<br />
endowed of eyes which grow again such us the swallow and the lizard. This metaphorical<br />
correspondence found itself on ‘sympathetic’ links and supports beliefs about healing power of<br />
gemstones. The lapidaries, in fact, report much information about me<strong>di</strong>cal prescriptions that<br />
were considered useful for eye <strong>di</strong>seases, and they appeal to many eye drops (rhinion,<br />
chelidonium, hieracium, lynkeus). Moreover, literary sources witness the efficacy of gemstones<br />
in intensifying the human sight beyond the permitted boundary. In this view, gemstones look<br />
like ad<strong>di</strong>tional eyes, able to bring into focus what is forbidden to the human sight (such us the<br />
lapis heliotropius which enable to see the solar eclipse or the dracontia which provides with a<br />
double pupil). The reflecting power of gemstones is able to caused hallucinations and, at the<br />
same time, its surface is conceived such as an object capable to catch and materialize imagines<br />
of another <strong>di</strong>mension. Gemstone’ brightness is the starting point to put in relations the stone<br />
and the inextinguishable lights which emanate from gods, accor<strong>di</strong>ng to opinion which was<br />
already present in the Mesopotamian culture and generally in ancient Near East. The shining<br />
stone is not a simple material entity but it is the instrument to light up the sphere of invisibility,<br />
such us in the anecdote of the block of marble which produce the epiphany of Silenus (Pliny,<br />
N.h., 36.14). It will be interesting to examine some examples, in order to highlight the elements<br />
referable to the Greek and Roman world and elements to trace back to other religious<br />
tra<strong>di</strong>tions.<br />
Cesare Magazzù, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Paolo VI e l’Europa<br />
Tina Mahlamäki, University of Turku, Finland<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
Tue 15 th , 18.20, Classroom 6<br />
The Discussions and Image of Emanuel Swedenborg in the 19th century Newspapers of<br />
Finland<br />
Despite extensive stu<strong>di</strong>es on the influence of Swe<strong>di</strong>sh scientist and visionary Emanuel<br />
Swedenborg (1688–1771) on prominent persons and movements in modern culture, there has<br />
virtually been no research made on the reception of his ideas in Finland. In my paper I will<br />
map and evaluate the Discussions of Swedenborg in 19 th century newspapers published in<br />
Finland. All newspapers are available in <strong>di</strong>gitized form from the database of the National<br />
Library of Finland. By analyzing articles dealing with Swedenborg I will trace the ways his<br />
ideas spread and contextualized in the public <strong>di</strong>scourses. In the paper I will demonstrate that<br />
Swedenborg and his theological and spiritual ideas form self-evident part of the public<br />
knowledge in the 19 th century Finland.<br />
Tue 15 th , 16.00, Classroom 12
Ivar Kh. Maksutov, Moscow State University, Russia<br />
Orthodox Anthropology and Psychology in Post-Soviet Russia: Friends or Foes?<br />
107<br />
In Russian Orthodox Christianity the problem of interaction with psychology has currently<br />
become very prominent, especially in the course of weak systematization of theological<br />
anthropology. After the October Revolution in 1917 theological education in Russia was ruined<br />
and thus Orthodox stu<strong>di</strong>es in the field of anthropology (doctrine of human being) was frozen.<br />
At the same time, psychology became an independent well-structured <strong>di</strong>scipline and as so it<br />
was trying to introduce to higher education and science of Soviet society. As long as orthodox<br />
anthropology and secular psychology were developed separately, they have <strong>di</strong>fferent lexicons,<br />
concepts and approaches in the same sphere, sphere of spiritual being. Consequently, attempts<br />
to bridge the gap between two <strong>di</strong>sciplines raised many problems, questions, struggles and<br />
Discussions. In my paper the most urgent of them, which have arisen in the introduction of<br />
psychology to Russian Orthodox Christianity, will be examined step-by-step as examples of<br />
the situation in the Post-Soviet area.<br />
Raffaele Pettazzoni and Religious Anthropology<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.00, Classroom 12<br />
It is of no doubt that if a historian of religion aim to understand religion, one need to consider<br />
the anthropological (‘humanological’) question in his research. It means that when we study<br />
particular religious tra<strong>di</strong>tion, we should at the very first step understand what this tra<strong>di</strong>tion<br />
considers human to be. Such approach was developed in a <strong>di</strong>scipline called ‘religious<br />
anthropology’, i.e. a comparative study of religious concepts, views on human being. The<br />
<strong>di</strong>scipline has never been independent, but a part of the phenomenology of religion or the<br />
history of religions. The first and the last monograph focused on this topic was a collection of<br />
essays ‘Anthropologie religieuse’ (ed. C.J. Bleeker, 1955). At the very beginning of this book a<br />
short article of Raffaelle Pettazzoni ‘La con<strong>di</strong>tion humaine’ was situated, where he formulated<br />
general approach to anthropology as a study of human and religious anthropology as a<br />
<strong>di</strong>scipline. In my paper basic principles of this <strong>di</strong>scipline in its contemporary state alongside<br />
with examples of its use in the works of honorable scholar of religion Raffaelle Petazzoni will<br />
be stu<strong>di</strong>ed step-by-step.<br />
Pietro Mander, University of Napoli “L’Orientale”, Italy<br />
Ra<strong>di</strong>ci nel pantheon sumerico-babilonese <strong>di</strong> Hekate <strong>degli</strong> Oracula Chaldaica<br />
Tue 15 th , 16.20, Classroom 8<br />
Anche se “caldaico” nella Tarda Antichità non è un attributo specificamente geografico, esso<br />
non esclude un riferimento, pur generico e vago, all’area vicino orientale e mesopotamica. La<br />
figura della dea Hekate negli Oracula Chaldaica è stata fatta oggetto <strong>di</strong> recenti indagini<br />
esaustive: cfr. Johnston, Sarah Iles, Hekate Soteira: a Study of Hekate's Roles in the Chaldean<br />
Oracles and Related Literature, American Classical <strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong>es 21. Atlanta, Scholar's Press, 1990.<br />
A questo si aggiungano le considerazioni sviluppate da West, David R., Some cults of Greek<br />
Goddesses and Female Daemons of Oriental Origin, Alter Orient und Altes Testament Bd.<br />
233,Kevelaer (Germany) : Butzon & Bercker ; Neukirchen-Vluyn : Neukirchener Verlag,1995,<br />
dove è considerata la figura demonica della Lamaštu come fonte della più tarda Hekate. Al <strong>di</strong><br />
là <strong>di</strong> collegamenti generali tra le concezioni <strong>degli</strong> Oracula Chaldaica e quelle mesopotamiche,<br />
che saranno oggetto <strong>di</strong> uno stu<strong>di</strong>o più ampio, tratti significativi delle gran<strong>di</strong> figure femminili<br />
<strong>di</strong>vine del mondo sumerico-acca<strong>di</strong>co sono <strong>di</strong>stintamente riconoscibili nella Hekate <strong>degli</strong>
108<br />
Oracula Chaldaica. Non solo la Lamaštu, quin<strong>di</strong>, come messo in luce da D. R. West, ma anche<br />
Gula, la dea guaritrice protettrice dei cani, e la dea-madre Ninhursanga, ovvero la Beelet ilie<br />
acca<strong>di</strong>ca, possiedono caratteri che si riscontrano in Hekate. Le fisionomie <strong>di</strong> queste due dee<br />
sono piuttosto sfocate e possono assumere manifestazioni <strong>di</strong>verse; non così la terza grande<br />
figura femminile, Inana / Ištar, anch'essa presente tuttavia in taluni aspetti della Hekate <strong>degli</strong><br />
Oracula Chaldaica. L'indagine considererà quali tratti, da quale figura <strong>di</strong>vina siano stati<br />
assorbiti da quest'ultima e in quale contesto <strong>di</strong> pensiero.<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.00, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
Raffaele Manduca, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Due centri, una periferia. Strutture ecclesiastiche e <strong>di</strong>namiche istituzionali nella Sicilia<br />
spagnola<br />
The institutional triangle (Judge of Monarchy, Inquisition, Bishops), complicated by the<br />
important supplement of Tribunal of the Crusade on which the ecclesiastic organization and<br />
significant quotes of the Sicilian religious background depend, is built through a long period,<br />
strict, political <strong>di</strong>alects; in this, the centrality of the centre-periphery relation is complicated by<br />
the first term (Madrid-Roma) splitting, the Sicilian province refers to. By arranging the<br />
religious organization peculiar traits, this institutional play, along with the right of jus<br />
patronato over all the reign <strong>di</strong>oceses, will configure the same bo<strong>di</strong>es as instruments by which<br />
the Spanish centre will follow an ecclesiastic politics appropriate to a modern public entity<br />
(inclu<strong>di</strong>ng fiscal and political-<strong>di</strong>sciplinary advantages). Thus, starting from 16 th century, Sicily<br />
becomes an increasingly filled space, in terms of religious-ecclesiastic juris<strong>di</strong>ction with a rigid<br />
<strong>di</strong>sciplinary competitiveness (in ad<strong>di</strong>tion to the pastoral one that involves bishops and religious<br />
orders) that has remarkable effects over people’s background. Besides, at the same time,<br />
through a chronic struggle between the capitals (Madrid-Palermo) and the Roman seat,<br />
complicated by the con<strong>di</strong>tion of removal from the power that marks the Sicilian periphery in<br />
comparison with the composite monarchy core, an instable balance settles and it is destined to<br />
become more and more evident during the 17 th century. This precariousness is dramatically<br />
broken at the beginning of 18 th century, during the harshest conflict between State and Church<br />
in the whole Modern Age, that is known as the Liparitana controversy.<br />
Barbara Marino, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Memoria, violenza e oblio: gli alastores<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.00, Classroom 6<br />
Sometimes the inability to forget takes the shape of a terrible ghost who threatens the identity<br />
of every single person and of the community he/she belongs to. Alastor represents one of these<br />
threats. It is the executioner and the victim of a murder, the revenge demon who comes and<br />
brings death and, at the same time, the demon who has been evoked by this death itself. Alastor<br />
appears as the crime and the origin, the consequences and the punishment of the crime itself.<br />
Therefore, the term alastor belongs to both the victim’s and the murderer’s semantic field. The<br />
memory – as the etymology of the term alastor reveals – is the place where two mirror<br />
characters are so deeply linked that a single term is related to both of them. Two men, giving<br />
and receiving death, mirror each other in their own eyes and look themselves turning into a<br />
murderer and a victim. At this point a permanent sign sticks in their memory and deprives them<br />
of every sort of rest. Many dangers go around alastor threatening the religious order. One of
109<br />
these dangers is a dead who, through his wrath and phobos, evokes a demon which menaces<br />
the guilty and everyone hampers his thirst for revenge. The other one is a murderer who is, at<br />
the same time, victim of the obsessive memory of the felt and caused terror and of the provoked<br />
violence. This murderer experiences the lussa and the oblivion of his own identity. He is<br />
threatened by someone else’s revenge lust and anger and is dominated by a miasma which can<br />
infect everyone who is close to him. As a consequence, the terrific power of alastor consists of<br />
the impossibility to forget and embo<strong>di</strong>es frightful dangers of the failed oblivion. These<br />
dangers, as well as the norms created to embank them, have a religious origin, but they also<br />
express social and political issues especially in the Archaic and Classical Age. The extreme<br />
deformation generated by the violence makes the norms mentioned essential instruments used<br />
by every culture to think and to preserve itself both collectively and in<strong>di</strong>vidually.<br />
Luther H. Martin, University of Vermont, USA<br />
The Mithraic Diaspora and the Continuity of Cult Identity, Second-Fourth Century A.D.<br />
Given the entropic nature of information in transmission, the <strong>di</strong>spersion of any social group<br />
raises the question of their trans-geographical and trans-generational identity. Especially given<br />
the dynamics of the dramatically increased commercial, political and social mobility and<br />
interchange during the early centuries of our era, we might question whether any widespread<br />
identity among cults claiming a common name had any historical basis beyond certain<br />
superficial features or whether such an identity is the imaginative construction of modern<br />
historians based on those ostensibly identifying features? A de<strong>di</strong>catory inscription for a<br />
mithraeum on the Greek island of Andros instantiates the spread Mithraic groups, even to<br />
remote and unlikey parts of the Empire, and provides an interesting case study for the question<br />
of cult identity. The Roman cult of Mithras was the most widely <strong>di</strong>stributed cult of the Roman<br />
imperial period and the most fulsomely documented. While this cult does exhibit migratory<br />
degradations, i.e., local and regional variations, it nevertheless transmitted its <strong>di</strong>stinctive<br />
identifying feature—the ubiquitous tauroctonous image—with a high degree of fidelity. Given<br />
the absence of even the idea of any centralized leadership or administration for Mithraism that<br />
might have controlled the integrity of the image, its faithful transmission seems to have relied<br />
upon the cognitive biases and enhanced memories of its initiates. In this paper, I will explore<br />
three cognitive theories for the stabilization and transmission of social information, the<br />
“cognitive attractor theory” of Dan Sperber, the “modes theory” of Harvey Whitehouse, and<br />
the theory of “self-normalizing memes” of Richard Dawkins. I will suggest that none of these<br />
theories alone are sufficient to account for an accurate transmission of the Mithraic tauroctony<br />
but that together they can provide a plausible basis for a historiographical account of its<br />
ubiquity.<br />
Xicoténcatl Martinez-Ruiz, Lancaster University, The United Kingdom<br />
Tue 15 th , 16.00, Classroom 14<br />
Entering the Heart (h•dayam): Outlining an ‘iterative schema’ in Abhinavagupta’s Vārttika<br />
This paper aims to provide a suggestion on this problem: How can Abhinavagupta contend for<br />
articulating in one single commentary (a circulated text, i.e. the Mālinī-vārttika or MVV) the
110<br />
contents of <strong>di</strong>fferent sacred texts (the revealed Śaiva Tantras), especially in regard to the<br />
authority and vali<strong>di</strong>ty of his threefold soteriological model, which is the <strong>di</strong>stinctiveness of his<br />
religious and philosophical tra<strong>di</strong>tion? He <strong>di</strong>d so by focusing on some statements of one sacred<br />
text: the Mālinī-tantra. Even more precisely, he selects and arranges elements from that sacred<br />
text in order to articulate his threefold soteriological model, i.e. the three paths for<br />
accomplishing the highest goal in life (liberation), these paths are: śambhava yoga, śakta yoga<br />
and āhava yoga. So, the suggestion in this paper is that such articulation can be mapped out by<br />
something that I shall term ‘iterative schema’. What does ‘iterative schema’ means? It means a<br />
theoretical construction, that is, the way in which <strong>di</strong>fferent models inside of Abhinavagupta’s<br />
thought, i.e. the hermeneutic, the metaphysical and the soteriological, are organized by an<br />
interrelated order based on one single principle termed ‘uni-propositionality’ (eka-vākyatvam,<br />
MVV 2.278). What is meant by ‘uni-propositionality’ in Abhinavagupta’s philosophical and<br />
