How Much God Is in the Holy Scriptures?

Lecture Series: Science and Faith in Judaism and Islam (in German and English; with Video Recording)

For devout Jews and Muslims, the Torah and the Quran are holy scriptures that contain God’s word or were divinely inspired.

The method of historical criticism in research has made it possible to explain the origins of both scriptures as arising from their specific historical context. For example, the decoding of ancient Middle Eastern texts has shown the roots of many biblical and Quranic themes in ancient traditions, which is often seen as a challenge to the doctrine of holy scripture’s divine origins.

Recording available

Where

W. M. Blumenthal Academy,
Klaus Mangold Auditorium
Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin (Opposite the Museum)

Where, when, what?

How can Judaism and Islam interpret divine revelation today? Are historical textual research and religious convictions compatible?

A discussion between Benjamin Sommer and Ghassan el Masri. Moderator: Dr. Kathrin Klausing (Institute for Islamic Theology, Osnabrück University).

Benjamin Sommer

Benjamin D. Sommer is Professor of Bible at the Jewish Theological Seminary. His publications include Revelation and Authority: Sinai in Jewish Scripture and Tradition, which deals with the concept of divine revelation in the Bible and in modern Jewish theology.

Ghassan el Masri

Born in Beirut, Ghassan el Masri studied Philosophy and Arabic Studies at the American University of Beirut and at the Free University Berlin and has been involved in several research projects at the Corpus Coranicum of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. His research focus is the Koran in the context of the Arabic literature of its time.

Video recording of the lecture Science in the Light of Faith on 5 March 2019; Jewish Museum Berlin 2019

About the Lecture Series

Scientific discoveries in astronomy, geology, and biology over the past centuries have called into question the centrality of humans as the “crown of creation.” Today, religious and scientific positions are often seen as irreconcilable. While some present religions as incompatible with a modern worldview, others demand that creationism be giving equal billing in school as an alternative to the theory of evolution. In the past, this conflicting relationship between religion and science was hardly the rule. Many theologists were also scientists and made significant contributions to our understanding of humanity and the surrounding world.

This lecture series sets out to explore the tensions and affinities between Judaism, Islam, and the sciences. It aims to supplement the narrative of conflict with other narratives. To that end, the lecture series delves into subjects such as evolution and creation, belief in miracles, biological determinism and free will, historicist critical analysis of sacred texts, and how Jewish and Muslim religious educators approach the sciences.

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Where, when, what?

When Tuesday 5 March 2019, 7 pm
Where W. M. Blumenthal Academy, Klaus Mangold Auditorium
Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin
(Opposite the Museum)
See location on map

Entry fee
Free of charge
Register for this event
For journalists Phone: +49 (0)30 25 993 419
presse@jmberlin.de

Please noteIn German and French with simultaneous interpretation into German

Lecture Series 2018-19: Science and Faith in Judaism and Islam (6)

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Science and Faith in Judaism and Islam

Scientific discoveries in astronomy, geology, and biology over the past centuries have called into question the centrality of humans as the “crown of creation.”

Today, religious and scientific positions are often seen as irreconcilable. This lecture series sets out to explore the tensions and affinities between Judaism, Islam, and the sciences.

Creation and Evolution in Schools

With Rachel S. A. Pear (Center for Jewish Education in the University of Haifa) and Anila Asghar (Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill University, Canada)

Lecture Series
4 Jul 2019

Do You Believe in Miracles?

With James A. Diamond (Professor in Jewish Studies at the University of Waterloo, Canada) and Umeyye Isra Yazicioglu (Professor in Religious Studies at St. Joseph’s University in Philidelphia, United States)

Lecture Series
13 Jun 2019 (with video recording)

Humanity: Between Destiny and Free Will

With Alan Mittleman (Jewish Theological Seminary of America) and Martin Mahmud Kellner (Institute of Islamic Theology, Osnabrück)

Lecture Series
30 Apr 2019 (with video recording)

How Much God Is in the Holy Scriptures?

With Benjamin Sommer (expert in modern Jewish theology) and Ghassan el Masri (researcher on the Koran in the context of the Arabic literature of his time), in German and English

Lecture Series
5 Mar 2019 (with video recording)

God, Darwin, and Evolution

With Natan Slifkin (Biblical Museum of Natural History, Beit Shemesh, Israel) and Fatimah Jackson (Howard University, USA)

Lecture Series
31 Jan 2019 (with video recording)

Science in the Light of Faith

With Geoffrey A. Mitelman (Sinai and Synapses) and Ahmad S. Dallal (Georgetown University, Qatar)

Lecture Series
20 Nov 2018 (with video recording)

Academy Programs: Past Events for You to Listen To and Watch (56)

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Past Events for You to Listen To and Watch

We have recorded some of our conferences, lectures, readings, and panel discussions for you as audio or video files.

