Summaries in English and German / Text in German / The question is dealt with, whether or not the calls to joy in the book of Qoheleth are dependend from another source. Seven key-texts are taken as a basis (2:24-26; 3:12.13; 3:22; 5:17-19; 8:15; 9:7-10; 11,7-12,7) which have the form of ::titl"[i'~]-sayings and share the root "1.liU. Three further texts (2:1-11; 6:9; 7:14) are also relevant. In the exegesis the content, reasoning and contextual function of these texts are analyzed. Qoheleth quotes, comments on and corrects traditional views of wisdom. He sets them in polar structured arguments in which the calls to joy are significant since the arguments always lead to a double conclusion: a vanity statement and an ethical instruction. The latter form the books teaching on wisdom which consists of joy and the fear of God. In this way the calls to joy in the key texts function as a refrain which increases as the book progresses and becomes the main message. The theme of the joy of life is next examined in Old Testament, Egyptian, ancient Near Eastern, Greek and apocryphal texts. These leads to the conclusion that the call to joy in the book of Qoheleth comes closest to the Egyptian "heretical" harper's songs. These texts agree not only in the content and reasoning of joy, but also in the use of idioms und comparisons. These occur not just in the key texts but throughout the whole book. The "heretical" harper's songs were originally used in the cult of the dead. Later they were used at feasts and banquets. This makes it possible to interpret them in the same Egyptian complex of tradition as other belletristic texts, especially love songs. They can therefore be assigned with the calls to joy to the genre of feast and banquet poetry. Since the adoption of the Jove songs in the Song of Songs has already been shown, the same can now be said for the harper's songs. Presumably this happened through Canaanite influences in premonarchic times. / Es wird der Frage nachgegangen, ob in den Aufforderungen zur Lebensfreude des Buches Kohelet eine Vorlage rezipiert worden ist. Dazu werden sieben Kerntexte (2,24-26; 3,12.13; 3,22; 5,17-19; 8,15; 9,7-10; 11,7-12,7) zugrunde gelegt, welche durch die Wurzel n~tu und die Form des l11'"[1'~]-Spruchs miteinander verbunden sind. Drei weitere Texte gehiiren der Sache nach dazu (2,1-11; 6,9; 7,14). Diese Texte werden exegesiert, um sie nach ihren Inhalten, Begriindungen und ihrer kontextualen Funktion zu erfassen. Der Verfasser des Buches Kohelet zitiert, kommentiert und korrigiert traditionelle Ansichten der Weisheit. Dazu stellt er sie in polar strukturierte Argumentationseinheiten, in welchen die Aufforderungen zur Lebensfreude Signifikanz haben, da diese Argumentationseinheiten jeweils auf eine Nichtigkeitsaussage und eine ethische Anweisung hinaus laufen. Letzere bildet die Lebenslehre des Buches, die auf den Sii.ulen Lebensfreude und Gottesfurcht fuBt. Dabei bilden die Kerntexte der Lebensfreude einen Refrain, der im Fortgang des Buches gesteigert wird und am Ende als Hauptanliegen hervortritt. Dem Motiv der Lebensfreude wird daraufhin in alttestamentlichen, ii.gyptischen, altorientalischen, griechischen und apokryphen Texten nachgegangen. Dabei stellt sich heraus, da8 die Aufforderungen zur Lebensfreude im Buch Kohelet die griiBte Nii.he zu den "haretischen" Harfnerliedern Agyptens aufweisen. Zu diesen Texten gibt es Ubereinstimmungen nicht nur in den Inhalten und Beweggriinden des Lebensgenusses, sondern auch in der Verwendung einzelner Idiome und Vergleiche, und zwar nicht nur in den Kerntexten, sondern verstreut im Buch. In der Verwendungssituation der "hii.retischen" Harfnerlieder Iii.flt sich eine Verschiebung vom Totenkult zu Fest und Gelage aufzeigen. Dariiberhinaus lassen sie sich in Agypten in einen Traditionskomplex mit anderen Texten der schiinen Literatur, insbesondere den ii.gyptischen Liebesliedern stellen. So kann eine gemeinsame Gattungszuweisung mit den Aufforderungen zur Lebensfreude in der Fest- und Gelagepoesie erfolgen. Da fiir die Liebeslieder eine alttestamentliche Rezeption schon wahrscheinlich gemacht worden ist, kann diese nun auf die Harfnerlieder ausgedehnt werden. Dieser Traditionsweg verlief vermutlich iiber kanaanii.ische Vermittlung in vormonarchischer Zeit. / D.Th.(Old Testament)