religious thought? It simply means that there is one single thesis or proposition to be<br />
demonstrated at the three models mentioned. This single proposition is stated as follows: ‘X is<br />
the ultimate non-dualist principle that appears to be many due to Y’. Since this proposition is<br />
iterated at the three models and at <strong>di</strong>fferent levels, hence as much as one understands this<br />
‘schema’, one will understand en bloc these models, especially that which is our aim here,<br />
namely the soteriological. It simply means that we can trace the way on how the teachings of a<br />
sacred text (i.e. the revealed Āgama Tantra, e.g. the Mālinī-tantra) were offered by an<br />
authoritative and valid circulated text (i.e. a commentary, e.g. the Vārttika that encompasses<br />
selected references from the sacred text), for expoun<strong>di</strong>ng the soteriological guidance for the<br />
practitioner. An especial reference to contemporary reception of such practices will be also<br />
mentioned.<br />
Tue 15 th , 16.20, Classroom 9<br />
Francesco Massa, Fondazione San Carlo, Modena, Italy - École Pratique des Hautes<br />
Études, France<br />
I rapporti tra Dionisismo e Cristianesimo nella storiografia religiosa europea (fine XIX –<br />
inizio XX secolo).<br />
Dopo aver conosciuto, nell’ambito del primo romanticismo tedesco, una notevole fortuna<br />
letteraria, culminata ad esempio nell’elegia Pane e vino <strong>di</strong> Hölderling, la questione dei rapporti<br />
tra Dioniso e Cristo fece il suo ingresso sulla scena <strong>degli</strong> stu<strong>di</strong> e del <strong>di</strong>battito critico intorno alla<br />
fine dell’Ottocento. In particolare, la Religionsgeschichtliche Schule tedesca tentò <strong>di</strong><br />
in<strong>di</strong>viduare le ra<strong>di</strong>ci del cristianesimo all’interno dei «culti misterici» esistenti durante l’epoca<br />
imperiale romana. Sulla scia <strong>di</strong> queste teorie, si determinò una tendenza allo scontro tra istanze<br />
anticristiane o anticattoliche, da un lato, e prese <strong>di</strong> posizioni teologiche o comunque<br />
apologetiche, dall’altro, che possono essere comprese solo alla luce delle polemiche<br />
intellettuali dell’Europa <strong>di</strong> fine Ottocento e <strong>di</strong> primo Novecento. Appare dunque importante<br />
provare a ricostruire la <strong>di</strong>sputa storiografica che, nel corso dei decenni, ha visto la messa a<br />
punto <strong>di</strong> teorie <strong>di</strong>verse, sostenute da numerosi e importanti stu<strong>di</strong>osi, tra i quali Alfred Loisy,<br />
Vittorio Macchioro, Robert Eisler, André Boulanger, Marie-Jean Lagrange e Arthur D. Nock,<br />
per non citare che alcuni nomi.<br />
Wed 16 th , 16.40, Classroom 8
Marcello Massenzio - Andrea Alessandri, University of Roma “Tor Vergata”, Italy<br />
Ernesto De Martino e il problema del sacro<br />
111<br />
De Martino takes from R. Otto the notion of the sacred as "absolute otherness" and reinterprets<br />
it in an original fashion. He does not, however, accept Otto's conception of the sacred as an "a<br />
priori" category; accor<strong>di</strong>ng to De Martino, all cultural phenomena, inclu<strong>di</strong>ng the sacred, are<br />
determined by the historical plan of creation.<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.00, Classroom 11<br />
Attilio Mastrocinque, University of Verona, Italy<br />
L'incontro con Fauno nella religione romana: il caso <strong>di</strong> Bona Dea<br />
The iconography of an imperial age sarcophage of a joung girl will be stu<strong>di</strong>es. The girl is<br />
represented during the sleep and receiving the visit of Faunus/Pan; at the centre of the front<br />
Dionysos and Arianna are to be seen, whereas Hercules is represented in a small relief on the<br />
top. The monument belongs to the well known Dionysiac sarcophages, which are concealing<br />
some secrets, even after the noteworthy stu<strong>di</strong>es by R.Turcan. The encounter with Faunus <strong>di</strong>d<br />
happen in the dreams, for this god was supposed to appear during the sleep and was called<br />
Incubo. The same name was given also to Hercules. The purpose of the encounter was to get<br />
fecun<strong>di</strong>ty, which was sought by Roman girls. The girl of the sarcophage probably <strong>di</strong>ed before<br />
marriage and before the encounter with Faunus. A passage of Ovid's Fasti describes the ritual,<br />
which take place in a cave; Dionysos was the god to be honoured and Hercules with Omphale<br />
were celebrating it. Faunus wanted to rape the sleeping Omphale, but was deceived, Ovid<br />
refers the myth to the Lupercalia, a festival of Faunus aimed to give fecun<strong>di</strong>ty to Roman<br />
women. It is possible that Faunus appeared in the dreams during many festivals which were<br />
related to fecun<strong>di</strong>ty: the Liberalia, the Lupercalia and the Bona Dea ceremonies.<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00, Classroom 5<br />
Mario Mazza, University of Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy<br />
Adolfo Omodeo<br />
Angela Maria Mazzanti, University of Bologna, Italy<br />
Il logos nell’uomo. Questioni antropologiche in scritti giudaico-ellenistici<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00, Classroom 9<br />
Along the ages, the word ‘logos’ in Greek culture, assumed a deeper significance through its<br />
migration into <strong>di</strong>fferent contexts and tra<strong>di</strong>tions. Emblematic significances of logos - such as<br />
‘Word’ as revelation, or as the identification with human rationality, or with present reality, or<br />
with a metaphysical entity with cosmological value - will change, whilst mantaining some<br />
basic characteristics. The research about these meanings within the Hellenistic Jewish context,<br />
and in particular in Philo of Alexandria, is of particular interest. In Philo, the multiple<br />
specifically theological references (the logos as one of God’s names, as the first-born, as the<br />
chief of the angels, as the “principle”, as God’s image, as the man as image) is connected to the<br />
concept of interme<strong>di</strong>ate entities, to the definition of revelation, or to the identification of an
anthropological <strong>di</strong>mension. The research will focus especially on this last concept which,<br />
deepening the comprehension of human onthology, reveals its specific bond with the <strong>di</strong>vine.<br />
Adrian Mihai, University of Montreal, Canada<br />
Espace et mémoire dans l’épitaphe de Potidée<br />
112<br />
Tue 15 th , 16.20, Classroom 14<br />
L’objet de notre conférence n’est pas d’étu<strong>di</strong>er la mémoire et l’espace dans la pensée grecque<br />
au Ve siècle avant J.-Ch., ni de faire un bilan de tout ce qui a été <strong>di</strong>t sur ces deux concepts par<br />
l’historiographie moderne. Le propos en sera simplement de dégager la part que la mémoire et<br />
l’espace joue dans l’épitaphe consacré aux cent-cinquante Athéniens morts devant Potidée en<br />
432 avant l’ère chrétienne. L’épitaphe, un témoin <strong>di</strong>rect du sort céleste de l’âme, a été gravée<br />
au Céramique d’Athènes, lieu destiné aux tombeaux militaires. Après un nécessaire rappel de<br />
<strong>di</strong>vers types d’immortalité conféré aux guerriers morts au combat au Ve siècle à Athènes<br />
(<strong>di</strong>mension civique, héroïsation, immortalité céleste), nous examinerons donc la place de la<br />
physique et la doctrine des éléments dans la représentation de l’au-delà céleste comme lieu des<br />
âmes et son rapport avec la mémoire, puis nous étu<strong>di</strong>erons quelques exemples précis sur le sort<br />
de l’âme après la mort du corps et son ascension au ciel pour demeurer dans l’éther –<br />
empruntés notamment à Euripide et aux philosophes présocratiques.<br />
Mariangela Monaca, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
La religione greco-romana: Ugo Bianchi ed il metodo storico-comparativo<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.20, Classroom 7<br />
The aim of this paper is to analyse the multiple aspects of the graeco-roman religion, by<br />
explaining the interpretations formulated in the last century by Ugo Bianchi, Chair Professor of<br />
History of Religions from 1960 to 1995. A favourite topic of his researches has been the<br />
religious history of the classical world, particularly the Greek world and its multiple and<br />
mutual interferences with the Roman world and the Near-Eastern cultures. In his stu<strong>di</strong>es (for<br />
instance, Problems of the History of Religions, Roma 1958) he explains the concepts he thinks<br />
decisive for the definition of «an historical-comparative approach that is common to history<br />
and to historically oriented ethnology» and suggests three criteria of interpretation of religious<br />
phenomena: the notion of a «historical typology», the concept of «analogy», the «concrete<br />
universal». From these coor<strong>di</strong>nates, it has been possible to formulate some typological<br />
categories allowing to define the specifical features of graeco-roman religion (for istance, the<br />
facies of national religions with polytheistic structure).<br />
Fabio Mora, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Tue 15 th , 16.00, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
Ad ognuno la sua Bibbia: antologizzazione liturgica e citazioni normative nelle varie<br />
confessioni cristiane<br />
Theological perception of the Christian sacred text with its two Testament gives a false idea of<br />
homogeneity and does not express <strong>di</strong>fferent confessional experiences ot the two Testaments
113<br />
and their relationship. Liturgical anthologization is very <strong>di</strong>fferent in the confessions with a<br />
lectionary (a world-wide prescription of rea<strong>di</strong>ngs for each day), so that Christian confessions<br />
may also be classified with regards to their <strong>di</strong>slike vs. interest in Old Testament, from Greek<br />
Orthodoxy through Western Lectionary to the Anglican wide rea<strong>di</strong>ng of both Testaments, with<br />
its incongruities. Examination of biblical citations in doctrinal documents allows to extend<br />
confrontation to other confessions, who do not have any lectionary, but also to better quantify a<br />
<strong>di</strong>fferent reception of both Testaments and their parts. Counting citations for text units (verses)<br />
one may observe that in every Christian confession Old Testament density of citation is under<br />
10% of the New Testament density, with a negative peak for the Former Prophets (
Matthias Morgenstern, Tübingen University, Germany<br />
Anmerkungen zur talmu<strong>di</strong>schen Bibelhermeneutik<br />
114<br />
Within the context of the recent Discussion, which doubts that the rabbinic Judaism is still a<br />
biblical religion, this paper stu<strong>di</strong>es argumentation in palestinian Talmud – where confrontation<br />
with Christianity is already important. Literary form and function of biblical proof will be<br />
stu<strong>di</strong>ed to understand when a biblical proof is acknowledged in Talmud (<strong>di</strong>fferently in<br />
Aggadah und Halakhah). It will also be carefully stu<strong>di</strong>ed when a polemic with Christians is<br />
aroused out of examination of biblical proofs.<br />
Daniela Motta, University of Palermo, Italy<br />
Memoria eroica e polis: Achille ed Atene nella Historia Nova <strong>di</strong> Zosimo<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.20, Classroom 9<br />
At the time when most people believe in the intercession of the holy man to save the city from<br />
barbarians or natural <strong>di</strong>sasters, heroic memory still seems to be venerated by the last pagans.<br />
Two passages from Zosimos’ Historia Nova (IV 18 and V 6) tell us how Achilles saved<br />
Athens.The first time, the city was spared by the earthquake that devastated much of Greece<br />
during the empire of Valens; the second time, the city was preserved from Alaric’ ravages in<br />
396-397, thanks to the supernatural precence of Athena Promachos too. These events, told only<br />
by Zosimos, are of great importance in the historian’s view, accor<strong>di</strong>ng to whom the neglect of<br />
Roman ancestral religion brought about the decline of the empire. Achilles, a very popular hero<br />
in the pagan culture of Late Antiquity, is chosen as the most famous warrior of Greek epic,<br />
even if he has no specific connections with the Athenian polis. Firstly, the question of the<br />
relationship between Zosimos and Eunapios concerning these anecdotes should be debated.<br />
Secondly, the preservation of Athens through observance of ancient cults must be analyzed in<br />
connection with an epochal event such as the Sack of Rome in 410 and with the myth of Roma<br />
aeterna in the view of pagan circles.<br />
Anna Multari, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
La componente magica nei papiri magico-me<strong>di</strong>cali copti<br />
Tue 15 th , 10.20, Classroom 7<br />
The coptic me<strong>di</strong>cine is the evolution of the magic-me<strong>di</strong>cal and magic-religious tra<strong>di</strong>tions of the<br />
Egyptian culture, which the tra<strong>di</strong>tions of other Me<strong>di</strong>terranean social-religious cultures were<br />
subsequently grafted to, in particular way the Greek-Hellenistic one; besides the coptic magical<br />
me<strong>di</strong>cine is the adaptation of the aforesaid tra<strong>di</strong>tions to the new christian religion. The<br />
treatments in the coptic magic-me<strong>di</strong>cal texts are the result of the combination between<br />
continuation of magic-me<strong>di</strong>cal practices and physician-knowledge cares. The purpose of the<br />
cure was to obtain the recovery from the illnesses, both physical or metaphysical nature, or the<br />
research of the prevention from these ones, or the maintenance of a good state of health, an<br />
understood health in physical, mental and spiritual sense. As the texts allow to observe, in the<br />
coptic magical me<strong>di</strong>cine are employed substances possessing, in some cases, real therapeutic<br />
ownerships and considered to be able to recover only after a magical ritual, that strengthen
115<br />
and/or legitimate the lenitive and therapeutical ownerships. Some times such result is<br />
subsequently guaranteed by the application of such phármaka with tools, that are dressed of<br />
symbolic values; values that naturally bring back to the invoked <strong>di</strong>vinity, and that emphasize<br />
once more the abilities of the tangible me<strong>di</strong>cines.<br />
Riccardo Nanini, University of Hannover, Germany<br />
Raffaele Pettazzoni e la fenomenologia nella religione<br />
Tue 15 th , 18.00, Classroom 14<br />
This paper means to briefly state Pettazzoni’s reception of the religious phenomenological<br />
current, with particular reference to Gerardus van der Leeuw, from the publication of his<br />
Einführung in <strong>di</strong>e Phänomenologie der Religion (1925) to Pettazzoni’s last important<br />
methodological article, Il metodo comparativo (1959), from the point of view of the<br />
construction of a “comprehensive science of religions”, that for the Italian scholar has to<br />
contain both the historical and the phenomenological approach.<br />
Clau<strong>di</strong>a Neri, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Ai primor<strong>di</strong> dell'Europa: il movimento monastico<br />
Colette Nieri, University of Pisa, Italy- University of Genève, Switzerland<br />
Il primo Pettazzoni e la genesi delle ricerche sulle origini dell'idea <strong>di</strong> Dio<br />
Tue 15 th , 17.20, Classroom 8<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.40, Classroom 6<br />
Ci proponiamo qui <strong>di</strong> ripercorrere e analizzare la genesi delle ricerche <strong>di</strong> R. Pettazzoni sulle<br />
origini dell’idea <strong>di</strong> Dio: dalla sua prima presa <strong>di</strong> posizione nel <strong>di</strong>battito culturale<br />
contemporaneo e le varie teorie allora imperanti, al suo approccio innovativo al tema che,<br />
attraversando praticamente tutto il periodo della sua attività, registrò notevoli evoluzioni,<br />
ripensamenti, cambiamenti <strong>di</strong> <strong>di</strong>rezione, prima <strong>di</strong> approdare alle ultime sintesi. In particolare,<br />
analizzeremo il confronto tra lo stu<strong>di</strong>oso persicetano e le posizioni <strong>di</strong> un “fronte” culturale che<br />
