The Nils Klim Seminar 2020: "Outside Eden: The Bible on Migration"

Welcome to the 2020 Nils Klim Seminar: “Outside Eden: The Bible on Migration”. The Nils Klim Laureate Frederik Poulsen and his peers Casey Strine and Kristin Joachimsen will discuss how ancient texts can enrich our thinking about migration. Einar Thomassen will moderate the conversation.

The Bible contains numerous stories about migration and life among foreigners. From the very beginning, Adam and Eve are driven out of Eden into a brutal world. The patriarch Abraham and his family travel as strangers, and figures such as Joseph, Ruth, and Daniel embody challenges and opportunities of settling down in new cultural contexts. While at first sight studying these ancient texts hardly solves today’s challenges, the narratives and discources are a rich resource for thinking about migration. The Bible offers words and images for expressing and coping with these experiences, for ancient readers as well as modern.

Speakers

Nils Klim Laureate Frederik Poulsen is Assistant Professor of Old Testament at the University of Copenhagen. His research interests include exile and diaspora in the Bible, Old Testament prophecy, biblical theology, and reception history. His most recent book is The Black Hole in Isaiah.

Casey Strine is Senior Lecturer in Ancient Near Eastern History and Literature at the University of Sheffield and the author of Sworn Enemies: The Divine Oath, the Book of Ezekiel, and The Polemics of Exile, winner of the 2015 Manfred Lautenschläger Award for Theological Promise.

Kristin Joachimsen, Professor of Hebrew Bible / Old Testament at MF-Norwegian School of Theology, Religion, and Society. She is the author of Identities in Transition: The Pursuit of Isa. 52:13-53:12. Her current project is on perceptions and receptions of Persia in Antiquity.

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