Ethics of In-Visibility: Imago Dei, Memory, and the Prohibition of Images
This conference aims to explore the dialectics of visibility and invisibility involved in (1) the idea of the dignity of the human person, (2) the memory of atrocities that deny human dignity, and (3) the ethical challenge presented by images of humanity and inhumanity.
Ad 1) In the Hebrew Bible, human dignity is expressed by the motif of the human being as imago Dei (Genesis 1:26f; 5:1-3). What are the implications of seeing the human being as image of an invisible God - a God whose non-linguistic visualization is prohibited by the commandment against graven images? The imago Dei motif raises theological, anthropological, and ethical questions. It does not only give us an idea about the human condition, but also a prescription of how the human being is supposed to relate to this condition. In Genesis 9:6, this motif is put forward as ground for the interdiction of homicide.
Ad 2) After the Shoah, it has become imperative to remember the atrocities committed during the "Third Reich" - in order to prevent the victims' "second death" through their being forgotten. If the genocide is not to be followed by a "mnemocide," we have to bear in mind what had happened. Memory involves images, and yet, what happened remains imperceptible and inconceivable. This catastrophe drives us to the limits of possible representation. The images transmitted through films and photos cannot catch the excess of invisibility that manifests itself at the heart of the visible. How, then, are we to deal with that which escapes vision but nonetheless determines our lives?
Ad 3) The tension between the visible appearance and the invisible interiority of a person, or the depth of an event, affects self-understanding on the one hand and interpersonal understanding on the other hand. Images of humanity and inhumanity are normative and have far-reaching consequences for the ways in which we act and interact with each other. We can respectfully look up to someone or look down at him or her. The biblical commandment of love contains the duty to love the persons we see, with their strengths and weaknesses, as well as the liberation from any image that would determine how someone is or has been. However, what is the significance of an image of God when it appears distorted beyond all recognition?
These questions will be discussed in due consideration (1) of the Jewish and the Christian traditions, (2) of Holocaust research and studies on autobiographical and collective memory, taking into account (3) the connection between ethics and aesthetics, which plays a role insofar as normatively loaded perception can determine (inter)action.
Students and researchers from all disciplines in the humanities and social sciences such as Theology, Philosophy, Jewish Studies, Religious Studies, Literature, Sociology, History, Cultural Studies, Political Sciences, and Education, are cordially invited to participate.
The participation in the conference is free of charge. However, registration is required if you follow more than 1 lecture.Please contact Rasmus Markussen (Email: ram@teol.ku.dk) and indicate your name, position / institutional affiliation, and email address.
Time: October 25-26, 2011
Place: Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen
Købmagergade 44-46
1150 Copenhagen K
Tuesday, October 25
Conference venue: Auditorium 11, 3rd floor, Købmagergade 44-46
9:00-9:15 Welcome
9:15-10:15 Keynote lecture by Avishai Margalit (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton): "The Historian as a Traitor: The Case of Flavius Josephus"
10:15-10:45 Coffee break
10:45-11:45 Melissa Raphael-Levine (University of Gloucestershire): "Disappearing Images: Gender, Forgetting and the Second Commandment Doubled"
11:45-12:00 Coffee break
12:00-13:00 Christina von Braun (Humboldt University, Berlin): "The History of the Cross: A Visual Symbol become Flesh in Antisemitism"
13:00-14:30 Lunch
14:30-15:30 Alana Vincent (University of Glasgow & Swedish Theological Institute, Jerusalem): "Crafting (in) the Image of God"
15:30-15:45 Coffee break
15:45-17:15 Ph.d. session
15:45-16:30 Hannes Langbein (University of Rostock): "The Gaze and the Image of God"
16:30-17:15 Karina Juhl Kande (University of Copenhagen):"Imago Dei and the In-Visibility of the Church: Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Analogy of Relation Ecclesiologically Unfolded"
18:00 Dinner
Wednesday, October 26
Conference venue: Trinitatis Annex Auditorium 228, Købmagergade 50
CANCELLED!!! 9:15-10:15 Christian Wiese (University of Frankfurt): "Imago Dei and Human Responsibility: Theological Anthropology and Ethics in Post-Holocaust Jewish Thought" CANCELLED!!!
10:15-11:15 Marianne Schleicher (University of Aarhus): "The Concept of Evil in Jewish Mysticism: On Separating the Invisible from the Visible"
11:15-11:30 Coffee break
11:30-12:30 Daniel Dayan (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris & University of Geneva & New School for Social Research, New York): TBA
12:30-13:00 Rounding off