Papers by Sebastian Selvén
Kyrkohistorisk årsskrift, 2024
Upper Dalarna, Sweden, offers through its folk art and folk costume traditions unusually rich sou... more Upper Dalarna, Sweden, offers through its folk art and folk costume traditions unusually rich sources for studying early modern Lutheran folk religiosity. From the early 17th century to the late 19th century, this area exhibited religious folk practices centred on the sacrament of Mass and in many respects dependent on universal literacy, which was established in the mid-17th century.
Mass was generally celebrated every Sunday in the parish churches of the region and an intense culture of confession and communion meant that church buildings had to adapt, with large communally oriented sacristies and sets of sacred vessels able to accommodate the many communicants. This religious practice was initially encouraged by bishops and priests in the 17th century. Much of local religious life was, however, developed by parishioners themselves without priestly encouragement or intervention. Local sartorial culture (»folk costume») followed the liturgical year and varied according to theological themes and various ritual roles that we wearer could take. The interior painting tradition of the region, which developed in the 18th century, relies heavily on the Bible and the hymnal as well as especially pre-pietist authors such as Johann Arndt and Heinrich Müller. The historical material culture of Upper Dalarna, today often understood in »regional» or »national» terms, is the result of and was part of an intense Lutheran folk religiosity that thrived for over 250 years among the rural laity.
Before the Bible. By Judith Newman
The Journal of Theological Studies, Nov 2, 2021
https://academic.oup.com/jts/article-abstract/72/2/929/6415948
Den nya människan: Om mänsklighetens ständiga strävan att omskapa sig själv, 2022
Kapitel i boken "Den nya människan: Om mänsklighetens ständiga strävan att omskapa sig själv", re... more Kapitel i boken "Den nya människan: Om mänsklighetens ständiga strävan att omskapa sig själv", red. Tomas Axelson & Torsten Hylén, Möklinta: Gidlunds förlag.
Svensk Exegetisk Årsbok
First used in Venice in the fourteenth century, a forty-day period of isolation was imposed on ar... more First used in Venice in the fourteenth century, a forty-day period of isolation was imposed on arriving ships in order to safeguard against the Black Death. is forty-day period, in Venetian called quarantena, was modelled on the Quadragesima, Lent, and the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert. In fact, the three related concepts, quarantine, the forty days in the desert, and Lent, were for quite a while used synonymously in English, as for example in William Wey's fifteenth-century poem in his Itineraries: 1 By yonde ys a wyldernys of quarentyne, Wher Cryst wyth fastyng hys body dyd pyne; In that holy place, as we rede, e deuyl wold had of stonys bred.
1700-tal, 2022
It has often been assumed that the late eighteenth century in Sweden never produced much of inter... more It has often been assumed that the late eighteenth century in Sweden never produced much of interest on the exegetical or theological plane. This was the period in which the Bible, a hotly debated text in Enlightenment Europe, was famously never translated in any accepted version and the philological, academic and theological work that was done during the Gustavian era has been underappreciated in later historiography. Picking up on the notion of a 'religious Enlightenment', this article analyzes three biblical translation projects, the official Bible commission of 1773, the private translations of Bishop Johan Adam Tingstadius and the private Jewish translation of Genesis 49 by David Josephsson and Marcus Maure. Through a comparison of the translation work of Genesis 49 in these three projects this article argues for the usefulness of Bible reception in understanding the late eighteenth-century world. Philology, new historical knowledge and altered epistemic perspectives meant that the Bible, as the most central of classical and religious texts, could no longer be translated in the old 1541 tradition and that any translation of it would show the perspectives and ideologies of the translators and their intended audience, Jewish or Christian.
