Polemics and Prophethood in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Content

Perhaps the quintessential issue that has divided the scriptural monotheisms has been the authority of scripture. If God is all-knowing, all-powerful and all-good, why would God reveal different scriptures that appear to convey conflicting messages about the divine will? The usual response of religious thinkers has been to reject the scripture of others while exalting one’s own – only one’s own conveys the true and undistorted will of God. But because others claim the same, that only theirs conveys the true and undistorted will of God, a rationale must be found for rejecting their claims. Various rationales of rejection have been developed over the centuries, one of the most common being the critique of the vehicle of prophecy: If the prophet is false, then his message must be false as well. Surprisingly, this issue has yet to be carefully studied in the academy, so it is “the problematic of prophecy” that is the topic for this conference. Particular emphasis will be put on rival perceptions and strategies of mutual delegitimization deployed in Jewish and Muslim texts, lesser known in Western scholarship.

Program
Flyer (PDF, 494 KB)

Organisation
Sigi Feigel Visiting Professorship for Jewish Studies and the Department of Religious Studies, University of Zurich; Prof. Dr. Reuven Firestone, Prof. Dr. Christoph Uehlinger, Sarah Werren, lic.phil.

Contact
Sarah Werren
Kantonsschulstrasse 1
8001 Zürich
sarah.werren[at]uzh.ch
+41 44 634 09 33

Registration
Please register until May 7, 2018: sarah.werren[at]uzh.ch.

Venues
Room RAA-G-01
University of Zurich
Rämistrasse 59
8001 Zürich

ECTS-Credits
3 ECTS-Credits. Students can book the conference also after the expiry of the booking deadline. See: www.studentservices.uzh.ch.