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Events held in the Academic Year 2004/05

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Colloquium: "Telling the Truth in Northern Ireland"

10 June 2005

Early in 2004, Hugh Orde, the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, together with two members of the Policing Board - Sir Desmond Rea and Denis Bradley - made a public call for fresh consideration of the possibility of instituting some kind of process for bringing to light the truth about the 1800 or so unsolved murders committed during the thirty years of the 'Troubles'.

On 10 June the School together with the Irish School of Ecumenics mounted a day-conference on “Telling the Truth in Northern Ireland”. Stemming from Nigel Biggar’s Irish Times article last year on whether Northern Ireland should have a truth commission, this meeting assembled a wide range of expertise and points of view in the persons of thirty academics, journalists, ex-paramilitaries, victims’ representatives, and civil servants from Ireland, America, and Britain—including Sir Hugh Orde, the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

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Panel discussion on Pope Benedict XVI

1 June 2005

Benedict XVI

On 1 June Professor Maureen Junker-Kenny seized the moment to stage a public panel discussion to explore the theology of the recently elected Pope, Joseph Ratzinger. Participants were Professor Vincent Tworney (Pontifical University Maynooth), Professor Jim Corkery SJ (Milltown Institute), Professor John May (Irish School of Ecumenics) and Professor Mauren Junker-Kenny (School of Religions and Theology, TCD).

The panel all agreed on the new pope’s intellectual brilliance; but they differed in the evaluation of his Augustinian view of the human person and of his concept of the universal church. Thus, the prospects of his leading the Roman Catholic church into fruitful dialogue with other Christian churches and with non-Christian religions remained controversial.

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Visiting Scholars and Occasional Lectures

  • 3 June 2005: Professor John Kelsay, Florida State University, USA:

"Islam, Christianity, and Democracy"

  • 25 February 2005: Dr Linda Woodhead, University of Lancaster, UK:

 "Religion and Spirituality in Contemporary Society"

  • 16 February 2005: Professor Max Stackhouse, Princeton Seminary, NJ, USA:

 "Globalisation, Ethics, and World Religion"

  • 25 January 2005: Professor James Mackey, School of Religions and Theology, TCD:

 "The Tsunami: Where was God?"

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Book Launch

Yaacov Herzog: A Biography - cover image

24 May 2005, The Long Room, Old Library

The Herzog Centre for Jewish and Near Eastern Religion, the Trinity Foundation and Halban Publishers, London, organized the Irish launch of Yaacov Herzog: A Biography (London: Halban 2004) in the presence of Shira Herzog (the daughter of the late Yaacov Herzog), Michael Bar-Zohar (the author), Peter Halban, the publisher, and the Provost of Trinity College.

Yaacov Herzog was a rabbi, scholar and a diplomat who served as a close advisor to four Israeli prime ministers, and was ambassador to Canada. He became best known for his public debate with the British historian Arnold Toynbee, who had the Jews as a "fossilized" nation and compared Israel's military actions against Palestinians to Nazi atrocities.

The Herzog Centre for Jewish and Near Eastern Religion and Culture was established in honour of the family of Isaac Herzog who was Chief Rabbi of Ireland from 1919 to 1937. Yaacov Herzog was Isaac Herzog's son and the brother of the former president of Israel Chaim Herzog.

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Donnellan Lectures

These lectures are held every year in turn by the School of Religions and Theology and by the School of Philosophy at TCD. The Donnellan Lectures have been given by such eminent scholars as John Collins, Yale University on the New Testament, by the philosopher Paul Ricoeur on the theme of "Memory and Forgiveness" and by Felix Wilfred from the University of Madras on "Religions Face to Face with Globalisation."

In 2005, the School of Philosophy appointed as the Donnellan Lecturer Professor Jonathan Lear, the John U. Nef Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Chicago.

The overall title of Professor Lear's lectures was "Subjectivity, Authenticity, and the Collapse of Meaning":

  • 25 April 2005: "Subjectivity, Authenticity, and the Collapse of Meaning"
  • 27 April 2005: "Ethics at the Horizons of Understanding"
  • 29 April 2005: "Facing the Abyss: A Critique of Abysmal Reasoning"

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Public Lectures on Religion and Ethics

"Between Feng-Shui and the Catechism: Spritiualities and Religious Commitment"

  • 20 Jan 2005: Joan Chittister (Benetvision, USA):
    • “Spiritual Survival in the Rapids of Change”
  • 27 Jan 2005: James Woodward (Foundation of Lady Katherine Levenson, Knowle):
    • “Spirituality: the only acceptable way to talk about religion? A view from a health-care context”
  • 3 Feb 2005: Mark Patrick Hederman (Glenstal Abbey):
    • "Reading the World as Symbol"
  • 10 Feb 2005: Conall O’Cuinn, SJ (Jesuit Centre for Spirituality, Dublin):
    • “IQ, EQ, and SQ: Spiritual Intelligence at Work”
  • 17 Feb 2005: John Drane (University of Aberdeen):
    • “Do Christians know how to be ‘Spiritual’?”
  • 24 Feb 2005: Linda Woodhead (University of Lancaster):
    • “Church on Sunday, Yoga on Monday: Testing the ‘Pick ‘n’ Mix’ Thesis”
  • 3 March 2005: Jack Finnegan, SDB (Milltown Institute, Dublin):
    • “Spirituality: the Murky Meanings of a Glowing Word”
  • 10 March 2005: Enda McDonagh (St Patrick’s College, Maynooth):
    • “Epiphanies: The Beauty, the Hurt and the Holy"