Liturgy and Biblical Interpretation: The Sanctus and the Qedushah
What happens to the Bible when it is used in worship? What does music, choreography, the stringin... more What happens to the Bible when it is used in worship? What does music, choreography, the stringing together of texts, and the architectural setting itself, do to our sense of what the Bible means—and how does that influence our reading of it outside of worship? In Liturgy and Biblical Interpretation, Sebastian Selvén answers questions concerning how the Hebrew Bible is used in Jewish and Christian liturgical traditions and the impact this then has on biblical studies. This work addresses the neglect of liturgy and ritual in reception studies and makes the case that liturgy is one of the major influential forms of biblical reception. The case text is Isaiah 6:3 and its journey through the history of worship. By looking at the Qedushah liturgies in Ashkenazi Judaism and the Sanctus in three church traditions—(pre-1969) Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism (the Church of England), and Lutheranism (Martin Luther, and the Church of Sweden)—influential lines of reception are followed through history. Because the focus is on lived liturgy, not only are worship manuals and prayer books investigated but also architecture, music, and choreography. With an eye to modern-day uses, Selvén traces the historical developments of liturgical traditions. To do this, he has used methodological frameworks from the realm of anthropology. Liturgy, this study argues, plays a significant role in how scholars, clergy, and lay people receive the Bible, and how we understand the way it is to be read and sometimes even edited. Liturgy and Biblical Interpretation will interest scholars of the Bible, liturgy, and church history, as well as Jewish and Christian clergy.
Vad har Emma Zorn, historikern Hugo Valentin och textilhandlaren Herman Münnich gemensamt? De är ... more Vad har Emma Zorn, historikern Hugo Valentin och textilhandlaren Herman Münnich gemensamt? De är alla del av Dalarnas judiska historia. För första gången har judisk historia i Dalarna kartlagts i ett samarbetsprojekt mellan Dalarnas museum och Region Dalarna. Från de första beläggen för judisk närvaro i landskapet på 1700-talet till 1930-talet följs judisk bosättning och aktivitet. Hur har kontakten mellan judiska och kristna svenskar format Dalarnas kultur från Orsa till Säter och från sockendräkter till studentföreningar? Välkommen att läsa det judiska dalfolkets historia, en historia om gårdfarihandlare, hårhandlare och textilgrossister men även lärare, trädgårdsmästare och hembygdspionjärer.
Building on the Ruins of the Temple: Apologetics and Polemics in Early Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. By Adam Gregerman
The Journal of Theological Studies, 2017
Jewish Cultural Encounters in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern World. Edited by Mladen Popović, Myles Schoonover, and Marijn Vandenberghe
The Journal of Theological Studies
ICO Iconographisk Post. Nordisk tidskrift för bildtolkning – Nordic Review of Iconography, 2021
In Swedish oral tradition, as well as in one example of Dalecarlian folk painting from the late 1... more In Swedish oral tradition, as well as in one example of Dalecarlian folk painting from the late 18th century, an invocation of twelve (occasionally fourteen) angels standing around the bed is evident from at least the 17th century. This invocation, while having taken on several different functions, has predominantly been used as a bedtime prayer but has also been sung during wakes in the home. It parallels numerous European angel prayers, the most famous of which is probably the German version Abends wenn ich schlafen geh, and can be traced to 14th-century ars moriendi practices.
The prayer bears a striking resemblance to the Jewish Ashkenazic bedtime invocation of the four angels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel, and the two prayers may either be the result of a genetic relationship through borrowing and appropriation or are the result of a shared Judæo-Christian oral prayer repertoire in mediaeval Europe.
While the Christian angelic invocation, apart from its (most probably later) use as a bedtime prayer, focuses on death, the Jewish angelic invocation focusses on Divine mystical presence. The conservative development of angelic pictorial representation in mediaeval prayer practices through the early modern period points to the roots of certain 18th and 19th century folk art motifs and themes, and a shared Jewish and Christian heritage behind them.
RIG - Kulturhistorisk tidskrift, 2020
In the academic discourse around Dalecarlian folk painting in Sweden, the issue of Vorlagen has d... more In the academic discourse around Dalecarlian folk painting in Sweden, the issue of Vorlagen has dominated since Svante Svärdström (1906-1987). As Dalecarlian paintings were painted by literate farmers with a repertoire of motifs from educational Bibles, hymnals and Pietist literature, this venture is a fruitful one. It is not, however, enough to explain the Dalecarlian painters’ handling of their sources.
