For centuries, Jewish and Islamic theologians have reflected on the conflicting powers of faith in God and his revelation and human reason.
How has the relationship between reason and faith developed throughout the history of Jewish and Islamic theology and how does it look today?
Recording available
Where
W. M. Blumenthal Academy,
Klaus Mangold Auditorium
Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin
(Opposite the Museum)
A discussion with Geoffrey A. Mitelman and Ahmad S. Dallal. Moderator: Dr. Kathrin Klausing (Institute for Islamic Theology, Osnabrück University).
Geoffrey A. Mitelman
Geoffrey A. Mitelman is Founding Director of "Sinai and Synapses", an organization dedicated to dialog between science and religion. He is a rabbi and teacher, and his work has been honored with multiple awards.
Ahmad S. Dallal
Ahmad S. Dallal is Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies and Dean of Georgetown University in Qatar. His best-known publication is Islam, Science, and the Challenge of History, in which he provides a historical overview of the role of the natural sciences in Islam.
Rabbi Geoffrey A. Mitelman und Ahmad Dallal; photos: Jeophrdy!/Georgetown University Qatar
Video recording of the lecture Science in the Light of Faith; 20 November 2018; Jewish Museum Berlin 2018
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.
Academy Programs: Past Events for You to Listen To and Watch (56)
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?
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)
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«
Equal before God and Humans?
Part of our lecture series Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights
Lecture Series
3 May 2018 (with video recording)
How Much Criticism Do Judaism and Islam Tolerate?
Part of our lecture series Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights
Lecture Series
12 Apr 2018 (with video recording)
What is the Relationship Between Antisemitism and Islamophobia?
20 March 2018
Lectures by David Feldman and Stefanie Schüler-Springorum
The Right to Life
Part of our lecture series Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights
Lecture Series
8 Mar 2018 (with video recording)
Human Rights Treaties and How They are Received
Part of our lecture series Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights
Lecture Series
25 Jan 2018 (with video recording)
Human Rights and Religions – A Contradiction?
Part of our lecture series Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights
Lecture Series
23 Nov 2017 (with video recording)
New Judaism – Alliances in Postmigrant Society
16 November 2017
Discussion on concepts of being Jewish within the third generation of Jews in Germany (in German and English)
Germanija. How I Became an Adult and a Jew in Germany
19 October 2017
Reading and discussion on Dmitrij Belkin's narrative that also throws light on immigration today.
IN-/EXCLUSIONS and Self-Empowerment in the Cultural Business
12 October 2017
With Max Czollek, Dan Thy Nguyen, Sandrine Micossé-Aikins, and Mutlu Ergün-Hamaz (in German)
People, National Community, AfD
10 October 2017
Book presentation and discussion with the author Michael Wildt and Alexander Häusler (in German)
Audio: in German
Future Memories
26 September 2017
Discussion on the Importance of Minority Perspectives for European Societies’ Commemorative Cultures
Man as Lord or Guardian of Creation?
13 July 2017
Reading with discussion: Nawal Ammar and Hava Tirosh-Samuelson
Video: German and English, no subtitles
Religion. Fashion. Empowerment.
29 June 2017
Discussion with Reina Lewis and Meriem Lebdiri (in German and English)
Yousef Abad
6 July 2017
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 English
With Karamba to the Bundestag
My Journey from Senegal to the German Parliament
1 June 2017
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 German
Ariel Sabar
My Father’s Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq
11 May 2017
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 English
Israelis in Germany
Ideological Debates and Changing Identities
4 May 2017
Talk and Slideshow with Dr. Dani Kranz and Katja Harbi from the University of Wuppertal on Israeli Jews in today's Germany.
Audio: in German
Im/Possibilities
Perspectives on Refugee Participation
29 March 2017
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, followed by a panel discussion.
Audio: in German and English
Our Father: A Sinti Family Recounts
23 March 2017
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 German
The Acid Test
How Fear of Foreigners is Threatening our Democracy
16 February 2017
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 German
Jews in North Africa During the Second World War
26 Januar 2017
Theme day with lectures by Michel Abitbol, Eric Salerno, Patrick Bernhard, Haim Saadoun, and panel discussion
Language: German, English, and French
A Jew in Neukölln – My Path to Coexistence of Religions
19 October 2016
The theology student and writer Ármin Langer reads from his book and talks about Jewish life in Neukölln.
Audio: in German
Sites of Memory: Lost and Entangled Narratives
16 September 2016
Conference 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 subtitles
TIME OF CRISIS
7 September 2016
Panel discussion with Dan Diner, Adam Michnik, Dietmar Herz, Étienne François, and Hans Kundnani
Video: in German, no subtitles
Antisemitism in the Arabic World – Facts and Myths
26 April 2016
Panel discussion with Michael Kiefer and Omar Kamil
Video: in German, no subtitles
Angst ums Abendland (Fears For the West)
Book Presentation with Daniel Bax
6 April 2016
Talk with Daniel Bax and Gideon Botsch on Right-wing populist parties, anti-Muslim sentiments, flight and asylum.
Audio: in German
Post-migrant Society?!
12–14 November 2015
International conference, recording of the opening event
Video: in German and English, no subtitles
Kill Me a Son!
3–4 September 2015
Symposium, recording of the opening event
With: Prof. Dr. Peter Schäfer and Prof. Dr. Angelika Neuwirth
Video: in German, no subtitles
The Realignment of "Education after Auschwitz" in Immigration Society
27 January 2015
Book presentation and panel discussion with the author Rosa Fava, Angela Kühner (University of Frankfurt), Selman Erkovan, history teacher in training, and Marco Kühnert, a guide at the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial, Hamburg.
Audio: in German
A Shared View of Europe – Jewish and Muslim Experiences as Reflected in Public Controversies
19 January 2015
Panel discussion with Prof. Nilüfer Göle, Shai Lavi and Gökçe Yurdakul
Video: in German, no subtitles
Contemporary Jewish Life in a Global Modernity
11–12 December 2014
International conference, recording of the presentation "Future of European Jewry"
With: Dr. Karen Körber and Dr. Diana Pinto
Video: in English, no subtitles
Snip it?!
4 December 2014, 7 pm
Presentation of a study on the circumcision debate followed by a discussion as part of the Judeo-Islamic Forum.
Video: in German, no subtitles
Concepts of Citizenship and Participation in European Comparison
7–8 April 2014
Symposium, 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 subtitles
Is Higher Education a Safeguard Against Racism and Antisemitism?
20 February 2014
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 subtitles
Modernized, then Tolerated?
10 October 2013
Panel discussion with Micha Brumlik, Petra Bahr, Kadir Sanci, and Thomas Bauer about religion and navigating between tradition and adaptation.
Audio: in German
The History of Jews and Dönme in Turkey
31 January 2011
The Turkish studies scholar Corry Guttstadt and the historian Marc Baer discuss the history of Jews and Dönme (converts) in Turkey.
Audio: in German
Lecture Series 2018-19: Science and Faith in Judaism and Islam (6)
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)