Western Esotericism and the Concept of God(s) THE EIGHTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE ISRAELI NETWORK FOR THE ACADEMIC STUDY OF WESTERN ESOTERICISM (INASWE)
Wednesday, 30 May 2018
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus Campus
Mandel Building, Room 530
9:30-10:00 Gathering
10:00-11:10 Session 1: Greetings and Keynote Lecture
Chair: Judith Weiss (Mandel Scholion Center)
Menachem Ben-Sasson (Chancellor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Chairman of the Academic Committee of the Mandel Scholion Center): Greetings
Henrik Bogdan (University of Gothenburg)
Deus est Homo: The Concept of God in the Magical Writings of The Beast 666 (Aleister Crowley)
11:10-11:30 Coffee Break
11:30-13:00 Session 2: Christian and Jewish Kabbalistic Notions of the Godhead in the 16th-17th Centuries
Chair: Yossi Chajes (University of Haifa)
Emma Abate (École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris)
Notes on the Divine: Giles of Viterbo Studying Kabbalistic Manuscripts
Assaf Tamari (Van Leer Institute)
Yesod de-Nukba: Galenic Isomorphism, the One-Sex Body, and Gender Fluidity in Lurianic Kabbalah
Anna Maria Vileno (FNRS – Université Libre de Bruxelles)
Knorr’s Messias Puer: Between Western Esotericism and the Study of Religions
13:00-14:00 Lunch Break
14:00-15:00 Session 3: God and Gods in the Florentine Tradition
Chair: Yuval Harari (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)
Gal Sofer (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)
Exaudi Israel Dio, Dio Nostro: Appealing to God in Clavicula Salomonis
Guido Nerger (Free University of Berlin)
Cum sigilio hermetis: The Many Different Masks of the ‘Hermetic’ Gods
>15:00-15:20 Coffee Break
15:20-16:20 Session 4: The Divine Worlds and the World in the 19th Century
Chair: Julie Chajes (Tel-Aviv University)
Peter Lanchidi (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)
The Divine Order, Kabbalah, and Freemasonry
Alexander van der Haven (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and the Open University of Israel)
Immanent Gods
16:20-16:40 Coffee Break
16:40-17:40 Session 5: Godly Women and Men: Goddesses, Witches, and Yogi in the 20th Century
Chair: Boaz Huss (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)
Shai Feraro (Max Stern Yezreel Valley College)
The Fourfold Goddess Construct among Western Goddess Women and Feminist Witches
Phillip Deslippe (University of California, Santa Barbara)
The Yogi as Godman: Polemics, Concealment, and Charisma in the History of American Yoga
17:40 Conclusion
Boaz Huss (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)
18:00 Reception