In this article, the topic of Vorlagen is revisited in an attempt to broaden the scope from an older art history-oriented approach based on the trickle-down theory of farmers’ cultural adaptation of “higher” culture. Instead, the issue of Vorlagen is framed as an enquiry into the cultural intake and output of Swedish farmers around the turn of the 19th century. Dalecarlian painting is an overwhelmingly religious genre dominated by the Bible. As Nils-Arvid Bringéus has pointed out, traditional Swedish interior painting is a form of biblical reception. The motifs do not only, however, bear testimony to biblical interpretation but to the whole literary, liturgical and theological worlds of rural farmers prior to industrialisation. The folk art tradition is taken as an expression and part of the “lived religion” of late 18th and early 19th century Dalecarlian farmer. Not only printed Vorlagen are of interest, but oral traditions, local conditions and the highly ritualised lives of farmers need to be considered as parts of the painters’ cultural register.
The traditional Vorlagen are revisited, but only as one part of a broader picture which includes local funerary traditions, the traditional bedding ceremony and the interplay between reading and orality among pre-1842 (i.e. before mandatory Volkschule) Swedish farmers.
The Binding of Isaac in J.R.R. Tolkien and Stephen King
Biblical Interpretation A Journal of Contemporary Approaches, 2020
This article investigates biblical reception in the works of two popular modern fantasy authors. ... more This article investigates biblical reception in the works of two popular modern fantasy authors. It stages an intertextual dialogue between Genesis 22:1-19, “the binding of Isaac”, and two episodes, in Stephen King’s The Gunslinger and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Return of the King. After presenting the dynamics of what happens to the biblical text in these two authors and the perspectives that come out, a hermeneutical reversal is then suggested, in which the modern stories are used to probe the biblical text. One can return to the Bible with questions culled from its later reception, in this case King and Tolkien. This article argues that the themes touched upon by the two authors are important and hermeneutically relevant ones, sometimes novel and sometimes contributions to exegetical debates that have been going on for centuries.
The Liturgical Reception of Isaiah 6:3 in Nineteenth-Century Sweden
Studia Liturgica, 2017
This article presents and analyses the peculiar liturgical use of Isa. 6:3 as an Introit in Swedi... more This article presents and analyses the peculiar liturgical use of Isa. 6:3 as an Introit in Swedish Lutheran liturgy from the early 19th century, and the interpretative messages being sent through this performative use.
'A Measure of Wheat and a Bundle of Flax': A Jewish Theology of Exegesis
ET-studies, 2016
This paper argues for the primacy of tradition in constructing a theological framework for interp... more This paper argues for the primacy of tradition in constructing a theological framework for interpreting the Hebrew Bible as (in this case Jewish) Scripture. It suggests a way of approaching the idea of Divine revelation that is neither dependent on a miraculous moment at Sinai nor disregards the need for a robust sense of Divine agency. It does so by focussing on the side of tradition, understood in Rabbinic terms as every bit as revealed as the text of the Torah, and what this entails in terms of exegetical freedom and responsibility.
The Bible in Jewish–Christian Dialogue: A Jewish Perspective
The Expository Times, 2017
This paper presents some of the important issues pertaining to the role of the (Hebrew) Bible in ... more This paper presents some of the important issues pertaining to the role of the (Hebrew) Bible in Jewish–Christian dialogue, some of the problems arising around it, and suggests some solutions to how Jews and Christians can share this corpus without forcing Christian readers to give up their unique perspective on the text or justifying reading practices in which Jews lose a full claim on the text.
