Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis

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Explore scholarly publications from the Donner Institute of Åbo (Turku, Finland), focusing on religion, comparative religion, and cultural studies.

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Articles in this Journal

Jesus-oriented visions of Judaism in antiquity

This article argues that the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions 1.27–72, the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies, and the Didascalia Apostolorum – third and fourth century-texts, which combine adherence to Jesus with Jewish law observan...

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Celsus, Toledot Yeshu and Early Traces of Apology for Virginal Birth of Jesus

In this article New Testament passages referring to the birth of Jesus are related to Celsus’ anti-Christian arguments and the Jewish Toledot Yeshu tradition with a new question: Why it was so difficult to speak about the virgin birth of...

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ʿĂqēdōt: the binding of Isaac in early modern Polish-Lithuanian Karaite poetry

This article deals with early modern Polish-Lithuanian Karaite poems which are based on the biblical narrative of the binding of Isaac (Gen. 22). These liturgical poems (ʿăqēdōt) were recited during the ten days between the New Year and t...

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Trauma, memory, testimony: phenomenological, psychological, and ethical perspectives

How can severely traumatized persons re-present the past and its impact on the present if (due to blackout, repression, or dissociation) they could not witness what they went through, or can hardly recall it? Drawing on Holocaust testimon...

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Repatriation and restitution of Holocaust victims in post-war Denmark

Jewish Holocaust survivors faced severe economic and emotional difficulties on returning home to Denmark in 1945. Jewish families had used their savings, sold valuables and property and obtained improvised private loans in order to financ...

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Name changes and visions of ”a new Jew” in the Helsinki Jewish community

This article discusses an organized name-change process that occurred in the 1930s in the Jewish community of Helsinki. Between 1933 and 1944 in approximately one fifth of the Helsinki Jewish families (c. 16 %) someone had their family na...

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Transnational Ashkenaz: Yiddish culture after the Holocaust

After the Holocaust’s near complete destruction of European Yiddish cultural centres, the Yiddish language was largely viewed as a remnant of the past, tragically eradicated in its prime. This article reveals that, on the contrary, for tw...

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A guide for the perplexed: a student's navigation through Jewish studies in Sweden

This article presents a student’s perspective on Jewish studies in Sweden over the past ten years. By identifying the milestones of her own educational and professional path, the author discusses three questions of particular interest for...

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Facing suffering and death: alternative therapy as post-secular religious practice

The idea of religious practice being ‘post-secular’ raises questions concerning secularisation, sacralisation and the various meanings of the prefix ‘post’. This paper investigates a kind of practice that is ever increasing in late modern...

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Are you content with being just ordinary? Or do you wish to make progress and be outstanding?' New ritual practices in contemporary Sweden

This article examines the emergence and features of new practices in contemporary Sweden, which are being sold to individuals as therapy or coaching in order for them find their ‘inner potential’ as a means to achieve health, self-realisa...

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The enrichment of magical thinking through practices among Reiki self-healers

Reiki is an example of a spiritually based healing context, which offers an entry into the magical thinking through the ritual initiation. There are several practices like Reiki in the field of new spirituality. Their backgrounds are situ...

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Making sense of personal and global problems: an analysis of the writings and lectures of Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde

Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde (b. 1939) is a well-known figure in the Finnish alternative spiritual milieu. She is an author and lecturer on parapsychology and ufology and has been a guest on several talk shows in the Nordic countries. The t...

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The Jewishness of Jesus and ritual purity

Today it is commonplace for historical Jesus scholars to emphasize Jesus’ Jewishness. At the same time most New Testament scholars deny that he cared about the Jewish purity system, which was a central aspect of early Judaism. This articl...

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Mystik blir vetenskap

Den 29 mars 1956 i Dornach, Schweiz undertecknade Olly och Uno Donner ett donationsbrev som lade grunden för ett nytt forskningsinstitut i Åbo. De donerade sin egendom till Stiftelsen för Åbo Akademi för att grunda Donnerska institutet för religionsh...