Non-Transcendental Morality: Judaism, Islam, and Atheism

With Jacques Berlinerblau (Georgetown University) and Ufuk Topkara (Johns Hopkins University), in German and English

Lecture Series
20 Apr 2020 (with video recording)

Tying the Knot versus Bonds with God: Jews and Muslims in Interfaith Marriages

With Madeleine Dreyfus (psychoanalyst with a doctorate in cultural anthropology) und Imen Gallala-Arndt (lawyer and a lecturer at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology), in German

Lecture Series
Thu, 18 Jun 2020 (with video recording)

What Do You Think about Jesus? Judaism, Islam, and Christianity

With Israel Yuval (Hebrew University in Jerusalem) and Maha El Kaisy-Friemuth (Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg), in German and English

Lecture Series
18 Feb 2020 (with video recording)

Mono or Poly? Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism

With Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein (Elijah Interfaith Institute) and Reza Shah-Kazemi (Institute of Ismaili Studies in London)

Lecture Series
4 Feb 2020 (with video recording)

About a Tea Bowl

Discussion with brief presentations about interwoven experiences of post-Soviet Jewish migration, with video recording, in German

Lecture/Discussion
27 Nov 2019 (with video recording)

Ruth Wodak:
Swing to the right?!

Ruth Wodak traces how a new “normality to the right” is establishing itself in many European countries (in German)

Lecture/Discussion
17 October 2019

“To Know One Religion Is to Know None”

28 August 2019
W. Michael Blumenthal Fellow Walid Abdelgawad talks about reflections on Islam and Judaism in the writings of German-speaking Jewish orientalists between 1833 and 1955 (in German)
Video: in German; no subtitles

Do You Believe in Miracles?

Lecture Series
13 Jun 2019 (with video recording)

Photography of a totem pole in a foggy landscape with lake

Museums, Religion, and the Work of Reconciliation and Remembrance

9 May 2019
Museums are called on to deal critically and transparently with the often invisible colonial history of their collections. The curators Jisgang Nika Collision (Haida Gwaii Museum, Haida Nation & Canada) and Léontine Meijer-van Mensch (Saxonian State Ethnographic Collections) discussed this topic.

Humanity: Between Destiny and Free Will

With Alan Mittleman (Jewish Theological Seminary of America) and Martin Mahmud Kellner (Institute of Islamic Theology, Osnabrück)

Lecture Series
30 Apr 2019 (with video recording)

Access Barriers. Critical Perspectives on Racism in Schools and Curatorial Practices

Keynote by Bonita Bennett (District Six Museum, Cape Town) at the conference Access Barriers on museums as places of social change.

Lecture/Discussion
20 Mar 2019

How Much God Is in the Holy Scriptures?

With Benjamin Sommer (expert in modern Jewish theology) and Ghassan el Masri (researcher on the Koran in the context of the Arabic literature of his time), in German and English

Lecture Series
5 Mar 2019 (with video recording)

God, Darwin, and Evolution

Natan Slifkin (Biblical Museum of Natural History, Israel) and Fatimah Jackson (Howard University, USA) discuss how Jewish and Islamic theologians treat evolutionary biology.

Lecture Series
31 Jan 2019 (with video recording)

Happy Birthday, Academy Programs!

2 December 2018
Welcoming Remarks and Introducing the Academy Programs | Discussion with Performance: Archive of Life. Memory in a Society Shaped by Migration | Panel Discussion: Jewish Fathers – Jewish Children? | Panel Discussion: A Pre-fascist Era? | Reception: 5 Years – 5 Friends – 5 Gifts

Science in the Light of Faith

Geoffrey A. Mitelman and Ahmad S. Dallal discuss how Jewish and Islamic theologians have reflected for centuries on the conflicting powers of God and his revelation and human reason.

Lecture Series
20 Nov 2018 (with video recording)

Living with Islamophobia

11 and 12 October 2018
The international conference “Living with Islamophobia” considered how cultural and religious affiliations are constructed and invited experts to enter into discussion.

Judaism and Islam – The History of Theological Relations

Prelude to the new lecture series The Others’ Faith. With Lukas Mühlethaler (Free University Berlin) and Imam Abdullah Antepli (Duke University, USA), in German and English

Lecture Series
21 Nov 2019 (with video recording)

Imported Antisemitism?

30 August 2018
Is Antisemitism increasing with the number of refugees from Arab countries? We discuss with political, academic, and practical experts which manifestations of antisemitism among Arab migrants and Muslims in Germany exist (in German).

My God, Your God, No God

Part of our lecture Series Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights

Lecture Series
14 Jun 2018 (with video recording)

Ongoing Struggles. Anti-Discrimination Work during the Rise of the Far Right

7 June 2018
Opening Session of the academic conference
Including Imani Perry's keynote »What Lies Underneath: Difficult Histories and the Resurgence of The Far Right«