Svensk Exegetisk Årsbok, 2016
Books by Sebastian Selvén
Liturgy and Biblical Interpretation: The Sanctus and the Qedushah
University of Notre Dame Press, 2021
What happens to the Bible when it is used in worship? What does music, choreography, the stringin... more What happens to the Bible when it is used in worship? What does music, choreography, the stringing together of texts, and the architectural setting itself, do to our sense of what the Bible means—and how does that influence our reading of it outside of worship? In Liturgy and Biblical Interpretation, Sebastian Selvén answers questions concerning how the Hebrew Bible is used in Jewish and Christian liturgical traditions and the impact this then has on biblical studies. This work addresses the neglect of liturgy and ritual in reception studies and makes the case that liturgy is one of the major influential forms of biblical reception. The case text is Isaiah 6:3 and its journey through the history of worship.
By looking at the Qedushah liturgies in Ashkenazi Judaism and the Sanctus in three church traditions—(pre-1969) Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism (the Church of England), and Lutheranism (Martin Luther, and the Church of Sweden)—influential lines of reception are followed through history. Because the focus is on lived liturgy, not only are worship manuals and prayer books investigated but also architecture, music, and choreography. With an eye to modern-day uses, Selvén traces the historical developments of liturgical traditions. To do this, he has used methodological frameworks from the realm of anthropology. Liturgy, this study argues, plays a significant role in how scholars, clergy, and lay people receive the Bible, and how we understand the way it is to be read and sometimes even edited.
Liturgy and Biblical Interpretation will interest scholars of the Bible, liturgy, and church history, as well as Jewish and Christian clergy.
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Papers by Sebastian Selvén
Mass was generally celebrated every Sunday in the parish churches of the region and an intense culture of confession and communion meant that church buildings had to adapt, with large communally oriented sacristies and sets of sacred vessels able to accommodate the many communicants. This religious practice was initially encouraged by bishops and priests in the 17th century. Much of local religious life was, however, developed by parishioners themselves without priestly encouragement or intervention. Local sartorial culture (»folk costume») followed the liturgical year and varied according to theological themes and various ritual roles that we wearer could take. The interior painting tradition of the region, which developed in the 18th century, relies heavily on the Bible and the hymnal as well as especially pre-pietist authors such as Johann Arndt and Heinrich Müller. The historical material culture of Upper Dalarna, today often understood in »regional» or »national» terms, is the result of and was part of an intense Lutheran folk religiosity that thrived for over 250 years among the rural laity.
The prayer bears a striking resemblance to the Jewish Ashkenazic bedtime invocation of the four angels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel, and the two prayers may either be the result of a genetic relationship through borrowing and appropriation or are the result of a shared Judæo-Christian oral prayer repertoire in mediaeval Europe.
While the Christian angelic invocation, apart from its (most probably later) use as a bedtime prayer, focuses on death, the Jewish angelic invocation focusses on Divine mystical presence. The conservative development of angelic pictorial representation in mediaeval prayer practices through the early modern period points to the roots of certain 18th and 19th century folk art motifs and themes, and a shared Jewish and Christian heritage behind them.
In this article, the topic of Vorlagen is revisited in an attempt to broaden the scope from an older art history-oriented approach based on the trickle-down theory of farmers’ cultural adaptation of “higher” culture. Instead, the issue of Vorlagen is framed as an enquiry into the cultural intake and output of Swedish farmers around the turn of the 19th century. Dalecarlian painting is an overwhelmingly religious genre dominated by the Bible. As Nils-Arvid Bringéus has pointed out, traditional Swedish interior painting is a form of biblical reception. The motifs do not only, however, bear testimony to biblical interpretation but to the whole literary, liturgical and theological worlds of rural farmers prior to industrialisation. The folk art tradition is taken as an expression and part of the “lived religion” of late 18th and early 19th century Dalecarlian farmer. Not only printed Vorlagen are of interest, but oral traditions, local conditions and the highly ritualised lives of farmers need to be considered as parts of the painters’ cultural register.
The traditional Vorlagen are revisited, but only as one part of a broader picture which includes local funerary traditions, the traditional bedding ceremony and the interplay between reading and orality among pre-1842 (i.e. before mandatory Volkschule) Swedish farmers.