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Senior Research Seminar

Wiese: Discourse - cover image

24 Feb 2005: Dr Christian Wiese, Katharine Graham Research Fellow in Jewish Studies, School of Religions and Theology, TCD:

"Challenging Cultural Hegemony: Jewish Studies. Liberal Protestantism and Anti-Semitism in Wilhelmine and Weimar Germany"

 This was the inaugural meeting of the Senior Research Seminar.

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Extra-mural Course

Michaelmas Term 2005

Introduction to Judaism and Islam

14 Oct 2005: Professor Catherine Hezser: Ancient Jewish History

21 Oct 2005: Professor Catherine Hezser: Everyday Life in Antiquity

28 Oct 2005: Dr. Maria Diemling: Medieval Jewish Rituals

4 Nov 2005: Dr. Christian Wiese: Modern Jewish History

11 Nov 2005: Dr. Christian Wiese: Modern Jewish Thought

18 Nov 2005: Dr. David Morray (UCD): Islamic History

25 Nov 2005: Dr. Maha Elkaisy-Friemuth: Understanding the Qoran

2 Dec 2005: Dr. Maha Elkaisy-Friemuth: Understanding the Hadith

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International Josephus Colloquium

Josephus: Interpretation and History

5-8 September 2004, Trinity College Dublin

The conference was organised by the Joint Programme for Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies in collaboration with the Project on Ancient Cultural Engagement, York University, Toronto and with the support of the Herzog Centre for Jewish and Near Eastern Studies, TCD and the Irish School of Ecumenics, TCD.

The proceedings of the colloquium will appear as Zuleika Rodgers (ed.), Making History: Josephus and Historical Method. Leiden: Brill, 2005.

5 September 2004:

FOLKER SIEGERT, Universitaet Muenster:
On Referring to Something, Meaning Something, and Truth; a Terminological Proposal

URIEL RAPPAPORT, University of Haifa:
Josephus' Personality and the Credibility of his Narrative

ERICH GRUEN, University of California, Berkeley:
Mutual Misperceptions in Josephusí Contra Apionem

NICLAS FOERSTER, Georg-August-Universitaet, Goettingen:
History as Apologia- Josephus and the non-Greek Historians in Contra Apionem

PETER RICHARDSON, University of Toronto:
Josephus as Architectural and Urban Critic

6 September 2004:

JAMES MCLAREN, Australian Catholic University:
Delving into the Dark Side: Josephusí Foresight as Hindsight

ETIENNE NODET, École Biblique et Archèologique Française de Jèrusalem
Josephus' Attempt to Reorganize Judaism from Rome

STEVE MASON, York University:
The Essenes of Josephus' War: from Story to History

DANIEL SCHWARTZ, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
History and Interpretation in Antiquities 18

ANTHONY FORTE, Pontifical Biblical Institute:
The Sources for Book One of Josephus' Bellum Judaicum Revisited

ALESSANDRO GALIMBERTI, Universitá Cattolica del Sacro Cuore:
Josephus and Strabo: the Reasons of a Choice

DOV GERA, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
Unity and Chronology in Josephusí Antiquities

7 September 2004:

MORDECHAI AVIAM, Institute for Galilean Archaeology:
Archaeological Illumination on Josephusí Narratives of the Battles at Yodefat and Gamla

KENNETH ATKINSON, University of Northern Iowa:
Noble Deaths at Gamla and Masada? A Critical Assessment of Josephus' Accounts of Jewish Resistance in Light of Archaeological Discoveries

JAN WILLEM VAN HENTEN, University of Amsterdam:
Josephus on Noble Death: Just Rhetoric?

HONORA HOWELL CHAPMAN, California State University, Fresno:
Masada in the 1st and 21st Centuries

ZEEV WEISS, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
Josephus and Archaeology on the Cities of Galilee

MORTEN H. JENSEN, University of Aarhus:
Josephus and Antipas: A Case Study on Josephus' Narratives on Herod Antipas

MENACHEM MOR, University of Haifa and ISRAEL RONEN, Open University, Israel:
The Conquest by Alexander the Great of Yehud and Samaria: Josephus' Jewish Antiquities 11.304-347 versus Archaeology

8 September 2004:

JACK PASTOR, Oranim, Academic College of Education:
Josephus as a Source for Economic History: Problems and Approaches

SAMUEL ROCCA, Bar Ilan University:
Josephus and the Psalms of Solomon on Herodís Messianic Aspirations: An Interpretation

ANDREW OVERMAN, Macalester College:
"Liberty Does Not Descend to A People": Empire and the Romanization of Josephus

Contact: jwelch@tcd.ie | Last updated: Jan 25 2008 | Back to top

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