INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS

KABBALAH and MODERNITYInternational Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

4–6 July 2007

University of Amsterdam Centre for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents

Here is the program for the conference, abstracts and other info at: http://home.planet.nl/~stuck008/kmmain.html and http://www.amsterdamhermetica.nl/ for the university

The conference will be held in the central building of the University of Amsterdam, Oudemanhuispoort, in the center of the old city of Amsterdam.

PROGRAM

Wednesday, 4 July

9.00–9.15 Introduction (Kocku von Stuckrad)

Panel 1: Kabbalah, Modernity, and Scholarship

9.15–10.00 Paul B. Fenton: ‘Who was Jean De Pauly, Translator of the Zohar into French?’

10.00–10.45 Andreas B. Kilcher: ‘Philology as Kabbalah’

10.45–11.00 Coffee Break

11.00–11.45 Jonatan Meir: ‘The Imagined Decline of Kabbalah: Gershom Scholem, the Kabbalistic Yeshivah Sha’ar ha-Shamayim, and Kabbalah in Jerusalem in the Beginning of the Twentieth Century’

11.45–12.30 Avriel Bar-Levav: ‘Lachover, Tishby, and the Wisdom of the Zohar’

12.30–14.30 Lunch

Panel 2: Modern Kabbalah and the New Age

14.30–15.15 Shaul Magid: ‘The American Roots of Jewish Renewal’s New Age Kabbalism’

15.15–16.00 Zeev Gries: ‘Printing and Kabbalah in the Twentieth Century’

16.00–16.30 Coffee Break

Panel 3: Contemporary Kabbalistic Schools

16.30–17.15 Yuval Harari: ‘Between Magic and Practical Kabbalah: Types of Current Charm Writers in Israel’

17.15–18.00 Jody Myers: ‘Marriage and Sexual Behavior in the Teachings of the Kabbalah Centre’

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Thursday, 5 July

Panel 4: Kabbalah and Politics

9.00–9.45 Steven M. Wasserstrom: ‘Mysterium Judaicum: Carl Schmitt, Ernst Jünger, and the Cabala of Enmity’

9.45–10.30 Gideon Aran: ‘The Cult of Dismembered Limbs’

10.30–10.45 Coffee Break

Panel 5: Romantic and Esoteric Readings of Kabbalah

10.45–11.30 Wouter J. Hanegraaff: ‘The Beginnings of Occultist Kabbalah: Adolphe Franck and Eliphas Lévi’

11.30–12.15 Konstantin Burmistrov: ‘Kabbalah and Secret Societies in Russia (18th–20th centuries)’

12.15–13.00 Jean-Pierre Brach: ‘Paul Vulliaud (1875–1950) and the Kabbalah’

13.00–14.00 Lunch

Panel 6: Romantic and Esoteric Readings of Kabbalah (continued)

14.00–14.45 Boaz Huss: ‘The Sufis from America: Kabbalah and Theosophy in Puna in the Late 19th Century’

14.45–15.30 Marco Pasi: ‘The Uses of Kabbalah in English Occultism: Interpretations and Transformations’

15.30–15.45 Coffee Break

Panel 7: New Approaches in the Study of Kabbalah

15.45–16.30 Giulio Busi: ‘Beyond the Burden of Idealism: For a New Appreciation of the Visual Lore in the Kabbalah’

16.30–17.15 Eric Jacobson: ‘The Kabbalah of the Future: On the Dislocation of Past Primacy and the Future of Illusions’

17.30 Guided Tour through the Jewish Historical Museum Amsterdam, followed by a reception

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Friday, 6 July

Panel 8: Kabbalah, Literature, and the Arts

9.00–9.45 Moshe Idel: ‘Abraham Abulafia and Modern Literature’

9.45–10.30 Doreet LeVitte Harten: ‘Kabbalah and Contemporary Art’

10.30–10.45 Coffee Break

10.45–11.30 Kocku von Stuckrad: ‘Madonna the Shekhinah: The Playful Transgression of Gender Roles in Popular Culture’

11.30–12.00 Concluding discussion