Religionsvitenskap

Instituttet for sammenlignende kulturforskning/The Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture, Serie B. IFSK:102

Within the last two hundred years critical scholarship has come to recognise that chapters 40-55 of the Old Testament Book of Isaiah do not go back to the same milieu and time as chapters 1-39, but were written in Babylonia during the period of the so-called Babylonian exile, following Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. The author of the present monograph has previously on several occasions challenged the view that Isa 40-55 originated in Babylonia and has pointed to Palestine as the most likely background for this important Biblical text. The main conclusion of this new study is that none of the l9th century arguments (still prevailing in recent scholarship) in favour of a Babylonian setting of Isa 40-55 are acceptable today. The "Babylonian Isaiah", consequently, provides us with an illustrating example of how a thesis has continued to have a strong influence long after the presuppositions which once led its birth have ceased to be valid. Since the placing of chapters 40-55 of the Book of Isaiah in a Babylonian rather than a Palestinian context has also had a profound effect on how this text should be understood, The Babylonian Captivity of the Book of Isaiah represents a much needed and long overdue corrective to the whole Second Isaian debate. Hans M. Barstad is Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Oslo and has published widely on the Hebrew Bible and the ancient Near East. His books include The Religious Polemics of Amos. Leiden, 1984, A Way In the Wilderness. The "Second Exodus" in the Message of Second Isaiah. Manchester, 1989, and The Myth of the Empty Land. A Study in the History and Archaeology of Judah During the "Exilic" Period. Oslo, 1996. The Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture. Series B, no. 102.

En europeers liv på 1200-tallet

Instituttet for sammenlignende kulturforskning/The Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture (IFSK). Serie B, 111.

Middelalderen omtales ofte nedsettende som "den mørke middelalder med hekseforfølgelse og inkvisisjon". Men siden den også var Norgesveldets storhetstid, er denne tiden i norsk historieskrivning ofte blitt fremstilt i et nasjonalromantisk slør hvor det særnorske er blitt fremhevet. I denne boken forsøker dominikanerfrater Per Bjørn Halvorsen, ved å ta for seg Dominikus fra Osmas liv og virke, å vise at middelalderen slett ikke var noen mørketid, og at Norden var en like integrert del av den latinske kristenhet som resten av Europa. Samtidig trekker han trådene frem til vår egen tid og viser den mentale og institusjonelle arv vi har mottatt fra den gang.

Apophaticism in Theology and LiteratureThe five essays collected in this volume are all concerned with ambiguity in the role of language. On the one hand it limits and restricts a subject, on the other hand it is our fundamental means of explaining or representing that same subject matter. Is not the only alternative silence? Or does silence rather represent a collapse of meaning? Consciousness of the inadequacy or limitation of language in expressing truth or ultimate meaning - whether it be of a theological, philosophical or literary nature - is closely related to the concept of apophaticism: an apophatic attitude to language involves an attempt to transcend language. Three of the essays focus on Christian authors of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, two are concerned with modern writers. Through ample use of examples the contributors show how poets as well as writers of theological treatises struggle in their different ways with these dilemmas of representation.

The Creation and Iconography of Sacred Space

Instituttet for sammenlignende kulturforskning/The Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture (IFSK). Serie B, 107.

The creation and Iconography of Sacred SpaceThe present book is about the creation of Muslim spaces in the non-Islamic environment of Norway, particularly in the capital, Oslo. The type of space it focusses upon is built, enclosed and public. It is also a gendered space where men and women, although being part of the same entity and sharing the same faith, stand apart. The novelty of this study is that, rather than following the chronological and regional developments of Islamic visual arts and architecture, it concentrates on recent times, more precisely on the last thirty years. Instead of analyzing masterpieces, it presents common anonymous buildings and religious commodities and discusses how the -spirit? of Islam is reproduced visually with the know-how, means and materials available in Norway, i.e. how form, content and function sanctify a place. Thus, this study is synchronic and it examines a contemporary material culture from a present-day perspective. It discusses an ongoing process and treats questions related to material culture and the conceptualization of an ideal Islamic architecture caught between tradition and innovation. One of its concerns is to explore the relationship between material culture and the contexts in which they take form, the ways by which the character of religious communities can be disclosed by a few physical details. The analysis of the mosque revolves around three fundamental Islamic concepts. These are tawhid (unity), the ‘umma (the community of believers), and the qibla (orientation).Saphinaz-Amal Naguib, dr.philos., is professor of Culture History at the University of Oslo, Faculty of Arts. Her main fields of research are Ancient Egyptian religion, Coptic and Copto-Arabic hagiographies, Islamic art and cultural heritage and museology. Among her major works are Le clergé féminin d’Amon thébain à la 21e dynastie (1990), Miroirs du passé (1993) and The The Era of Martyrs: Texts and Contexts of Religious Memory (1997).

En pilegrimsreise kan være kort eller lang og har både fysiske, materielle og åndelige dimensjoner. Mange be­varte gjenstander fra tidligkristen tid og fra middelalderen forteller om pilegrimsreiser. Denne boken handler først og fremst om disse gjenstandene og historiene som knytter seg til dem. De materielle sporene fra pilegrimsreiser leder til mange spørs­mål. Hva er en pilegrim? Hva var målet for de historiske reisene? Det fantes mange pile­grims­veier og både små og store pile­grimsmål i middelalderens kristenhet. Noen av de viktigste målene omtales i denne boken, sammen med middelalderpilegrimenes verdens­anskuelse, slik den fremgår av bevarte kart. Men først og fremst er det helgenene, deres graver, relikvier og alle de små og store gjenstand­ene fra denne tidens pilegrimsmål som står i fokus.

ISBN 978-82-7099-555-4, 138 sider, innbundet
Format: 17x24 cm, vekt 0,6 kg, publiseringsår 2009, språk: bokmål

Transfers & Transformations
Integration & Resistance

As world history has entered the era of globalisation it has become ever clearer that religion is not something that primarily belongs to the past. Contrary to what was held by many social scientists and students of religion some decades ago, global processes of modernization have not led to the fading of religion from the public arena. Instead, as the world has become more interlinked we have seen a resurgence of religion in many regions and many spheres of society. Hence to get a deeper understanding of the complex processes of global transformation in our time, it is vital to study the role of religion. ???But what is this role? In what ways are religions changed by globalisation? And how do religions contribute to contemporary global transformation processes? In what ways and under which circumstances does religion promote the ongoing processes of globalisation? And when and how does religion provide resources for resisting these processes?

Contributors: Hans Küng, Werner G. Jeanrond, Clare Fischer, Kjetil Hafstad, Oddbjørn Leirvik, Sigurd Bergmann, Jone Salomonsen, Mary Esperandio, Berge Furre, Notto R. Thelle and Sturla J. Stålsett.

ISBN 978-82-7099-480-9, 93 pp., paperback
Format: 17x24 cm, weight: 0,4 kg, year of publication 2008

See contents here.

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