IAFS/JWST 3650

Religious Narratives

Jewish History Job Candidates• Amos Bitzan, “Reading the Talmud like Rousseau's 'Julie':

How Female Pleasure Readers and their Critics Transformed Modern Judaism, 1770-1870” (Tues, 22 Jan, 5pm, HLMS 211)

• Liora Halperin, “Babel in Zion: Hebrew and the Politics of Language Diversity in Mandate Palestine” (Mon, 28 Jan, 5pm, HLMS 141)

• Jessica Marglin, title TBA (Tues, 5 Feb, 5pm, HLMS 201)• Saskia Coenen Snyder, title TBA (Tues, 12 Feb, 5pm,

HLMS 201)

Outline

• Reading maps: vulnerability

• Intro to religions

• Quiz

Part I:Reading Maps of Israel and

Palestine (cont.)

Reading Maps of Israel and Palestine

• Themes:– Sacred claims to territory

– Erasure

– Palestinian homeland(s)

– Weapons

– Vulnerability

Mapai Poster(early 1950s)

• “Growth under Siege”

• Depicts Israel under attack from all sides

• Perceived threats from land, sea, & air

Vulnerability (Israeli)

Christine Leuenberger and Izhak Schnell,“The politics of maps: Constructing national territories in Israel” Social Studies of Science 40:6 (Dec 2010) 813-814.

Likud Election Poster (1981)

• “Likud will prevent this! 2.5 million Israelis are within firing range if an ‘Arafat state’ is founded.”

• Depicts serious threat due to Israel’s lack of strategic depth

Vulnerability (Israeli)

Christine Leuenberger and Izhak Schnell,“The politics of maps: Constructing national territories in Israel” Social Studies of Science 40:6 (Dec 2010) 823-825.

Original source unknown (2000s, revised 2010)

• “Loss of Land” over time

Vulnerability (Palestinian)

Original source unknown (2007)

• “Map of occupation” coupled with iconic images

• Roughly same dates as previous poster

Vulnerability (Palestinian)

Original source unknown (2009)

• “Stealing of Pal. Land by the Zionist State”

• Emphatic coloring

Vulnerability (Palestinian)

Israel Ministry ofForeign AffairsWebsite (2013)

• Size comparisons to European and South American countries, and the US and US states (plus Turkey and India)

Vulnerability (Israeli)

Israel Ministry ofForeign AffairsWebsite (2013)

• Size comparisons emphasize Israel’s smallness

Vulnerability (Israeli)

Zionist PR FirmPoster (~2004)

• “Israel is tiny! . . . . Imagine living in New Jersey while most people living in the other 49 states want to see you destroyed.”

Vulnerability (Israeli)

Conclusions

• Maps used by range of Israeli and Palestinian groups to convey their arguments

• Images of the same (or roughly the same) territory or iconography can be used to support opposing arguments

• Groups on both sides address both internal and external audiences

Conclusions

• Hobsbawm:– many national symbols are “invented

traditions”

– Invented traditions use history as legitmator

Conclusions

• Nations claim to be natural and ancient, but are constructed and new

• Maps help construct the nation

Part II:Introduction to Religions

Religious Narratives

• Narratives can be constructed to serve specific goals

– via invention of tradition (Hobsbawm)

– via remembering and forgetting (Renan)

• Role of religion in narratives re conflict

Arguments

• Can’t generalize re Jewish, Muslim, or Christian views

• Religion plays a role in how (some) people think about this conflict

Religion in the Middle East

• Terminology

– Middle East vs West Asia

– BC/AD vs BCE/CE

• Terminology

– Middle East vs West Asia

– BC/AD vs BCE/CE

Intro: Judaism

• 3500 years old

• Est. by Abraham and Moses

• Jews as God’s chosen people

Intro: Judaism

• Monotheistic

• Focus on Jerusalem

Intro: Judaism

• Rabbis interpret God’s instructions

• Torah = “teachings”

– “Promised land” given to Jews

Intro: Judaism

• 1st c CE: Roman dispersion of Jews

• Jewish diaspora: W Asia, N Africa, Europe

• Oral tradition (Mishnah) and commentary (Gemara) form Talmud (intstruction)

Intro: Christianity

• 2000 years old

• Monotheistic, based on scripture

Intro: Christianity

• Based on teachings of Jesus Christ

• Christ both divine and human

• Christ’s death and resurrection provided salvation and eternal life

Intro: Christianity

• 1st three centuries: spread into W Asia, N Africa, and Europe

• Bible = Old and New Testament

Intro: Christianity

• Holy Land and esp. Jerusalem sacred

• Birth in Bethlehem

• Miracles at Galilee

• Death and resurrection at site of Church of Holy Sepulchre

Countries withLargest Muslim Populations?

Country2009 Muslim Population

Percentage of Muslims

Indonesia 202,867,092 88.2%Pakistan 174,082,000 96.3%India 160,945,000 13.4%Bangladesh 145,312,000 89.6%Egypt 78,513,000 94.6%Nigeria 78,056,000 50.4%Iran 73,777,000 99.4%Turkey 73,619,000 ~98%Algeria 34,199,000 98.0%Morocco 31,993,000 ~99%

Intro: Islam

• God’s multiple revelations

• Moses, Abraham, Jesus revered as prophets

Intro: Islam

• ~1300 years old

• Monotheistic

• Koran revealed to Prophet Muhammad in 7th c. CE

Intro: Islam

• Spread from 7th c. on through W Asia, N Africa, parts of Europe

• Five central requirements:

– Faith

– Prayer

– Zakat [alms]

– Fasting

– Hajj [pilgrimage]

Islam

= “struggle, striving” • Jihad = جهاد

British Perceptions of Islam

• British concerns about Muslim violence

• Fears of fanaticism and jihad

• But Islam not monolithic

Islam

http://www.al-islam.org/gallery/photos/d8.gif

= الله = “the God”

• Allah