Transcribing Wisdom: Transformations of the Joseph Legend from the Ancient Near East up until Islamic Times

• Applicant: Dr. Nora Schmidt
• Subject Area: Protestant Theology ; Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies
• Term: from 2020 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 445486570

The research project "Transcribing Wisdom" aims at establishing and elaborating methodologies for scriptural hermeneutics embracing Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions. Subject of inquiry is the narrative of Joseph in its various and heterogeneous records from the Hebrew Bible up until Islamic times. New hermeneutical approaches to scripture, taking insights from cultural studies, shall supplement the diachronic perspective on the different figurations of Joseph in the variety of sources from the Old Testament, late antique commentary cultures and literary texts until the Quran and Islamic lore.The project suggests four hermeneutical approaches by which elements developed in cultural studies are introduced to the field of Quranic exegesis and interdisciplinary dialogue between the exegesis of Old Testament, New Testament and Quran is meant to be enriched.1. New light is shed on objects that play a crucial role in the different Joseph stories, such as the cup of the King, the garment, and the crops. Those objects are treated not as motives or literary elements, but as objects of knowledge, to which particular understandings of historicity and identity are attached that differ with the contexts of transmission and interpretation.2. Aspects of gender and power that figure prominently in most Joseph stories are to be analysed and compared in diachronic perspective and put into context.3. The method of „deep-psychological“ scriptural hermeneutics which is an established, if also controversially debated, exegetical tool in biblical studies, has not been introduced to Quranic studies at all. The Joseph story is a perfect point of departure for a comparative deep-psychological approach, because it reflects a process of individual transformation and individuation that stands out in the literatures of late antiquity. 4. A fourth approach consists in highlighting different figurations of the prophetic body and the notions of divine-human communication attached to it.By focussing on the diachronic development in the different trajectories, the project serves an exemplary function. It stresses reciprocal entanglements of supposedly distinct cultural and religious traditions and regions by showing continuity and participation in textual and exegetical practises from the contexts of Judaism, early Christianity and Islam.A heuristic concept was established to tie the different hermeutical case studies together. Key notions for better understanding and describing the continuity and diversity, the modes of adaption, repetition, negation and change of the Joseph stories in antiquity and late antiquity are: wisdom and transcription.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Manfred Oeming