Historicity

The hermeneutical tradition represented by Yorck, Heidegger, and Gadamer has distrusted Dilthey as suffering from the two sins of modernism: scientific “positivism” and individualistic and aesthetic “romanticism.” On the one hand, Dilthey’s epistemology is deemed scientistic in accepting the priority of the empirical, the ontic, and consequently scientific inquiry into the physical, biological, and human worlds; on the other hand, his personalist ethos and Goethean humanism, and his pluralistic life- and worldview philosophy are considered excessively aesthetic, culturally liberal, relativistic, and subjective. This essay involves two tasks in response to this negative evaluation of Dilthey that has shaped our current understanding of his philosophical project; first, an interpretation of the issues at stake in Heidegger’s reception of and struggles with Dilthey. These issues touch upon language, historicity, and the nature of hermeneutics. Second, by pursuing this task in light of Guignon’s interpretation of Dilthey and Heidegger, I hope to question and challenge the “overcoming” of Dilthey’s epistemic and life-philosophical hermeneutics in the “ontological” or “philosophical” hermeneutics of Heidegger.

This is the revised final draft of one of the two lead papers presented at the SNTS pre-conference on The Johannine Question. It covers the last half-century of Johannine paradigms, critiques Pierson Parker's 21 objections to the son of Zebedee having ANYTHING to do with the Johannine tradition, and introduces three aspects of overlooked evidence on the subject.

I believe it was published in 2018:

Paul N. Anderson, “The Son of Zebedee and the Fourth Gospel: Some Clues on John’s Authorship and the State of the Johannine Question.” El Evangelio de Juan. Origen, Contenido y Perspectivas--The Gospel of John. Origin and Perspectives, eds. B. Estrada and L. G. Sarasa, Colección Teología Hoy 80 (Editorial Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá 2018).

A reconstrução diacrónica do conceito de “história integral” nos Cadernos do Cárcere de Gramsci mostra que duas exigências fundamentais da “filosofia da práxis” são articuladas através desta noção: 1) a necessidade de redefinir o materialismo histórico (isto é, uma teoria da história) a partir de uma perspectiva particular: a perspectiva das massas populares na sua luta política pela emancipação; 2) a necessidade de combater a revitalização da hegemonia burguesa proposta por Benedetto Croce através da sua «história ético-política», que Gramsci lê como uma teoria da «revolução passiva». Se a história ético-política baseia-se na exclusão do conflito da história, a história integral mostra que esta premissa não é um elemento teórico, mas uma necessidade política. Em outras palavras, a história integral revela não apenas a “falsidade” da posição teórica de Croce, mas ao mesmo tempo a sua capacidade de produzir uma determinada “verdade”, isto é uma “hegemonia”.

[published in Routledge's "Philosophy and Method in the Social Sciences" series]

This study starts from a simple premise:  human practices are a fundamental constituent — arguably “the” fundamental constituent — of social reality.  It then poses the following question:  What would social scientists’ research look like if they took this insight quite seriously?

That, of course, would depend on what practices are in fact like:  what their generic features are, how they are constituted, how they might be identified and characterised and explained, how they function in concrete contexts, how they might change across time and space.  These are the kinds of questions that this book tries to tackle, insisting that their answers hold important implications for the effective practice of social science.

The book thus attempts to build a philosophical infrastructure for the empirical study of practices in the social sciences and humanities.  At the same time, it also tries to explore the implications of this ontology of human practices for issues in social theory and in the philosophy of the social sciences.  The book thus stands at the intersection of the philosophy of social science, social theory, and the social sciences.

