Late Medieval Exegesis: An Interfaith Discourse

Conference website

Conference Schedule

Monday, October 17

8:15-8:45 Registration and Coffee (West Conference Room and Assembly Hall).

8:45-9:00 Opening Remarks (Assembly Hall).

9:00-10:30 Session 1: Sephardic Exegesis in Christian Kingdoms.
        (Chair: Eliot Ginsberg, University of Michigan)
• Nina Caputo (University of Florida-Gainseville)
            "Sons of God and Mothers of Demons: Nahmanides on the Nephalim."
• James T. Robinson (University of Chicago)
            "From Midrash to Commentary and Back Again: Some Remarks on Isaac Ibn Latif's 
            Interpretations of Qohelet (In Relation to the Judaeo-Arabic Tradition)."
• Benjamin Braude (Boston College)
            "Why did the Sister Haggadah Castrate Noah?."

10:30-11:00 Coffee (West Conference Room).

11:00-12:30 Session 2: Medieval Islam and Non-Islamic Scriptures.
        (Chair: Michael Bonner, University of Michigan)
• Sarah Stroumsa (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
            "The Father of Many Nations: Abraham in Al-Andalus."
• Sidney Griffith (Catholic University of America)
            "The Abrogation of Law in Medieval Jewish/Christian Polemic: Notes on Ibn 
            Kammuna's Examination of the Three Religions."
• Walid Saleh (University of Toronto)
            "Al-Biqa'i Seen Through Reuchlin: Reflections on the Islamic Relationship to the Bible."

12:30-14:00 Lunch (West Conference Room).

14:00-15:30 Session 3: Dominicans and Polemical Exegesis.
        (Chair: Hussein Fancy, University of Michigan)
• Harvey Hames (Ben Gurion University of the Negev)
            "Reconstructing Thirteenth Century Jewish-Christian Polemic: From Paris 1240 to 
            Barcelona 1263 and Back Again."
• Piero Capelli (Ca’ Foscari University, Venice)
            "Rashi in the Paris Talmud Controversy of 1240."
• Antoni Biosca i Bas (University of Alicante)
            "The Anti-Muslim discourse of Alfonso Buenhombre."

15:30-16:00 Coffee (West Conference Room).

16:00-17:30 Session 4: Christian Reading Between Polemics and Irenics.
        (Chair: Ryan Szpiech, University of Michigan)
• Yosi Israeli (Tel Aviv University)
            "A Christian Version of a Jewish Exegetical Dispute in the Additiones by Pablo de 
            Santa María."
• Deeana Klepper (Boston University)
            "Christian Hebraism in a Changing Landscape: Ponce Carbonell (d. 1349) and Paul of 
            Burgos (d. 1435) on Nicholas of Lyra's Postilla."
• Ari Geiger (Bar-Ilan University)
            "Between Religion and Exegetical Method: Christian Literal Exegetes in the Middle Ages 
            and Mosaic Law."

17:30-18:30 Wine reception.

18:30-20:30 Dinner (West Conference Room).

Tuesday, October 18

8:30-9:00 Coffee (West Conference Room).

9:00-10:30 Session 5: Interfaith Exegesis and Gender.
        (Chair: Teresa Tinkle, University of Michigan)
• Steven Kruger (Graduate Center, CUNY)
            "Exegesis as Autobiography: Conversion, Gender, and Sexuality."
• Alexandra Cuffel (Ruhr University, Bochum)
            "Between Epic Entertainment and Polemical Exegesis: Jesus as Anti-hero in 
            Toledot Yeshu."
• Esperanza Alfonso (CSIC, Madrid)
            "The Strange Woman in Proverbs."

10:30-10:45 Coffee.

10:45-12:15 Session 6: Strategies of Reading on the Borders of Islam.
        (Gottfried Hagen, University of Michigan)
• Noah Gardiner (University of Michigan)
            "Neither Sultan nor Shaytān Shall Oppress You: Talismanic Exegesis and Crypto
            -Ismāʿīlism in the Works of Aḥmad al-Būnī (d. 622/1225) and Ibn ʿArabī 
            (d. 638/1240)."
• John Dagenais (ULCA)
            "The Paraclete: Biblical Exegesis and Conversion in the Tuhfa of Brother Anselm 
            Abdullah."
• Tom Burman (University of Tennessee)
            "Dominican Friars and Qurʾanic Tafsir, 1250-1320."

12:15-13:30 Lunch (West Conference Room).

13:30-14:30 Visit to the University of Michigan Special Collections Library.
7th floor, Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library.

14:30-15:30 Session 7: Exegesis and the Physical Manuscript.
        (Chair: Javier del Barco, CSIC)
• Catherine Brown (University of Michigan)
            "People of the Book in the Codex Albeldensis."
• Ursula Ragacs (University of Vienna)
            "Lost and Found: Steinschneider's Manuscripts of Naḥmanides' Vikuaḥ."

15:30-15:45 Coffee.

15:45-16:45 Session 8: Reading the Bible of Moshe Arragel.
        (Chair: Larry Simon, Western Michigan University)
• Ángel Sáenz-Badillos (Real Colegio Complutense de Harvard)
            "Jewish and Christian Interpretations in Moses Arragel’s Bible Version and Glosses."
• Luis Girón-Negrón (Harvard University)
            "...pero quanto yo, non puedo tragar las dichas opiniones: Further Reflections on 
            Exegesis and Translation in Arragel's Biblical Codex."

16:45-17:45 Roundtable: Medieval Exegesis: An Interfaith Discourse?
Nina Caputo, Deeana Klepper, Sidney Griffith, Thomas Burman, Steven Kruger.
        (Moderator: Larry Simon, Western Michigan University)

17:45 Closing Remarks.

17:45-18:45 Wine Reception.

19:00-21:00 Dinner (Vinology, 110 S. Main St., Ann Arbor).