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Conferences/ Panels Organised by Mark Geller

Program Unit/ 3 Panels (9 papers), “Magico-medical Knowledge and Practices among Jews and Others ... more Program Unit/ 3 Panels (9 papers), “Magico-medical Knowledge and Practices among Jews and Others in (Late) Antiquity”, Program Unit “Medicine in Bible and Talmud”, at the joint international meeting of the European Association for Biblical Studies (EABS) and the Society for Biblical Literature (SBL), Helsinki, Finland, 30 July – 3 August 2018.

Program Unit/ 6 Panels (15 papers), “Literary and Discursive Framing of Medical Knowledge in Anti... more Program Unit/ 6 Panels (15 papers), “Literary and Discursive Framing of Medical Knowledge in Antiquity,” in the program unit “Medicine in Bible and Talmud” (2 co-sponsored with the EABS program unit “Early Christianity”), 7-11 August 2017, at European Association for Biblical Studies (EABS)/ SBL International Annual Meeting in Berlin/ Germany.

Outline of Panel section

Papers are invited on the theme of “Literary and discursive framing of concepts of (medical) knowledge in (Late) Antiquity”, extending from biblical and apocryphal texts, into later Jewish, Rabbinic-Talmudic traditions and beyond (i.e. early medieval time). The organizers explicitly welcome papers by scholars working on similar questions as those outlined in the following but dealing with neighboring or adjacent traditions (ancient Babylonia or Egypt; Graeco-Roman culture(s); Iranian traditions, early Christian or Syriac traditions; early Islam etc.)
Recent studies into ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman scientific traditions have emphasized the craft and artifice of those texts. On the one hand, these works can be characterized by a rather astonishing degree of literary expertise, discursive versatility and rhetorical sophistication. Ancient scientific authors were well versed not only in their very field of expertise but adopted and deployed many compositional techniques of their respective cultural milieu. On the other hand, scholars have pointed also to the complex framing of scientific knowledge in texts whose primary focus was poetic, historiographic or literary. This new trend in scholarship on ancient knowledge cultures pays attention to the complex interplay between form and content in the representations of these knowledge discourses. How does the use of rhetoric strategies, literary structures, or the choice of genres in ancient `scientific texts’ affect the ideas and concepts conveyed? In which ways does a specific hermeneutic (Listenwissenschaft/ encyclopaedism/ linguocentrism) not only serve as a ‘container’ but also as a method for knowledge acquisition
Based on these thoughts, the research unit welcomes presentations that ask how medical (and other related) knowledge is presented, or rather, represented in particular texts and contexts. Papers may address the question of how such knowledge discoursesare shaped and designed. One might ask further: who constructs this discourse and for whom? Which implicit or explicit authorial strategies and intentions might be discerned? How can the adoption or appropriation of certain textual strategies and compositional techniques rather be seen as a vital venue for knowledge transfer, rather than the actual content of the passage?
This set of questions pays attention to the embeddedness of medicine in Talmudic literature, other Jewish and further ancient traditions. So, it allows for valuable insights how medical information and other types of knowledge were integrated into different, overlapping discourses. Especially, the interplay between medical, religious, political, ethical and ritualdiscourses seems to be of crucial importance for a broader understanding of ancient knowledge cultures. Papers should be interested in a comparative approach and may apply theories and methods ranging from textual criticism and redaction history, toliteraryor discursive studies of ancient scientific texts that pay also attention to their socio-cultural framing. Jewish texts as a legacy and integral component of ancient Near Eastern cultures have to be examined carefully with regard to their concept of language, literacy/orality and their discursive techniques.
Although being primarily focused on Jewish traditions, the research unit would like to emphasize the comparative approach by inviting papers from scholars working in neighboring traditions on those and similar questions.

Edited Books by Mark Geller

This new series attempts to study ancient histories of knowledge and their entanglement with reli... more This new series attempts to study ancient histories of knowledge and their entanglement with religious, cultural and socio-political aspects, while paying attention to the historicity and cultural relativity of specific figurations of knowledge.