This article presents a cultural reading of extracts from Eliot's 'Waste Land' in Greek from a hermeneutic aspect. The aim of this paper is to highlight a historical dimension of the translations (1933-1936) and to give an interpretation of the social context, the cultural references that lurk in the translations in Greece with an emphasis on their interpretation. What dimensions of Eliot do they project through translations and on the basis of cultural metaphors? In the current article, we are making an effort to take a further step towards presenting a synopsis of Eliot's cultural metaphors and (cultural) ideologies as they become originally and primarily transparent throughout his actual poetic work, always in composition with his relevant essay. Our aim is to detect which his main cultural references are, as they are depicted through the basically displayed Modernistic themes of the poem (The Waste Land). Next, an attempt will be made to interpret them, so as to investigate how they are perceived and whether they are directed straight towards the same audience or that of a similar cultural background.

During the 2006‒2014 mining boom in Marampa Chiefdom, Sierra Leone, local discourse around the performance and responsibilities of iron-ore miner London Mining toward its local environment was strongly informed by narratives of the colonial mining company DELCO. As different mining actors, such as the mining corporation, local community members and local political authorities, referred to the time and effects of DELCO (which operated from 1933 to 1975), a plurality of contrasting pasts involving stories of both lost glory and poor legacy was produced. Crucially, more than being memories of a bygone past, these narratives (produced under the conditions and imaginations of both the present and the future) serve as a political instrument to pursue specific interests: to voice a social commentary on the present, to legitimize certain positions, claims and expectations, and to negotiate for different trajectories of the future. As such, these diverging narratives offer key insights into how the past can be turned into a political instrument to express, legitimize and negotiate claims about the performance and responsibilities of mining corporations in Sierra Leone and beyond.

The author analyzes how Medieval culture and civilization in Europe was able to manage cultural, social and religious plurality and diversity without posing a threat to solidarity, openness, dynamism and the actual functioning of society using selected phenomena. The monograph explores questions connected with Medieval anthropology and the  concept of the relationship between the Church and society. Additional  chapters are dedicated to the Medieval Inquisition and the influence of Christianity on the social and economic arrangement of society and all of this from a transcultural perspective.

Diferentes grupos humanos alrededor del mundo han pensado su pasado a partir de ciertas improntas materiales que se ubican en los espacios que habitan. Así mismo se han desarrollado disciplinas científicas, como la arqueología, que construyen conocimiento sobre la historia humana a partir de la interpretación del registro arqueológico. En el contexto colombiano, dichas formas de construir conocimiento se han insertado en diferentes agendas políticas relacionadas con la reivindicación de las comunidades indígenas y con la protección del patrimonio arqueológico. Este libro explora las construcciones interpretativas de diferentes comunidades ubicadas en el sector de La Lengüeta, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, sobre el pasado del macizo a partir de la materialidad prehispánica, y las compara con el conocimiento que se ha producido sobre el pasado de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta desde la arqueología. Así visibiliza cuatro formas de entender el pasado prehispánico a partir de la materialidad e identifica algunas de las complejas relaciones que se producen entre éstas, las cuales difieren de la posición aceptada por algunos académicos quienes identifican la constitución de la arqueología como la portadora de una hegemonía epistemológica del conocimiento sobre el pasado prehispánico.

The violent disintegration of Yugoslavia and the cultural and economic dispossession caused by the collapse of socialism continue to force Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina to reconfigure their religious lives and societal values. David Henig draws on a decade of fieldwork to examine the historical, social, and emotional labor undertaken by people to live in an unfinished past--and how doing so shapes the present. In particular, Henig questions how contemporary religious imagination, experience, and practice infuse and interact with social forms like family and neighborhood and with the legacies of past ruptures and critical events. His observations and analysis go to the heart of how societal and historical entanglements shape, fracture, and reconfigure religious convictions and conduct.

Provocative and laden with eyewitness detail, Remaking Muslim Lives offers a rare sustained look at what it means to be Muslim and live a Muslim life in contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The focus of this article is on what I conceive as a form of comic-chronotope particular to Gilbert Hernandez. His works present a specific interconnection between time and space that radicalises the common chronotopic device of the comic form. I argue that, by carefully organising these essential elements (time and space) in a concrete whole within his narratives, Hernandez is also re-imaging his context, history and sense of identity with the use of the comic form. To make it visible, I will first analyse Hernandez’s Luba Comics (2000–2004), Chance in Hell (2007), to illustrate what I understand by comic-chronotope on a literal level, and also to highlight the use that Hernandez makes of it that is specific to the medium and that at the same time defines his voice. Finally, I will use Julio’s Day (2013) to discuss the unfolding of its spatial and temporal indicators into an explicit form of historicity.

