Events
The Beginnings of Law. Cross-Cultural Approaches to Legal History in Pre-Roman Times (Conference, 17.–20. August 2025)
17th–20th August 2025
University of Zurich, Faculty of Theology and the Study of Religion
This conference will help demonstrate that law is a complex phenomenon with many overlaps, exchanges, and interactions with neighboring social spheres like ethics, religion, and politics – to name just a few. The discussions will enhance our understanding of the role that law plays in influencing societies and social discourses. Bringing together scholars from all relevant fields of research, this undertaking will broaden and deepen the knowledge about ancient law, and enable Western scholars to engage with legal cultures that are conceptually autonomous from Western legal conceptions to overcome the blind spots in each area of expertise.
Previous Events
Lecture by Anna Angelini at the University of Siena (Italy)
29 November 2023, 4 pm
Aula 14, University of Siena
"Tra legge e natura: pensare le origini del mondo con i Presocratici"
Flyer (PDF, 75 KB)
Divine Laws in the Ancient World – A Comparative Approach (Conference, 14.-15. March 2024)
14th–15th March 2024
Roma, Istituto Svizzero
This conference situates the evidence of the Hebrew Bible within the legal traditions from the broader ancient Mediterranean / ancient Near Eastern cultures by taking a comparative approach to the issue of divine lawgiving understood in a broad sense. Covering the time frame of the First Millennium BCE (until the Hellenistic period), the inquiry not only addresses formal acts of divine legislation in different religious contexts but also investigates the many possible ways in which divine agents are represented as a source of authority, serve as guarantors for the law, enact justice or enforce norms.
Anna Angelini, Enoch Seminar (29.01.24)
29.01.2024
Colloque Francophone du Séminaire Enoch / Enoch Seminar
Connaître les lois des cieux : Loi divine, ordre de la nature et sagesse secrète dans les traditions sapientielles
Lecture Matthias Hopf at the facoltà Valdese
La Facoltà Valdese di Teologia a Roma
17 October 2023, 6 pm
Matthias Hopf, University of Zurich
Parole e frasi affettive nella 'Legge di Santità'
SBL Annual Meeting San Antonio
SBL Annual Meeting San Antonio
Special Session "Biblical Law"
19 November 2023, 4 pm to 6:30 pm
302A (Ballroom Level) - San Antonio Convention Center
Theme: How God Became a Lawgiver
Yael Landman, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Presiding
Dylan Johnson, Cardiff University
Divine and Royal Lawgiving in the Ancient Near East (20 min + 5 min discussion)
Tag(s): Law Codes & Legal Documents (Ancient Near Eastern Literature - Genre), Law (Comparative Religion / History of Religion)
Lida Leonie Panov, Universität Zürich
The Use of Legal Rituals in Litigation in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Texts (20 min+ 5 min discussion)
Tag(s): Law Codes & Legal Documents (Ancient Near Eastern Literature - Genre), Ritual & Sacrifice (Comparative Religion / History of Religion)
Konrad Schmid, Universität Zürich
Divine Laws: An Intellectual History (20 min + 5 min discussion)
Tag(s): Law (Comparative Religion / History of Religion), Law and Politics (History of Interpretation / Reception History / Reception Criticism)
Matthias Hopf, Universität Zürich
Abomination! Observations on the Origins of Emotional Argumentation in the “Legal” Texts of the Hebrew Bible (20 min+ 5 min discussion)
Tag(s): Law Codes & Legal Documents (Ancient Near Eastern Literature - Genre), Law (Comparative Religion / History of Religion)
Anna Angelini, University of Zurich
Natural and Divine Law in Wisdom Traditions (20 min + 5 min discussion)
Tag(s): Law (Comparative Religion / History of Religion), Wisdom (Ancient Near Eastern Literature - Genre), Wisdom and Philosophical Literature (Early Jewish Literature - Jewish Pseudepigrapha)
Peter Altmann, Fuller Theological Serminary
The Pentateuch’s Divine Law as Positive Law in the Hellenistic Period? (20 min+ 5 min discussion)
Tag(s): 1 Maccabees (Biblical Literature - Deuterocanonical Works), 2 Maccabees (Biblical Literature - Deuterocanonical Works), Law and Politics (History of Interpretation / Reception History / Reception Criticism)
Lectures spring semester 2023
Location
University of Zürich, Faculty of Theology, Kirchgasse 9, 8001 Zurich
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
18.00-20.00, Room 200
Professor Hindy Najman (University of Oxford)
Rethinking Nature in Ancient Judaism: Entanglement as a Mode of Vitality.
Thursday, March 30, 2023
15.30-17.30, Room 308
Professor Christophe Nihan (Universität Münster)
Ritual Rules in the Pentateuch as Legal Fiction and Authoritative Collection.
