The right to life and physical integrity is the foundation of every free society. Nonetheless, this right is severely restricted and disregarded in many countries. In reference to the Sharia, torture, beatings and capital punishment are found to be justifiable in some Muslim states.
Past event
Where
W. M. Blumenthal Academy,
Klaus Mangold Auditorium
Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin
(Opposite the Museum)
In the "war on terror," torture and targeted killings without trial are found to be legitimate. Under what conditions can a person's right to life be restricted in Judaism and Islam and how is this right weighed against other legal rights?
David Novak and Jonathan Brown will discuss. The event will be moderated by Hafssa El- Bouhamouchi.
Video recording of the lecture The Right to Life; 8 March 2018; Jewish Museum Berlin 2018
David Novak
David Novak is a rabbi, theologian, and professor for religion and philosophy at the University of Toronto. His research interests include interreligious dialog, bioethics and the law of nature. His titles include The Sanctity of Human Life.
Jonathan Brown
Jonathan Brown is professor of Islamic Civilization at Georgetown University and director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. His titles includeStoning and Hand Cutting – Understanding the Hudud and the Sharia in Islam.
Jonathan Brown (on the left side) and David Nowak (on the right side); photos: private
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Lecture Series: Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights (6)
Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights
Our lecture series addresses controversial human rights topics arising in various walks of life and examines them from Jewish and Islamic perspectives. For every lecture, we invite two scholars who present their own positions and then engage in a dialogue.
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My God, Your God, No God
With Leora Batnitzky (Princeton University) and Anver Emon (University of Toronto)
Lecture Series
14 Jun 2018 (with video recording) -
Equal before God and Humans?
With Susannah Heschel (Dartmouth College) and Katajun Amirpur (University of Hamburg)
Lecture Series
3 May 2018 (with video recording) -
How Much Criticism Do Judaism and Islam Tolerate?
With Suzanne Last Stone (Yeshiva University) and Anshuman Mondal (University of East Anglia), in English and German
Lecture Series
12 Apr 2018 (with video recording) -
The Right to Life
With David Novak (University of Toronto) and Jonathan Brown (Georgetown University)
Lecture Series
8 Mar 2018 (with video recording) -
Human Rights Treaties and How They are Received
With Michael Galchinsky (Georgia State University) and Mashood Baderin (University of London)
Lecture Series
25 Jan 2018 (with video recording) -
Human Rights and Religions – A Contradiction?
With Shaheen Sardar Ali (University of Warwick) and Jill Jacobs (Rabbi and the Managing Director of T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights)
Lecture Series
23 Nov 2017 (with video recording)
Academy Programs: Past Events for You to Listen To and Watch (57)
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.
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On the Path to Enlightenment: Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism
With Jerome Gellman (Ben-Gurion University) und Johan Elverskog (Southern Methodist University)
Lecture Series
24 Sep 2020 -
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)
Video: in GermanLecture Series
18 Jun 2020 -
Non-Transcendental Morality: Judaism, Islam, and Atheism
With Jacques Berlinerblau (Georgetown University) and Ufuk Topkara (Johns Hopkins University)
Video: in German and EnglishLecture Series
20 Apr 2020 -
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)
Video: in German and EnglishLecture Series
18 Feb 2020 -
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 -
About a Tea Bowl
Discussion with brief presentations about interwoven experiences of post-Soviet Jewish migration
Video: in GermanLecture/Discussion
27 Nov 2019 -
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)
Video: in German and EnglishLecture Series
21 Nov 2019 -
Ruth Wodak: Swing to the right?!
Ruth Wodak traces how a new “normality to the right” is establishing itself in many European countries
Video: in GermanLecture/Discussion
17 Oct 2019 -
“To Know One Religion Is to Know None”
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
Video: in GermanLecture/Discussion
28 Aug 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)
Video: in EnglishLecture Series
13 Jun 2019 -
Museums, Religion and the Work of Reconciliation and Remembrance
with the curators Jisgang Nika Collision (Haida Gwaii Museum, Haida Nation & Canada) and Léontine Meijer-van Mensch (Saxonian State Ethnographic Collections)
Lecture/Discussion
9 May 2019 -
Humanity: Between Destiny and Free Will
With Alan Mittleman (Jewish Theological Seminary of America) and Martin Mahmud Kellner (Institute of Islamic Theology, Osnabrück)
Video: in EnglishLecture Series
30 Apr 2019 -
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.
Video:in EnglishLecture/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)
Video: in German and EnglishLecture Series
5 Mar 2019 -
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.
Video: in EnglishLecture Series
31 Jan 2019 -
Happy Birthday, Academy Programs!
