Self, Soul and Body in Religious Experience (Numen Book: Studies in the History of Religions, 78)

The papers in this volume were delivered at the first international colloquium by the Jacob Taubes Minerva Center for Religious Anthropology at Bar Ilan University, held in February 1995. Concepts of Self, Soul and Body are so close to the physiological layers of life that we may imagine them to be biological as well; but in fact, they are social constructs, and a source of fundamental metaphors for the classification of experience. They thus help organize the world, at the same time as they express basic human identity. They vary from culture to culture and can productively be compared and contrasted from one setting to another. We intend these papers to be a test case of the benefit to be gained from attention to Religious Anthropology. About Jacob Taubes, Who Crossed Frontiers / P. Glotz. -- Soul, Self -- Reincarnation: African Perspectives / T. Sundermeier. -- Narrative Identity And Auricular Confession As Biography-generators / A. Hahn. -- The Historico-psychological Interpretation Of Trichotomic Anthropologies, With Special Regard To The Conflict Theory Of Georg Simmel / C. Colpe. -- Adam The Panphysiognomist: A Stage In Modern Physiognomics / M. Barasch. -- In The Face Of Death: Mortality And Religious Life In The Bible, In Rabbinic Literature And In The Pauline Letters / I. Knohl. -- Breath, Kiss And Speech As The Source Of The Animation Of Life: Ancient Foundations Of Rabbinic Homilies On The Giving Of The Torah As The Kiss Of God / A. Kosman. -- Finding Oneself In A Sectarian Context: A Sectarian's Food And Its Implications / A. Baumgarten. -- The Flesh, The Person And The Other In Rabbinic Anthropology / A. Agus. -- From Corpse To Corpus: The Body As A Text In Talmudic Literature / N. Rubin. -- Self, Identity, And Body In Paul And John / A. Destro And M. Pesce. The Two Souls And The Divided Will / G. Stroumsa And P. Fredriksen. -- Cures And Karma: Healing And Being Healed In Jain Religious Literature / P. Granoff. -- Heath And Salvation In Early Daoism. On The Anthropology And Cosmology Of The Taiping Jing / H. Seiwert. -- Illness And Self: Zhiyuan's Two Autobiographical Essays / K. Shinohara. -- Face Of God -- Face Of Man: The Significance Of The Direction Of Prayer In Islam / A. Neuwirth. -- Twelfth Century Concepts Of Soul And Body: The Maimonidean Controversy In Baghdad / S. Stroumsa. -- Persona And Self In Stoic Philosophy / H. Cancik. -- Platonic Soul, Aristotelian Form, Christian Person / J. Rist. -- Ghost And God: Some Observations On A Babylonian Understanding Of Human Nature / T. Abusch. -- A Dialogue Between Self And Soul: Papyrus Berlin 3024 / J. Assmann. -- Faithful Bodies: Ancient Greek Sources On Oriental Eunuchs / C. Grottanelli. -- Corpus: Some Philological And Anthropological Remarks Upon Roman Funerary Customs / H. Cancik-lindemaier. Edited By A.i. Baumgarten, J. Assmann, G.g. Stroumsa. Papers Presented At The First International Colloquium Sponsored By The Jacob Taubes Minerva Center For Religious Anthropology At Bar Ilan University, Held In Feb. 1995. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Title Page 3 Copyright Page 4 Table of Contents 5 "Introduction" 7 "About Jacob Taubes, who Crossed Frontiers" 10 "Soul, Self—Reincarnation: African Perspectives" 16 "Narrative Identity and Auricular Confession as Biography-Generators" 33 "The Historico-Psychological Interpretation of Trichotomic Anthropologies, with Special Regard to the Conflict Theory of Georg Simmel" 59 " Adam The Panphysiognomist: A Stage In Modern Physiognomics" 73 "In the Face of Death: Mortality and Religious Life in the Bible, in Rabbinic Literature and in the Pauline Letters" 93 "Breath, Kiss and Speech as the Source of the Animation of Life: Ancient Foundations of Rabbinic Homilies on the Giving of the Torah as the Kiss of God" 102 "Finding Oneself in A Sectarian Context: A Sectarian's Food and its Implications" 131 "The Flesh, the Person and the Other in Rabbinic Anthropology" 154 "From Corpse to Corpus: The Body as a Text in Talmudic Literature" 177 "Self, Identity, and Body in Paul and John" 190 "The Two Souls and the Divided Will" 204 "Cures and Karma: Healing and being Healed in Jain Religious Literature" 224 "Health and Salvation in Early Daoism. On the Anthropology and Cosmology of the Taiping Jing" 262 "Illness and Self: Zhiyuan's Two Autobiographical Essays" 282 "Face of God - Face of Man: The Significance of the Direction of Prayer in Islam" 304 "Twelfth Century Concepts of Soul and Body: The Maimonidean Controversy in Baghdad" 319 "Persona and Self in Stoic Philosophy" 341 "Platonic Soul, Aristotelian Form, Christian Person" 353 "Ghost and God: Some Observations on a Babylonian Understanding of Human Nature" 369 "A Dialogue Between Self and Soul: Papyrus Berlin 3024" 390 "Faithful Bodies: Ancient Greek Sources on Oriental Eunuchs" 410 "Corpus: Some Philological and Anthropological Remarks Upon Roman Funerary Customs" 423 Index of Subjects and Names 437 List of Contributors 451 STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS NUMEN BOOK SERIES 453 These papers were delivered at the first international colloquium of the Jacob Taubes Minerva Center at Bar Ilan University. They investigate concepts of Self, Soul and Body across the religious traditions of the Mediterranean world, as well as in Africa and Asia.