In this episode, Laura Lieber, Professor of Religious Studies at Duke University, discusses her current research on the intersection between synagogue practices and the theatre in late antique Judaism. She highlights theatrical features especially in Jewish liturgical poetry, explaining how such features can be identified and what they suggest for understanding ancient Jewish communities. Her goal, she says, is a lively, dynamic reconstruction of what synagogue life. Lieber also explains that the intersection between synagogue and theatre is just one of the ways that Jews engaged in what she describes as the glittering cultural moment that was late antiquity.
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In this episode, Laura Lieber, Professor of Religious Studies at Duke University, discusses her current research on the intersection between synagogue practices and the theatre in late antique Judaism. She highlights theatrical features especially in Jewish liturgical poetry, explaining how such features can be identified and what they suggest for understanding ancient Jewish communities. Her goal, she says, is a lively, dynamic reconstruction of what synagogue life. Lieber also explains that the intersection between synagogue and theatre is just one of the ways that Jews engaged in what she describes as the glittering cultural moment that was late antiquity.
Episode 7: Apocalypse! From Ancient Judaism and Christianity to QAnon, featuring Meira Kensky
The Biggest Questions Podcast
48 minutes 20 seconds
4 years ago
Episode 7: Apocalypse! From Ancient Judaism and Christianity to QAnon, featuring Meira Kensky
In this episode, Meira Kensky, Joseph E. McCabe Associate Professor of Religion at Coe College, discusses her work on ancient and medieval Jewish and Christian apocalyptic texts. She explains, in particular, the appeal of their fictive descriptions of otherworldly journeys—including to hell—and the realness of these other worlds for the communities in which the texts circulated. In addition, Kensky discusses the continuing role that apocalyptic thought plays in contemporary American religious communities, using the example of the Evangelical Christian book series Left Behind. Speaking in the aftermath of the Capitol attack and in the lead up to the presidential inauguration, she also draws connections between ancient apocalypse and modern conspiracy theories, with special focus on QAnon and its distinctly religious qualities.
The Biggest Questions Podcast
In this episode, Laura Lieber, Professor of Religious Studies at Duke University, discusses her current research on the intersection between synagogue practices and the theatre in late antique Judaism. She highlights theatrical features especially in Jewish liturgical poetry, explaining how such features can be identified and what they suggest for understanding ancient Jewish communities. Her goal, she says, is a lively, dynamic reconstruction of what synagogue life. Lieber also explains that the intersection between synagogue and theatre is just one of the ways that Jews engaged in what she describes as the glittering cultural moment that was late antiquity.