Program Unit/ 3 Panels (9 papers), “Magico-medical Knowledge and Practices among Jews and Others ... more Program Unit/ 3 Panels (9 papers), “Magico-medical Knowledge and Practices among Jews and Others in (Late) Antiquity”, Program Unit “Medicine in Bible and Talmud”, at the joint international meeting of the European Association for Biblical Studies (EABS) and the Society for Biblical Literature (SBL), Helsinki, Finland, 30 July – 3 August 2018.

Program Unit/ 6 Panels (15 papers), “Literary and Discursive Framing of Medical Knowledge in Anti... more Program Unit/ 6 Panels (15 papers), “Literary and Discursive Framing of Medical Knowledge in Antiquity,” in the program unit “Medicine in Bible and Talmud” (2 co-sponsored with the EABS program unit “Early Christianity”), 7-11 August 2017, at European Association for Biblical Studies (EABS)/ SBL International Annual Meeting in Berlin/ Germany.

Outline of Panel section

Papers are invited on the theme of “Literary and discursive framing of concepts of (medical) knowledge in (Late) Antiquity”, extending from biblical and apocryphal texts, into later Jewish, Rabbinic-Talmudic traditions and beyond (i.e. early medieval time). The organizers explicitly welcome papers by scholars working on similar questions as those outlined in the following but dealing with neighboring or adjacent traditions (ancient Babylonia or Egypt; Graeco-Roman culture(s); Iranian traditions, early Christian or Syriac traditions; early Islam etc.)
Recent studies into ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman scientific traditions have emphasized the craft and artifice of those texts. On the one hand, these works can be characterized by a rather astonishing degree of literary expertise, discursive versatility and rhetorical sophistication. Ancient scientific authors were well versed not only in their very field of expertise but adopted and deployed many compositional techniques of their respective cultural milieu. On the other hand, scholars have pointed also to the complex framing of scientific knowledge in texts whose primary focus was poetic, historiographic or literary. This new trend in scholarship on ancient knowledge cultures pays attention to the complex interplay between form and content in the representations of these knowledge discourses. How does the use of rhetoric strategies, literary structures, or the choice of genres in ancient `scientific texts’ affect the ideas and concepts conveyed? In which ways does a specific hermeneutic (Listenwissenschaft/ encyclopaedism/ linguocentrism) not only serve as a ‘container’ but also as a method for knowledge acquisition
Based on these thoughts, the research unit welcomes presentations that ask how medical (and other related) knowledge is presented, or rather, represented in particular texts and contexts. Papers may address the question of how such knowledge discoursesare shaped and designed. One might ask further: who constructs this discourse and for whom? Which implicit or explicit authorial strategies and intentions might be discerned? How can the adoption or appropriation of certain textual strategies and compositional techniques rather be seen as a vital venue for knowledge transfer, rather than the actual content of the passage?
This set of questions pays attention to the embeddedness of medicine in Talmudic literature, other Jewish and further ancient traditions. So, it allows for valuable insights how medical information and other types of knowledge were integrated into different, overlapping discourses. Especially, the interplay between medical, religious, political, ethical and ritualdiscourses seems to be of crucial importance for a broader understanding of ancient knowledge cultures. Papers should be interested in a comparative approach and may apply theories and methods ranging from textual criticism and redaction history, toliteraryor discursive studies of ancient scientific texts that pay also attention to their socio-cultural framing. Jewish texts as a legacy and integral component of ancient Near Eastern cultures have to be examined carefully with regard to their concept of language, literacy/orality and their discursive techniques.
Although being primarily focused on Jewish traditions, the research unit would like to emphasize the comparative approach by inviting papers from scholars working in neighboring traditions on those and similar questions.

This new series attempts to study ancient histories of knowledge and their entanglement with reli... more This new series attempts to study ancient histories of knowledge and their entanglement with religious, cultural and socio-political aspects, while paying attention to the historicity and cultural relativity of specific figurations of knowledge.