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Trial lecture - Time and place
Titled: "The challenges of literary history and alternative methods to relate biblical text"
The trial lecture will take place on March 7 from 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM in auditorium U40.
Adjudication committee
- Professor Corinna Körting, Department of Protestant Theology, University of Hamburg (first opponent)
- Professor Jan Dietrich, Faculty of Protestant Theology, University of Bonn (second opponent)
- Professor Richard DeMaris, Faculty of Philosophy and Theology, Valparaiso University (third opponent)
- Professor Kåre Berge, Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo (committee leader)
Chair of defence
- Dean of Studies and Education Hallgeir Elstad, Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo
Supervisors
- Professor Anne Katrine de Hemmer Gudme, Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo
- Professor Morten Hørning Jensen, Aarhus University
Abstract
Blood plays a crucial role in the Hebrew Bible and in Hebrew Bible rituals. In recent decades, rituals in the Hebrew Bible have received much attention including rituals in which blood is manipulated on persons and objects. However, consensus has not yet been reached on the meanings and functions of blood rituals in the Hebrew Bible. The aim of this study is to examine the ritual efficacy of blood in selected Hebrew Bible texts. The research questions guiding my enquiry are: 1. How is blood used in a ritual manner, and what is the efficacy of blood when in contact with the sanctuary and its objects? 2. Why is blood – and not for instance spit, water, semen, urine, or milk – used as a ritual ingredient in the selected Hebrew Bible texts?
The theoretical framework of this study is based on the ritual theories of Jørgen Podemann Sørensen and Jesper Sørensen since these ritual theoretical approaches each in their own way elucidate the aspect of efficacy in rituals. Jørgen Podemann Sørensen’s theory of ritual efficacy will show how the blood rituals described in the five texts are expected to be efficacious by the ritual participants.
According to Jespers Sørensen’s ritual theory, the rituals are believed to work because of the perceptual feature of contact between blood and holy objects. In addition, the ascription of magical agency to blood ensures the efficacy of the rituals. The perspective of ritual theory will be supplemented by the employment of comparative material from the Hebrew Bible and Ancient West Asia. The comparative material will be brought into conversation with ritual theory with the goal of understanding how conceptions of blood in the Hebrew Bible and in Ancient West Aasia are related to ritual actions.