Sforno

Between Two Worlds: The tractate “Or ´Ammim” (Light of the Nations) of the Last Jewish Scholastic Philosopher Obadiah Sforno in its Hebrew and Latin Versions is a project funded by the DFG. The project is supervised by Prof. Dr. Prof. h.c. Giuseppe Veltri. and Prof. Dr. Saverio Campanini (University of Bologna) who are joined by two Research Associates, Giada Coppola and Florian Dunklau.
The philosopher-theologian, Obadiah Sforno, wrote a scholastic work entitled Or ‘Ammim (Light of the Nations). Sforno translated his own work into Latin, with the title Lumen Gentium, in order to make it accessible to a Christian Humanist readership. His book represents a distinguished Summa of philosophical and scientific concepts flourishing in the Jewish, Scholastic and Islamic traditions of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The Light of the Nations is an outstanding testament to the intercultural exchange between Christian and Jewish scholars of Renaissance Italian Aristotelianism.
The first symposium, Lost & Found in Translation - Obadiah Sforno and his world, will investigate particular aspects of Sforno’s thought as a self-translator, his Exegesis and his environment, and will also consider the relationship between Sforno and his contemporaries.

PROGRAMME
WEDNESDAY
10.00 am Registration
10.30 am Greetings Giuseppe Veltri
10.45 am Opening remark and Presentation:
Florian Dunklau: Project Sforno
11.45 am Introductory lecture:
Giuseppe Veltri / Giada Coppola: Lost in Translation
2.30 pm PANEL 1:
Obadiah Sforno’s Environment - Chair: Florian Dunklau
Saverio Campanini
Roman Holiday. Conjectures on Johannes Reuchlin as a Pupil of Obadiah Sforno
Andrew Berns
Sforno on Wealth, Work and Charity
4.30 pm WORKSHOP:
Giada Coppola, Daniel Davies, Florian Dunklau, Michael Engel, Giuseppe Veltri

THURSDAY
9.00 am PANEL 2:
Self-translating and philosophy, chair: Daniel Davies
Michael Engel / Giovanni Licata
The De Substantia Orbis within the Jewish Philosophical Tradition: Narboni, Del Medigo & Sforno
Symon Foren
“A fourth kind of being”: The Legacy of Averroes in : Obadiah Sforno’s Theory of the Intellect
11.00 am PANEL 3
Philosophy and Exegesis, chair: Giuseppe Veltri
Mauro Zonta
The quaestio disputata in Judah Messer Leon (1475) and Obadiah Sforno (1537):
similarities and differences
Rav. Joseph Levi
Sforno’s Perception of Human Potential Knowledge
and Moral Responsibility of Both Gentiles and Jews
Rav. Moshé Kravetz
The footprints and influence of Or ´Ammim in Sforno’s exegetic works
13.00 pm CONCLUSION / FINAL DISCUSSION
Giuseppe Veltri / Saverio Campanini

For further information please contact: sforno.philosophie"AT"uni-hamburg.de

For a poster containing all information for the symposium, please klick here.

Between Two Worlds: The tractate Or ‘Ammim (Light of the Nations) of the Last Jewish Scholastic Philosopher Obadiah Sforno in its Hebrew and Latin Version is a project funded by the DFG. The project is supervised by Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Veltri and Prof. Dr. Saverio Campanini, who are joined by two Research Associates, Dr. Giada Coppola and Florian Dunklau, M.A.

The Light of the Nations was published in Hebrew in 1537 with the title Or ‘Ammim.  The  author  himself translated  it  into  Latin,  revising  it significantly  in  order  to  address  its  content  to  the  Christian  Humanist  audience (Lumen  Gentium, 1548).  The  text  strives  to  reproduce  the  classical  scholastic  argumentation  form  (Summa)  and attempts  to  refute  Averroes’  Aristotelianism  by  using  the  Aristotelian  method  itself  to  subvert  and undermine  its  doctrines  in  order  to  elevate  the  Jewish  religious  dogmatic  concepts.

The Second International Conference on the series “Obadiah Sforno and his World” will be dedicated to “The Philosophical Canon of Obadiah Sforno and His Contemporaries”. The conference focuses on the Sforno’s reception of Latin and Hebrew context. A  newly  discovered  manuscript  of  a  lengthy  commentary on Or ‘Ammim by  Elijah  of  Butrio  (16th century)  tremendously  assists  to  complete  the  comprehensive  study  of  the  Hebrew  context  of  the work,  and  its  reception  in  Jewish  philosophical  discourse.

Monday, November 5th, 2018

10.00 Registration / Welcome Coffee 

10.30 Greetings and Introduction Giuseppe Veltri 

10.45 Panel 1: Ontological inquiries, chair: Saverio Campanini 

Zev Harvey – Sforno on Intellectual Imitatio Dei. 

Giada Coppola – Sforno on the conception of time. 

13.00 Lunch 

14.00 Panel 2: Averroist tendencies, chair: Racheli Haliva 

Giuseppe Veltri – Sforno: Between Middle Ages and Renaissance. 

Steven Harvey – Averroes and Sforno on God’s Knowledge of Particulars. 

15.30 Coffee break 

16.00 Panel 3: Sforno environment, chair: Florian Dunklau 

Saverio Campanini – Obadiah Sforno and his Family: Old Problems and New Documents. 

Yitzhak Malka - The Aldine School and Rabbi Ovadia Sforno- Overt and Covert discourse. 

17:30 Project Presentation (Institute, MCAS, PESHAT, Musar, ReiRes) 

19.30 Dinner 

Tuesday, November 6th, 2018 

9.30 Panel 4: Exegesis, chair: Alessandro Guetta 

Jean Pierre Rothschild – Job ou l’insuffisance du juste. Une critique rationnelle de la révolte de Job. 

R. Joseph Levi – Sforno’s particular Jewish versus universal Humanist identity as expressed in his writings. 

Yael Sela Teichler – Exile, Redemption, and the “Songs of the Nation”: The Reception of Sforno’s Psalms Commentary in Late Eighteenth-Century Haskalah. 

11.15 Coffee break 

11:45 Panel 5: Sforno and his pupils, chair: Giuseppe Veltri 

Guido Bartolucci – Elijah of Nola and Moshe Finzi: Medicine and Aristotelianism in the Bologna of 16th century. 

Florian Dunklau – Elia di Nola alias Elia di Butrio? About the author of the first commentary on Or ʻAmmim. 

R. Moshé Kravetz – Elia di Nola: Sforno's pupil's transition from philosophy to Kabbalah. 

13.30 Lunch 

14:30 Conclusion - Giuseppe Veltri 

15:00 Goodbye coffee 

For further information please contact: sforno.philosophie"AT"uni-hamburg.de.

Programme as a PDF, click here.

Conference Poster, click here.