The Song’s imagery is full of sensory impressions and vivid descriptions of bodies. Characteristically for the Song, these descriptions draw on a multitude of natural images, of both flora and fauna, when constructing beauty ideals, body images and sex appeal. The purpose of this seminar is to investigate the interplay between nature, bodies, and beauty in the Song and cognate texts and material culture, in order to reveal how this material uses non-human nature to construct (and possibly challenge) body ideals, the erotic, gender roles and hierarchies.
Presentation Abstracts
We encourage you to download and read the presentation abstracts for Nature, Bodies, and Beauty in the Song of Songs and its Cultural Environment (pdf)
Program
- 09.30-09.40: Welcome, Anne Katrine de Hemmer Gudme
- 09.40-10.05: “The Poetic Aesthetics of Levantine Iron Age Ivory Art”
Amy Gansell, Associate Professor of Art History, St. John's University, NY, US - 10.05-10.25: Discussion & Questions
- 10.25-10.50: “Inhabiting the Breast: Wild Mountain Animals and Shared Bodies and Spaces in Song 4:5-8”
Anne Letourneau, Associate Professor of Religion and Gender, University of Montreal, CA - 10.50-11.10: Discussion & Questions
- 11.10-12.30: Lunch Break
- 12.30-12.55: “Visual Body Blurring: The Diffusion of the Lovers’ Bodies from Visual and Material Perspectives”
Bruno Biermann, Postdoc/Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, Alttestamentliche Seminar, University of Münster, DE - 12.55-13.15: Discussion & Questions
- 13.15-13.40: “Beautiful Towers, Terrifying Doves: A Closer Look at the Female Lover’s Disruption of Beauty Ideals”
Karina Atudosie, DPhil Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Assyriology and Hebrew Bible), Oxford University, UK - 13.40-14.00: Discussion & Questions
- 14.00-14.30: Break
- 14.30-14.55: “Plant-Based Beauty: The Song’s Use of Plants and Trees in Constructions of Beauty and Sexual Allure”
Anne Katrine de Hemmer Gudme, Professor of Hebrew Bible, Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo - 14.55-15.15: Discussion & Questions
- 15.15-16.00: Joint discussion of all presentations
- 16.00: End of the day
Speakers
- Amy Gansell, Associate Professor of Art History, St. John's University, NY, US.
- Anne Letourneau, Associate Professor of Religion and Gender, University of Montreal, CA.
- Karina Atudosie, DPhil Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Assyriology and Hebrew Bible), Oxford University, UK.
- Bruno Biermann, Postdoc/Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, Alttestamentliche Seminar, University of Münster, DE.
- Anne Katrine de Hemmer Gudme, Professor i Den hebraiske bibel, TF, UiO.