Despite its chequered interpretational history, the book of Shîr ha-Shîrîm (Song of Songs) in the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament has still not come to its fullest religious potential. The reason is that it has mainly served relatively closed religious traditions defined by the exclusion of those that have reacted against it. As the text of Song of Songs itself does not explicitly testify to any religiosity, these communities have understood it religiously by projecting their own predetermined needs and beliefs onto it. The text does, however, suggest several layers in the history of its formation, representing different levels of consciousness and stages of religiosity. In the postmodern globalising context where the importance of interfaith understanding is increasingly realised and the nature of human religiosity is constantly redefined in terms of ever-broadening horizons, the religiosity of the book has been stretched as wide as possible by also taking into consideration the ancient contextual influences which could have left their traces on the unconscious mind of its author(s) and redactor(s). To this end, the transpersonal psychological theory of Kenneth Wilber as interpreted by Michael Washburn has been used. Wilber’s inclusive view of religiosity respects all its forms as developmentally appropriate expressions of experiences of the divine which should all be taken seriously. The explicit “absence” of the divine in Song of Songs has been so conspicuous that it has ironically made it more present and led to a greater search for the Ineffable whose whispering and footprints are discernible in relation to the level of consciousness. Exploring the religiosity of Song of Songs in this way then becomes an exercise in being more sensitive to the presence of the divine in all other areas of life as well. Traditional polarities such as sexuality and religiosity are dissolved at the same time and proven to coincide as two aspects of the same experience. Not only does erotic love open one’s eyes to the divine in nature as the body of God, but one also encounters the divine in the body. / Old Testament & Ancient Near Eastern Studies / D. Th. (Old Testament)

This thesis is an examination of the long historical processes that have led to the Israel/Palestine conflict to the contemporary period, focusing mostly on the period before Israeli independence and the 1948 war that created the Jewish state. As Zionism emerged at the turn of the twentieth century to combat the antisemitism of Europe, practical and political facets of the movement sought immigration to Palestine, an area occupied by a large population of Arab natives. The answer to how the Zionists would achieve a Jewish state in that region, largely ignoring the indigenous population, fostered disagreements and a split in the Zionist ideology. The Revisionist Zionist organization was founded by Ze’ev Jabotinsky and favored a more militant orientation. With an “Iron Wall” manifesto, and as time passed and international aid waned, the Revisionists evolved into an anticolonial movement that not only viewed Palestinians as an obstacle to the Jewish state but turned their anticolonial furor toward the British and United Nations threats. That evolution reached a crescendo in 1948 when the Revisionist paramilitary group Lehi assassinated the UN Mediator, Count Bernadotte. That act was a catalyst that began the end of the war and the solidification of a Palestinian refugee crisis that persists to the present. As the Iron Wall Doctrine evolved from the early teachings of Jabotinsky through anticolonial violence and the removal of native Arabs from the new state of Israel, future prime ministers who were former Revisionist terrorists maintained the prescribed perpetual state of war Jabotinsky predicted with the now landless Palestinians. This research concludes that both Jabotinsky and Bernadotte were crucial characters in the narrative that allowed for the Iron Wall Doctrine, and thus the Jewish state, to not only exist but to carry on beyond the 1948 independence into the long standing conflict it has become.