The paper proposes a theoretical division within the broadly defined postmodern thought, separating the discourse of postmodernism from postmodern thinking. The former is characterised by its inherent repetitiveness, participation in incessant debates concerning the issues of relativism, the “other” and pluralism, and is presented as a form of compromise between the challenges of post-Kantian philosophy and the desire to remain within the borders of a finite discourse. On the other hand, postmodern thinking seems to continue the vital currents of the philosophical avant-garde, in particular Nietzsche’s heritage. Attempting to maintain a sense of continuity with modern philosophy, it enters the realm of the impossible. Whereas postmodernism renounces in advance all claims to total understanding, producing a negative totality on its own, postmodern thinking seeks ultimate understanding only to experience its inevitable failure. In this indirect way it truly articulates the impossibility which postmodernism only declares, contradicting itself on the performative level. The paper argues that all arguments used by postmodernism are possible owing to the formation of its discourse, allowing it to voice directly what cannot be expressed but performatively.

A briefer, more colloquial summary of the formal peer reviewed study in On the Historicity of Jesus, this work pares the argument down to its bare essentials, showing why it's likely the historical Jesus was invented, how that happened, and why attempts to deny this fail in both facts and logic. (See "File" drop-down link to purchase.)

This article seeks to clarify the concept of “historicity” and how it might guide ethnographic research. The argument is developed with particular reference to the eight studies of historicity in diverse societies ranging from the Pacific to North America contained in this special issue. The authors contend that the standard Western concept of “history” is culturally particular and not necessarily the best tool for cross-cultural investigations. Western history is generally predicated on the principle of historicism: the idea that the “past” is separated from the present. People around the world, including Western historians, recognize,
however, that the past, present and future are mutually implicated. The notion of “historicity” is intended to open out the temporal focus to a “past-present-future”. Studies of historicity address the diverse modes through which people form their presents in world societies.

For as long as it has existed, theatre has sought to entertain and educate audiences, exploring events of the past. From Euripides’ Hippolytus to Shakespeare’s Richard III to Miranda’s Hamilton, it is clear that throughout history, theatrical entertainment has permeated the educational entertainment atmosphere. However, does theatre have a strong connection to key historical events or periods? What constitutes historical legitimacy? This essay will seek to explore these age-old questions, critically analysing the potential for theatre to be judged as a valid form of history, as well its ability to reflect its context. This essay will aim to examine all potential modes through which a historical text’s integrity may be impinged upon, and whether or not it is possible to reach a balance between historical authenticity and creative licence.

A validade do conhecimento histórico havia sido questionada pelas Ciências Sociais nascentes durante a primeira metade do século XX. Com as contribuições de historiadores membros dos Annales, como Lucien Febvre, Marc Bloch e Fernand Braudel, foi possível a sobrevivência da História-disciplina através do diálogo com as Ciências Sociais e a adoção de metodologias e conceitos delas oriundos, além do desenvolvimento de uma nova concepção de História e de Tempo Histórico. Contudo, durante a segunda metade do século XX, o pensamento ocidental viu abalado vários de seus paradigmas pelo chamado giro inguístico, que exerceria uma duradoura influência não apenas na História, mas em todo o conjunto das Ciências Humanas. Mas o giro linguístico não foi o último desafio imposto à História e ao fazer
historiográfico durante a segunda metade do século XX. Com o advento do giro cultural, e a mudança do regime de historicidade do mundo pós-1989, os historiadores são forçados, uma vez mais, a refletirem seriamente sobre a sua prática.