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
18.00-20.00, Room 200
Professor Reinhard Müller (Universität Göttingen)
Das Urdeuteronomium und sein historischer Ort. Grundzüge der Rekonstruktion.
For registration (or Zoom-link) contact: anna.angelini@uzh.ch
Download: Lectures spring semester 2023_ERC (PDF, 167 KB)
IOSOT International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament
Short Paper Sessions, 9 August 2022, 14:30–18:00
Intersections of Law, Wisdom, and Justice
Chair: Peter Altmann, Room: KOL-G-204
Download Program Short-Paper-Session (PDF, 173 KB)
| 14:30–15:00 | Lida Panov (University of Zurich) Die Bedeutung der älteren Weisheit für die Theologisierung des Rechts |
| 15:00–15:30 | Dylan Johnson (University of Zurich) Miscarriages of Justice: Widowed, Wronged, and Wise Women in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Legal History |
| 15:30–16:00 | Peter Altmann (University of Zurich) Viewing Persian Authorization of Torah through a Wisdom Lens |
| 16:00–16:30 | Break |
| 16:30–17:00 | Phillip Lasater (University of Oxford) Legal Poetics: How the Self Illuminates Law and Law Illuminates the Self |
| 17:00–17:30 | Anna Angelini (University of Zurich) An Unbreakable Order: Cosmic Justice and Natural Law in Jeremiah 31 |
| 17:30–18:00 | Matthias Hopf (University of Zurich) The “Legal” Function of Holiness |
| 18:30–21:00 | Welcome Address, Divine Law Team Reception in the Atrium (University of Zurich), supported by the |
Conference: Royal Decrees, Jurisprudence, and Biblical Law in Hellenistic Times
European Association for Biblical Studies (EABS) Annual Conference Toulouse 2022, 4th-7th July 2022, EABS research unit: The Septuagint and the Cultural World of the Translators
Download Program-Flyer (PDF, 108 KB)
Session 1 – Tuesday 5th July 9.00-11.00 AM
Chair: Romina Vergari, University of Florence
Introduction
Anna Angelini, University of Zurich and Romina Vergari, University of Florence (10 min)
Language and Identity in Imperial Contexts: The Greek Pentateuch in Ptolemaic Egypt
Dominik Markl, Pontifical Biblical Institute
The King as Pious Reader: Royal Ideology and the Concept of Law in Deuteronomy 17
Rodrigo Franklin De Sousa, Protestant Institute of Theology, Montpellier
The “Laws” on False Weights and Measures in the OT: A Comparative Look at MT, LXX, ANE, and Ancient Greek Texts
Matthias Hopf, University of Zurich
General Discussion
Session 2 – Wednesday 6th July 9.00-11.00 AM
Chair: Anna Angelini, University of Zurich
From the ‘Divine Kiss’ to the Royal Decree of the Lagids: A Case of Vocabulary Transfer in the Greek Bible
Cécile Dogniez, French National Centre for Scientific Research
LXX Exodus 22,4: Between the Alliance Code and Ptolemaic Laws
Camilla Recalcati, Catholic University of Louvain (UCL)
Did the Ptolemaic Imperial Politics Influence the Language of the Septuagint? (via Zoom)
Olga Gienini, Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina
General Discussion
Session 3 – Thursday 7th July 9.00-11.00 AM
Chair: Romina Vergari, University of Florence
The Apocalyptic Role of the Law
Valérie Nicolet, Protestant Faculty of Theology of Paris
Josephus, the Laws and the Law: Lexical Choices and Cultural Implications
Enrico Magnelli, University of Florence
The Law in Dialogue with the Graeco-Roman World: Philo of Alexandria’s De Specialibus Legibus
Francesca Pezza, Independent Scholar
Final discussion
Conference: How God Became a Lawgiver: The Place of the Torah in Ancient Near Eastern Legal History
June 15th-17th, 2022
Faculty of Theology, University of Zurich, Room 200 (2nd floor)
Kirchgasse 9, Zurich 8001
This international conference explores the origins of biblical notions of divine laws and God as a lawgiver. It also seeks to elucidate the impact of these ideas on religion and politics in ancient Judah/Persian Yehud. By contextualizing these developments against both the background of the ancient Near Eastern legal tradition and related developments within ancient Greek polities, this conference compares ancient discourse on “divine law” across time and between cultures.
