This study investigates the destruction of books carried out by artists during the second half of the twentieth century and the early years of the twenty-first century. It proposes the term 'artistic biblioclasm' as a general category that groups these processes together, and distinguishes this category from works of art that also deal with the theme of the book but make use of other media (rather than real books). In my own practice, various biblioclastic processes are applied, documented and then discussed in the thesis. I analyse the aesthetic, political, religious and other implications of artistic biblioclasm in my work, with particular emphasis on the cultural (and Catholic) context in which the work was shown: the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Gozo. 'Part One' opens with a review of the literature related to the theoretical perspectives that inform the thesis. This is followed by the 'Practice Methodology', which identifies the methods used in my work and offers some preliminary reflections about the theoretical dimensions of these methods. 'Part Two' explores the historical background of artistic erasure in the twentieth century and develops a descriptive and contextual typology of biblioclastic practices, classifying them into four groups: book alterations, biblioclastic book-objects, formless books and dematerialised books. 'Part Three' advances Jean-François Lyotard's work about the sublime in aesthetics as a viable theoretical framework that firmly defines artistic biblioclasm as a postmodern (rather than modem) artistic phenomenon. This connection with Lyotard's work is made possible by comparing the formlessness of the sublime to the loss of the book's 'form' in biblioclastic processes and also by linking some relatively little-known essays by Lyotard that focus on biblioclasm or the book to other, better-known areas such as the sublime and postmodernism. 'Part Four' focuses on the political and religious dimensions of biblioclasm and the problem of representation. It distinguishes between politically repressive or fundamentalist forms of biblioclasm and artistic biblioclasm. Lyotard's notion of the 'unpresentable' - influenced by his reflections on Judaism and the Holocaust - is examined and linked to earlier discussions about the sublime and to the work of some artists described in 'Part Two'. Analogously, in my practice the Catholic idea of the book as an authoritative figure ('Magisterium') is elaborated and 'deconstructed' in the actual processes that make use of doctrinal texts. The research concludes by interpreting artistic biblioclasm as an attack on the closure of the book (with Jewish undertones) and a form of resistance to totalising political or religious forces. In my work, dogmatic interpretations of books and their 'truth' are related to the threatening possibility of violence in contemporary societies, and are ultimately shown to be self-destructive.

This thesis is an exploration of the relationship between the understanding of the past and the practice of theology. It is built around three major case studies: the history of interpretation of the commandment to blot out the memory of Amalek (Deuteronomy 25:17-19), the commemoration of the First World War in Canada, and the development of post-Holocaust theology. Linking these cases are issues of theological response to (or justification for) violence, and tensions between individual and collective identity. Part I focuses on Deuteronomy 25:17-19, and the internal contradiction between the commandments to remember and blot out the memory of Amalek. The passage is analysed both in terms of language and reception history, with special attention paid to Rabbinic interpretations from the 19th and 20th centuries (sermons and commentaries generated during or immediately after the German Reform movement, the American Civil War, and the Nazi occupation of Poland). This reading prompts two further strands of analysis, which are pursued separately: the distinction between the remembering commanded in the passage and concepts of memory active in the Western philosophical tradition prior to the 20th century, and the place this passage has in a larger tradition of religious and secular discourse on acceptable justifications for violence, again in both Jewish and more broadly Western thought. Part II takes up these themes, beginning with an historically contextualised reading of two versions of Antigone—one written by Sophocles in the early days of the Athenian Empire, and the other by Jean Anouilh during the Second World War. Both of these focus on a dead body as the site of ideological contestation between divergent identity narratives—a conflict that is also apparent in negotiations over the memorialisation of the First World War, which is the main focus of this part. A close reading of novels from L. M. Montgomery‘s Anne of Green Gables series, published before, during, and just after the war reveals that the First World War partly destabilised the individual-focused structures of memorialisation that were in place prior to its beginning, in favour of structures which enforced the collective identity of the soldiers who died in the war; while much of this instability could be (and was) addressed in existing theological language, the war nevertheless left a mark on Canadian society and religious practice. This part concludes with an examination of the Canadian National Monument at Vimy, conducted via archival documentation of the monument‘s design and construction and then through a reading of The Stone Carvers, a recent novel which re-imagines the circumstances documented in the archives through the eyes of one war veteran and his family. This dual reading also demonstrates the instability of memorials, the tendency of their meaning to shift over time. Part III commences with a discussion of the shift in memorial forms precipitated by the Holocaust. I contend that the tendency to memorialise the Holocaust with complex museum narratives betrays an anxiety about the intended audience of these memorials, which points in turn to the degree to which the Holocaust upset previous cultural and religious worldviews. This section focuses on theological and literary attempts to record and respond to the ruptures caused by the Holocaust, with specific reference to two recent novels by Jewish Candian women which, taken together, provide a constructive interruption to overly tidy narratives of national and religious identity.

