Conference Abstracts
Marking the Sacred: The Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem
June 5-7, 2017
Providence College
This collaborative and ecumenical conference provides a common forum for leading international scholars to address the history and archaeology of this extraordinary 35-acre platform and its sacred status. The project seeks to be an agent of dialogue by bringing together diverse scholars in the humanities whose research furthers our understanding of the site and its historical context. Marking the Sacred is an opportunity for experts on the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions to engage in unique and fruitful discussions leading to a scholarly publication that will reach a worldwide academic audience in multiple disciplines.
Register Here
Program Participants & Presentations
All sessions take place at Providence College
Monday, June 5, 2017
Ruane Center for the Humanities
12:30 p.m. – Registration Table Opens – Ruane Center for the Humanities
2:00 p.m. – Introductions and Welcome – Ruane Center Room 105
President Brian Shanley, O.P., Providence College
Joan Branham, Professor of Art History, Associate Dean, School of Arts and Sciences Providence College
PLENARY SESSION
Moderator: Matthew Adams, Dorot Director, W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
2:30-3:05 p.m. – Jodi Magness, Kenan Distinguished Professor for Teaching Excellence in Early Judaism, UNC-Chapel Hill
The First and Second Jerusalem Temples: What Evidence Do We Have of Their Existence and Location?
3:05-3:40 p.m. – Robert Ousterhout, Professor of History of Art, Director of the Center for Ancient Studies, University of Pennsylvania
The Temple, The Temple Mount, and the Byzantine Imaginary
3:40-4:15 p.m. – Sari Nusseibeh, Professor of Philosophy, Al-Quds University
The Haram through the Islamic Lens
4:15-5:00 p.m. – Discussion
Shuttles/Walking to Smith Center for the Arts
5:30 p.m. – Introduction to Exhibition
Fr. Gabriel Pivarnik, O.P., Providence College
Beatrice St. Laurent, Professor of Art History, Bridgewater State University
Images of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount/Haram from the Photothèque of the École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem
Curator Jamilee Lacy, Providence College
Contemporary Artist, Assaf Evron
6:00-8:00 p.m. – Gallery Exhibition and Opening Reception – Reilly Gallery
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Tuesday, June 6, 2017
Ruane Center for the Humanities, Room 105
MORNING SESSION I — SECOND-TEMPLE AND ROMAN PERIOD I:
Moderator: Michael Satlow, Professor of Judaic Studies and Religious Studies, Brown University
Shimon Gibson, Department of History, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Invisible and Underground the Temple Mount: Subterranean Spaces, Cisterns, and Wall Foundations based on Archival Sources
Lawrence Schiffman, Judge Abraham Lieberman Professor of Hebrew & Judaic Studies, New York University
The Mishnaic Description of the Hasmonean Temple Plan
Joseph Patrich, Professor of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Segregating the Sacred: The Inner Court (Azara) and the Grill (Soreg) of the Second Temple and their Gates
Fr. Dominique-Marie Cabaret, O.P., École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem
The Structure of the Hasmonean and Herodian Temples Enlightened by Jerusalem’s Urbanism
Discussion
COFFEE BREAK
MORNING SESSION II — SECOND-TEMPLE AND ROMAN PERIOD II:
Moderator: Mahri Leonard-Fleckman, Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible, Theology, Providence College
Ronny Reich, Professor Emeritus, Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa & Yuval Baruch, Jerusalem Regional Archaeologist, Israel Antiquities Authority (delivered by Y. Baruch)
Discoveries, Construction, and Function of the Triple and Eastern Gates of the Herodian Temple Mount
Helena Roth, Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations, Tel Aviv University
Pilgrims Approaching the Temple Mount at the Time of the Procurators: Recent Discoveries of Pools, Elite Courts, and Garbage in the ‘Lower City’
Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah, Israel Antiquities Authority
The Temple Mount in the Roman City of Aelia Capitolina
Discussion
LUNCH BREAK
AFTERNOON SESSION I — LATE-ROMAN, EARLY CHRISTIAN, AND BYZANTINE I:
Moderator: Arthur Urbano, Associate Professor of Early Christianity, Theology, Providence College
Scott Bradbury, Professor of Classical Languages & Literatures, Smith College
The Emperor Julian’s Plan to Rebuild the Temple and Reinstitute Blood Sacrifice on the Temple Mount
Tracy Thorpe, Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Bridgewater State University
The Power of Absence: Why Early Christianity Intentionally Left the Temple Mount in Ruins
Jon Seligman, Director of Excavations, Surveys and Research Department, Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem
A Mount without a Temple: Building Byzantine Jerusalem Around the Temple Mount
Discussion
COFFEE BREAK
AFTERNOON SESSION II — LATE-ROMAN, EARLY CHRISTIAN, AND BYZANTINE II:
Yuval Baruch, Jerusalem Regional Archaeologist, Israel Antiquities Authority & Ronny Reich, Professor Emeritus, Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa (delivered by Y. Baruch)
Jerusalem’s Temple Mount Platform in Roman and Byzantine Periods: New Archaeological and Historical Evidence
Yuri Stoyanov, Research Associate, University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies
The Temple Mount during the Last Byzantine-Sasanian Great War (603-628) – Controversies and Unresolved Problems
Joan Branham, Professor of Art History, Associate Dean, School of Arts & Sciences, Providence College
Reimagining the Jerusalem Temple: Paradigms of Appropriation from Dura Europos to the TV Mini-Series ‘DIG’
Discussion
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Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Ruane Center for the Humanities, Room 105
MORNING SESSION I — EARLY ISLAMIC VISIONS:
Moderator: Sandra Keating, Associate Professor of Theology, Director, Development of Western Civilization, Providence College
Beatrice St. Laurent, Professor of Art History, Bridgewater State University
The Dome of the Rock: Mu’awiya’s Vision to Unify the Three Religions of the Book
Donald Whitcomb, Research Associate of Islamic Archaeology, University of Chicago
The Archaeology of the Diwan in early Islamic Jerusalem
Stephen J. Shoemaker, Professor of Religious Studies, University of Oregon
The Dome of the Rock and Early Islamic Eschatology
Discussion
COFFEE BREAK
MORNING SESSION II — ISLAMIC AND CRUSADER TRANSFORMATIONS:
Isam Awwad, Chief Architect & Conservator of the Haram al-Sharif (1972-2004), Senior Associate Fellow, Albright Institute
Nasir Khusrau’s Account of Aqsa Mosque Revisited
Jaroslav Folda, Professor Emeritus, Art History, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
The Crusader Templum Domini: Fact and Fiction
Michael Burgoyne, District Architect of Historic Scotland, Edinburgh
The Development of the Haram by the Mamluks
Discussion
CONCLUDING REMARKS:
Joan Branham, Professor of Art History, Associate Dean, School of Arts and Sciences Providence College
Beatrice St. Laurent, Professor of Art History, Bridgewater State University
PUBLICATION MEETING FOR PRESENTERS
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Sponsors
Conference sponsors include Providence College’s Centennial Committee, School of Arts & Sciences, Center for Catholic and Dominican Studies, Department of Art and Art History, and Department of Theology. Additional conference sponsorship comes from the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem. Contributors to the exhibition include: The Artis Grant Program, the Office of the Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Provost’s Office at Bridgewater State University, the École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem, and the Service Bureau at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
