Four Perspectives on the Hebrew Bible:
Introduction to "The Hebrew Bible: Topics  in Modern Reserach"

Speaker: Dr. Naphtali Meshel,  Senior Lecturer at the Department of Bible and the Department of Comparative Religion of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Coordinator: Dr. Koji Yamashiro, Project Researcher of the Division of Religion and Global Security at the RCAST of the University of Tokyo

*Date:
Part 1: Sunday, February 27, 2022, 21:00-22:30 (Japan Time); 14:00-15:30(Israel Time)
Part 2: Monday, Febuary 28, 2022, 21:00-22:30 (Japan Time); 14:00-15:30 (Israel Time)
* Venue: Zoom­­­­
* Language: English
* Registration: No charge. Advance registration required.
Please contact to: koji.yamashiro@gmail.com
* This seminar is part of the "Israel Month @UTokyo Komaba Research Campus" and organized by the research project  “Humanitas Futura: Constructing an International Research Network for the Study of Philosophy and Religion” at the Division of Religion and Global Security of the RCAST.

Description:
These two meetings are aimed at exploring the four primary perspectives that will be employed during the lecture series "The Hebrew Bible: Topics in Modern Research," which is planned to be held at the RCAST of the University of Tokyo during the coming summer/autumn of 2022.

Perspectives exposed here are: 

1. "Pre-history", whereby the reader is interested primarily in the traditions that the original audiences of the text are presumed to have been known, and to which the Biblical text responds.

2. "Reading between the seams", whereby the reader aims to identify, analyze and understand the smaller units that comprise the text in its present form, and the process of their interweaving into a single text. 

3. "Center and Periphery", whereby the reader aims to identify a Biblical text as central or peripheral within the ancient Israelite cultures (and specific schools of thought) that produced it.

4. "Post-history," whereby the reader alternately "tries on spectacles" worn by the early Jewish (and Christian) readers of the Hebrew Bible, and then removes them. 

The first meeting will demonstrate, very briefly, each of these reading techniques; the second meeting will apply them to a selected text.

Dr. Naphtali Meshel joined the Department of Bible and the Department of Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2016. His research focuses on the Hebrew Bible in its ancient Near Eastern contexts, and on its early interpreters. Within the broader study of religion, he has a particular interest in Sanskrit literature. His first book, “The Grammar of Sacrifice”, examines the ancient intuition that sacrificial rituals, like languages, are governed by “grammars.” His research interests include ancient models for the “science of ritual”; systems of pollution and purification; and mechanisms of double entendre in Wisdom Literature. He previously taught at the Moscow State University for the Humanities and at Princeton University. He is currently Chair of the Department of Comparative Religion.
https://en.bible.huji.ac.il/people/naphtali-s-meshel

Dr. Koji Yamashiro is Project Researcher of the Division of Religion and Global Security at the RCAST of the University of Tokyo. He is the curator and coordinator of the research project  “Humanitas Futura: Constructing an International Research Network for the Study of Philosophy and Religion” based at the Division of Religion and Global Security of the RCAST. 

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* “Israel Month @UTokyo Komaba Research Campus” is organized by ROLES (RCAST Open Laboratory for Emergence Strategies) of the University of Tokyo and supported by the Embassy of Israel in Japan. 
* Contact Information: Division of Religion and Global Security (Ikeuchi Laboratory) of RCAST, the University of Tokyo: office＠me.rcast.u-tokyo.ac.jp
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ROLES (RCAST Open Laboratory for Emergence Strategies) of the University of Tokyo with the support of the Embassy of Israel in Japan, has organized “Israel Week” in 2021. The Year 2022 marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and Japan. With great pleasure, this year’s "Israel Month @UTokyo Komaba Research Campus" event will feature a series of webinars on the latest trends and developments in Israel and their impact on Japan-Israel relations. The webinars in this framework will cover a broad range of topics, including recent developments in relation between Japan and Israel, Israel and the Arab countries, Greentech and climate change technologies, the impact of blockchain technology on policies, and how Earth Science grasps the global warming. A series of virtual seminars and lectures on Jewish thought and other religious traditions are to be held on this occasion inviting leading scholars from Israel. 
"Israel Month” aims to provide an international forum for the exchange of ideas and inspiration from researchers and experts across different fields, and to seek opportunities for collaboration among the participants from academia, NPOs, industry, and the public sector.