This is an extensive introduction to the third volume of the John, Jesus, and History Series (Atlanta: SBL Press, forthcoming in early 2016) written by Jaime Clark-Soles and Paul N. Anderson. A total of twelve volumes of collected essays are projected as the fruit of this international project, now in its 15th year at the national Society of Biblical Literature meetings.

History and heritage are often asserted as indicators of continuity.However, meaningful pasts are mobilized according to the needs of thepresent, and continually reinvented and transformed. This paper seeks
to explore the dynamic and uid ways that the past is continually under
revision to meet such needs. Contemporary British Witches are currentlyexperiencing a radical shift in the ways they conceptualize, evidence, andrationalize their history. Until recently, practitioners claimed that con-temporary practices could be traced back to pre-Christian times: formalgroups of Witches (covens) had a continuous and unbroken religious tra-dition going back to antiquity. This position has recently been subjectedto extensive critique which suggests a prevailing scepticism to the idea ofcontinuity and an alignment with recent interpretations from scholarlyhistorians. However, while the “inventions” of earlier writers are criti-cized, Pagans continue to feel connected to the ancient past by privileging
less-specic ideas about rural traditions and the primacy of experience
rather than explicitly historical arguments; the use of the past is a continu-ally creative and ongoing process. Therefore, it is clear that dynamic ideasof what constitutes both the content and context of history are central con-cerns for practitioners today

Ce mémoire de maîtrise a comme sujet la constitution du credo présent en 1 Corinthiens 15:1-11, son origine, son contexte littéraire et historique en 1 Corinthiens, ainsi que la théologie et l’historicité des éléments le constituant. Il se penche premièrement sur la question de la délimitation du credo présent dans cette péricope. Suite à une analyse basée sur la critique des formes, une version longue du credo incluant les v. 3b-7 (excepté le v. 6b) est défendue.
    Deuxièmement, la question de la réception de la tradition par Paul est abordée ainsi que son utilisation contextuelle en 1 Co 15. D’un côté, il est soutenu que Paul a probablement reçu le credo de l’apôtre Pierre et Jacques, le frère de Jésus, à Jérusalem vers l’an 36 et que la formation du credo est antérieure à cela. De l’autre côté, Paul s’en sert en 1 Co 15 pour contrer une perspective grecque de la vie après la mort qui considérait la résurrection corporelle comme absurde puisque cette notion était perçue comme un retour dans des corps identiques aux corps présents, c’est-à-dire mortel (corruptible) et caractérisé par le vice (péché).
    Troisièmement, le credo est systématiquement analysé sur le plan théologique et historique. Sur le plan théologique, il est démontré que l’union mystique des chrétiens avec le Christ est présupposée et que cette idée remonte probablement à la tradition présente en 1 Co 11:23-25. De plus, És 53, Os 6:2 et Gn 22:4 sont présentés comme les principaux textes ayant servi à l’élaboration de cette tradition ancienne. Enfin, il est argumenté que les trois événements fondateurs, à savoir la mort, l’ensevelissement et les apparitions du Christ, sont d’ordre historique. L’auteur ne se prononce pas sur l’historicité de la résurrection, considérant qu’il s’agit d’un « fait-explication » ce qui diffère d’un « fait- observation » ce qui nécessiterait une autre méthodologie qui dépasse le cadre de ce mémoire.

This Master’s thesis deals with the creed found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11: its origin, literary and historical contexts in I Corinthians as well as the theology and historical significance of its parts. It is focused primarily on identifying the boundaries of the creed in the pericope. A form criticism analysis leads to an argument for a long version of the creed which includes verses 3b-7 (but excluding v. 6b).
    Secondly, the question of Paul’s use of tradition is addressed as well as its contextualization in I Corinthians 15. On the one hand, it is argued that Paul received the creed from the Apostle Peter and James, the brother of Jesus, in Jerusalem around the year AD 36, and that the creed had been formed before that time. On the other hand, Paul uses it in 1 Corinthians 15 to oppose a Greek perspective on life after death, which viewed physical resurrection as absurd. In this perspective, resurrection meant a return to a body identical to the present body, which is mortal/corruptible and characterized by vice/sin.
    Thirdly, the creed is systematically analyzed on both the theological and historical levels. On the theological level, it will be demonstrated that the mystical union of Christians with Christ is presupposed and that the notion probably goes back to the tradition present in 1 Corinthians 11:23-25. Furthermore, Isaiah 53, Hosea 6:2 and Genesis 22:4 are presented as the primary texts used to develop this ancient tradition. Finally, it is argued that three founding events, namely, the death, the burial and the appearances of Christ, are to be considered historical. The author does not take a position on the historicity of the resurrection, considering that it is an explanatory fact and not an observed fact. This question would require another methodology which goes beyond the scope of this thesis.

