INTENSIVE SESSION OF LSBT STUDIES (Rome)

23/05/2023

"The Redemption of the Impure City

30 June and 1 July 2023

The intensive session we are proposing to you takes its starting point from an analysis of the concepts of pure and impure, sacred and profane in the Old Testament, in the Middle Judaic literature and in the New Testament. The aim is to understand the development of concepts that have been at the centre of Jewish faith and reflection on the God of Israel from the very beginning, the understanding of which also created major divisions within Judaism and also characterised the preaching of Jesus and his movement to the point of becoming one of the reasons for the later separation of Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity.
This first presentation in two voices (Ibba and Noffke) is the starting point for the three Saturday lectures. In the first lecture (Ibba) we will see how the holy city, amidst profanations and aspirations of immaculate purity will become the Heavenly Jerusalem descending from heaven at the end of time. This is the final vision of the Apocalypse, summarising all that Israel has hoped for through both Mosaicism and apocalyptic, particularly Danielitic apocalyptic. A characteristic of apocalyptic (apart from Daniel) was most likely to be esoteric, as we read in some Enochian texts. John, on the other hand, writes that the angel tells him (21:10): "do not put the prophetic words of this book under seal, for the time is at hand". Thus we move from the apocryphal need for apocalypses (apart from Daniel) to that of exoteric revelation (=prophecy).

In the second lesson (Noffke) we will test three scenarios in which we are confronted with two cities that become symbols of evil. The Jerusalem that kills the prophets, the place of the symbolic occupation by Jesus and of his suffering and death; the Hellenistic city, the apostle Paul's missionary sphere, where the gospel of the 'countryman' Jesus becomes the instrument of a new citizenship in heaven; imperial Rome, Satan's servant and instrument of his oppression of this world, contrasted in John's Apocalypse with the heavenly Jerusalem, effective symbol of the kingdom of God.
The third talk (Cannistraci) takes us from the ancient cities, Jerusalem and Rome in primis, to the cities closer to our time, with a reflection on one of the most intrinsic themes to the immaterial aspects of our life: the "elevation" of space from ordinary to sacred, answering the question: "what makes sacred, and how is it sacralised, the space of ritual? The genesis of the symbol is traced, starting with the semantic shift of the term 'paradiza' to 'Paradise'.

Guest lecturers

Prof. Pietropaolo Cannistraci was a lecturer in History of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University for Foreigners of Siena, where he was able to pour the research and experience he gained into his professional practice as an architect. He founded and currently directs the association 'Liveuniversity', with which he promotes high culture initiatives and exchanges.

Prof. Giovanni Ibba, writer and translator, is a regular lecturer at the Istituto Superiore di Scienze Religiose della Toscana, Florence. He is the editorial director of Egeria, Rivista di Scienze Religiose / Journal of Religious Studies and in particular he edited the bilingual Italian edition of the Library of Qumran (EDB, Bologna, three volumes published). His main fields of research are Biblical Sciences and Second Temple Judaism.

Programme

Friday 30 June

15.00 opening session, presentation

15.15 Prof. Giovanni Ibba: Pure and impure, sacred and profane between Old Testament and Middle Judaism

16.30 break

17.00 prof. Eric Noffke: Pure and impure, sacred and profane in the New Testament

18.30 question time

19.15 dinner and free evening

Saturday 1 July

9.30 a.m. Prof. Giovanni Ibba: Apocalypse as prophecy: the vision of the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev 21-22)

11.00 a.m. break

11.30 a.m. Prof. Eric Noffke: Those who wear soft garments stand in the palaces of kings... (Mat 11,8) The city as a place of conflict and redemption

12.45 lunch break

14.30 prof. arch. Pietropaolo Cannistraci: Ordinary Space and Sacred Space

15.45 question time

16.30 closure of proceedings.

Accreditation:

Participation in the intensive session for its entire duration from 30 June to 1 July (with the requirement of a written report) is recognised for LSBT students with 4 CFU

The event will be offered in presence

AT CLASSROOM B (VIA PIETRO COSSA 42, ROME)

and/or online (ZOOM)

HOW TO REGISTER - BY 16 JUNE FOR IN-PRESENCE PARTICIPATION

For online participation, registration is possible until 27 June.

For bookings please contact the secretariat: segreteria@facoltavaldese.org

Zoom access credentials are given at the time of registration.

Bank transfer (please indicate the name of the student)

ENCLOSING A COPY OF THE BANK TRANSFER MADE OUT TO:

Waldensian Faculty of Theology

BPER Bank

BIC/SWIFT: BPMOIT22XXX