si potrebbe definire antropologico-teologico, costituito essenzialmente dal pre-animismo<br />
monoteistico <strong>di</strong> A. Lang su cui si innestava – arrivando a conseguenze certo non con<strong>di</strong>vise<br />
dall’antropologo scozzese – la teoria del “monoteismo primor<strong>di</strong>ale” del padre Wilhelm<br />
Schmidt.<br />
Hans Noot, University of Tilburg, Netherlands<br />
Tue 15 th , 17.40, Classroom 8<br />
Religious Education that the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints is doing in Europe<br />
Tue 15 th , 17.20, Classroom 6
Andrei Oişteanu, Romanian Academy, Bucarest, Rumania<br />
Christians versus Jews in Central-Eastern Europe. Stereotypes and accusation: from deicide to<br />
ritual infanticide<br />
116<br />
Whenever there was a need to replace or double the allegation of deicide, so as to further fuel<br />
antisemitic sentiments, the strongest claim against the Jews was not that of iconocide, but the<br />
charge of ritual infanticide. The efficacy of this type of in<strong>di</strong>ctment is self-evident. From their<br />
abstract state, all the terms of the equation become painfully concrete. This time, the presumed<br />
victim is an innocent child, known to the entire community. The presumed murderers are no<br />
longer some “imaginary Jews,” who may have killed “who knows when” and “who knows<br />
where,” but “real Jews,” those who live “in our very borough”. Finally, this time a “physical”<br />
murder is on agenda, not a symbolic one (iconocide) or one committed at an uncertain or an<br />
immemorial time (deicide). The infanticide legend was not a completely autonomous one. It<br />
was born out of the legend of deicide and it retained an ancillary position, functioning as a<br />
rejuvenator. This accounts for the claims that the supposed victim was habitually a boy, that<br />
the “ritual murder” took place on Good Friday (when Jesus’ death is commemorated) and that<br />
the modus operan<strong>di</strong> reenacted, so it was supposed, some elements of Jesus’ Passion and<br />
Crucifixion. The author of the paper stu<strong>di</strong>es the way in which, from the end of the 17 th century,<br />
the blood libel passed from Western and Central Europe (from catholic and protestant milieu)<br />
to Eastern Europe (to Christian orthodox milieu).<br />
Tue 15 th , 18.20, Classroom 4<br />
Michiaki Okuyama, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, Nagoya, Japan<br />
Rethinking “The All-Knowing God” in China<br />
In a chapter on China in his The All-Knowing God, Raffalele Pettazzoni (1883-1959) pays<br />
attention to two ancient Chinese deities, Shang-ti (the Lord above) and T’ien (Heaven) and<br />
their inter-relationship. Roughly speaking, Shang-ti belonged to the earlier dynasty of Shang<br />
(or Yin) that existed from the 17 th or 16 th century through the 11 th century BCE, whereas T’ien<br />
belonged to the latter dynasty of Zhou (spelled as Chou by Pettazzoni) that arose from the west<br />
of Shang and took over, continuing from the 11 th century through the 3 rd century BCE. In<br />
Pettazzoni’s understan<strong>di</strong>ng, Shang was an agricultural culture and society, whereas Zhou<br />
consisted of noma<strong>di</strong>c and pastoral people that were shared by peoples of central and northern<br />
Asia, namely the Altaic, Uralic, and Ugro-Finnish (and Indo-European). Pettazzoni himself<br />
warns against oversimplification of this kind of dualism, but at least it must be important to try<br />
to understand more clearly the historical contexts of Shang-ti and T’ien, in light of more recent<br />
scholarship after Pettazzoni’s years. With the aim of such an understan<strong>di</strong>ng, this presentation<br />
will first attempt to compare Pettazzoni’s view with those of other scholars, inclu<strong>di</strong>ng<br />
contemporary Japanese scholars in particular. Thus we aim to rethink the concepts of Shang-ti<br />
and T’ien in ancient China, and their relevance and implication for today, and especially recent<br />
scholarship on ancient Japanese religious history that was under the strong influence of<br />
Chinese culture.<br />
Tue 15 th , 18.00, Classroom 8
Susanne Olsson, Södertörn University, Sweden<br />
European Fatawa<br />
117<br />
The European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR), founded in 1997, consists of Muslim<br />
clerics of various nationalities and backgrounds, among others the well known Yusuf al-<br />
Qaradawi. The ECFR publishes fatawa, ‘juri<strong>di</strong>cal rulings’, that normatively answers questions<br />
that often relates to a Muslim minority situation in the ‘Western world’. A foundational aim of<br />
the Council is to be an organ of Islamic knowledge to the Muslim community in general<br />
(ummah) and Muslims living in the ‘Western world’ specifically. My paper will investigate<br />
how ECFR views the Islamic law (shariah) as compared to civil laws and national<br />
constitutions. The paper will outline the basic strategies of the ECFR in juri<strong>di</strong>cal issues and<br />
how it views the minority situation of Muslims, i.e. how they should relate to integration,<br />
“democracy” and secular laws, for example. The paper will look into what the sources are that<br />
the ECFR relies on in its fatawa. This is related and compared to the Discussion concerning<br />
“Euroislam”, represented mainly by Tariq Ramadan.<br />
Michaela Ondrašinová, Masaryk University, Czech Republic<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.40, Classroom 4<br />
To Share, or not to Share? Detra<strong>di</strong>tionalized Spirituality and the Christian Tra<strong>di</strong>tion<br />
This conference paper is concerned with relations between detra<strong>di</strong>tionalized spirituality and the<br />
Christian tra<strong>di</strong>tion. The project is focused on participants of detra<strong>di</strong>tionalized spirituality<br />
activities and on the question what role does their relation to Christianity play in<br />
conceptualization of their identities, while Christianity is conceived as a European cultural<br />
heritage, cultural memory or tra<strong>di</strong>tion as well as a system linked closely to a particular<br />
institution and organization (within this project, the Catholic Church). The paper considers not<br />
only negative self-<strong>di</strong>fferentiation of the spiritual milieu participants from Christianity or the<br />
Catholic Church (the opposition between spiritual and religious/Christian identity), but also<br />
ways of using Christianity as a resource for one's spiritual identity. Special attention is paid to<br />
persons who simultaneously participate in the spiritual milieu activities and belong to the<br />
Catholic Church and thus somehow blur the borderlines between religion and detra<strong>di</strong>tionalized<br />
spirituality. It explores their strategies of coping with such position in the religious field and<br />
ways of re-conceptualization of their identity in the context of mixed reactions from the<br />
spiritual milieu side as well as in the context of the Catholic strategies of exclusion and<br />
normalization. Discussion of these issues is part of ongoing research of detra<strong>di</strong>tionalized<br />
spirituality in the Czech Republic, and is based on <strong>di</strong>scourse analysis of interviews, speeches<br />
and documents related to the topic.<br />
Yoshimi Orii, Nihon University, Japan<br />
Tue 15 th , 17.40, Classroom 13<br />
Theological conflict on the concept of Acasus (Coincidence): The Catholic Mission in Japan<br />
during the 16th and 17th centuries<br />
Through the experience of European missionaries who came to Japan from the second half of<br />
sixteenth century, they got the insight that Japanese in<strong>di</strong>genous thought lacked the concept of<br />
God as providence. When European printing press was introduced after thirty years’ endeavor,<br />
they put emphasis on this Christian <strong>di</strong>scourse -God as providence and creator of every being-<br />
in their catechisms or apologetic works so local people could assimilate the teleological view<br />
of the world. But this Christian <strong>di</strong>scourse was explained in a very complicated and <strong>di</strong>storted
118<br />
way and caused the in<strong>di</strong>genous side an intellectual turmoil, and finally it became a logic of<br />
refutation against Christianity through fin<strong>di</strong>ng a logical explanation of their in<strong>di</strong>genous<br />
thought. The aim of my presentation lies in analyzing this process using a philological method<br />
applied to books translated from Spanish and Latin to Japanese. More concretely, I analyze<br />
how and why the word a casus was translated into Japanese jinen which means coincidence in<br />
accordance with nature. I first study the theological treatise Compen<strong>di</strong>um catholicae veritaris<br />
(1593) compiled by Pedro Gomes S.J. and translated into Japanese in 1596, which shows the<br />
<strong>di</strong>fficulty in fin<strong>di</strong>ng its equivalent translation. Secondly I compare Fides no Doxi (1592) and<br />
Contemptus Mun<strong>di</strong> (1596) with their original Spanish/Latin texts in order to show the crucial<br />
misunderstan<strong>di</strong>ng of jinen originated by the Japanese ideographic system. Finally, I analyze<br />
two refutation works Ha-Deus (1620) and Kengi Roku (1636) by two Jesuit apostates. There I<br />
argue that they consolidated their own in<strong>di</strong>genous thought in more logical way by juxtaposing<br />
with Christianity. These processes in<strong>di</strong>cate that an intellectual shift in a society or in<strong>di</strong>vidual<br />
does not occur self-inclusively, but that it occurs via the encounter with the other, but they also<br />
suggest that it is this type of encounters that makes the boundary between the self and the<br />
other. This presentation tries to accommodate this phenomenological claim into the intellectual<br />
history of pre-early modern Japan and Catholicism. It concludes with some ideas for my<br />
further research.<br />
Roberto Osculati, University of Catania, Italy<br />
Cornelio Giansenio (1510-1576), la evangelica historia, il tempo presente<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00, Classroom 4<br />
Il fiammingo Cornelio Giansenio fu allievo dell’<strong>Università</strong> <strong>di</strong> Lovanio, dove acquisì una<br />
notevole competenza linguistica <strong>di</strong> ebraico e <strong>di</strong> greco. Dopo un periodo <strong>di</strong> insegnamento presso<br />
i Premostratensi, <strong>di</strong>venne professore a Lovanio e pubblicò una serie <strong>di</strong> opere esegetiche<br />
sull’Antico Testamento. Divenne famosa nella seconda metà del secolo XVI e all’inizio del<br />
successivo la sua Concor<strong>di</strong>a evangelica, dove un complicato sistema tipografico permetteva<br />
una lettura unitaria <strong>degli</strong> evangelici canonici pur riconoscendone le particolarità. Dopo aver<br />
partecipato alle ultime sessioni del Concilio <strong>di</strong> Trento fu nominato vescovo <strong>di</strong> Gand e<br />
consacrato nel 1568. Negli anni 1571/2 pubblicò un voluminoso Commentarius in suam<br />
concor<strong>di</strong>am et totam evangelicam historiam, che ebbe per decenni una larghissima <strong>di</strong>ffusione.<br />
Di fronte alle aspre lotte religiose e politiche che squassavano la cristianità occidentale il<br />
vescovo richiamava ad una lettura puntigliosa <strong>degli</strong> evangeli quali regola suprema della fede e<br />
dell’azione dei cristiani. Egli richiamava e rendeva <strong>di</strong> nuovo attuali i principali temi della<br />
teologia monastica e della cosiddetta devotio moderna. La relazione vuole mettere in luce<br />
alcuni esempi <strong>di</strong> questa rilettura dei testi cristiani in un periodo <strong>di</strong>fficile ed in un contesto<br />
politico e militare dominato da violenze e contrasti.<br />
Panayotis Pachis, Thessaloniki University, Greece<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.40, Classroom 9<br />
Religion and Politics during the Graeco-Roman Age: the Case of Isis/Sarapis Cult<br />
The appearance of the Egyptian deities in the environment of Roma comprises an<br />
unprecedented con<strong>di</strong>tion for its habitants. During the 2 nd and 3 rd centuries A.D. we find a<br />
decisive change. The emperors, as soon as they realize the peculiar power and the mysterious<br />
influence that the Eastern cults exercise over the crowds, recognize them as part of the
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established tra<strong>di</strong>tional religion. The acceptance of the Egyptian deities agrees with the spirit of<br />
the Roman politics; the Romans, moreover, do not accept any religion or cult if it doesn’t serve<br />
their political interests. The superior state ruler is reflecting the cosmic order and harmony that<br />
is represented by Isis and Serapis, whereas the political stability of the emperors - during the<br />
first imperial years - is considered to be closely related to the personal protection of the<br />
Egyptian deities. During the Imperial period the propagan<strong>di</strong>stic tactics are being further<br />
amplified in relation to the period of the Ptolemaic dynasties. The ideology that the monarchgod<br />
is the par excellence guarantor of the harmony and order - not only of a local area (e.g.<br />
Egypt) but also of the whole Roman oecumene – constitutes another specimen of that era.<br />
Omnipotence is considered as one of the special characteristics of the spirit of the Hellenistic<br />
Age. The ecumenical vastness imposes the quality of universal and <strong>di</strong>vine power. Isis’ and the<br />
other Egyptian deities’ connection to the royal ideology of their birth land conduces, to the<br />
further anticipation by the Roman emperors, of their assistance, since they believe that they<br />
will find the unfailing guarantors of their imperial power and blissfulness at those gods. Isis<br />
and Sarapis are considered to be the par excellence agents of the royal authority. Thus, during<br />
the reign of the Severi, Sarapis is identified with the emperor. The beneficial influence of the<br />
goddess is considered as correspon<strong>di</strong>ng to the tactic of the sovereigns of that era, and that is<br />
why it’s being particularly emphasized.<br />
S.V. Panov - S.N. Ivashkin, Universiy of Moscow, Russia<br />
Tue 15 th , 17.20, Classroom 14<br />
Philosophy of revelation and conceptualization of the Orthodoxy (towards a re-deconstruction<br />
of the philosophy of religion)<br />
The Orthodoxy is not simply a forgotten branch of Christianity in the postreligious<br />
multiconfessionalism of Europe. The forgiveness of the Other is a project of the “philosophy of<br />
revelation” (Schelling, Hedel), of the absolute religion as a revelation and a realization of the<br />
absolute concept. Accor<strong>di</strong>ng to to this project the representation of the absolute spirit must be<br />
overpassed in the effectivity of the spiritual being. So the Orthodoxy is read as a heretic<br />
deviation defined by the universalization of the external force without the internal essence.<br />
That`s why the Orthodoxy is strongly compared with the catholicism (thesis of Schelling). The<br />
protestantism as the Church of the Holy Spirit is to be an essence and a telos of the spiritual<br />
history of the Occident refusing a place for the Orthodoxy. What is the issue from the<br />
transcendental project of revelation as a unique conceptual alliance of the <strong>di</strong>vine and the<br />
human? How can we think the Orthodoxy beyond the project of revelation, beyond the essence<br />
and the being, in which Europe finds its own conceptual basis, beyond the “mon<strong>di</strong>alatinisation”<br />
(Derrida) as an expansion of the postreligious political force producing phantomal values of<br />
“struggle for democracy”, of “axe of the Evil”, of “pardon” etc.? How can we think the<br />
Orthodoxy when it begins to be an essential part in the return of the Russian imperial myth<br />
(“souverain democracy”)?<br />
Anna Panteleeva, Moscow State University, Russia<br />
Messianic Judaism in Russia (some features).<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.00, Classroom 12<br />
I would like to present the results of my sociological research and to elucidate some features of<br />
messianic Judaism in Russia and some historical reasons which determine the features.