A common theme in examining Christian identity focuses on the emergence of that identity, on locating the point in time within the history of the Christian church that one can first observe a clearly identifiable community which can be called ‘Christian.’ There is evidence that a clear sense of a Christian identity existed by the second century CE. This is expressed in several authors from the second century CE, who employ ‘ethnic’ terminology to refer to the Christians as a ‘new’ or ‘third’ race. What allowed these authors to identify the Christians as a distinct ‘race’ so soon after the emergence of the group? This study explores the origins of this ‘race’ of Christians. Examination of the earliest existent Christian texts, the undisputed letters of the apostle Paul, demonstrates a group which exists partially within the Jewish identity group, and yet simultaneously displays features of a unique group identity. Two methods of investigation are employed to explore the origins of a Christian ‘race.’ First, from those authors who describe the Christians as a ‘race,’ a ‘vocabulary of identity’ is identified, and instances of this vocabulary are examined in the undisputed Pauline corpus to demonstrate the continued Jewish identity of Paul and many of his congregants. Second, a series of group identity features which are unique to the Jewish identity group are drawn from the work of John Hutchinson and Anthony D. Smith, James D.G. Dunn, and E.P. Sanders. An examination of these features in the undisputed Pauline corpus shows the beginnings of a distancing between the nascent Christian movement and its Jewish parent body. Continuing the investigation, the study explores the Pauline epistles for evidence of uniquely Christian group identity features. A series of these identifiers are examined, demonstrating the methods by which the earliest Christ-followers were identified as Christ-followers. These Christ-following identifiers served as the basis for the eventual ‘ethnic’ distinction of the Christian movement. The thesis concludes that the Pauline epistles reveal the origins of the later Christian ‘race’, and that during the first century Paul and his congregations simultaneously existed within the Jewish identity group, and alongside this group as members of an identifiable Christ-following identity group.

Mystický výstup v textu Ma'ase merkava - anotace Tato práce se zabývá pozdně starověkým židovským mystickým textem Ma'ase merkava. Zaměřuje se na tu část textu, která se zabývá mystickým výstupem sedmi nebeskými paláci. V úvodní kapitole se snažím zasadit text Ma'ase merkava do širšího kontextu hejchalotické literatury. Druhá kapitola shrnuje dosavadní bádání týkající se textu Ma'ase merkava. Popisuji zde různé rukopisné verze a dosavadní vydání textu. Dále uvádím a hodnotím odborné práce, věnující se tomuto textu. Třetí kapitola představuje vlastní překlad části textu zabývající se mystickým výstupem podle hebrejského originálu ve zvolené rukopisné verzi (Oxford 1531). Jádro práce představuje čtvrtá kapitola, kde text analyzuji. První část analýzy je věnována funkci a charakteru textu. Uvádím názory různých badatelů na funkci textu a zdůvodňuji svůj názor, že se původně jednalo o krátké záznamy z mystických cest. Poté, co byly tyto krátké záznamy sestaveny do většího textového celku, nabyl text sekundárně také charakter instruktážní příručky. Ve druhé části analýzy zkoumám jednotlivé prvky textu, jako je popis sedmi paláců a sedmi nebes, popis Božích vlastností, Boží jména nebo tzv. nesmyslná slova v textu. Závěr pak představuje krátké shrnutí a zhodnocení práce. Mystic Ascent in the Ma'ase Merkava text -...

This diploma thesis named Fundamental Milestones of Life in Judaism deals, as the title of the diploma thesis suggests with the main transitional rituals in Judaism in terms of religious studies such as birth, bar / bat mitzvah, wedding and death as all these milestones are very important in the life of every Orthodox Jew or Jewess because each of these transitions means for them a certain position in the world, that means, that they know and realize their position in the world. One of the aim of this thesis is to characterize and describe these particular and specific milestones of Jewish life and also, the diploma thesis depicts their history and their development over time. To the beginning, we will describe the history of the Jews, because without this context, life in Judaism, as the Jews live, is really hard to understand. This chapter is followed by the characteristics of Judaism as a religion and then the thesis will focus on the transition rituals themselves and their importance for life in Judaism. The description of these key moments in a Jew's life should then lead to an understanding of the meaning of life as perceived by the Jews themselves.

Pautando-me pelos dados colhidos em formulários enviados a um grupo de pessoas convertidas ao judaísmo, entre os anos de 2006 e 2016, pela sinagoga da Associação Religiosa Israelita do Rio de Janeiro, pretendo avaliar se aqueles que se convertem causam augum tipo de reconfiguração na identidade da A.R.I. / Guided me on data collected from forms have sent to a group of people converted to Judaism (between 2006-2016) by the synagogue of the Israelite Religious Association (IRA) of Rio de Janeiro, I intend to present the perspectives of those who was converted to cause some kind of reconfiguration of identity IRA.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

