Johannes Seidel
PhD candidate (associated)
Research project
"The cedar tree as a key to the understanding of nature in the Hebrew Bible"
For it the Mesopotamian heroes, Gilgamesh and Enkidu, and also the Egyptian official Wen Amun travelled to the end of the world, exposed themselves to the danger of pirates or confronted the monster Humbaba: the cedar of Lebanon. In the Hebrew Bible, too, the cedar has a special position; after all, it is documented more frequently than the olive and fig plants native to Israel. The wide range of data makes it possible to ask about understandings of nature in a culture that has no designation for “nature.” The conceptions of and perspectives on the cedar serve as starting points to infer understandings of nature in the Hebrew Bible. The work, which is oriented towards the history of religion and tradition, includes archaeological as well as iconographic aspects and takes semantic (description of the cedar) as well as spatial aspects (landscapes) into account. It also deals with conceptual determinations of relationships such as man – cedar, God – cedar or the location of the cedar in the ancient conceptions of the world.
Curriculum Vitae
since 2022 Research stay at the Tel Aviv University under the supervision of Dalit Rom-Shiloni funded by the Sandwich Scholarship
since 2021 Research Assistant of Prof. Dr. Hannes Bezzel (University of Jena)
since 2020 Start of the doctorate with the topic: “The cedar tree as key to the understanding of nature in the Hebrew Bible”
2019-2021 Research assistant in a project of the German Israel Foundation: „Between Materiality and Scribal Magic: West-Semitic Textual Amulets from the First Millennium BCE to the Rise of Islam at the Universty of Leipzig
2017-2019 Master Christianity and Culture with the focus on Old Testament Studies and Assyriology as the minor field of studies at the University of Heidelberg
2018-2019 Student assistant in the department of Old Testament studies (editorial work Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft) at the University of Heidelberg
2018-2019 Issuing the Index of the Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
2016-2017 Polyvalenter Zwei-Hauptfachbachelor: Catholic Theology and Mathematics at the University of Freiburg
2016-2017 Student assistant in the institute for Old Testament studies (work on the Theologische Wörterbuch zu den Qumrantexten, Hebrew tutorage) at the University of Freiburg
2016 Vacation semester for self-studies
2015-2016 Theological Study Program (Dormition Abbey) in Jerusalem
2013-2015 Lehramt an Gymnasien: Catholic Theology and Mathematics at the University of Freiburg
2014-2015 Student assistant in the Institute for Old Testament Studies (work on the Theologische Wörterbuch zu den Qumrantexten)
2012-2013 Magister Catholic Theology at the University of Freiburg
2012 Attending a course on Dogmatics via EUCOR at the University of Basel
Publications
Art. Tel Ănāfā, in: WiBiLex. [in Vorbereitung]
Art. Golan, in: WiBiLex [in Vorbereitung]
Art. Hermon, in: WiBiLex [in Vorbereitung]
The Cedar Tree and Fears – Substances and their Impact on Emotions in Rituals [in Publikation]
Art. Bet-Horon, in: WiBiLex (2022), https://www.bibelwissenschaft.de/stichwort/15116/.
Art. Tekoa, in: WiBiLex (2021), https://www.bibelwissenschaft.de/stichwort/32691/.
Presentations
Drittmittelprojekte/Präsentationen/Teilnahme an Ausgrabungen
2022 Teilnahme am Survey des Tel-Shaddud Regional Project
2022 ICDOG in Leipzig, Vortrag „Die Zeder in 2 Kön 14,9 – ein Einblick in das deuteronomistische Naturverständnis“
2022 Internationaler Workshop zu FEARS im Rahmen des Projekts der German Israel Foundation, Vortrag „The Cedar Tree and Fear in Ritual Context. Does the Use of the Cedar Reflect a Concern for the Fears of the Participant?“
2021 ATAG in Erfurt, Vortrag „Widder, Götter oder eine paradoxe Formulierung? Ein neuer Übersetzungsversuch für אלם in Ps 58,2“
2021 Internationaler Workshop zu Textamuletten im Rahmen des Projekts der German Israel Foundation, Vortrag zu „Phoenician Amulet Cases“
2020-2021 Projektleitung des Drittmittelprojekts „Tells & Tales - Biblische Archäologie“ (10.000€), Erstellung einer wissenschaftlichen Podcastreihe, im Rahmen des Wettbewerbs der Hochschulrektorenkonferenz „Kleine Fächer - Sichtbar innovativ!“
2019 Teilnahme am 3. Palästinakurs des Deutschen Vereins zur Erforschung Palästinas: „Inschriften im alten Israel/Palästina“ in Berlin
2019 Teilnahme an der Summer Academy der Universitäten Leipzig, Gießen und Graz: „Malum. Zur Symbolik des Bösen“; Vortrag zu „Psalm 58 und seine Flüche“
2019 Ausgrabung in Israel, Tell Ašdod-Yam (Prof. Dr. Angelika Berlejung und Prof. Dr. Alexander Fantalkin)
2018 Ausgrabung in Israel, Tell Aseka (Prof. Dr. Manfred Oeming und Prof. Dr. Oded Lipschitz)
2017 Ausgrabung in Israel, Tell Ašdod-Yam (Prof. Dr. Angelika Berlejung und Prof. Dr. Alexander Fantalkin)