120<br />
Moreover my aim was to show <strong>di</strong>fferent background and <strong>di</strong>fferent level of religious<br />
consciousness of the members of the messianic communities. And I also tried to find any<br />
account for sprea<strong>di</strong>ng of the messianic Judaism particularly in Russia. In conclusion I would<br />
like to note I concern Russian messianic communities as a consequence of the changes have<br />
happened not only in Russian but also in European culture and society.<br />
Dalibor Papoušek, University of Brno, Czech Republic<br />
The Centrality of Jerusalem in the Earliest Christianity<br />
Florence Pasche Guignard, University of Lausanne, Switzerland<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.20, Classroom 4<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.00, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
A contrastive comparison of imitation, cross-dressing and identity in ritual and poetic contexts<br />
This research explores the links between identity, imitation and cross dressing in<br />
Euripides’Bacchae and Aristophanes’Themophoriazusae, in the persepctive of the study of<br />
religions. These Greek examples will be compared with In<strong>di</strong>an practices of cross dressing in<br />
imitation of a female mythological model (gopis loving the god Krishna). In many tra<strong>di</strong>tions,<br />
humans strive to imitate a <strong>di</strong>vine or mythological model. Imitation is a way to attain the<br />
perfection exemplified by this model. Para<strong>di</strong>gmatic figures and roles can be multiple within a<br />
same tra<strong>di</strong>tion, and imitation can be understood in various ways (literal, thus physical and<br />
external, or internal and symbolic). Cross-gender travesty with clothing, ornaments and<br />
accessories means that this ritual or devotional imitation is physically visible. Such imitation<br />
leads to the taking on of a new religious identity, which can cause some problems. Incongruity<br />
with the socio-cultural context can be great in the case of men imitating female exemplary<br />
models. Changing physical appearance from male to female can also be used to conceal one’s<br />
real identity in order to participate in <strong>di</strong>sguise to an all-female ritual. In the case of poetic<br />
composition, taking the physical garb of women can help the male poet to access a female<br />
religious identity deemed naturally closer to the god(s) and to compose in a “female voice”.<br />
Contrastive comparison is used as a methodological tool to emphasize the particularities of<br />
cross-gender imitation in both contexts, Greek and In<strong>di</strong>an.<br />
Marco Pasi, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.20, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
La presenza della Società Teosofica e della Società Antroposofica in Italia<br />
La Società Teosofica e la Società Antroposofica rappresentano due tra le più importanti e<br />
ramificate organizzazioni internazionali ispirate a principi <strong>di</strong> tipo esoterico. Com’è noto, la<br />
prima venne fondata nel 1875 negli Stati Uniti da un gruppo <strong>di</strong> persone interessate in vario<br />
modo ai fenomeni dello spiritismo e del paranormale. Ben presto la Società, grazie soprattutto<br />
all’opera della sua fondatrice H.P. Blavatsky, <strong>di</strong>venne il motore <strong>di</strong> un movimento culturale e<br />
spirituale <strong>di</strong> grande successo, destinato a dare una profonda scossa al panorama religioso <strong>di</strong><br />
fine Ottocento. La Società Antroposofica venne creata invece da Rudolf Steiner nel 1912, dopo<br />
che egli aveva <strong>di</strong>retto per qualche anno la sezione tedesca della Società Teosofica. Entrambi i<br />
movimenti ebbero un forte impatto in Italia nel periodo che va dagli anni Novanta<br />
dell’Ottocento agli anni Venti del Novecento, e ebbero un’influenza significativa su molti
121<br />
personaggi in vista del mondo intellettuale, politico e artistico. Questo impatto fu ovviamente<br />
colorato dal particolare clima culturale e politico italiano, che impresse a questi movimenti uno<br />
sviluppo particolare. L’avvento del fascismo soprattutto portò a una polarizzazione tra fazioni<br />
più o meno favorevoli al regime. Dal suo canto, il regime mise obiettivamente un freno allo<br />
sviluppo delle due organizzazioni, e adottò in certi casi misure repressive nei loro confronti.<br />
L’internazionalismo <strong>di</strong> entrambe, come quello del resto della massoneria, non poteva che<br />
scontrarsi con la retorica nazionalista del regime.La relazione presenterà sommariamente le<br />
linee <strong>di</strong> sviluppo che i due movimenti conobbero in Italia sino alla Seconda guerra mon<strong>di</strong>ale,<br />
soffermandosi su alcune figure particolarmente rappresentative.<br />
Rachela Permenter, Slippery Rock University, PA, USA<br />
The Persistence of the White Man’s In<strong>di</strong>an and the Ungraspable Religious Fact<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.00, Classroom 5<br />
The pitfalls of appropriation, objectification, and interpretive error are clear to most<br />
contemporary scholars who study non-Western religions. Yet it remains that even the best<br />
intentioned white scholarship can confuse as much as it uncovers about Native American<br />
religious experience. Through literary and narrative analysis, this paper will explore religious<br />
encounters between American In<strong>di</strong>ans and Euro-Americans in early America, as well as the<br />
contemporary phenomenon of Euro-Americans embracing their constructed images of Native<br />
American spirituality. In doing so, the paper will consider the question of how to let the “oral”<br />
religiosity of in<strong>di</strong>genous Americans speak through the Anglo-European written word, as it<br />
examines the issues of otherness and comparative approaches to Native American stu<strong>di</strong>es.<br />
Bo<strong>di</strong>l Liljefors Persson, Malmö University, Sweden<br />
Wed 16 th , 17.40, Classroom 11<br />
Romanticism, Colonialism and Images of In<strong>di</strong>genous Religions. A Study of Representations of<br />
American In<strong>di</strong>an Religions in Swe<strong>di</strong>sh Textbooks<br />
In this paper the notion of Religion will be <strong>di</strong>scussed on the basis of how Native American<br />
Religions, and other In<strong>di</strong>genous Religions as well, is represented in the Swe<strong>di</strong>sh textbooks in<br />
Religious Education. This will also be related to the National Curricula and syllabuses in<br />
Religious Education. What do these documents focus on regar<strong>di</strong>ng the content and goals for<br />
Religious Education? Which aspects of religion, which images do the representations in the<br />
textbooks focus upon and which aspects are not being represented? Whose voices are heard<br />
and which narratives are told about the Amerin<strong>di</strong>an Religions? Aided by a contextual approach<br />
and critical close rea<strong>di</strong>ngs as well as analysis of the photos and images in the textbooks, this<br />
paper aims at also <strong>di</strong>scussing questions of selection of knowledge and of <strong>di</strong>dactic consideration<br />
regar<strong>di</strong>ng exoticism, ethnocentrism and eurocentrism in the Swe<strong>di</strong>sh Textbooks.<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.20, Classroom 4
Heikki Pesonen, University of Helsinki, Finland<br />
Religious Fundamentalism, Social Remembering, and Social Identity<br />
122<br />
One of the features of religious fundamentalism is its claim of the existence of some perfect<br />
social embo<strong>di</strong>ment of the true religion of the past. The aim of the fundamentalist community is<br />
to reconstruct this original believing community of the ”Golden Age” to the present. In the<br />
reconstructive process the past is not transferred to the present as such, but selection is used.<br />
Elements of the tra<strong>di</strong>tion are extracted for the purpose of reacting to the societal changes that<br />
are experienced as a threat for the essential principles of the tra<strong>di</strong>tion. Past is thus innovatively<br />
reworked for the present purposes. Reworking of the past is also one of the important means to<br />
maintain social cohesion and social identity of the fundamentalist community. My aim in this<br />
paper is to apply the concept of social memory in the examination of the construction of<br />
fundamentalist social identity. I shall ponder, for example, on the following questions: how is<br />
the identity of the fundamentalist community being constructed and sustained by<br />
remembering? What is the relation between remembering and forgetting in this process? How<br />
are the power relations being <strong>di</strong>stributed? I shall <strong>di</strong>scuss these questions with the help of both<br />
theoretical perspectives of the research on fundamentalism, and my own study of the<br />
conservative protestant congregations in Finland.<br />
Willy Pfändtner, Södertörn University, Sweden<br />
The Limitations of European Philosophy of Religion<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.40, Classroom 5<br />
In this paper, I will claim that Philosophy of Religion as an academic <strong>di</strong>scipline would gain<br />
relevance in today’s world by being much more informed by adjacent <strong>di</strong>sciplines such as<br />
Religious <strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong>es, History of Religions and Cultural <strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong>es. While these <strong>di</strong>sciplines are<br />
becoming increasingly aware of the eurocentrism of the concept of religion and how it has<br />
come to misrepresent religious phenomena in other parts of the world, Philosophy of Religion<br />
is to a great extent maintaining an outdated concept of religion also when dealing with so<br />
called problems of religious <strong>di</strong>versity. This concern with problems of religious <strong>di</strong>versity has<br />
social and political relevance due to the fact of globalization and that we today live in multireligious<br />
societies. My claim that the concept is outdated rests on the argument that it was<br />
developed at a time in history when the social and political situation in Europe were such that a<br />
call for truth by appealing to reason rather than authority was called for due to intra-religious<br />
conflicts with political consequences. The political and social situation today calls for a very<br />
<strong>di</strong>fferent kind of critical thinking in relation to religion than what was the need in the 17 th<br />
century when this problematic concept of religion was developed. I will in my paper give a few<br />
suggestions on in which <strong>di</strong>rection such critical thinking could go by being partly informed by<br />
postcolonial thought in relation to religion.<br />
Umberto Piperno, Italian Rabbinical College of Trieste, Italy<br />
L’interpretazione politica della Bibbia nel commento <strong>di</strong> don Izhaq Abravanel<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.40, Classroom 13<br />
Dalle società primor<strong>di</strong>ali fino alla visione messianica la storia umana ha avuto la necessita' <strong>di</strong><br />
organizzare le relazioni interpersonali in forma <strong>di</strong> polis affidando il potere a pochi<br />
rappresentanti. La Bibbia con l'idea rivoluzionaria della creazione <strong>di</strong>vina e della libertà umana
123<br />
propone una questione fondamentale: dalla teocrazia o meglio teonomia, fino al potere affidato<br />
ad un rappresentante del popolo, in nome della <strong>di</strong>vina cooperazione con l'umanità e del patto<br />
con Israele. Abravanel, primo tra i commentatori classici della Bibbia,rifiuta il modello<br />
monarchico per cercare nella storia universale, dalla res publica romana a quella veneziana una<br />
proposta politica che dal periodo dei giu<strong>di</strong>ci in poi veda nel potere <strong>di</strong>ffuso l'immagine della<br />
polis umana più vicina alla civitas Dei ed alla tra<strong>di</strong>zione ebraica. Izhaq Abravanel, first among<br />
the classical commentators of the Bible, refuses the monarchic model, searching in the<br />
universal history for a republican formulation of the polis as a better expression of the Hebrew<br />
tra<strong>di</strong>tion, from the Judges onwards.<br />
Lucrezia Piraino, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Tue 15 th , 16.00, Classroom 9<br />
Rahel Varnaghen: il paradosso dell’identità ebraica nei salotti illuministici berlinesi<br />
Fulcro della vita intellettuale della Berlino <strong>di</strong> fine Settecento, i salotti ebraici rappresentarono<br />
fino al 1820 il punto <strong>di</strong> congiunzione tra la decadente aristocrazia terriera e la classe emergente<br />
della borghesia, ospitando intellettuali come i fratelli Schlegel, i fratelli Humboldt, lo scrittore<br />
Jean Paul, attori come Joan Fleck e la Unzelmann, cantanti come la Marchetti, illustri<br />
<strong>di</strong>plomatici ed aristocratici come Luigi Fer<strong>di</strong>nando <strong>di</strong> Prussia, nipote <strong>di</strong> Federico II.<br />
Espressione vitale dell’incontro tra le idee del tardo Illuminismo l’affacciarsi del<br />
Romanticismo ed il continuo riemergere del problema dell’identità ebraica sfumata dal lento<br />
processo <strong>di</strong> assimilazione, il salotto <strong>di</strong> Rahel Varnaghen incarnò in tale contesto un territorio<br />
neutrale in cui coloro che vi prendevano parte, sottraendosi agli obblighi dei ruoli sociali ed<br />
alle leggi della storia, cercarono <strong>di</strong> dar corpo a nuove forme <strong>di</strong> vita sociale, in cui alla singolare<br />
libertà dell’intelligenza si affiancava un profondo ed appassionato spirito <strong>di</strong>alogico.<br />
Manifestazione <strong>di</strong> una intensa ed ine<strong>di</strong>ta ricerca personale che verteva su argomenti quali i<br />
segreti dell’anima, la forza delle passioni, il misticismo me<strong>di</strong>evale e la morte, l’esperienza<br />
illuministica del salotto letterario <strong>di</strong>veniva in tal modo l’espressione tangibile della fugace ed al<br />
contempo problematica assimilazione <strong>degli</strong> ebrei nel tessuto sociale dello stato prussiano.<br />
Wed 16 th , 18.00, Classroom 14<br />
Ulf Plessentin - Thomas Zenk, Institute for Scientific Study of Religion, Berlin, Germany<br />
The "Return of Religion" and the Return of the Criticism of Religion - The "New Atheism" in<br />
Recent German and American Culture<br />
Elisabetta Porcu, Ryukoku University, Japan<br />
Religions and Me<strong>di</strong>a in Japan<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.00, Classroom 4<br />
The necessity of fin<strong>di</strong>ng new communication strategies and ways of propagating their<br />
teachings seems to be urgent in the contemporary development of religious institutions. In this<br />
paper I will focus on self-representational strategies of religions in contemporary Japan, in<br />
particular, institutions’ use of the me<strong>di</strong>a for proselytization and self-promotion. I will examine<br />
how religious institutions adapt communication strategies to social and economic changes and<br />
react to times of crisis. Along with this, I will investigate self-representational strategies as<br />
ways to reflect, maintain, and possibly enhance religious institutional power and prestige. On
124<br />
another level my aim is to shed light on how established religious tra<strong>di</strong>tions (such as various<br />
Japanese Buddhist schools) compare to other groups, such as the apparently more successful<br />
new religious movements in Japan, in their use of the me<strong>di</strong>a.<br />
Francesca Prescen<strong>di</strong>, University of Genève, Switzerland<br />
La vittima e la sua storia<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.20, Classroom 4<br />
Il titolo del libro del sociologo Guillaume Erner, Société des victimes, sottolinea che la nostra<br />
sociétà presta attenzione alla sofferenza molto più <strong>di</strong> quanto non si facesse in passato.<br />
L’importanza delle vittime risulta evidente guardando semplicemente i titoli che appaiono ogni<br />
giorno nei nostri mezzi <strong>di</strong> comunicazione. Per capire meglio il retroterra <strong>di</strong> questa realtà, è<br />
interessante ripercorrere la storia della parola “vittima” partendo dal suo significato originario.<br />
In latino victima designa l’offerta immolata in sacrificio. In questa accezione è sinonimo <strong>di</strong><br />
hostia, una denominazione più comune per in<strong>di</strong>care l’oggetto del sacrificio. La storia delle due<br />
parole però ha portato a una <strong>di</strong>fferenziazione ra<strong>di</strong>cale. Il termine “ostia” è rimasto legato<br />
esclusivamente all’ambito religioso specializzandosi ad in<strong>di</strong>care la ‘cialda’ propria della<br />
comunione dei cristiani. Il termine “vittima” invece si è svincolato dalla sua accezione religiosa<br />
per trovare un impiego sempre maggiore in una sfera completamente profana. Questa<br />
evoluzione si è prodotta attraverso tappe importanti della nostra cultura, in cui hanno un ruolo<br />
fondamentale il passaggio dalla religione politeista romana al cristianesimo, la creazione del<br />
canone liturgico della chiesa romana, ma anche un cambiamento <strong>di</strong> sensibilità verso le vittime<br />
che cresce a partire della rivoluzione francese e che arriva al suo culmine dopo la seconda<br />
guerra mon<strong>di</strong>ale. Lo scopo <strong>di</strong> questa relazione è <strong>di</strong> proporre qualche riflessione su alcuni dei<br />
momenti chiave <strong>di</strong> questa storia.<br />
Janis Priede, University of Latvia, Latvia<br />
Esoteric Discourse in the Schools of Contemporary Latvia<br />
Tue 15 th , 18.00, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
The emergence of esoteric group engagement in the private and public schools of Latvia<br />
represents a growing phenomenon in spite of modern and scientific general orientation in the<br />
field of education. The phenomenon is propelled through the activities of new religious<br />
movement which try to institutionalize itself through promoting a new pedagogical approach,<br />
so called humanitarian pedagogy of Shalva Amonashvili. On the example of the Roerich<br />
movement, the author tries to demonstrate how the ideological void which was left after the<br />
collapse of the soviet regime is partially transforming itself towards esoterically oriented<br />
perception of reality in some of the pedagogical circles in Latvia. Since it is mostly soviet<br />
educated generation of Latvian pedagogic staff which is more involved in the esoteric group<br />
activities it may be suggested that among the main reasons of this phenomenon may be the<br />
forced materialistic and one-sided training during the soviet system of education. In a number<br />
of cases, these esoteric group activities are not confined to the in<strong>di</strong>vidual lifestyle but tend to<br />
involve on educational basis also pupils of public schools, as well as university students. The<br />
paper concludes with a suggestion that there is an urgent necessity in Latvia to guarantee a<br />
secular character of education on all levels of formation of the in<strong>di</strong>vidual. The presentation is<br />
based on the research that has been done in the EU Sixth Framework Programme research<br />
project „Society and Lifestyles: Towards Enhancing Social Harmonisation through Knowledge<br />
of Subcultural Communities”.<br />
Tue 15 th , 17.40, Classroom 6
Ilaria Ramelli, University “Cattolica” of Milano, Italy<br />
Bardaisan as a Christian Philosopher: A Reassessment of His Christology.<br />
125<br />
I shall call attention to the importance of the fragments from Bardaisan's treatise on In<strong>di</strong>a<br />
preserved by Porphyry, which are quoted ad verbum by the Neoplatonist of Tyre. They are<br />
among the very few fragments of Bardaisan that are surely authentic and come <strong>di</strong>rectly from<br />
him. They do not refer to ideas of his <strong>di</strong>sciples and followers. Therefore, they are fundamental<br />
both per se, for their own content, and as a term of comparison in a systematic analysis of all<br />
other fragments, sources and testimonies that we have at our <strong>di</strong>sposal on Bardaisan's thought.<br />
Their content is remarkable not only for the allusions to aspects of ancient In<strong>di</strong>an civilization,<br />
coming from a reliable source such as the In<strong>di</strong>an ambassadors who travelled westwards for a<br />
<strong>di</strong>plomatic mission under Elagabalus (although this is of the highest interest, here I shall not be<br />
concerned with this point, which moreover has already been investigated to a certain extent by<br />
scholars). The contents of these fragments is notable also in respect to Bardaisan's<br />
philosophical conceptions from several points of view, which I shall illustrate. I shall<br />
especially concentrate on Bardaisan's Christology, such as it emerges from both these<br />
fragments and other available sources, in particular those belonging to the so-called<br />
cosmological tra<strong>di</strong>tions, but also some material preserved by Ephrem and a few other sources. I<br />
shall moreover in<strong>di</strong>cate, again on the basis of the Porphyrian fragments and a comparison with<br />
other available sources, how Bardaisan is likely to have interpreted the Biblical account of<br />
creation in the light of Plato’s Timaeus and how Middle-Platonic ideas, in ad<strong>di</strong>tion to Stoic<br />