Introducing the Academy Programs as well as Panel Discussions: Jewish Fathers – Jewish Children? and A Pre-fascist Era?
Lecture/Discussion
2 Dec 2018 -
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.
Video: in EnglishLecture Series
20 Nov 2018 -
Living with Islamophobia
The international conference “Living with Islamophobia” considered how cultural and religious affiliations are constructed and invited experts to enter into discussion.
Video: in EnglishConference
11–12 Oct 2018 -
Imported Antisemitism?
We discuss with political, academic, and practical experts which manifestations of antisemitism among Arab migrants and Muslims in Germany exist.
Video: in GermanLecture/Discussion
30 Aug 2018 -
My God, Your God, No God
Part of our lecture Series Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights
Video: in EnglishLecture Series
14 Jun 2018 -
Ongoing Struggles. Anti-Discrimination Work during the Rise of the Far Right
with Imani Perry: »What Lies Underneath: Difficult Histories and the Resurgence of The Far Right«
Video: in EnglishConference
7 Jun 2018 -
Equal before God and Humans?
Part of our lecture series Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights
Video: in EnglishLecture Series
3 May 2018 -
How Much Criticism Do Judaism and Islam Tolerate?
Part of our lecture series Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights
Video: in English and GermanLecture Series
12 Apr 2018 -
What is the Relationship Between Antisemitism and Islamophobia?
Lectures by David Feldman and Stefanie Schüler-Springorum
Video: in English and German
20 Mar 2018 -
The Right to Life
Part of our lecture series Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights
Video: in EnglishLecture Series
8 Mar 2018 -
Human Rights Treaties and How They are Received
Part of our lecture series Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights
Video: in EnglishLecture Series
25 Jan 2018 -
Human Rights and Religions – A Contradiction?
Part of our lecture series Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights
Video: in EnglishLecture Series
23 Nov 2017 -
New Judaism – Alliances in Postmigrant Society
On concepts of being Jewish within the third generation of Jews in Germany
video: german and englishDiscussion
16 Nov 2017 -
Germanija. How I Became an Adult and a Jew in Germany
on Dmitrij Belkin's narrative that also throws light on immigration today.
Reading/Discussion
19 Oct 2017 -
IN-/EXCLUSIONS and Self-Empowerment in the Cultural Business
With Max Czollek, Dan Thy Nguyen, Sandrine Micossé-Aikins, and Mutlu Ergün-Hamaz (in German)
Discussion
12 Oct 2017 -
People, National Community, AfD
Book presentation and discussion with the author Michael Wildt and Alexander Häusler (in German)
Audio: in GermanLecture/Discussion
10 Oct 2017 -
Future Memories
Discussion on the Importance of Minority Perspectives for European Societies’ Commemorative Cultures
Discussion
26 Sep 2017 -
Man as Lord or Guardian of Creation?
Nawal Ammar and Hava Tirosh-Samuelson
Video: German and English, no subtitlesReading/Discussion
13 Jul 2017 -
Yousef Abad
Eliz Sanasarian and Elham Rokni on video art by Elham Rokni and the situation of Jews in Iran from the 1979 revolution to today.
Audio: in EnglishLecture/Discussion
6 Jul 2017 -
Religion. Fashion. Empowerment.
Discussion with Reina Lewis and Meriem Lebdiri (in German and English)
Lecture/Discussion
29 Jun 2017 -
With Karamba to the Bundestag – My Journey from Senegal to the German Parliament
Karamba Diaby tells of his birth country Senegal, of life in the GDR, his work in the Bundestag, and of his vision of an open and future-oriented society.
Audio: in GermanLecture/Discussion
1 Jun 2017 -
Ariel Sabar: My Father’s Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq
Reading and talk with the writer Ariel Sabar on the story of his father Yona Sabar, professor of the Neo-Aramaic language, and the Kurdish-Jewish history.
Audio: in EnglishLecture/Discussion
11 May 2017 -
Israelis in Germany
Ideological Debates and Changing IdentitiesTalk and Slideshow with Dr. Dani Kranz and Katja Harbi from the University of Wuppertal on Israeli Jews in today's Germany.
Audio: in GermanLecture/Discussion
4 May 2017 -
Im/Possibilities – Perspectives on Refugee Participation
Conference on the situation for refugees in Europe and Germany. Recording of the opening event with a talk by Gurminder K Bhambra, Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick, UK.
Audio: in German and EnglishReading/Discussion
23 Mar 2017 -
Our Father: A Sinti Family Recounts
Conversation and reading with the German-Sinti civil rights activist and author Anita Awosusi and her daughter Tayo Onutor about their family’s history.