Thesis advisor: John F. Baldovin / This dissertation examines the interaction of communal religious memory and eschatological anticipation within Jewish and Christian liturgical performance, and charts the ways that Jewish and Christian liturgical practices inform the experience of time. It proposes that the liturgical conjunction of the historical sense of time, which encompasses notions of the past, present, and future, and the observance of the cyclical passing of hours creates a unique experience of time. This liturgical experience of time arises through ritual meditation on the religiously envisioned past and future, and is marked by a perceived interpenetration of time. Judaism and Christianity each hold distinct temporal visions that inform the way the past, present, and future are understood. In each tradition, the narrative of the past informs the understanding of the present, and indicates a shape for the future. Inversely, the contours of the envisioned eschatological future inform the perception of the present, and influence the way that the past is remembered. This study argues that the liturgical performance of the temporal orientations of each tradition engenders a transformed experience of time. It demonstrates how the ritual engagement of memory and anticipation contribute to a re-shaping of the experience of time, allowing the liturgical community to experience the past and future as operative in the present. Driven by the conviction that a religiously and ritually shaped vision of time is a significant point of convergence in Jewish and Christian religious experience, yet largely overlooked in scholarship to date, this study addresses both Jewish and Christian contexts. In the study of the Christian context, it focuses on the Liturgy of the Hours, the celebration of which engages communal memory and anticipation within the setting of liturgical services that regularly punctuate the hours of day and night. The study of the Jewish context addresses a wider range of liturgies, focusing on the daily services as well as on highly memorial and eschatological holidays such as Passover and Shabbat, with attention to how each contributes to a transformed experience of time. To address the elusive phenomenon of ritual experience, this study explores the perception of time from a phenomenological perspective, employing an interdisciplinary methodology that utilizes ritual and performance theories, aesthetics, and hermeneutics, in conversation with contemporary Jewish and Christian liturgical thought. Motivated by the notion that the experience of time is integral to faith, this project proposes that the concept of a liturgically transformed experience of time sheds light on essential aspects of Jewish and Christian religious experience. The experience of time cannot be extricated from subjectivity, and this quality is precisely what grants its study the capacity to address some of the most interior aspects of faith. This study proposes, furthermore, that the intimacy of the experience of time grants it the particular gift of communicating across the boundaries of religious traditions, subtly transgressing obstacles to interreligious understanding. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

This thesis explores the experiences of a South Florida klezmer ensemble known as the Holocaust Survivor Band. The group was co-founded by Saul Dreier, then an 89-year-old resident of Coconut Creek, Florida, and Reuwen "Ruby" Sosnowicz, 85 years old at the time, a Delray Beach, Florida, resident, in April 2014. Dreier was inspired to form a musical ensemble of Holocaust survivors after reading about the death of pianist and fellow Holocaust survivor Alice Herz-Sommer. Ruby's daughter Chana Sosnowicz joined the band as lead singer, and Holocaust survivor descendant Jeff Black joined as a guitar player. In sum, I tell the story of the Holocaust Survivor Band, a contemporary musical ensemble representative of a historically significant era. I emphasize the group's ability to represent the Holocaust era to present-day audiences. To demonstrate this, the ensemble's experiences are portrayed through statements and information from the band members themselves, through descriptions in various articles and media, through my observations of their performances and rehearsals, and through my interpretations of all these source materials. Based on this content, I present some generalizations about the band's significance. One of my more obvious conclusions is that the band serves as musical witnesses to the Holocaust by using their performances to remind people of the period and to share their life stories. As a result, the group contributes to the historical and collective memory of the Holocaust. This in turn can evoke nostalgic feelings within the band and audience, thus further establishing connections to the past. In addition, the band seeks to prevent genocide from happening again by promoting a message of peace in their music, particularly through their song "Peace for the World." Most importantly, Dreier and Sosnowicz are finding joy in music again after not playing or performing for a long time. All of this exemplifies how the ensemble has impacted both its members and those around them. / A Thesis submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the Master of Music. / Spring Semester 2016. / April 1, 2016. / Florida, Holocaust, klezmer, music, musicology, oral history / Includes bibliographical references. / Frank Gunderson, Professor Directing Thesis; Michael Bakan, Committee Member; Douglass Seaton, Committee Member.

A dissertação apresenta obras judaicas do compositor Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951). Das obras selecionadas, foram focalizados unicamente os textos que as integram, incluindo-se as reflexões do autor sobre cada um dos temas envolvidos: os princípios da religião judaica, a sociedade à época, a Shoá e a criação do Estado de Israel. A pesquisa revelou um aspecto importante: a crença de Schoenberg em Deus foi a base para várias de suas composições, conforme afirma o autor em diversos escritos e cartas. A partir desses escritos e cartas também foi possível montar um quadro do pensamento do autor sobre a época em que viveu, de constantes transformações. Schoenberg foi um grande agente das transformações musicais desse período, além de expressar claramente sua visão como cidadão e como judeu na Alemanha nazista anterior a Segunda Guerra Mundial. / The dissertation presents Jewish texts of the compositor Arnold Schoenberg (1874- 1951). From the selected works of his, the focus was just on the texts that were part of them, including the authors reflections about each one of the related themes: the principles of the Jewish religion, the society at the time, the Shoa (the Holocaust) and the creation of the state of Israel. The research revealed an important aspect: the faith of Schoenberg in God was the base for several of his compositions, according to his writings and letters. From these writings also was possible to elaborate a picture of the way of thinking of the author about his times that was full of changes. Schoenberg was a big agent in the musical transformation in this period, and he also expressed himself clearly about his vision as a citizen and Jewish in the Nazi German before the Second World War.