ones, bear on the interpretation of his thought. At the same time I shall offer some<br />
methodological examples of how a systematic comparison of the few fragments of sure<br />
authenticity with all the "testimonia de Bardesane" is extremely helpful and allows for the<br />
assessment of the weight and reliability of each source.<br />
Bryan S. Rennie, Westminster College, PA-USA<br />
Pettazzoni from the Perspective of the Anglophone Academy<br />
Tue 15 th , 17.40, Classroom 14<br />
There is no need to emphasize the significance of Raffaele Pettazzoni to an international<br />
au<strong>di</strong>ence of Historians of Religions, especially not to Italian Historians of Religions. However,<br />
there are only two books by Pettazzoni available in the English language: the monograph, The<br />
All-knowing God (1956, L'onniscienza <strong>di</strong> Dio, 1955) and Essays on the History of Religions<br />
(1967), which is “a collection of sundry writings on various subjects connected with the<br />
History of Religion, which have been already published on <strong>di</strong>fferent occasions in Italian and<br />
foreign perio<strong>di</strong>cals” (Preface). Added to this is a tiny collection (I have found only three) of<br />
articles in English. This might seem to constitute a serious neglect of such a productive a<br />
scholar, whom Mircea Eliade called an “exemplary Historian of Religions.” However,<br />
Pettazzoni’s presence is unavoidable in every English-language encyclope<strong>di</strong>a of religion,<br />
anthology, or monograph on the History of the History of Religions. This paper will attempt to<br />
assess the reception of the work of Raffaele Pettazzoni in the Anglophone Academy, to<br />
consider the adequacy of that reception, and to in<strong>di</strong>cate where Pettazzoni’s work may have<br />
been influential despite the lack of translations and publications in English.<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00, Classroom 8
Rita Rescigno, University of Salerno, Italy<br />
I Penates tra Lares, Genius e Iuno<br />
Sergio Ribichini, CNR, Italia<br />
Religione fenicia e storia delle religioni: qualche caso <strong>di</strong> stu<strong>di</strong>o<br />
126<br />
Tue 15 th , 17.40, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
Nel corso del XX secolo, e particolarmente a partire dagli anni 60, la conoscenza della civiltà<br />
dei Fenici e dei Cartaginesi ha conosciuto un notevole incremento, grazie alla scoperta e allo<br />
scavo <strong>di</strong> nuovi siti, sia in Oriente che nell’Occidente me<strong>di</strong>terraneo, grazie anche all’impianto <strong>di</strong><br />
ricerche storiografiche metodologicamente accorte, e soprattutto grazie alla costituzione <strong>degli</strong><br />
stu<strong>di</strong> fenici e punici in autonomia <strong>di</strong>sciplinare, con il ricorso alle varie scienze dell’antichità<br />
nonché al metodo storico-comparativo per lo stu<strong>di</strong>o dei fatti religiosi. Questo stato <strong>di</strong> cose ha<br />
consentito una verifica anche <strong>degli</strong> schemi interpretativi adottati negli approcci storico-religiosi<br />
d’epoche precedenti, nonché l’identificazione <strong>di</strong> vari clichés storiografici e un deciso<br />
ri<strong>di</strong>mensionamento del loro valore euristico.Nel corso dell’intervento, verranno analizzati,<br />
come case-stu<strong>di</strong>es <strong>di</strong>mostrativi, la questione del sacrificio punico dei bambini e la figura <strong>di</strong><br />
Moloch, il modello del cosiddetto “Dio-che-muore” con particolare riferimento ad Adone e<br />
Baal, lo schema della presunta prostituzione sacra in onore dell’Astarte fenicia.<br />
Paola Ricci Sindoni, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Un esempio <strong>di</strong> simbiosi ebraico-tedesca: il Freies Jü<strong>di</strong>sches Lehrhaus<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.40, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
Nella Germania dei primi del 900, quando i germi oscuri dell’antisemitismo si insinuavano<br />
potenti nell’ideologia nazionalsocialista, alcuni filosofi ebrei, scossi dall’orgoglio della propria<br />
identità religiosa, andavano ripensando un progetto formativo (sulla scia della Bildung<br />
goethiana) capace <strong>di</strong> recuperare le ra<strong>di</strong>ci profonde, ormai affievolite, dell’ essere ebrei, che non<br />
fosse in conflitto con un forte senso <strong>di</strong> coesione nazionale. Non doveva perciò trattarsi <strong>di</strong> un<br />
risveglio intellettualistico, proprio del giudaismo astratto delle tra<strong>di</strong>zionali accademie<br />
rabbiniche (lo Judentum), quanto <strong>di</strong> una riscoperta dell’essere – ebreo (lo Judesein), che<br />
contemplasse la piena e cosciente appartenenza sia alla religione dei Padri, sia agli ideali<br />
nazionali della Germania. Intellettuali e filosofi, come Nehemia Nobel, Franz Rosenzweig,<br />
Martin Buber, Eduard Strauss si impegnarono in quegli anni a incarnare una forma ine<strong>di</strong>ta <strong>di</strong><br />
simbiosi ebraico-tedesca, capace <strong>di</strong> coinvolgere i citta<strong>di</strong>ni ebrei della loro patria, ormai<br />
assimilati alla cultura egemone, ed offrire loro il cuore culturale e spirituale della tra<strong>di</strong>zione<br />
giudaica. La Freies Jü<strong>di</strong>sches Lehrhaus, inaugurata a Francoforte nell’agosto 1920, aperta a<br />
tutti i tedeschi, costituiva l’espressione evidente <strong>di</strong> questo sforzo formativo e <strong>di</strong> rinascita<br />
morale. Questo contributo cercherà <strong>di</strong> analizzare le motivazioni, le istanze profonde, gli<br />
obiettivi ideali <strong>di</strong> questa “scuola”, volta a presentare la particolarità della religione ebraica<br />
come una potenzialità culturale <strong>di</strong> grande valenza universale.<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.00, Classroom 14
Jörg Rüpke, University of Erfurt, Germany<br />
On religious experiencies that should not be made in Sanctuaries<br />
127<br />
In his essay "On Superstition" Plutarch attacks the superstitious fear of the gods and compares<br />
it - unfavourably - with atheism. The text has (rightly) been read as following the tra<strong>di</strong>tion of<br />
equating superstition with unjustified fear of the gods, thus creating a philosophical concept of<br />
superstition that could be confronted with Stoic or Platonic models of god. Why, however,<br />
does Plutarch focus on behaviour in temples? Starting from Plutarch's argumenatition the paper<br />
will use the derogatory evidence of the <strong>di</strong>scourse on superstition to further illuminate the<br />
function of temple as a space to enable and further religious experiences.<br />
Maria Rybakova, San Diego State University, USA<br />
Art and Asceticism<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.20, Classroom 5<br />
We usually imagine an artist, or a poet, as a Romantic, almost Nietzschean, personality, driven<br />
by passions and his desire to succeed. It seems to me, however, that a certain branch of<br />
mysticism that came into existence with St Francis and that is still present (albeit not<br />
widespread) in European thought, allows for a completely <strong>di</strong>fferent understan<strong>di</strong>ng of the<br />
philosophy and psychology of the creative process. I would like to elucidate an understan<strong>di</strong>ng<br />
of the artist as an ascetic who, through self-denial, arrives at a clearer vision of reality that he<br />
then can communicate through his oeuvre. For the interconnectedness between art and selfdenial,<br />
I would like to establish a genealogy of following thinkers: the mysticism of St Francis<br />
and St John of the Cross, the philosophy of Schopenhauer and Simone Weil, and the aesthetic<br />
theory of Iris Murdoch. Both Weil and Schopenhauer mention St Francis, who, on one hand,<br />
wanted to ‘make himself nothing’ (as evident from his evening prayer) and, on the other hand,<br />
proclaimed love and brotherhood with everything on earth (in his ‘Canticle of Creatures’).<br />
Schopenhauer, who brings together art and asceticism, asserts that the aesthetic pleasure in the<br />
beautiful, such as contemplating a painting, is achieved when we are ‘freed from ourselves’<br />
(when we lose ourselves in contemplation), or <strong>di</strong>minish our will through asceticism and<br />
contemplate the world instead of desiring it. For Simone Weil, ‘decreation’ of the ego was<br />
necessary in order to attain true knowledge. Iris Murdoch, who acknowledged her debt to Weil,<br />
held the opinion that “the ability to perceive what is true is automatically at the same time a<br />
suppression of self.” Accor<strong>di</strong>ng to Murdoch, personal fantasy is the enemy of true art, because<br />
it is the intrusion of the self, “the tissue of self-aggran<strong>di</strong>zing and consoling wishes and dreams<br />
which prevents one from seeing what is there outside one.” Therefore a true artist must<br />
necessarily practice self-denial, an asceticism that would help him to become liberated from the<br />
wishes of the ego in his or her art. I would like to elucidate this point by analyzing in detail<br />
how the wishes of the ego may <strong>di</strong>stort a work of art and what kind of asceticism an artist must<br />
practice.<br />
Alessandro Saggioro, University of Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy<br />
Pietro Tacchi Venturi<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.40, Classroom 14<br />
Pietro Tacchi Venturi is one of the key catholic figures for the cultural and political history<br />
during the first half of the 20th century in Italy. He was a Jesuit father, charged with important<br />
<strong>di</strong>plomatic operations; he swept through palaeography, philosophy, bibliography, classical
128<br />
literature, civil history and ecclesiastical history. He oversaw the compilation of the<br />
Enciclope<strong>di</strong>a Italiana, he was author of a Storia della Compagnia <strong>di</strong> Gesù, some writings on the<br />
Jesuits and especially he conceived and executed the project of a Storia delle Religioni. The<br />
five e<strong>di</strong>tions of this Storia, published between 1934 and 1954, are closely linked to the birth<br />
and the forms which the <strong>di</strong>scipline History of Religion assumed in Italy in those years.<br />
Tuula Sakaranaho, University of Helsinki, Finland<br />
Religion and Collective Memory. Rhetorical Viewpoints<br />
Wed 16 th , 16.00, Classroom 9<br />
In the study of religions , one of the main challenges is to describe what is <strong>di</strong>stinctive to a<br />
religious tra<strong>di</strong>tion but also to show how religious tra<strong>di</strong>tions also overlap. In this paper I will<br />
focus on the first named question and will propose an approach by which to elicit from world<br />
religions the main poinst of reference by which they can be set apart from each other. I will do<br />
this by utilising the theories of religion and collective memory developed in French sociology<br />
by Maurice Halbwachs and Daniele Hervieu~Leger. The keyterm in these theories is<br />
recollection, which will be conceptualised here as a rhetorical process.<br />
Carles Salazar, University of Lleida, Spain<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.00, Classroom 5<br />
Cognition, Evolution and Symbolism: New and Old Approaches to the Anthropology of<br />
Religion<br />
Tra<strong>di</strong>tional anthropological analysis of religious symbolism has been recently challeged by<br />
cognitive and evolutinary approaches. The need to see religious phenomena within a wider<br />
theoretical framework which can relate the cultural to the natural sciences explains the success<br />
of these new perspectives. Yet there are some outstan<strong>di</strong>ng themes in the analysis of religious<br />
experience that have been blatantly <strong>di</strong>sregarded by cognitive and evolutionary scholars.<br />
Prominent among this is the question of meaning and intentionality in the constitution of the<br />
religious. The purpose of this paper is to tackle this issue and to explore ways in which<br />
intentionality and meaning can be analysed within a cognitve-evolutionary theoretical<br />
framework. The nub of the argument to be developed is that religion should be seen as a byproduct<br />
(spandrel) of evolved cognitive structures without being reducible to them. From this<br />
perspective, the so-called problem of meaning of religious experience consists in grasping its<br />
hybrid constitution, biological and cultural simultaneously, thus it should be located at the<br />
cross-roads between <strong>di</strong>fferent, incommensurable but complementary theories of culture.<br />
Marco Antonio Santamaría, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain<br />
Orfismo y mundo helenístico<br />
Wed 16 th , 17.40, Classroom 13<br />
En la época helenística la cultura griega sobrepasa el marco de referencia de la polis y se hace<br />
común a grandes extensiones territoriales. Esto incide en la práctica religiosa, ya que se busca<br />
en ella la seguridad y la salvación personal frente a las nuevas <strong>di</strong>mensiones de la existencia.<br />
Los cultos mistéricos, y entre ellos el orfismo, experimentan importantes desarrollos. En este<br />
período se componen obras importantes de la literatura órfica, como las Rapso<strong>di</strong>as, un<br />
compen<strong>di</strong>o ampliado de antiguas teogonías, o la Teogonía de Jerónimo y Helanico, en la que se
129<br />
introducen elementos orientales. También es muestra de un interesante sincretismo entre<br />
orfismo y judaísmo el Testamento de Orfeo, que conocemos en varias versiones, y que atribuye<br />
una doctrina monoteísta al mítico poeta tracio. Pero el orfismo durante el helenismo no se<br />
reduce a un fenómeno libresco. Muchas laminillas áureas encontradas en tumbas de Creta, de<br />
Acaya y de Macedonia testimonian la esperanza en una vida <strong>di</strong>chosa post mortem como<br />
retribución por haberse iniciado en los misterios órficos en honor de Dioniso. Estas mismas<br />
creencias escatológicas se observan en varios epigramas de la época, en especial de Posi<strong>di</strong>po<br />
de Pela. Por otro lado, en la literatura helenística se perciben numerosas alusiones a creencias<br />
órficas, como el mito antropogónico de Dioniso y los Titanes, y ciertas concepciones<br />
teogónicas y escatológicas que tuvieron expresión en <strong>di</strong>versos poemas atribuidos a Orfeo.<br />
Carlo Santaniello, University of Napoli, Italy<br />
Un mito babilonese e la colpa del demone in Empedocle B115 D-K<br />
Wed 16 th , 17.20, Classroom 8<br />
As a preliminary statement, the author is ready to acknowledge that he is no orientalist; and, of<br />
course, he is persuaded that, although there is evidence that Enuma Elish was known to<br />
Eudemus, a famous <strong>di</strong>sciple of Aristotle’s, this can be no justification for supposing that the<br />
story of the downgra<strong>di</strong>ng of one or more daimones in Empedocles B115 Diels-Kranz, ensuing<br />
to a mysterious crime and a perjury, should even in<strong>di</strong>rectly derive from the Acca<strong>di</strong>an myth of<br />
the making of man out of the killing of a god. In fact, not only there is no proof or clue that<br />
Empedocles knew Enuma Elish in any form a century or more before Eudemus, but, even if it<br />
were shown that he <strong>di</strong>d, the myth included in the Babylonian poem is <strong>di</strong>fferent from the story<br />
of the fall of the daimones narrated by the great man from Akragas: apart from the uncertainty<br />
as to whether the tale told by Empedocles should be considered “a tra<strong>di</strong>tional tale” (as sounds<br />
the definition of myth worked out by G. S. Kirk and accepted by W. Burkert), the main<br />
<strong>di</strong>screpancies are that in the Akka<strong>di</strong>an myth blood is spilt from a guilty god, who is regarded as<br />
a rebel, whereas in Empedocles the guilt lies with the blood-spilling god; and that in Enuma<br />
Elish there is no metempsychosis and wandering from the lowest con<strong>di</strong>tion (a stone) to the<br />
highest (man, before becoming a god again) as in Empedocles, but the god Kingu is killed (or,<br />
better said, executed) once and for all, in order that a man may be made out of the god’s blood.<br />
It might be added that comparison with the story told in another, older Acca<strong>di</strong>an poem,<br />
Atrahasis, is also possible up a certain degree. So—one might ask—what is the use of<br />
comparing Empedocles’ tale in B115 with Enuma Elish? First of all (as historians of religion<br />
know very well, but some Empedoclists seem to forget), the spilling of <strong>di</strong>vine blood is a way to<br />
start life attested in myth also elsewhere (see the case of In<strong>di</strong>an Purusha, who is made to pieces<br />
in order to generate the universe) — it is good to stress this point, as the emendation φόβ into<br />
φόν in Emp. B115.3 (dating back to Stephanus’ happy insight in the xvi century, and<br />
in<strong>di</strong>rectly supported by other fragments and witnesses) has been recently put to question more<br />
than once. Secondly, scholars are obviously right in comparing the punishment of the<br />
delinquent god in Empedocles to the punishment of the perjured god in Hesiod’s Theogony, but<br />
this leaves the spilling of blood in Empedocles with no correspondence, because there is no<br />
blood-spilling in Hesiod, only a reference to «strife and quarrel»; whereas the Enuma Elish<br />
myth provides a story in which the killing of a god allows for the making of man out of the
130<br />
killed god’s blood — and even the seals giving strength to the oath concerning destiny in<br />
Empedocles might find some correspondence in the Akka<strong>di</strong>an poem and in a religious festival<br />
at Babylonia. Thirdly, the god’s perjury has no connection whatever with the origin of human<br />
life in Hesiod, whereas the start of life is the result of the crimes committed (blood-spilling and<br />
perjury) accor<strong>di</strong>ng to Empedocles, and, respectively, of the killing of the god Kingu accor<strong>di</strong>ng<br />
to Enuma Elish. Therefore, in spite of the <strong>di</strong>screpancies mentioned above, it can be thought that<br />
these analogies may make a comparison between the Akka<strong>di</strong>an myth and the Empedoclean tale<br />
interesting and instructive.<br />
Ennio Sanzi, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Tue 15 th , 9.20, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
Magia e Culti orientali. Osservazioni storico-religiose su alcune testimonianze in lingua copta,<br />
ovvero sulla necessità <strong>di</strong> non lavorare sulle traduzioni.<br />
Le fonti in lingua copta forniscono delle testimonianze su fenomeni quali la magia e i<br />
cosiddetti culti orientali spesso non considerate dagli specialisti. Lo scopo <strong>di</strong> questo contributo<br />
è proprio quello <strong>di</strong> richiamare l’attenzione su tale tipo <strong>di</strong> testimonianze, non sempre <strong>di</strong>sponibili<br />
in traduzione, al fine <strong>di</strong> cercare <strong>di</strong> ricostruire, ancorché a livello <strong>di</strong> campionatura, la sensibilità<br />
religiosa dell’Egitto copto. Si cercherà soprattutto <strong>di</strong> comprendere la realtà e lo spessore <strong>di</strong><br />
eventuali sopravvivenze del mondo pagano soprattutto a livello della religiosità popolare.<br />
Proprio per questo, un’analisi approfon<strong>di</strong>ta delle fonti prese in esame dovrà fondarsi anche<br />
sulla lingua nella quale tali testimonianze considerate sono state redatte. In questo modo,<br />
infatti, la contestualizzazione dei materiali sarà meno suscettibile <strong>di</strong> aporia da parte dello<br />
storico delle religioni impegnato a ricostruire fatti e contesti religiosi in chiave <strong>di</strong> reciprocità<br />
secondo un concetto <strong>di</strong> analogia intesto come un quid storicamente irriducibile.<br />
Teresa Sardella, University of Catania, Italy<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.00, Classroom 14<br />
Ebrei e Cristiani tra somiglianze e <strong>di</strong>ssimiglianze:cibo e sesso nella normativa cristiana tra il<br />
IV e il Vi secolo<br />
- The connection between food and sex which in all religions is varyingly subject to negative<br />
precepts, is significantly <strong>di</strong>fferent between Jews and Christians.<br />
- Among the in<strong>di</strong>spensible negative precepts in Leviticus and 4 th century Christian doctrine and<br />
reaffirmed in 4 th century protocols it would seem there is no connection. In Leviticus,<br />
purification is almost exclusively by means of food control and prohibition is absolute,<br />
whereas Christian Easter fasting is limited in time and at the heart of rites linked to theology.<br />
Furthermore, a lot of space was given to Christians about negative precepts regar<strong>di</strong>ng sex<br />
which in Judaism are absolutely marginal, partial and regar<strong>di</strong>ng only the clergy.<br />
- The position taken by the Council of Jerusalem (Act 15) is a point of convergence for some<br />
groups of the former Christian ethic who foresaw a not better specified abstention from food<br />
and sex.<br />
- With the help of some particularly authoritative texts on precepts (from the first decretalis to<br />
the Collection of Dionysius the Younger) it is possible to follow the path wich comes from<br />
Leviticus and uses it as the basis for some negative sexual precepts wich are not originally in<br />
the Bible.