Audio: in GermanReading/Discussion
23 Mar 2017 -
The Acid Test – How Fear of Foreigners is Threatening our Democracy
The Islamic studies and education scholar Lamya Kaddor reads from her book and discusses integration with Minister of State Aydan Özoğuz and Andreas Zick.
Audio: in GermanReading/Discussion
16 Feb 2017 -
Jews in North Africa During the Second World War
Theme day with lectures by Michel Abitbol, Eric Salerno, Patrick Bernhard, Haim Saadoun, and panel discussion
Language: German, English, and FrenchLecture/Discussion
26 Jan 2017 -
A Jew in Neukölln – My Path to Coexistence of Religions
The theology student and writer Ármin Langer reads from his book and talks about Jewish life in Neukölln.
Audio: in GermanReading/Discussion
19 Oct 2016 -
Sites of Memory: Lost and Entangled Narratives
with Dr. Rosa Fava, Juliane Jurewicz, Prof. Dr. Iman Attia, Olga Gerstenberger, Ozan Keskinkiliç, Anita Awosusi, Ilona Lagrene, Prof. Dr. Michael Rothberg, and Serpil Polat
Video: in German and English, no subtitlesConference
16 Sep 2016 -
TIME OF CRISIS
with Dan Diner, Adam Michnik, Dietmar Herz, Étienne François, and Hans Kundnani
Video: in German, no subtitlesDiscussion
7 Sep 2016 -
Antisemitism in the Arabic World – Facts and Myths
with Michael Kiefer and Omar Kamil
Video: in German, no subtitlesDiscussion
26 Apr 2016 -
“Angst ums Abendland” (Fears For the West) Book Presentation
Talk with Daniel Bax and Gideon Botsch on Right-wing populist parties, anti-Muslim sentiments, flight and asylum.
Audio: in GermanReading/Discussion
6 Apr 2016 -
Post-migrant Society?!
International conference, recording of the opening event
Video: in German and English, no subtitlesConference
12–14 Nov 2015 -
Kill Me a Son!
Recording of the opening event
With: Prof. Dr. Peter Schäfer and Prof. Dr. Angelika Neuwirth
Video: in German, no subtitlesConference
3–4 Sep 2015 -
The Realignment of "Education after Auschwitz" in Immigration Society
Book presentation and panel discussion with the author Rosa Fava, Angela Kühner (University of Frankfurt), Selman Erkovan, history teacher in training, and Marco Kühnert
Audio recording: in GermanReading/Discussion
27 Jan 2015 -
A Shared View of Europe – Jewish and Muslim Experiences as Reflected in Public Controversies
Panel discussion with Prof. Nilüfer Göle, Shai Lavi and Gökçe Yurdakul
Video: in German, no subtitlesDiscussion
19 Jan 2015 -
Contemporary Jewish Life in a Global Modernity
Recording of the presentation "Future of European Jewry"
With: Dr. Karen Körber and Dr. Diana Pinto
Video: in English, no subtitlesConference
11–12 Dec 2014 -
Snip it?!
Presentation of a study on the circumcision debate followed by a discussion as part of the Judeo-Islamic Forum.
Video: in German, no subtitlesLecture/Discussion
4 Dec 2014 -
Concepts of Citizenship and Participation in European Comparison
Recording of the keynote by Prof. Dr. Rainer Bauböck and the followed panel discussion
With: Prof. Dr. Rainer Bauböck, Dr. Manuela Bojadžijev, Josip Juratovic and Dr. Monika Lüke
Video: in German, no subtitlesConference
7–8 Apr 2014 -
Is Higher Education a Safeguard Against Racism and Antisemitism?
Presentation of a study followed by panel discussion with Wassilis Kassis, Charlotte Schallié, Iman Attia, Stefanie Schüler-Springorum and Andreas Zick
Video: in German, no subtitlesLecture/Discussion
20 February 2014 -
Modernized, then Tolerated?
Micha Brumlik, Petra Bahr, Kadir Sanci, and Thomas Bauer about religion and navigating between tradition and adaptation
Audio: in GermanDiscussion
10 Oct 2013 -
The History of Jews and Dönme in Turkey
The Turkish studies scholar Corry Guttstadt and the historian Marc Baer discuss the history of Jews and Dönme (converts) in Turkey.
Audio: in GermanLecture/Discussion
31 Jan 2011
Dialogical Lecture Series
Overview of all lecture series as part of our Jewish Islamic Forum
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2015–2020
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Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights
An event series by the Jewish-Islamic Forum
Lecture Series
2017/18