Showing papers by "Jan Assmann published in 2009"

The Price of Monotheism

Abstract: Nothing has so radically transformed the world as the distinction between true and false religion In this nuanced consideration of his own controversial Moses the Egyptian, renowned Egyptologist Jan Assmann answers his critics, extending and building upon ideas from his previous book Maintaining that it was indeed the Moses of the Hebrew Bible who introduced the true-false distinction in a permanent and revolutionary form, Assmann reiterates that the price of this monotheistic revolution has been the exclusion, as paganism and heresy, of everything deemed incompatible with the truth it proclaims This exclusion has exploded time and again into violence and persecution, with no end in sight Here, for the first time, Assmann traces the repeated attempts that have been made to do away with this distinction since the early modern period He explores at length the notions of primary versus secondary religions, of "counter-religions," and of book religions versus cultic religions He also deals with the entry of ethics into religion's very core Informed by the debate his own work has generated, he presents a compelling lesson in the fluidity of cultural identity and beliefs

From Cult to Culture: Fragments toward a Critique of Historical Reason

Abstract: After launching his career with the 1947 publication of his dissertation, Occidental Eschatology, Jacob Taubes spent the early years of his career as a fellow and then professor at various American institutions, including Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia. During his American years, he also gathered together a number of prominent thinkers at his weekly seminars on Jewish intellectual history. In the mid-60s, Taubes joined the faculty of the Free University in West Berlin, initially as the city's first Jewish Studies professor of the postwar period. But his work and interest expanded beyond the boundaries of the field of Jewish Studies to broader philosophical questions, particularly in the philosophy of religion. A charismatic speaker and a great polemicist, Taubes had a phenomenal ability to create interdisciplinary conversations in the humanities, engaging scholars from philosophy, literature, theology, and intellectual history. The essays presented here represent the fruit of conversations, conferences, and workshops that he organized over the course of his career.

Altägyptische Bildpraxen und ihre impliziten Theorien

Abstract: Es gibt keine explizite altägyptische Bildtheorie. Andererseits gibt es keine Praxis ohne eine zumindest implizite Theorie. Daher müssen sich auch den ägyptischen Bildpraxen ihre impliziten Theorien ablesen lassen. Diese Bildpraxen sind vielfältig und zentral. Sie beruhen vor allem auf drei Handlungsfeldern: der Hieroglyphenschrift, dem Totenkult und der Theurgie oder präsentifikatorischen Magie.