Sonja Ammann
I am Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible at University of Basel, Switzerland. From 2012-2017, I was Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin (Research and teaching assistant) at Humboldt University Berlin. I studied Theology in Lausanne (Switzerland), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Heidelberg (Germany). I earned my doctorate in January 2014 from Georg-August-Universität Göttingen in Hebrew Bible Studies (supervisor: R.G. Kratz). My dissertation was entitled "Götter für die Toren. Die Verbindung von Götterpolemik und Weisheit im Alten Testament" (published as BZAW 466, Berlin: de Gruyter, 2015).
In my doctoral thesis, I investigated how biblical polemics against other gods relate to wisdom.
A number of texts in the Hebrew Bible criticise other gods and their worshippers in an aggressive way (e.g. Isa 44, Jer 10, Letter of Jeremiah, Wis 12-15, etc.). I am interested in the formation of these texts and in their purpose. It is striking that many of the polemical texts use terms and concepts commonly found in wisdom literature. By combining a redaction-critical analysis and a discourse theoretical approach, I attempt to reconstruct the development of the polemical discourse and its entanglement with sapiential discourse.
My findings indicate that the religious polemics evolved particularly in later times, when the Israelites needed to redefine and position their ethnic group among the nations.
Supervisors: R.G. Kratz and B.U. Schipper
In my doctoral thesis, I investigated how biblical polemics against other gods relate to wisdom.
A number of texts in the Hebrew Bible criticise other gods and their worshippers in an aggressive way (e.g. Isa 44, Jer 10, Letter of Jeremiah, Wis 12-15, etc.). I am interested in the formation of these texts and in their purpose. It is striking that many of the polemical texts use terms and concepts commonly found in wisdom literature. By combining a redaction-critical analysis and a discourse theoretical approach, I attempt to reconstruct the development of the polemical discourse and its entanglement with sapiential discourse.
My findings indicate that the religious polemics evolved particularly in later times, when the Israelites needed to redefine and position their ethnic group among the nations.
Supervisors: R.G. Kratz and B.U. Schipper
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Books by Sonja Ammann
In sum, the present study argues that through the use of sapiential elements and patterns of thought, biblical idol polemics denigrate the worshippers of other gods specifically as fools. As a result, the polemics against idols develop into polemics against foreign wisdom, using the topic of idols merely to demonstrate the intellectual inferiority of the nations.
(The book is in German but includes an English summary.)
Edited Volumes by Sonja Ammann
Book Chapters by Sonja Ammann
Papers by Sonja Ammann
Talks by Sonja Ammann
In sum, the present study argues that through the use of sapiential elements and patterns of thought, biblical idol polemics denigrate the worshippers of other gods specifically as fools. As a result, the polemics against idols develop into polemics against foreign wisdom, using the topic of idols merely to demonstrate the intellectual inferiority of the nations.
(The book is in German but includes an English summary.)
I will argue that polemical texts against idols not only use sapiential terminology but are also based on a way of thinking that stands within sapiential tradition. Idol worshippers, idol makers, and the wise associated with them are portrayed similarly to the fool and the wicked in that they have an erroneous conception of reality. The idol polemics presuppose an antithetical pattern of thought according to which the knowledge about the world and the knowledge about God are strongly correlated. Outside the relationship to the one creator God, there is only idolatry and error. The exploration of sapiential features in these texts thus provides a clue for understanding the "monotheism" of idol polemics.
Call for Papers open until: 12 March 2019
At the 2016 conference in Leuven, we invite papers that use expressions of identity in contemporary fan fiction to investigate questions related to authorship and identity in ancient texts. Possible topics include, for example, strategies of constructing or concealing authorship (pseudepigraphy/anonymity), or scholarly assumptions about authors/creators based on the drift of a canon-related work. We also welcome papers that explore expressions of gendered identities, and how gendered expectations affect practices of writing and interpretation. We encourage participants to make their contributions in an interdisciplinary environment and we welcome papers concerned with methodology of the study of fan fiction, fans, and scribal culture.
Conference: July 17-20, 2015, Leuven, Belgium.
Call for Paper closes: March 31, 2015.
Conference: 12-15 July, 2015, Cordoba, Spain.
Deadline: March 15, 2015.
For the SBL international meeting in Buenos Aires (July 20-24, 2015), Expressions of Religion in Israel invites papers that explore the role of merchants in facilitating the exchange of religious symbols and ideas. Moving beyond the recourse to trade as a general hypothesis explaining the diffusion of disembodied ideas, this session will focus on trade as a mode of exchange taking place in the physical world, involving material goods and carried out by human agents. We welcome papers that investigate concrete cases of trade-related transmission of religious symbols and ideas based on material and/or textual evidence. Case studies might deal with, for example, archaeological traces (moulds, shipwrecks, etc.) of the trade of goods such as figurines or amulets, or texts documenting traders and customers as agents in the exchange of religious objects and ideas.
Paper proposals should be submitted online through the SBL website here:
http://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/Congresses_CallForPaperDetails.aspx?MeetingId=26&VolunteerUnitId=235