The shari‘a, or the inherited legal tradition, has tended to dominate discussions of contemporary Islam. Relatively little attention has been given to the Qur’an, however, despite its importance both in terms of Muslim theology, in which it is understood as the actual Word of God, and of Islamic reformist thought. Far from being marginal, the Qur’an has emerged as a rich resource for theological reflection and sociopolitical action. Specifically, it has become a source of empowerment, speaking to contexts of oppression. This thesis examines the commentaries of four Muslim intellectuals who have expounded the Qur’an as a liberating text – namely, the South African Farid Esack (b. 1956), the Indian Asghar Ali Engineer (b. 1939), the American Amina Wadud (b. 1952) and the Pakistani Asma Barlas (b. 1950) – supplemented by in-depth interviews. In so doing, this study seeks (i) to fill a major gap in the literature by offering the first comprehensive survey and analysis of their readings and (ii) to challenge common portrayals of justice-based exegesis as being an obscure, fundamentalist scripturalism; as being rooted in North America; and as being focussed primarily, even exclusively, on gendered oppression. Indeed, the centring of the Qur’an in Islamic thought, I argue, is an increasingly mainstream practice – a global hermeneutic – as Muslims throughout the world seek answers in scripture to the pressing problems of the present. Furthermore, justice-based exegesis has been holistic, addressing (in addition to patriarchy) poverty and racism, communal violence and imperialism. Liberationist and women’s readings are significant, I conclude, for two reasons. Firstly, they shed new insights into the rise of ‘thematic commentary’ (tafsir mawdu‘i) in Qur’anic exegesis. Secondly, their expressly political character exposes the hegemony of Islamism over our understanding of ‘the political’ and ‘the radical’ in an Islamic context, thereby forcing us to redefine political and radical Islam.

Avant-propos: La résolution de conflits s’est installée dans les cursus universitaires comme une discipline à part entière sinon comme une orientation au sein de plusieurs sciences sociales. En effet, ce champ d’étude fait de plus en plus l’objet de réflexions en sciences politiques, en sociologie, en anthropologie, etc, et ce, de par l’interdisciplinarité des questionnements qui en relèvent. Toutefois, la dimension religieuse, souvent considérée comme source de conflits, est quasi inexistante lorsqu’il est question d’approches de résolution. Nous nous proposons donc d’examiner la solha, une pratique proche orientale au sein de laquelle le fait religieux est une composante essentielle à la réconciliation escomptée. Note concernant la translittération: Les termes provenant de l’arabe feront l’objet d’une translittération phonétique basée sur le français. Notez que les translittérations en langue française sont différentes de celle en langue anglaise. Par exemple, le terme solha trouvera son équivalent anglais dans le terme sulha (d’où la différence d’orthographe entre le contenu de cette étude et les citations qui proviennent d’articles anglophones). De plus, notez que le genre (féminin, masculin) des termes translittérés reprendra celui de la langue d’origine, l’arabe. Ainsi, solha sera féminin, jaha aussi, etc… Finalement, pour des raisons de clarté, les termes translittérés seront tous en italique dans le texte. / La solha (« réconciliation » en arabe) est une méthode de résolution de conflits millénaire provenant du milieu tribal proche oriental. Bien au delà du simple règlement de litige, cette réconciliation vise à rétablir l’harmonie au sein des tissus sociaux déchirés. Habilitée à traiter toutes sortes de conflits, de la simple forme pénale aux cas criminels les plus complexes (cycles de vengeances et de vendetta), la solha s’est adaptée à des milieux très différents. La cause principale de son efficacité semble être l’universalité de ses principes fondamentaux (le pardon, la nécessité d’une réinsertion sociale du coupable, la satisfaction des victimes, etc.) ainsi que l’adéquation de ses rituels de réconciliation aux mœurs des populations qui la pratiquent. Ce mémoire cherche à approfondir notre compréhension de cette approche traditionnelle afin d’enrichir nos connaissances et moyens en termes de résolution de conflits contemporains. A cette fin, seront isolés les éléments fondamentaux qui font l’efficacité de cette méthode. Ceux-ci constitueront un modèle théorique minimal de la solha qui permettra d’entamer, à ce stade de l’étude, une réflexion quant à la possibilité de transposer de tels acquis à des milieux d’interventions nouveaux. / The sulha (“reconciliation” in Arabic) is a thousand years old conflict resolution method used in the near east tribal world. Far beyond a simple mediation, its objective is a solid reconstruction of the destroyed social network. Habilitated to deal with all kinds of conflicts, from simple penal cases to long lasting vendettas, the sulha process has proven its usefulness in very different social milieu. The most evident reason for this success has been its dual composition: fundamental principles that seem universal (forgiveness, social reinsertion of the guilty, satisfaction of the victims, etc.) and adaptive rituals that fit into people’s customs. This thesis seeks to enrich our knowledge and means in terms of conflict resolution by trying to reveal the mechanisms that make this method so efficient. The main objective is to compose a basic theoretical model of the sulha that would open a reflection about the possibility of transposing this model to new intervention contexts.