Download Program-Flyer (PDF, 1 MB)
Program:
June 15th
| 09.00-09.10 | Konrad Schmid (Zurich) Welcome and Introduction |
09.10-10.40 |
Sophie Démare-Lafont (Paris) The Mesopotamian Legal Culture: A Secularization of the Divine |
| 10.40-11.10 | Coffee break |
11.10-12.40 |
Dylan Johnson (Zurich) Establishing Justice in the Land: The Real and Aspirational Roles of Ancient Near Eastern Lawgivers |
| 12.40-14.10 | Lunch |
14.10-15.40 |
Eckart Frahm (Yale) Cuneiform Law Collections in their Political and Cultural Contexts |
| 15.40-16.10 | Coffee break |
16.10-17.40 |
Bruce Wells (Austin) How to Write a Law in Ancient Israel and Mesopotamia |
June 16th
09.00-10.30 |
Dominik Markl (Rome) The Monotheistic Elevation of Divine Law in Its Imperial Contexts |
10.30-11.00 |
Coffee break |
11.00-12.30 |
Lida Panov (Zurich) Divine Law and the Activity of Priestly Scribes: Insights from the Book of Proverbs |
12.30-14.00 |
Lunch |
14.00-15.30 |
Jonathan Vroom (Toronto) Negotiating the Non-Negotiable: Interpretation, Innovation, and Ezra’s Use of Torah in Nehemiah 8 and Ezra 9–10 |
| 15.30-16.00 | Coffee break |
16.00-17.30 |
Peter Altmann (Zürich) The Reception of God’s Torah in the Pentateuch: A Preliminary Study of How Later Sections of Numbers Understood Divine Law |
June 17th
09.00-10.30 |
Konrad Schmid (Zürich) How Moses Became a Lawgiver: The Formation of the Pentateuch and its Reorganization of Biblical Legislation |
10.30-11.00 |
Coffee break |
11.00-12.30 |
Angelos Chaniotis (Princeton) How did Greek (and Hellenized) Gods Dictate and Enforce Norms? |
12.30-14.00 |
Lunch |
14.00-15.30 |
Rebecca Van Hove (Groningen) Oracles, Documents, and Laws in the Courts of Athens |
| 15.30-16.00 | Coffee break |
16.00-17.30 |
Anna Angelini (Zürich) Law and Cosmic Justice: Contexts and Meanings of Juridical Vocabulary in Presocratic Philosophy |
* This conference is open to the public, though capacity is limited. We therefore ask those wishing to participate to RSVP with dylan.johnson@uzh.ch before June 1, 2022. A light lunch will be provided to all those registered for the conference.
Vortrag Prof. Dr. Ron Hendel
Montag, 30. Mai 2022, 16.00-18.00 Uhr
Prof. Dr. Ron Hendel (University of California, Berkeley): Cultural Memory and the Covenant Code: The Entanglement with Exodus
Weitere Informationen
24.05.2022: How God Became a Lawgiver? (ISCS Guest Professor Online lecture Series 2022)
How God Became a Lawgiver?
The Place of the Torah in Ancient Near Eastern Legal History
24.5.2022, 15:00–16:30 (Beijing Time)
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Konrad Schmid
HS 2021/2022: Vorlesungen Herbstsemester 2021–2022
Vorlesungen HS21 (PDF, 182 KB)
Dienstag, 5. Oktober 2021, 15.00-18.30 Uhr
Professor Eckart Otto (Universität München):
Rechtsanthropologische Voraussetzungen und Konsequenzen der Theologisierung von Recht in den Keilschriftrechten und des Rechts in der Hebräischen Bibel
Donnerstag, 2. Dezember 2021, 15.00-16.30 Uhr
Dr. Romina Vergari (Universität Florenz): Contrastive Lexicology and Biblical Exegesis: Paths of Exchange. The Case Study of The Nouns of Rules and Regulations in Biblical Hebrew Historical-narrative Language and their Greek Equivalents in the Septuagint
Dienstag, 1. Februar 2022, 16.00-17.30 Uhr
Professor James W. Watts (Syracuse University): Ritual, Divinity, and Law
17.09.2021: Deutschschweizer Sozietät Altes Testament Das Deuteronomium im Dialog mit Tora und Propheten
Deutschschweizer Sozietät Altes Testament
17. September 2021, Fribourg
Programm
Sozietät_Programm_2021 (PDF, 35 KB)
05.09.2021: Auftritt Scientifica Zürcher Wissenschaftstage
01.07.2021: Conférence: Religion et prééminence du droit dans le judaïsme antique
05.11.2020: Online Conference: How God Became a Lawgiver: The Tora in the Context of Ancient Near Eastern Legal and Intellectual History
November, 5th, 2020, 17.00-18.30 (online)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89612700540?pwd=Q29SR2FpSCtVSEt6UXF0eDRtUThYUT09
Meeting ID: 896 1270 0540
Passcode : 189120