The Seminar Room | Elisa Uusimäki on Wisdom and Torah in Jewish Antiquity

In March of this year, dr. Elisa Uusimäki from Helsinki University gave a presentation at a joint seminar hosted by Religious History, Old and New Testament Studies and Jewish Studies, at CTR, under the title"Wisdom and Torah in Jewish Antiquity: What Can We Learn from the Dead Sea Scrolls?" 

Dr Elisa Uusimäki is a scholar of ancient Jewish literature and holds the title of docent at the University of Helsinki, currently involved in the research project "Conceptions of Virtue in Early Judaism" (2018‐2020). Uusimäki has published on wisdom and torah, the Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient scriptural interpretation, the figure of the sage in antiquity, and exemplarity. Apart from Helsinki, she has studied and conducted research at the University of Manchester, Yale University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.

The seminar focused on the association between wisdom and torah. Their prevalance and relation in the Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint is well‐ known (esp. Deut 4:5–6; Ezra 7:14, 25; Jer 8:8; Pss 1, 19, 119; Sir 24; Bar 3:9–4:4), and scholars have long acknowledged its afterlife in the thought of early Christians who identified Jesus with Logos or Sophia (e.g. John 1, 15; 1 Cor 1:24, 30; Col 1:15‐17, 2:2‐3). The discovery of the Qumran scrolls revealed new materials that illuminate notions of wisdom and torah in early Judaism.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Religion and Theology is produced by Joel Kuhlin for the Center for Theology and Religious Studies.

If you have comments or critique of this episode, or any other episodes of R&T, please write an email to religionochteologi@outlook.com.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Music for R&T is generously provided by the trio Nous (Thomas Hellsten, Tom Tveita, Per Boqvist).