Typology of Religious Contacts in the Old Testament

As part of the project, a synopsis of the different literary constellations of religious contacts in the Old Testament will be developed and systematically categorized. By integrating the diachronic religious contacts (e.g. Midianites, Moabites, "Phoenician ecumenism"), the differentiated conceptions concerning contacts with the "alien" will be analysed and classified from a synchronic and diachronic perspective. In doing so the project will proceed as follows: a) Preparatory and exploratory summer school (summer 2010): Young scholars will be invited to discuss the issue of a systematization of the religious contacts in the Old Testament and sample case studies. From amongst the participants of this summer school in 2010, fellows with expertise in exegetical, early Jewish and/or religious studies will be chosen for the second phase of the project in 2011 and 2012. In this context a collection of papers will be prepared and published, in which the different constellations of religious contacts in the Old Testament will be collected and collated. This publication is the starting point for the subsequent systematic working process. b) Categorization and systematization of the religious contacts in the Old Testament (2011). It is intended that the research associate earn a doctorate by developing and working on a specific part of the relevant religious contacts. c) Examination of a synchronic and diachronic classification of the different models. d) Analysis of the history of reception.

The project aims to achieve systematic analysis and differentiation of the manifold conceptions in dealings with the "alien" in the Old Testament. The focus will be on the religious dimensions of contacts without neglecting the "ethnic" dimension. The variety and the numerous different literal constellations of religious contacts in the Old Testament will be developed; examples will be studied in greater depth, systematically categorized and classified synchronically and diachronically. Subsequently, we will analyze the history of reception in early Judaism (5th-2nd century B.C.). This will allow us to determine the contact with other religions in early Judaism. There is no doubt that in early Judaism and in early Christianity until the Middle Ages these texts were adapted to constitute integration or exclusion. Therefore the project will attempt to systematize the religious contacts in the Old Testament in order to develop "instruments" for the consortium. This procedure will provide further possibilities for a communicative exchange within the whole consortium. The last phase of the project will focus on aspects of the history of reception, which the consortium as a whole can then examine in greater depth.

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