- The aim of both religions remains unaltered: to reach a level of holiness which evidently has<br />
a <strong>di</strong>fferent profile in the two contexts.<br />
Paolo Scarpi, University of Padova, Italy<br />
131<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.00, Classroom 6<br />
Dalla Storia delle Religioni alle Scienze delle Religioni: dal metodo al contenitore.<br />
After Raffaele Pettazzoni and his School, the History of religions, in Italy, has been the object<br />
of criticism aiming at depreciating its methodology. The state of the art of the <strong>di</strong>scipline today<br />
runs the risk both of loosing its specific label, acquiring, instead, the generic label “Science of<br />
religions” and of being turned into a big "container" devoid of epistemological status where<br />
<strong>di</strong>stinct approaches and methodologies may coexist.<br />
Oliver Scharbrodt, University of Cork, Ireland<br />
Muslims in Ireland and their Societies of Origin in Asia and Africa<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.00, Classroom 11<br />
Despite the publication of various stu<strong>di</strong>es and the emergence of research projects on Muslims<br />
living in Europe, only a few attempts to deal with the Muslim community in Ireland have been<br />
undertaken in serious academic scholarship (see Sakaranaho 2003, Sakaranaho 2006, Flynn<br />
2006, Marranci 2007). The Muslim population of Ireland has quadrupled in the last ten years<br />
reaching a number of 32,000, accor<strong>di</strong>ng to the 2006 national census. Despite the rising<br />
numbers and an increased public profile, not much attention has been given to the Irish<br />
Muslim community in stu<strong>di</strong>es on European Islam. Given that hardly any research has been<br />
undertaken on Muslims in Ireland, this paper constitutes highly original research. Two<br />
elements of the Muslim experience in Ireland <strong>di</strong>stinguish it from other European countries;<br />
one is the very recent nature of Muslim migration to Ireland which began in the 1950s but has<br />
only gained major momentum in the last 20 years. Hence, the vast majority of Muslims has<br />
only recently settled in Ireland. In ad<strong>di</strong>tion, Ireland has not enjoyed historical or colonial links<br />
with particular countries or regions in the Muslim world. Therefore, Muslim immigration to<br />
Ireland has been extremely <strong>di</strong>verse and has not been dominated by Muslims from a particular<br />
ethnic or cultural background. While the first wave of Muslim migration to Ireland was<br />
constituted of Muslim students from South Africa and the Middle East, a recent rise of South<br />
Asian communities can be observed as well as an influx of refugees from former Yugoslavia<br />
and various Sub-Saharan African countries. Hence, the Muslim community in Ireland is not<br />
only one of the youngest but also one of the most <strong>di</strong>verse in Europe. Apart from provi<strong>di</strong>ng a<br />
brief sketch of the historical evolution of the Muslim community in Ireland, this paper focuses<br />
on the development of institutional frameworks among Irish Muslims, by looking at various<br />
organisations that have been established in Ireland. It will be investigated what cultural, ethnic<br />
or sectarian orientations they have represented, and how successful they have been in<br />
establishing organisational cohesion among Irish Muslims and in representing the very <strong>di</strong>verse<br />
Muslim community in the Irish public. The negotiation of various forms of Muslim religiosity,<br />
both cultural and sectarian, with the homogenizing tendencies of modern Muslim reform<br />
movements such as the Salafiyya within these organisations will also be <strong>di</strong>scussed and related<br />
to similar dynamics of the construction of Muslim identities in other European countries.<br />
Tue 15 th , 16.40, Classroom 6
Fabio Scialpi, University of Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy<br />
Raffaele Pettazzoni e le religioni in<strong>di</strong>ane<br />
Elena Sergeeva, Moscow State University, Russia<br />
132<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.40, Classroom 8<br />
Tra<strong>di</strong>tional Consciousness and Contemporary Transformations in the Old Believers<br />
Communities<br />
What do we know about the old believers nowadays? Are they already <strong>di</strong>ssolved in the Russian<br />
Orthodox on account of resolutions of the Church council in 1971? Or they still keep their<br />
special place? On the ground of field researches in 2005-2009 I will try to analyse this<br />
phenomenon. Two opposite features of the Old believers communities take place here. We can<br />
call the old believers ‘tra<strong>di</strong>tional culture custo<strong>di</strong>ans’ (if we are speaking about nonpriest<br />
communities especially). At the same moment they save creative approach in the<br />
understan<strong>di</strong>ng of religious theses and spiritual life. In some sense we can understandthe old<br />
believers as a special ethno-religious corporation. Often they do not provide proselytism at all,<br />
but they have a post of "father’s faith". They <strong>di</strong>d not stop writing polemical works (but<br />
nowadays these are not the debates with the Russian Orthodox Church only, but with all<br />
present-day world also). They keep up the eschatological sense and they try to build the<br />
everyday life accor<strong>di</strong>ng to it. Such an inner perception of the religious live also leads to the<br />
new splits-off in the Old believers communities.<br />
Valerio S. Severino, University of Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy<br />
Sacrology. A Name for a Science (October 1959)<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.40, Classroom 12<br />
In 1959 Raffaele Pettazzoni wrote the last notes of his life. Among these documents, there is a<br />
group of unpublished remarks concerning the use of a term that is broader with respect to the<br />
official definition of the aims and of the activities of the IAHR. This is an attempt to outline<br />
the possible task of a unified study of religion, bridging the two <strong>di</strong>mensions of our <strong>di</strong>scipline --<br />
historical and phenomenological -- as two facets of a single and general science of religion,<br />
named “sacrology”. Pettazzoni had this new name in mind to meet the challenge of the new<br />
Conference called by the IAHR at Marburg (1960), after the 9 th Congress held in Tokyo in<br />
1958. The questions raised in this paper – which deal with the nature of the <strong>di</strong>scipline and its<br />
program -- touch the burning issue of an international debate and let us see the symptoms of<br />
the interest of the storicisti within the framework of the problems connected with the<br />
controversial notion of “sacred”.<br />
Carla Sfameni, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Tue 15 th , 18.40, Classroom 8<br />
Immagini e identità religiose nella Tarda Antichità: alcuni esempi da contesti privati<br />
The art of late antiquity witnesses a remarkable ferment of styles and, as far as the religious<br />
aspect is concerned, offers not only significant examples of <strong>di</strong>fferent or sometimes convergent<br />
approaches to the same topics, but also attests the creation of new religious identities and of<br />
specific phenomena of syncretism. Private contexts, in particular the domestic ones, not only
133<br />
offer the opportunity to observe the persistence of a tra<strong>di</strong>tional iconographical repertory, but<br />
also the development of new themes, related to the Christian religion, which often coexist with<br />
images of pagan myths and cults. The problem of the religious identities is crucial for the<br />
understan<strong>di</strong>ng of the interactions between <strong>di</strong>fferent religious tra<strong>di</strong>tions that are present in the<br />
same historical and cultural context. Noteworthy is the case of Christians who had to build<br />
their religious identity in relation to pagans, using the same iconographic and cultural legacy,<br />
that was yet deeply transformed in its meaning and symbolic value. While in “public” contexts<br />
the <strong>di</strong>fferences were highlighted in order to clearly <strong>di</strong>stinguish the identities of the various<br />
religious groups, in private and popular contexts it is possible to better observe phenomena of<br />
coexistence and interaction between the same iconographical elements interpreted in <strong>di</strong>fferent<br />
ways on the basis of the specific religious tra<strong>di</strong>tions but all belonging to a culture that is<br />
common to pagans, Christians and Hebrews. This paper not only surveys the archaeological<br />
data (architecture, mosaics, paintings, sculptures) from villas and domus of <strong>di</strong>fferent regions of<br />
the Roman Empire, but it also analyses “popular” and “magic” materials and some funerary<br />
contexts where pagan, Hebrew and Christian elements coexist. Literary sources relevant to the<br />
topic are also considered. Due to the complex problems of this subject, it will be necessary to<br />
limit the Discussion to the analysis of some relevant examples from the documentation<br />
available.<br />
Marianna Shakhnovich, State Saint-Petersburg University, Russia<br />
Teaching about Religion in Russia: Standards, Curricula and Textbooks<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.20, Classroom 14<br />
One of the main problems of the modern situation in the Russian education is the debate about<br />
the teaching about religion versus teaching religion. The report <strong>di</strong>scusses the status of teaching<br />
about religion in secondary and post secondary schools in Russia. It highlights various trends<br />
and aspects of modern curricular approaches in the school education as well as the problem of<br />
the state standard in the Religious <strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong>es for universities. The report also looks at correlation<br />
of European theories and methods of teaching and delivery about religion with Russian<br />
experience. The comparative characteristic of textbooks and methodological manuals about<br />
religion is offered in the paper as well.<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.40, Classroom 4<br />
Ancient Greek and Roman Versions of Comparative Religion and Contemporary Perspective<br />
Chiara Siligar<strong>di</strong>, University of Trento, Italy<br />
Tue 15 th , 16.40, Classroom 13<br />
E<strong>di</strong>fici ecclesiastici rurali tardo-antichi: Cilicia Campestris e Alto Tell Tunisino a confronto<br />
Le pluriennali campagne <strong>di</strong> survey topografico-archeologici dell’Alto Tell Tunisino e della<br />
Cilicia Campestris (Turchia) effettuate dall’<strong>Università</strong> <strong>di</strong> Trento sotto la supervisione della<br />
Prof.ssa De Vos hanno messo in luce numerose strutture ecclesiastiche tardoantiche, talvolta in<br />
elevata concentrazione geografica. Tutti gli e<strong>di</strong>fici, per la scelta metodologica specifica <strong>di</strong><br />
indagare ambiti rurali, possono contribuire a fare luce su luoghi raramente menzionati nelle<br />
fonti letterarie, come i contesti non urbani. Un’analisi multi<strong>di</strong>sciplinare <strong>di</strong> queste strutture in<br />
relazione col territorio circostante ed del loro rapporto con le se<strong>di</strong> episcopali <strong>di</strong> riferimento può<br />
contribuire quin<strong>di</strong> a fornire un quadro più esaustivo non tanto della nascita, quanto dello
sviluppo e della <strong>di</strong>ffusione territoriale e sociale della religione cristiana in due realtà<br />
politicamente, culturalmente e geograficamente <strong>di</strong>stinte.<br />
Paolo Siniscalco, University of Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy<br />
Baldassarre Labanca<br />
134<br />
Wed 16 th , 10.00, Classroom 14<br />
Nella primavera del 1872 la Camera dei Deputati italiana con un voto a larga maggioranza<br />
sopprime le Facoltà Teologiche nelle <strong>Università</strong> <strong>di</strong> Stato; all’inizio del 1873 il Senato<br />
conferma definitivamente la legge approvata dalla Camera. Per un certo periodo le materie<br />
religionistiche sono del tutto assenti dagli insegnamenti universitari in Italia. Solo nel 1886, per<br />
decreto del Ministero della Pubblica dell’Istruzione, Baldassarre Labanca (1829-1913), che<br />
fino ad allora era stato professore or<strong>di</strong>nario a Pisa, è “comandato” o “incaricato”a tenere un<br />
corso <strong>di</strong> ‘Storia delle religioni’ - che si muta in ‘Storia del cristianesimo’ per desiderio del<br />
docente stesso nell’anno successivo - presso la Facoltà <strong>di</strong> Lettere e Filosofia all’<strong>Università</strong> <strong>di</strong><br />
Roma. Per comprendere la lentezza con cui sono riattivati, salvo un’eccezione, i corsi delle<br />
Facoltà teologiche aventi un interesse generale <strong>di</strong> cultura storica, filologica e filosofica<br />
(secondo la lettera della legge del 1872) occorre anche tenere conto del contesto politico e dei<br />
rapporti che lo stato italiano intratteneva in quegli anni con la Chiesa. In questo quadro la<br />
figura <strong>di</strong> Labanca assume un certo rilievo non tanto per gli stu<strong>di</strong> molto vari che conduce (la<br />
sua si può <strong>di</strong>re l’attività <strong>di</strong> vero e proprio poligrafo: i suoi scritti paiono rispondere alle<br />
esigenze dei tempi più che al rigore scientifico), ma soprattutto per la consapevolezza che ha e<br />
che proclama dell’importanza che gli stu<strong>di</strong> storico-religiosi devono assumere in ambito<br />
universitario e del metodo che devono seguire.<br />
Wed 16 th , 16.20, Classroom 9<br />
Anna D. Sokolova, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of Russia, Russia<br />
The New Time – the Old Beliefs: Russian folk Orthodoxy in Changed World<br />
Russian folk Orthodoxy had incorporated many elements of pre-christian paganism, both<br />
practices and beliefs. Some of them were criticized by the Church. We can find them in<br />
<strong>di</strong>fferent apologetic works against pagans. The most part of then were pushed out from the folk<br />
practice and either mostly forgotten, either moved to the sphere of folk art or handcrafts. Some<br />
were accepted by the Church and we still can see them in church practice. Christian saints and<br />
holidays replaced old slavonic gods and festivals, using old pagan rites. And some were<br />
ignored by the Church and were “found” only in the late 19th century. This were various<br />
whichkrafts, which had a form of prayer, season, family, agricultural rites, etc. During Soviet<br />
times atheistic propaganda was fighting against the second type of them – with the Church<br />
accepted elements, while the other ones were denied. However, they were still in use untill the<br />
end of 20 th century, when the main part of youth moved to big towns and completely changed<br />
their everyday live. But those who stayed in the countryside still used their old rites. Nowadays<br />
after social and ideological changes in post-Soviet society took place, the old beliefs are still in<br />
use, while a sufficient part of the old rites has been forgotten. As an exeption, which is peculiar<br />
for religions in post-Soviet world, there are funerary rites, which seems to be the most vital.<br />
Wed 16 th , 16.00, Classroom 12
Isabella Solima, University of Heidelberg, Germany<br />
A Goddess and her territory: Artemis in the Peloponnese and the memory of the cults in the<br />
local contexts<br />
135<br />
Observing the sanctuaries and cults of Artemis in the Peloponnese is possible to notice the<br />
considerable role which the wild goddess even plays in relation with the Polis. Artemis,<br />
namely goddess of the territory, has the function too, to perpetuate the memory of historical<br />
events of the Polis, through her sanctuaries and connected cults consequent upon these events.<br />
The goddess presides furthermore over innumerable rites, associated specially to youth’s<br />
initiations and related to the mythical tra<strong>di</strong>tion of the same places. During these rites this<br />
mythical memory was perpetuated therefore from both the youth, the future citizen of the Polis<br />
and all the sharing community.<br />
Simon Sorgenfrei, University of Gothenburg, Sweden<br />
Ottoman American Sufism in Germany goes to Turkey<br />
Natale Spineto, University of Torino, Italy<br />
Luigi Salvatorelli e la Scienza delle Religioni.<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.00, Classroom 7<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.00, Classroom 12<br />
Before pursuing a career in political journalism, Salvatorelli had contributed in a crucial way to<br />
the consolidation of the Science of Religions in Italy, by means of his papers, his<br />
bibliographical reviews –compiled in the bibliographical introduction to the Science of<br />
Religions- his active role in promoting new journals and his academic activity as professor of<br />