...a discussion of Darius the Mede’s identity and historicity, taken from my commentary on Daniel.  The fall of Babylon is typically viewed in light of Cyrus’s propaganda campaign (which Herodotus follows), but Daniel (with Xenophon) provides us with the real account of Babylon’s fall.  Modern-day commentators have invariably sought to reconcile the text of Dan. 5-6 with the received view of Babylon’s fall when the answer has simply been to read the text of Dan. 5-6 at face value and to give it the historic credibility it deserves.

Z. B. Simon and L. Deile (eds.), Historical Understanding: Past, Present, and Future. London, Bloomsbury, 2022.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/historical-understanding-9781350168794/

The first decades of the new century shake old certainties. In a whirlwind of profound changes, do we have more history or less? Does history overwhelm us in all domains of life or is historical understanding in yet another crisis? The answers do not come easily. The recent demise of humanities education, the technological alterations of our social lifeworlds and the human condition, the anthropogenic changes in the Earth system, the growing sense of memory, trauma and historical injustice as alternative approaches to the past, seem to entail contradictions and complexities that do not fit very well with our existing notions of historical understanding. Historical thought as we know it is facing manifold challenges, and we struggle to grasp a larger picture that could encompass them.

Boasting a range of contributions from leading scholars, this volume attempts just that. In an innovative collection of short essays, Historical Understanding explores the current shape of historical understanding today, by surveying a variety of historical relations to the past, present, and future in the face of socio-political, ecological and technological upheavals.

This book is an invaluable research tool for students and researchers alike, presenting a kaleidoscope-like overview of manifold new ways which we navigate “historically” in coping with present-day challenges, both in wider society and in historiography

This essay was presented at the Princeton-Prague Symposium on Jesus Research and the Gospel of John (March 2016); it is slated for publication in The Gospel of John in Historical Inquiry: The Third Princeton-Prague Symposium on Jesus Research, Princeton 2016, edited by James H. Charlesworth with Jolyon and G. R. Pruszinski, in consultation with Petr Pokorný and Jan Roskovec (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2017).

Table of Contents and Introduction (pre-publication draft version)

Eric S. Nelson (ed.), Interpreting Dilthey: Critical Essays (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019).

Table of Contents
Introduction: Wilhelm Dilthey in Context Eric S. Nelson
Part I. Life, Hermeneutics, and Science:
1. Dilthey's Conception of Purposiveness: Its Kantian Basis and Hermeneutical Function Rudolf A. Makkreel
2. Leben erfaßt hier Leben: Dilthey as a Philosopher of (the) Life (Sciences) Jos de Mul
3. Dilthey's Importance for Hermeneutics Michael N. Forster
4. Hermeneutics and Historicity: Dilthey's Critique of Historical Reason Charles Bambach
5. Dilthey's Defense of Historicism Frederick C. Beiser
6. More Than One 'Kind' of Science? Implications of Dilthey's Hermeneutics for Science Studies Robert C. Scharff
Part II. Practical Philosophy, Aesthetics, and Interpretation:
7. Dilthey and Empathy Shaun Gallagher
8. Dilthey's Ethical Theory Benjamin Crowe
9. Dilthey's Dream and the Struggle of World-Views Nicolas de Warren
10. A Task Most Pressing: Dilthey's Philosophy of the Novel and His Rewriting of Modern Aesthetics Kristin Gjesdal
11. Experience and Metaphysics: The Anti-Hegelian Aesthetics of Dilthey and Santayana Paul Guyer
12. Dilthey and Wittgenstein: Understanding Understanding Lee Braver
13. Dilthey's Hermeneutics and Philosophical Hermeneutics Jean Grondin