Books by Sebastian Selvén
By looking at the Qedushah liturgies in Ashkenazi Judaism and the Sanctus in three church traditions—(pre-1969) Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism (the Church of England), and Lutheranism (Martin Luther, and the Church of Sweden)—influential lines of reception are followed through history. Because the focus is on lived liturgy, not only are worship manuals and prayer books investigated but also architecture, music, and choreography. With an eye to modern-day uses, Selvén traces the historical developments of liturgical traditions. To do this, he has used methodological frameworks from the realm of anthropology. Liturgy, this study argues, plays a significant role in how scholars, clergy, and lay people receive the Bible, and how we understand the way it is to be read and sometimes even edited.
Liturgy and Biblical Interpretation will interest scholars of the Bible, liturgy, and church history, as well as Jewish and Christian clergy.
Mass was generally celebrated every Sunday in the parish churches of the region and an intense culture of confession and communion meant that church buildings had to adapt, with large communally oriented sacristies and sets of sacred vessels able to accommodate the many communicants. This religious practice was initially encouraged by bishops and priests in the 17th century. Much of local religious life was, however, developed by parishioners themselves without priestly encouragement or intervention. Local sartorial culture (»folk costume») followed the liturgical year and varied according to theological themes and various ritual roles that we wearer could take. The interior painting tradition of the region, which developed in the 18th century, relies heavily on the Bible and the hymnal as well as especially pre-pietist authors such as Johann Arndt and Heinrich Müller. The historical material culture of Upper Dalarna, today often understood in »regional» or »national» terms, is the result of and was part of an intense Lutheran folk religiosity that thrived for over 250 years among the rural laity.
The prayer bears a striking resemblance to the Jewish Ashkenazic bedtime invocation of the four angels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel, and the two prayers may either be the result of a genetic relationship through borrowing and appropriation or are the result of a shared Judæo-Christian oral prayer repertoire in mediaeval Europe.
While the Christian angelic invocation, apart from its (most probably later) use as a bedtime prayer, focuses on death, the Jewish angelic invocation focusses on Divine mystical presence. The conservative development of angelic pictorial representation in mediaeval prayer practices through the early modern period points to the roots of certain 18th and 19th century folk art motifs and themes, and a shared Jewish and Christian heritage behind them.
In this article, the topic of Vorlagen is revisited in an attempt to broaden the scope from an older art history-oriented approach based on the trickle-down theory of farmers’ cultural adaptation of “higher” culture. Instead, the issue of Vorlagen is framed as an enquiry into the cultural intake and output of Swedish farmers around the turn of the 19th century. Dalecarlian painting is an overwhelmingly religious genre dominated by the Bible. As Nils-Arvid Bringéus has pointed out, traditional Swedish interior painting is a form of biblical reception. The motifs do not only, however, bear testimony to biblical interpretation but to the whole literary, liturgical and theological worlds of rural farmers prior to industrialisation. The folk art tradition is taken as an expression and part of the “lived religion” of late 18th and early 19th century Dalecarlian farmer. Not only printed Vorlagen are of interest, but oral traditions, local conditions and the highly ritualised lives of farmers need to be considered as parts of the painters’ cultural register.
The traditional Vorlagen are revisited, but only as one part of a broader picture which includes local funerary traditions, the traditional bedding ceremony and the interplay between reading and orality among pre-1842 (i.e. before mandatory Volkschule) Swedish farmers.
By looking at the Qedushah liturgies in Ashkenazi Judaism and the Sanctus in three church traditions—(pre-1969) Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism (the Church of England), and Lutheranism (Martin Luther, and the Church of Sweden)—influential lines of reception are followed through history. Because the focus is on lived liturgy, not only are worship manuals and prayer books investigated but also architecture, music, and choreography. With an eye to modern-day uses, Selvén traces the historical developments of liturgical traditions. To do this, he has used methodological frameworks from the realm of anthropology. Liturgy, this study argues, plays a significant role in how scholars, clergy, and lay people receive the Bible, and how we understand the way it is to be read and sometimes even edited.
Liturgy and Biblical Interpretation will interest scholars of the Bible, liturgy, and church history, as well as Jewish and Christian clergy.