History of the Church in Naples. His contribution regards also the new subject’s methodology,<br />
on which he has reflected extensively, with an original approach. He has established a<br />
<strong>di</strong>stinction between Science of Religions, History of Religions, and the historical study of<br />
single religions. The latter would include the History of Christianity, which he considers in<br />
relation to civilian history. The aim of this lecture is to study the role that Salvatorelli played in<br />
the historical-religious debate of his time, examining the relations that he established with<br />
some of the protagonists of the religious stu<strong>di</strong>es (Raffaele Pettazzoni among them).<br />
Wed 16 th , 10.00, Classroom 9<br />
Federico Squarcini, University of Firenze – University of Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy<br />
<strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong> <strong>di</strong> Area, Orientalismo e Storia delle religioni. Note su pionerismo e originalità nell'opera<br />
<strong>di</strong> Carlo Puini (1839-1924)<br />
In this contribution I will illustrate some of the aspects of Carlo Puini’s works, a specialized<br />
scholar in Sinology but also engaged with the history of religions. My intention is to show that
his works are an interesting outcome of the <strong>di</strong>alectical interaction between emerging area<br />
stu<strong>di</strong>es and historical-comparative researches on religions.<br />
Shumongal Sramon, Thailand<br />
What is This Religion?<br />
Anita Stasulane, Daugavpils University, Latvia<br />
Creating of rituals: the ritualised behaviour of theosophists<br />
136<br />
Wed 16 th , 17.20, Classroom 9<br />
Tue 15 th , 18.20, Classroom 13<br />
This paper examines the ritualised behaviour of theosophists, and it is based on the data<br />
collected over the three years period (2006-2008) in the EU Sixth Framework Programme<br />
research project „Society and Lifestyles: Towards Enhancing Social Harmonisation through<br />
Knowledge of Subcultural Communities.” Since the performance of ritual action is motivated<br />
by beliefs in specific superhuman agents, the presentation (1) examines the myth of the<br />
existence of the mahatmas in Tibet which is the main component of the theosophical doctrine;<br />
(2) analyses the structure of ritual performances in the contemporary theosophical groups,<br />
which shows that the community of theosophists from time to time needs to be restored in its<br />
attachment to the values and customs through symbolic reminders of the mythology.<br />
Michael Stausberg, University of Bergen, Norway<br />
Raffaele Pettazzoni and Italian Politics 1938-1948<br />
Zrinka Stimac, Germany<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.20, Classroom 12<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.20, Classroom 8<br />
The school subject “Culture of Religion” in Bosnia and Herzegovina: A symbol of external<br />
modernisation of a post-communist society?<br />
After the latest war (1992-1995) and the ratification of the Dayton Peace Accords (1995) the<br />
International Community - predominantly the Office of the High Representative (OHR) -<br />
started the process of political modernisation or “Europeanisation” of Bosnia and Herzegovina<br />
with the education reform as one of the important aspects. Already existing <strong>di</strong>fferent forms of<br />
confessional Religious Educations were criticised to be “ethno-nationalistic” and reflecting not<br />
the religious plurality of the country. Consequently the introduction of the secular school<br />
subject “Culture of Religion” in all public schools of the country was proclaimed by the<br />
International Community in the year 2000. This subject was supposed to bring the ideas of<br />
human rights and democracy among school children and to prevent religious and cultural<br />
segregation. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Goethe-<br />
Institute were and still are involved in the issue of this school subject. In this paper the legal<br />
frame of the public education and the curriculum of the “Culture of Religion” will be<br />
presented. Ad<strong>di</strong>tionally the problems concerning introduction of the subject into the public
137<br />
schools, the teacher training and teaching materials will be addressed. Finally the question of<br />
the balancing act between the local ways of modernisation in the post-communist Bosnia and<br />
Herzegovina and its obligations toward the external actors such as the International community<br />
and the EU will be raised.<br />
Barbara Sturnega, University of Sorbonne, France<br />
Tue 15 th , 16.00, Classroom 4<br />
La missione profetica <strong>di</strong> San Francesco per il mondo musulmano: la vita e le opere<br />
dell’islamologo italiano Padre Giulio Basetti Sani.<br />
L’islamologo italiano Padre Giulio Basetti Sani (1912-2001) fu un personaggio controverso e<br />
straor<strong>di</strong>nariamente fecondo, le cui opere segnarono in Italia una vera svolta nell’ambito <strong>degli</strong><br />
stu<strong>di</strong> arabo-islamici del secolo scorso. La sua entusiasmante esistenza fu interamente proiettata<br />
verso il raggiungimento <strong>di</strong> una più intima comprensione del mondo islamico, seguendo la via<br />
che Louis Massignon seppe in<strong>di</strong>cargli sin dal loro primo incontro, a Parigi, quando ancora<br />
semplice frate francescano studente <strong>di</strong> teologia si stava apprestando a recarsi per la prima volta<br />
in missione in terra d’Islam. Tutte le opere <strong>di</strong> Padre Basetti Sani sono intrise del pensiero<br />
dell’orientalista francese e tutta la sua vita fu animata dalla volontà profonda <strong>di</strong> portare in Italia<br />
il suo pensiero e la sua straor<strong>di</strong>naria testimonianza, <strong>di</strong> pioniere <strong>di</strong> un innovativo approccio allo<br />
stu<strong>di</strong>o dell’Islam. Due furono in particolare le tesi che gli valsero l’allontanamento dal saio<br />
francescano e che lo costrinsero ad un lungo periodo <strong>di</strong> penitenza e <strong>di</strong> esilio prima della<br />
riammissione nell’Or<strong>di</strong>ne: l’interpretazione cristiana del Corano, rimasta purtroppo<br />
incompiuta, e la relazione transtorica da lui postulata tra Muhammad e San Francesco. Padre<br />
Giulio accetta come fatto storico autentico l’estasi miracolosa dell’ascensione notturna <strong>di</strong><br />
Muhammad o mi‘rāj, basandosi su alcuni dati coranici e sull’unanime tra<strong>di</strong>zione musulmana.<br />
Tale tema dell’ascensione acquista un valore fondamentale all’interno dell’esperienza mistica<br />
dei sūfī; secondo la loro interpretazione Muhammad terminò questa visita spirituale a<br />
Gerusalemme con una specie <strong>di</strong> movimento circolare intorno ad un recinto chiuso: egli cioè<br />
non riuscì ad entrare nel recinto dell’unione con Dio, fermandosi a metà del cammino. Secondo<br />
l’autore il desiderio ardente del Profeta <strong>di</strong> penetrare nell’intimità <strong>di</strong>vina, che solo aveva<br />
contemplato esteriormente nel suo viaggio notturno, verrà portato a compimento da un altro<br />
amante <strong>di</strong> Gerusalemme, San Francesco d’Assisi, al quale Dio assegnerà il compito <strong>di</strong><br />
completare e perfezionare la missione <strong>di</strong> Muhammad. La Cristofania della Verna, dove per la<br />
prima volta Gesù Cristo appare in figura <strong>di</strong> Serafino alato e crocifisso, sarebbe dunque la<br />
risposta che Dio ha voluto dare all’umile richiesta <strong>di</strong> Muhammad: ‘Vedere Dio in figura <strong>di</strong><br />
angelo!’”, e farebbe <strong>di</strong> San Francesco la <strong>di</strong>mostrazione vivente della verità storica della morte<br />
<strong>di</strong> Cristo, non accettata dall’Islam. Padre Basetti Sani si propone <strong>di</strong> fornire un elemento <strong>di</strong><br />
riflessione per il raggiungimento <strong>di</strong> una maggiore comprensione reciproca tra le due religioni e<br />
cerca <strong>di</strong> spingere i musulmani a me<strong>di</strong>tare l’apparizione della Verna e le stimmate <strong>di</strong> San<br />
Francesco, nella volontà <strong>di</strong> ricondurli alla scoperta del mistero <strong>di</strong> Cristo, offertosi<br />
volontariamente per realizzare il <strong>di</strong>segno <strong>di</strong> Dio sull’umanità.<br />
Wed 16 th , 16.00, Classroom 4
Emilio Suárez de la Torre, University of Valladolid, Spain<br />
La religión en el espacio de la cultura griega: la multifuncionalidad de Apolo<br />
138<br />
Starting from the principle that what we call ‘Greek religion’ is not an independent and<br />
separated space inside Greek civilization, but that it permeates many of its aspects and is<br />
perfectly integrated in the wider space of culture, this paper, using the god Apollo as a casestudy,<br />
aims to analyzing the role of <strong>di</strong>vine figures in the articulation of a cultural identity, of<br />
the interaction between the religious sphere and multiple aspects of the real life, and of the<br />
adoption and ‘reorganization’ of new elements across History. The main objective is to show in<br />
which way Greek gods are the result of a historical evolution, in which the interaction of the<br />
<strong>di</strong>vine world with the life of the polis is con<strong>di</strong>tioned by the needs of the people who worship<br />
them, among which the adaptation of the ancestral tra<strong>di</strong>tions and the successive historical<br />
changes under a satisfactory frame has a preeminent role.<br />
Paolo Taviani, University of Molise, Italy<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.40, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
La "religione" dei Celti negli stu<strong>di</strong> <strong>di</strong> Raffaele Pettazzoni e <strong>di</strong> Angelo Brelich: un problema <strong>di</strong><br />
definizioni.<br />
In recent decades, researches about ‘Celtic religion’ have undergone a profound change,<br />
generated by the historiographic review of both components of the definition: 'religion' and<br />
'Celts'. In the work of Pettazzoni and Brelich we find significant contributions to this change.<br />
Chiara Terranova, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Wed 16 th , 17.20, Classroom 11<br />
La religione come elemento unificante nei rapporti tra popoli e culture: per la definizione del<br />
ruolo storico-religioso del culto <strong>di</strong> Anfiarao<br />
The me<strong>di</strong>cal and <strong>di</strong>vinatory cult of Amphiaraus, the Argive hero of the War of the Seven<br />
against Thebes, about whom the mythographic tra<strong>di</strong>tions is examined, had its main oracular<br />
centre in the methorium chorion known by the name of Oropìa, where a significant sacred<br />
complex was erected between the 4 th century B.C. and the 1 st century A.D. The historiographic<br />
tra<strong>di</strong>tion related to the sacred place is furnished by epigraphic sources which testify the<br />
historical-religious evolution of the Oropic worship, referring to the historical reasons which,<br />
probably, since the end of V th century B.C., led Thebes to claim this oracular worship,<br />
characteristic of Boeotia, developed only after at Oropo. The theme of the contact with the<br />
Roman res publica, after the <strong>di</strong>ffusion of Beotian Amphiaraus’s worship in the circumme<strong>di</strong>terranean<br />
area, could be set out through the contribute of epigraphic sources related to the<br />
Oropic sacred complex, where the inhabitants, during the 1 st B.C., de<strong>di</strong>cated a series of<br />
agalmata to Roman warriors and politics men.<br />
Wed 16 th , 9.40, Classroom Aula Magna
Berit Thorbjørnsrud, University of Oslo, Norway<br />
The Problem of the Orthodox Diaspora. Rebuil<strong>di</strong>ng the Orthodox Church in Norway<br />
139<br />
“The problem of the Orthodox <strong>di</strong>aspora”, i.e. the existence of multiple juris<strong>di</strong>ctions on the<br />
same territories, represents a burning issue within The Orthodox Church. But in the <strong>di</strong>aspora a<br />
high number of lay people – and clergy - continue to make choices which enhance “the<br />
problem.” Considering that the existence of multiple parallel juris<strong>di</strong>ctions contra<strong>di</strong>cts basic<br />
Orthodox ecclesiology, this is surprising. As “the problem” is considered a “burning issue”,<br />
there are also surprisingly many high-level church leaders who support lay people’s choices.<br />
As it turns out, many lay people, clergy and church leaders don’t actually consider the present<br />
situation problematic at all. On the contrary, they consider the plurality of juris<strong>di</strong>ctions both a<br />
necessity and a positive development. The main questions to be <strong>di</strong>scussed in this paper:<br />
- how do various categories of Orthodox Christians perceive the present situation,<br />
and how do they explain the existence of six parallel juris<strong>di</strong>ctions in Norway<br />
- what are the consequences for intra-Orthodox relations and for the relations<br />
between the Orthodox and their new home land.<br />
Since January 2006 I have done field work within the Orthodox community in Norway. I have<br />
also visited Moscow, Belgrade, Jerusalem and Constantinople and interviewed high level<br />
church leaders, and may thus analyze the views from below in relation to the views from<br />
above.<br />
David Thurfjell, Södertön University, Sweden<br />
Revivalism and the Struggle for Acceptance among European Roma<br />
Wed 16 th , 16.40, Classroom 12<br />
Despite increased political awareness of minority rights within the EU, the situation for<br />
Europe’s Gypsy, Roma and Traveler populations is not improving. On the contrary, many<br />
reports in<strong>di</strong>cate a worsening social situation for these groups throughout the continent. In this<br />
paper it is argued that the Pentecostal revivalist movement, which is going on amongst<br />
European Roma, can be analyzed as one of the most striking responses to this hardening<br />
situation. The paper argues that many Roma are stuck between incommensurable cultural<br />
demands. They find themselves in a situation for which neither the hegemonic majority culture<br />
nor their own tra<strong>di</strong>tions can provide a solution. Pentecostalism, it is argued, provides a ‘third<br />
space’, which allows for cultural adjustments to the majority societies while still maintaining<br />
cultural autonomy and self-respect.<br />
Mihaela Timus, University of Bucarest, Rumania<br />
Pettazzoni and the Iranian <strong>Stu<strong>di</strong></strong>es<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.40, Classroom 4<br />
Wed 16 th , 10.20, Classroom 8
Pavel Titz, University of Pardubice, Czech Republic<br />
In<strong>di</strong>an statuette in Pompei: In<strong>di</strong>an Inkling of What?<br />
140<br />
The unique archaeological site of ancient Pompeii for two and half century attracts the<br />
attention of scholars. It offers us with extraor<strong>di</strong>nary broad and complex picture on one side and<br />
fascinating details on the other of the ancient community both material and mental life, not<br />
exclu<strong>di</strong>ng its religious attitudes. This allows us to analyze ancient Pompeians religious<br />
“tuning” on <strong>di</strong>fferent levels and in well defined contexts. Revealing of sacred structures like<br />
temples, precincts, street altars or sacred symbolism publicly <strong>di</strong>splayed is richly balanced with<br />
the assemblage of lararia placed in the shade of particular houses as well as their inner<br />
decoration in form of frescoes of mobile objects. Most of these were in use or in vogue in the<br />
moment the city <strong>di</strong>ed in AD 79. Recent excavations look also for information on the ritual<br />
praxis preserved in votive pits and their deposits. Among many beautiful objects found in<br />
Pompeii shines the ivory statuette of In<strong>di</strong>an provenience. This wonderful female nearly naked<br />
statuette excavated in 1938 was indentified with goddess Lakshmi, In<strong>di</strong>an counterpart of<br />
Roman Venus – the city of Pompeii deity. The statuette encourages the scholars to speculate of<br />
Rome`s connections with the Far East and the way it reached Campanian shores. Above this<br />
question and the subsequent idea whether the Pompeian owner of the statuette could<br />
understand or at least suspect its innermost In<strong>di</strong>an or Indo-Roman message I call into question<br />
our modern indentification. Is it correct? Is it Lakshmi?<br />
Maria Luisa Tobar, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Wed 16 th , 18.20, Classroom 6<br />
Il teatro come addottrinamento religioso: la Madonna della Lettera in Añorbe y Corregel<br />
A partire dal XVI secolo si sviluppa in Spagna un sottogenere teatrale, la come<strong>di</strong>a de santos,<br />
che ebbe una grande popolarità soprattutto nel Seicento e Settecento e che aveva come<br />
principale scopo quello <strong>di</strong> addottrinare le masse attraverso la messa in scena <strong>di</strong> storie esemplari<br />
