Soteriology:

the making and unmaking of selfhood

Winter-Spring 2022

 Organized by

Andrea Sangiacomo (Philosophy) & Arjen Bakker (Religious Studies)

This interfaculty seminar addresses the themes of selfhood, subject-formation, and subject-overcoming from the angle of soteriology: which strategies do human beings develop to address the structural problems inherent in the human predicament? Our approach to this question is cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary. We look at selfhood practices in ancient Greek, Jewish and Asian thought, as well as in the Western philosophical tradition, and we invite contributions from other disciplines and civilizations. The starting point of our conversation is the assumption that soteriological strategies play a crucial role in constructing and deconstructing the self, both at the social and at the individual level. We are particularly interested in ascetic practices and the ways in which the subject can be formed, transformed, or even erased by means of a variety of exercises, reflections, and through the performance of text and ritual.

Second Meeting

Monday 21^st March, 2.00-3.30 pm

Location: online, via ZOOM.

Ronit Nikolsky

(University of Groningen)

Reflections on the Cultural Cognitive Approach to Soteriology and an Example from Rabbinic Culture

The field of Culture and Cognition is an emerging field of research, but it has been around long enough to have developed its own jargon and directions. In the seminar I will present shortly this field of research, differentiate it from other fields that seem close, and also explain its inherent connection to the field of Cultural Evolution. I will then study an example of soteriology from Rabbinic culture, an early Jewish culture from late antiquity. We will study together an early rabbinic text where we can typify the tensions found in this text in light of the cultural cognitive approach.