This investigation, covering the past two decades, attempts to determine what benefits the Soviets have sought to gain in their relationships with Middle Eastern oil-producing nations. Chapter I surveys the U.S.S.R.'s oil industry and its tentative prospects for the 1980's. Chapter II discusses Soviet involvement in the Middle East since 1950, including nationalization and oil embargoes. In Chapter III, developments less favorable to the U.S.S.R. are, analyzed: the growing influence of conservative, anti -Soviet oil-producing states and the deradicalization of other Middle Eastern nations. Chapter IV concludes that the Soviets have met with varying success in their Middle Eastern involvements. The future of their oil industry remains uncertain.

This work deals with the symbolism of trees in the Old Testament considering the mythology of the ancient Near East, using relevant literature, concordant exploration, and synchronic and diachronic analyses of biblical texts. It aims to present an intersection of the most important aspects of the appearance of trees in the Scripture, both in a literal and figurative sense. Drawing on work with biblical and mythological texts from the ancient Near East, it presents the tree as a comprehensible symbol with strong explanatory power, which constitutes its potential to contain even the most complex messages of the Scripture and of the human condition as such.

This dissertation brings the Ancient Near Eastern practice of the wheel, hanging, impaling, placarding, and crucifixion (WHIPC) into the scholarship of crucifixion, which has been too dominated by the Greek and Roman practice. WHIPC can be defined as the exposure of a body via affixing, by any means, to a structure, wooden or otherwise, for public display (Chapter 2). Linguistic analysis of relevant sources in several languages (including Egyptian hieroglyphics, Sumerian, Hebrew, Hittite, Old Persian, all phases of ancient Greek, and Latin) shows that because of imprecise terminology, any realistic definition of WHIPC must be broad (Chapter 3). Using methodologies and interdisciplinary approaches drawn from art history, archaeology, linguistic analysis, and digital humanities, this work analyzes scattered but abundant evidence to piece together theories about who was crucified, when, how, where, and why. The dissertation proves that WHIPC records, written and visual, were kept for three primary functions: to advertise power, to punish and deter, and to perform magical rituals or fulfill religious obligations. Manifestations of these three functions come through WHIPC in mythology (see especially Chapter 4), trophies (Chapter 5), spectacles, propaganda, political commentary, executions, corrective torture, behavior modification or prevention, donative sacrifices, scapegoat offerings, curses, and healing rituals. WHIPC also served as a mode of human and animal sacrifice (Chapter 6). Regarding the treatment of the body, several examples reveal cultural contexts for nudity and bone-breaking, which often accompanied WHIPC (Chapter 7). In the frequent instances where burial was forbidden a second penalty, played out in the afterlife, was intended. Contrary to some modern assertions, implementation of crucifixion was not limited by gender or status (Chapter 8). WHIPC often occurred along roads or on hills and mountains, or in in liminal spaces such as doorways, cliffs, city gates, and city walls (Chapter 9). From the Sumerians to the Romans, exposing and displaying the bodies consistently functioned as a display of power, punishment and prevention of undesirable behavior, and held religious and magical significance. Exposure punishments have been pervasive and global since the beginning of recorded time, and indeed, this treatment of the body is still practiced today. It seems no culture has escaped this form of physical abuse.