che suscitavano devozione e inclinavano il pubblico all’esercizio della virtù. Tra le varie<br />
comme<strong>di</strong>e che si basano sulla agiografia <strong>di</strong> santi siciliani o su episo<strong>di</strong> legati al contesto<br />
siciliano, abbiamo scelto per la nostra analisi l´opera del presbitero Tomás Añorbe y Corregel<br />
il quale, nella prima metà del Settecento, scrive una trilogia dal titolo: La tutora de la Iglesia y<br />
Doctora de la Ley. La prima delle tre comme<strong>di</strong>e presenta il tema della presunta Lettera scritta<br />
da Gesù al re <strong>di</strong> Odessa Abagardo, mentre le altre due prendono spunto dalla Lettera che la<br />
Madonna avrebbe scritto ai messinesi.<br />
Pekka Tolonen, University of Turku, Finland<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.20, Classroom 6<br />
False prophets and corrupt clergy. Drawing the Boundary of Sacred in the Early Thirteenth<br />
Century Southern France<br />
800 hundred years ago, in 1209, a crusade or religious war was launched within the Western<br />
Christianity against the “infidels” in Languedoc, Southern France. After thirty years of warfare<br />
peace was concluded and nobility of Northern France established its power on the area. The<br />
first hearings of inquisition are known from the 1230s. From its scattered sources it is possible<br />
to have a perspective on the religious life of the time and place. There were <strong>di</strong>fferent religious<br />
groups living side-by-side or competing or waging war against each other. Ultimately at stake<br />
was, as it was then understood, the salvation of in<strong>di</strong>viduals and communities. The
epresentatives of the Roman church needed the control of the sacred, but their views clashed<br />
with vernacular understan<strong>di</strong>ng of the sacred.<br />
Chiara O. Tommasi Moreschini, University of Pisa, Italy<br />
Nicola Turchi<br />
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Wed 16 th , 15.40, Classroom 5<br />
Chiara O. Tommasi is going to reconsider Nicola Turchi’s personal vicissitude and scientific<br />
legacy. A prominent figure of the Italian Catholicism in the first decades of the 20 th century,<br />
Nicola Turchi (1882-1958) was also acknowledged as one of the most important historians of<br />
classical religions. One should at least cite his impressive collection of ancient Greco-Roman<br />
sources concerning the so-called ‘mystery cults’ (Fontes Historiae mysteriorum aevi<br />
hellenistici e Graecis et Latinis scriptoribus selegit brevi adnotatione instruxit N. T., Roma<br />
1930), together with his monographic inquiries about mysteriosophy in antiquity (Le religioni<br />
misteriosofiche del mondo antico, Roma 1923) and Roman religion (La religione <strong>di</strong> Roma<br />
antica, Bologna 1939), not to mention his redactional activity at the Enciclope<strong>di</strong>a Italiana. A<br />
critical reassessment and Discussion of these works will be provided by taking into account<br />
Turchi’s broad-spectrum works as well, namely those concerning the history of religion and<br />
ethnology. The present paper is going to consider also Turchi’s involvement in the Modernist<br />
experience, which he mainly shared with Ernesto Bonaiuti, and resulted in an active<br />
collaboration to journals like “Rivista storico-critica delle scienze teologiche”, “Rivista <strong>di</strong><br />
scienza delle religioni”, and, finally, “Religio”. Due to the lack of scholarly inquiries, this<br />
investigation is susceptible of working on original sources and provi<strong>di</strong>ng first hands results.<br />
Tortorelli Ghi<strong>di</strong>ni Marisa, University of Napoli “Federico II”, Italy<br />
Macchioro e l’Orfismo<br />
Wed 16 th , 17.40, Classroom 9<br />
La formazione intellettuale e le esperienze culturali <strong>di</strong> Vittorio Macchioro. L'incidenza delle<br />
inquietu<strong>di</strong>ni circolanti nell'atmosfera italiana del primo Novecento e delle tematiche etnoantropologiche<br />
del <strong>di</strong>battito europeo sulla sua interpretazione dell'orfismo. Confronto tra<br />
Comparetti e Macchioro. La rilettura <strong>di</strong> "Zagreus" alla luce del <strong>di</strong>battito attuale sull'orfismo e<br />
delle nuove acquisizioni.<br />
Santo Toscano, University of Catania, Italy<br />
Elementi <strong>di</strong> dottrina dello Stato nell'elaborazione del Cristianesimo antico<br />
Giovanni Tosetti, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Wed 16 th , 18.00, Classroom 9<br />
Wed 16 th , 16.20, Classroom 6<br />
Il valore teologico della bellezza poetica: la proposta <strong>di</strong> Gregorio Nazianzieno tra innovazione<br />
e tra<strong>di</strong>zione<br />
This paper aims to consider, by a historico-religious point of view, the reflections Gregory of<br />
Nazianzus proposed on the theological value which the poetry, with is typical legacy of Greek<br />
forms, constitutes for the Christians. The religious meaning of the results Gregory obtained
142<br />
will emerge by a comparison, both <strong>di</strong>achronical and synchronical, with authors that, like this<br />
Cappadocian Father, focused, by a platonic point of view, the metaphysical value of the beauty.<br />
By means of this comparative approach, we will try to in<strong>di</strong>viduate the theological importance<br />
of the statements Gregory formulated in his orations (IV, 115; XLIII, 11) and, above all, in his<br />
poems (II, 1, 11, 481; II, 1, 34, 160; II, 1, 39, 48-51; II, 2, 4, 77-88). In fact, Gregory of<br />
Nazianzus underscores in an original way the role exercised by the poetry for the<br />
contemplation of the metempiric world. He thinks the poetry, because of its beauty, to be the<br />
best me<strong>di</strong>um for the theological reflection and the contemplation of the <strong>di</strong>vine truth, which was<br />
completely revealed by Christ, the authentic Beautiful. By this gain, Gregory resolves the<br />
hiatus, which his co-religionists ever considered as problematic, between Hellenic literature<br />
and Christian truth. This result constitutes an important step within the confrontation between<br />
two fundamental tra<strong>di</strong>tions of the religious and cultural Europe history.<br />
Marco Toti, University of <strong>Messina</strong>, Italy<br />
Alcune osservazioni sul lessico dell'ascesi in età tardoantica<br />
Wed 16 th , 15.20, Classroom 6<br />
In this paper we will deal with the analysis of some of the central notions characteristic of<br />
Hellenistic and Christian asceticisms, with particular regard to the ideas of nêpsis (“sobriety”,<br />
“vigilance”) and of prosoché (“attention”), not infrequently used as synonyms. Bearing in<br />
mind, among other things, P. Hadot’s essential stu<strong>di</strong>es on “spiritual exercises”, which have<br />
reliably confirmed the “experiential” and “existential” character of ancient philosophy and of<br />
Christianity (often considered as a “philosophy”), we will try to outline an introduction to the<br />
subject that – moving from specific referents, mostly drawn from Late Antiquity, but also from<br />
Athonite Hesychasm of the 13 th -14 th century – explains the passage, the reception and the<br />
“semantic re-elaboration” of the terms in question. Epictetus, in his Dissertations (IV,12), talks<br />
about “the most terrible of the habits, that of not paying attention”; and the same “attention” (to<br />
the self and to the world) is, in the Christian milieu, one of the fundamental elements of<br />
asceticism and, if fully realized, of sanctity. For instance, within the Eastern Christian<br />
framework, the “rumination” of the “remembrance of God” (mneme toû Theoû) through a<br />
“synthetic” formula – the “Jesus’ prayer”, besides linked with other procedures (among which<br />
the me<strong>di</strong>tation of death) –, aims at inducing the nêpsis: therefore, the latter is a <strong>di</strong>sposition, but<br />
also the outcome of the spiritual practice (that is possibly a prelude to the hesychía [“spiritual<br />
silence”]); and, on the other hand, the connection – also etymological – between “prayer”<br />
(proseuché) and “attention” (prosoché) is evident. Not by chance, two of the most refined<br />
intellectuals of the 20 th century – S. Weil and C. Campo – have pointed out the tight relation<br />
between imagination (especially relevant to the field of arts), attente and “attention”.<br />
Rasmus Tvergaard, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark<br />
Cosmological Dynamics in Greek Religion<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.40, Classroom 6<br />
Tue 15 th , 15.20, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
David Václavík, Department for the Study of Religion, Masaryk Ur, Czech Republic<br />
Multi<strong>di</strong>mensional Secularization in Central Europe<br />
Wed 16 th , 10.00, Classroom 4
Natallia Vasilevich, independent scholar, Belarus<br />
Identities of Orthodox Christianity in Central and Eastern Europe after Collapse of<br />
Communism.<br />
Paul van der Velde, Radbouduniversity Nijmegen, Netherlands<br />
The ancient Buddha in Modern Times<br />
143<br />
Tue 15 th , 17.20, Classroom 4<br />
Buddhism is getting more and more popular in the west. The image of the Buddha can often be<br />
found in private homes, in gardens and so on. People have their reasons and motivations for<br />
erecting an image, often a very personal reason. Meanwhile there are all kinds of stories on<br />
Buddha images, in the Netherlands for instance it is widely stated that is forbidden to buy a<br />
Buddha image for oneself. In Asia the image of the Buddha often has a particular function<br />
within the Buddhist cult. Moreover the image usually refers to a particular episode from the life<br />
of the Buddha. In the west this reference to the life of the Buddha often lacks or it is unknown.<br />
We may rather find that the image is related to a particular episode from a personal biography<br />
and often as one visits a house in which an image of the Buddha is proudly present one may<br />
hear the story of how the image almost ‘made itself known’ to the present owner. In this paper<br />
attention will be given to changing tendencies concerning the meaning and implications of the<br />
Buddha images now that westerners have become more and more familiar with the Buddha.<br />
Katharina Waldner, Universität Basel, Switzerland<br />
Tue 15 th , 11.40, Classroom 6<br />
Gardens and Caves of the Nymphs: Religious experience in a “Natural” environment<br />
On first sight sacred groves and caves de<strong>di</strong>cated to the nymphs (and to other deities, esp. Pan)<br />
seem to be sites of a rather “naïve” pastoral and local devotion. But the inscriptions de<strong>di</strong>cated<br />
by the founders of such sanctuaries show that the founders were expecting numerous visitors,<br />
local and from abroad. In same cases archaeological excavations confirm that their<br />
expectations came true. If we draw on the results of the archaeologists it further comes out that<br />
the caves and gardens where not just a “natural” place but sanctuaries which were carefully<br />
designed by figurative carvings, inscriptions, statues etc. as a “stage” for certain religious<br />
experiences. The most important religious experience in the realm of the nymphs is the so<br />
called nympholepsia (possession by the Nymphs), a state of consciousness which is described<br />
in literary accounts as elevated sensibility, power of expression and the ability to prophecy.<br />
The paper will present examples from the archaeological evidence (esp. the cave of Pan and the<br />
Nymphs at Vari), confront them with literary accounts (esp. The novel Daphnis and Chloe by<br />
Longus) and <strong>di</strong>scuss the contribution of these materials to the questions of the panel.<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.20, Classroom 5
Ina Wunn, University of Bielefeld, Germany<br />
Religion of ancient Malta<br />
144<br />
New excavations at Malta and Gozo led to an increase of knowledge about island societies in<br />
general, about early settlements, temples and burial sites and therefore allow insight into the<br />
complex ritual customs of the late Neolithic and Eneolithic societies of those islands, but up to<br />
now the meaning of the obese statues and figurines that dominate so impressively Maltese<br />
religious ikonology could not be deciphered. As a result, the statues are still seen as images of<br />
a mother-goddess dominating the Maltesian cosmos. This fast-at-hand-interpretation is missing<br />
the point, taking neither the archeological context into consideration, nor having regard to the<br />
historical development of Neolithic religions. With regard to the point of view mentioned<br />
above, the missing female sexual attributes remain as problematic as the non-definite<br />
iconography of the specimens. The <strong>di</strong>fficulties can be solved if the artifacts are <strong>di</strong>scussed with<br />
regard to their archaeological and historical context (method of art history; sensu Aby<br />
Warburg), especially with regard to the development or evolution of the various Neolithic<br />
religions. To make things absolutely clear: Neolithic idols and statues have to be seen in a<br />
wider historical context as exemplified by the history of religions.<br />
Anna B.Yudkina, Moscow State University, Russia<br />
The Bridge Symbol in Contemporary Russian Wed<strong>di</strong>ng Tra<strong>di</strong>tion<br />
Wed 16 th , 11.20, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
Matrimony is still one of the most significance spheres of human life. It’s accompanied by<br />
huge number of tra<strong>di</strong>tions and rites whether we’re speaking about secular or church marriage.<br />
The paper will analyze situation in Contemporary Russia. I offer three-part classification of<br />
wed<strong>di</strong>ng tra<strong>di</strong>tions and rites. The first is really new tra<strong>di</strong>tions without any analogues in the past<br />
(e.g., to fix a lock on the bridge as a sign of an eternal love and strong family). The second<br />
group is the Soviet heritage: secular rites that replaced church ceremony (call of the civic<br />
monuments, inclu<strong>di</strong>ng the cenotaphs and the city sights). Third tra<strong>di</strong>tions have deep roots in<br />
the past; they have been transformed over many epochs and still exist in the live folk practice.<br />
This paper will investigate this issue focusing on questions concerning the meaning of the<br />
Bridge symbol in wed<strong>di</strong>ng ceremony on the background of the ethnographical material.<br />
Adolfo Zavaroni, independent scholar, Italy<br />
Divinità nord-umbre invocate nel Bellum Sociale in funzione antiromana<br />
Wed 16 th , 16.20, Classroom 12<br />
Nella Valle <strong>di</strong> Ospitale dell’alto Appennino modenese, sono recentemente (2007) tornate alla<br />
luce numerose iscrizioni rupestri in una linea definibile come nord-umbro. Esse risalgono<br />
certamente al primo periodo (91-90 a. C.) del bellum sociale e furono incise da rivoluzionari<br />
ribellatisi ai Romani. Infatti la maggior parte delle iscrizioni incita alla rivolta contro Roma.<br />
Quin<strong>di</strong> alcune <strong>di</strong> esse affermano che gli dèi sono favorevoli alla vittoria dei ribelli. Il <strong>di</strong>o più<br />
importante e più menzionato era certamente Drumbos (nom. Drums), corrispondente al Lugus<br />
gallico ed al Turms etrusco. Egli è il <strong>di</strong>o che presiede ai cicli universali ed ai mutamenti in<br />
genere. In altri termini è un <strong>di</strong>o ‘Rotante’ come l’arcaico Vertumnus ed è pure un conduttore <strong>di</strong><br />
anime. Suoi epiteti sono Ilamos ‘Colui che volge’ e Comba (
145<br />
Neptunus), Dubo, -onis (probabilmente <strong>di</strong>o delle profon<strong>di</strong>tà, del sottosuolo), *Luvb h rem (acc.;<br />
cfr. osco Lúvfreis, genit. = lat. Liber), B h eila ‘Ascia’. Sono citati pure Minerva, Iovis-Diuvis ed<br />
un etruschizzante B h ob h lo, corrispondente all’etrusco Fufluns. Il concetto più o meno<br />
esplicitamente espresso è che ora il ciclo propizio a Roma si è chiuso e drums sele omбros<br />
“Drumbos favorisce gli Umbri”.<br />
David Zbiral, Masaryk University, Czech Republic<br />
Mapping Religious Diversity: The Inquisitorial Classifications of Heresy<br />
Wed 16 th , 10.20, Classroom Aula Magna<br />
Me<strong>di</strong>eval inquisitors had a specific view of religious <strong>di</strong>versity. Of course, they also worked<br />
with the rhetorical notion of one “general” heresy, but even more they used what seems to be<br />
an innovation in the history of European thought about religions: the concept of religions as<br />
denominations definable and identifiable by their specific 1) beliefs, 2) rituals and 3)<br />
communities. This paper analyzes the inquisitional classifications of religious <strong>di</strong>ssent and<br />
shows that it had – and still has – important legacy in the tra<strong>di</strong>tion of thinking about religions.<br />
Tue 15 th , 17.40, Classroom 4
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