For further Information, please see: http://admin.cambridge.org/academic/subjects/philosophy/nineteenth-century-philosophy/interpreting-dilthey-critical-essays

Reclaiming the Faravahar is the first ethnographic study of contemporary Zoroastrians in Tehran. Examining hundreds of ritual performances, Navid Fozi shows how Zoroastrians define their identity and values in an area long marked by conflict between the Shi‘a and Sunnis. He focuses on two main concerns for Zoroastrians: continuity with the past as evidenced by their claim to be the most authentic Iranians, as well as their attempts to stand apart from the dominant Shi‘a. Fozi also provides a look at the challenges Zoroastrians have faced over the centuries while exploring how today’s members are working to remain relevant in a tumultuous regional and global context.

A summary of this essay was first presented at the “Jesus and Archaeology: The Millennium Celebration in the Holy Land” conference at the Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem (August 2000) organized by James Charlesworth. It was then expanded and published as "Aspects of Historicity in John: Implications for Archaeological and Jesus Studies,” in Jesus and Archaeology, ed. by James Charlesworth, ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006), 587-618. This essay will also be central to a book I am writing for Eerdmans: Jesus in Johannine Perspective: A Fourth Quest for Jesus.

Vertiginous Life provides a theory of the intense temporal disorientation brought about by life in crisis. In the whirlpool of unforeseen social change, people experience confusion as to where and when they belong on timelines of previously unquestioned pasts and futures. Through individual stories from crisis Greece, this book explores the everyday affects of vertigo: nausea, dizziness, breathlessness, the sense of falling, and unknowingness of Self. Being lost in time, caught in the spin-cycle of crisis, people reflect on belonging to modern Europe, neoliberal promises of accumulation, defeated futures, and the existential dilemmas of life held captive in the uncanny elsewhen.

A question often posed to biblical scholars is how they can insist that God is merciful and trustworthy when in many Old Testament texts God is harsh and punitive. The essay proposes to interpret such hard texts by examining the biblical scribes' habits of composition-what they noticed, how they saw God revealed in history, and how they told their stories. In the light of these conclusions, the second part of the essay examines several difficult Old Testament texts.

Over the past two decades, French artist Pierre Huyghe has produced an extraordinary body of work in constant dialogue with temporality. Investigating the possibility of a hypothetical mode of timekeeping - “parallel presents” - Huyghe has researched the architecture of the incomplete, directed a puppet opera, founded a temporary school, established a pirate television station, staged celebrations, scripted scenarios, and journeyed to Antarctica in search of a mythological penguin. In this first book-length art historical examination of Huyghe and his work, Amelia Barikin traces the artist’s continual negotiation with the time codes of contemporary society. Offering detailed analyses of Huyghe’s works and drawing on extensive interviews with Huyghe and his associates, Barikin finds in Huyghe’s projects an alternate way of thinking about history--a “topological historicity” that deprograms (or reprograms) temporal formats. Huyghe once said, “It is through the montage, the way we combine and relate images, that we can create a representation of an event that is perhaps more precise than the event itself.”

Barikin offers pioneering analyses of Huyghe’s lesser-known early works as well as sustained readings of later, critically acclaimed projects, including No Ghost Just a Shell (2000), L’Expédition scintillante (2002), and A Journey That Wasn’t (2005). She emphasizes Huyghe’s concepts of “freed time” and “the open present,” in which anything might happen.

Bringing together an eclectic array of subjects and characters - from moon walking to situationist practices, from Snow White to Gilles Deleuze - Parallel Presents offers a highly original account of the driving forces behind Huyghe’s work.

https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/parallel-presents