PROGRAMME AND ABSTRACTS - Università degli Studi di Messina

Andrei Oişteanu, Romanian Academy, Bucarest, Rumania
Christians versus Jews in Central-Eastern Europe. Stereotypes and accusation: from deicide to
ritual infanticide
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Whenever there was a need to replace or double the allegation of deicide, so as to further fuel
antisemitic sentiments, the strongest claim against the Jews was not that of iconocide, but the
charge of ritual infanticide. The efficacy of this type of indictment is self-evident. From their
abstract state, all the terms of the equation become painfully concrete. This time, the presumed
victim is an innocent child, known to the entire community. The presumed murderers are no
longer some “imaginary Jews,” who may have killed “who knows when” and “who knows
where,” but “real Jews,” those who live “in our very borough”. Finally, this time a “physical”
murder is on agenda, not a symbolic one (iconocide) or one committed at an uncertain or an
immemorial time (deicide). The infanticide legend was not a completely autonomous one. It
was born out of the legend of deicide and it retained an ancillary position, functioning as a
rejuvenator. This accounts for the claims that the supposed victim was habitually a boy, that
the “ritual murder” took place on Good Friday (when Jesus’ death is commemorated) and that
the modus operandi reenacted, so it was supposed, some elements of Jesus’ Passion and
Crucifixion. The author of the paper studies the way in which, from the end of the 17 th century,
the blood libel passed from Western and Central Europe (from catholic and protestant milieu)
to Eastern Europe (to Christian orthodox milieu).
Tue 15 th , 18.20, Classroom 4
Michiaki Okuyama, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, Nagoya, Japan
Rethinking “The All-Knowing God” in China
In a chapter on China in his The All-Knowing God, Raffalele Pettazzoni (1883-1959) pays
attention to two ancient Chinese deities, Shang-ti (the Lord above) and T’ien (Heaven) and
their inter-relationship. Roughly speaking, Shang-ti belonged to the earlier dynasty of Shang
(or Yin) that existed from the 17 th or 16 th century through the 11 th century BCE, whereas T’ien
belonged to the latter dynasty of Zhou (spelled as Chou by Pettazzoni) that arose from the west
of Shang and took over, continuing from the 11 th century through the 3 rd century BCE. In
Pettazzoni’s understanding, Shang was an agricultural culture and society, whereas Zhou
consisted of nomadic and pastoral people that were shared by peoples of central and northern
Asia, namely the Altaic, Uralic, and Ugro-Finnish (and Indo-European). Pettazzoni himself
warns against oversimplification of this kind of dualism, but at least it must be important to try
to understand more clearly the historical contexts of Shang-ti and T’ien, in light of more recent
scholarship after Pettazzoni’s years. With the aim of such an understanding, this presentation
will first attempt to compare Pettazzoni’s view with those of other scholars, including
contemporary Japanese scholars in particular. Thus we aim to rethink the concepts of Shang-ti
and T’ien in ancient China, and their relevance and implication for today, and especially recent
scholarship on ancient Japanese religious history that was under the strong influence of
Chinese culture.
Tue 15 th , 18.00, Classroom 8