L’objet de cette thèse est l’étude d’un groupe d’ivoires, trouvés dans plusieurs sites du Proche-Orient ancien, connu sous le nom d’ivoires égyptisants. Nous avons examiné les différentes interprétations possibles, quant à l’origine et la signification de ces objets, en examinant les sources bibliographiques à notre disposition. Sans proposer une révision fondamentale des hypothèses présentées jusqu’à aujourd’hui, ce travail, en se fondant sur des témoignages archéologiques, iconographiques et textuels, essaye de mettre en évidence les différentes voies de transmission des motifs iconographiques égyptiens dans le répertoire iconographique du Proche-Orient ancien et cela notamment dans l’art de l’ivoire. Après une discussion générale sur l’ivoire et sur les différentes sources dont disposaient les artistes de l’antiquité, nous sommes arrivés à la conclusion que les ivoires égyptisants étaient le produit des artistes locaux du Proche-Orient ancien, qui se sont inspirés de l’art égyptien,soit à travers les échanges commerciaux, soit à travers les objets égyptiens trouvés dans plusieurs sites du Levant. Quant à l’interprétation de ces motifs, nous pensons que les artistes du Proche-Orient ancien ont représenté les objets de culte égyptien sans forcément comprendre la signification religieuse ou symbolique que ces motifs représentaient pour les Égyptiens. Ceci dit, ces artistes n’ignoraient pas complètement le message général attaché à ces objets ; ils ont adopté et adapté l’iconographie égyptienne en suivant les conventions de l’art proche-Oriental selon leur besoin du moment. / The purpose of this thesis is the study of a group of ivories found in several sites of the ancient Near East, known as egyptianizing ivories. We studied various interpretations as to the origin and meaning of these objects by consulting the bibliographic sources at our disposal. Without proposing a fundamental revision of the hypotheses made so far, this study, based on archaeological, iconographical and textual evidence, tries to highlight the different routes of transmission of the Egyptian iconographic motifs into the iconographical repertoire of the Ancient Near East, with a special emphasis on the art of ivory carving. After a general discussion on the ivory and the various sources available to the artists of antiquity, we concluded that the egyptianizing ivories were the product of local artists of the ancient Near East, that were inspired by the Egyptian art, either through trade or through the Egyptian artefacts found at several sites in the Levant. As for the interpretation of these motifs, we believe that the artists of the Ancient Near East have represented Egyptian cult objects without necessarily understanding the religious or symbolic meaning that these motifs had for the Egyptians. That said, these artists were not completely unaware of the general message attached to these objects; they have adopted and adapted the Egyptian iconography by following the conventions of the ancient neareastern art according to their needs.

Listening to Birth asserts that structures of power reproduce themselves by instituting particular modes of listening and sound production. Situating my research within feminist sound studies, I argue that meanings conjured around the audible, material bodies of women were carefully crafted by elites in antiquity, in order to construct gendered ideologies of kingship, civilisation, and nature. I examine these power dynamics as expressed in mythic and magical texts and iconographies, dating from the Bronze Age to later Roman antiquity. Throughout the thesis, I examine the development of symbolic systems and narrative tropes that linked mining and metallurgy with reproduction and vocality. My analysis emphasises how the invention of nature was accomplished, in part, through a metallurgical reclassification of the voices and sexualities of women as indiscrete phenomena: womb, mouth, and voice were elided with mining and smelting to form a unified semantic realm. I argue that this invention of ‘vulvar vocality’ reclassified female sounds as illicit, providing a plaform for the removal of women from the public sphere. I attempt to connect the gendered discourse found in myths and magical rituals to the political and economic domain of state-craft, to demonstrate the importance of hegemonic mythopoeic control of audible female reproduction for establishing ideologies of colonisation and extraction. I link analyses of texts and iconographies from the Bronze Age Mesopotamians, Hittites, Canaanites, Minoans, and Egyptians to later materials from the Iron Age Greeks, Israelites, and Romans—my goal is to demonstrate both the ubiquity and the continual reproduction of metallurgical ideology across the ancient world. I also present my preliminary research into the lasting impact that antique notions of vulvar vocality had on later state-craft. I begin to trace the preservation and elaboration of antique metallurgical literature by Byzantine and Islamic scholars, who in turn exerted strong influence on the Ottomans and late medieval and early modern Europeans. I outline future work to investigate the exponential rise of entrepreneurial metallurgy in late medieval and early modern Europe, arguing that this metallurgical discourse provided symbolic re-enforcement for the rapidly-accelerating mining and metal trade that formed the core of European colonial expansion. I suggest that vulvar vocality was central to early modern metallurgical, demonological, and colonial discourse, and that specific female vocalities and silences were purposefully crafted into the colonial project in order to forcibly redefine women, along with the lands and children stolen from them, as mere natural resources.