Workshop and PhD course:

The Problem of Evil and Images of (In)Humanity

October 6‐7, 2016

Organized by Claudia Welz

Funded by the PhD School of the Faculty of Humanities and the PhD School of the Faculty of Theology,
University of Copenhagen

Venue
Center for the Study of Jewish Thought in Modern Culture (CJMC)
Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen
Købmagergade 44‐46, 1st floor, aud. 7
DK – 1150 Copenhagen K

Abstract
This cross‐disciplinary workshop and PhD course addresses the problem of evil and the ensuing challenge of re‐
orientation after catastrophic crises: violent conflicts, wars, and genocide. The aim of the workshop is to explore the
potential of imagination as a means of ethical re‐orientation and societal integration in the aftermath of atrocity.
Given that people can treat their fellow human beings with disrespect and even as if they were sub‐human, the
question is: What mental, linguistic or graphic images of humanity can yield navigational tools and norms of
orientation?
We will focus on the overt or covert normativity of images of humanity or inhumanity in a pluri‐religious, multi‐
cultural, and multi‐media context. Competing world views and conceptions of the human being will be considered
when contrapositioning different ideas of ’humanity’ and ’inhumanity.’
Images have the power to move those who perceive or conceive them. How do images that depict our
common humanity differ from counter‐images that distort the image of ’the other’? And, more generally, how can
destructive images be differentiated from healing images in terms of how they interact with their beholders? Of
special interest are differences regarding their pragmatics, their functioning and effects: What are the ways in which
they appear to and affect their viewers?
Such questions will be discussed in a dialogue between literary and visual studies, philosophy, psychology,
theology, theories of emotion and recogition, and the classic exegetical, historical, and systematic disciplines
comprised by the umbrella term ’Jewish Studies.’ The role of re‐orienting images will be examined in three respects:

(1) regarding their potential to confront perpetrators with their guilt, to invite them to repair their relations to
the injured party, if this is possible, or to take responsibility for irreparable damage they have caused
(2) regarding their potential to help victims to regain their dignity and to deal with overwhelming feelings of
grief, powerlessness, anxiety, depression, and shame
(3) regarding their potential to prompt critical reflection, empathy, and civil courage in those who witnessed
the event, are implicated in it, or at least informed about what happened.

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These aspects will be investigated in all workshop sessions, which are structured thematically.

I) During the first day of the workshop, we will concentrate on visual images of (in)humanity (e.g. painted
portraits, caricatures, sculptures, photographs, movies, plays or other performances) and their interaction with
mental images (e.g. images of memory, dreams, or intuitive notions that are communicated with or without words).
In particular, we will look at the relation between ethics and aesthetics as it manifests itself in images of (in)humanity
in creative responses to ethical dilemmas, double binds and trapping roles. We will include religious (re)sources and
different philosophical and theological traditions in order to map the manners in which such images can contribute to
processes of coping with trauma, of making up for injustice, and of reestablishing a sense of solidarity after crimes
against humanity.
II) The second day of the workshop will be dedicated to verbal images of (in)humanity, i.e. metaphors in
written or spoken language.
Images have the power to make evident what they show. Awareness of their power is relevant also to an
understanding of how enemy propaganda works, where the visual in the service of the verbal can fool people into
believing in lies about others. In this connection it is eye‐opening to study the divide between the de‐humanizing,
deadening effects of the Lingua Tertii Imperii (Victor Klemperer) and poetry or fiction that resists degradation despite
deep‐felt loss and pain (e.g. Nelly Sachs, Aharon Appelfeld, and David Grossman). In this context the discussion of
Jewish thought after the Shoah is of special relevance.

Program

October 6 Købmagergade 44‐46, 1st floor, aud. 7

13.00 Welcome
13.15‐14.00 Eva Schürmann (Institut für Philosophie, Universität Magdeburg):
“Picturing Vision: The Interconnectedness of Mental and Visual Images”
14.00‐14.30 Discussion
14.30‐15.15 Ruth Illman (Donner Institute, Åbo Akademi University): “In the Image:
Imagination and Creativity as Tools for Interreligious Dialogue”
15.15‐15.45 Discussion
15.45‐16.00 Coffee break
16.00‐17.30 PhD and postdoc session:
16.00‐16.30 ‐ Daniel Murphy (Department of Philosophy, Maynooth University,
Ireland): “Levinas and Technology: The Face of the Other in the Age of
Social Media”
16.30‐17.00 ‐ Nicholas Trautz (University of Virginia): “Sacred Horror: Wrathful
Iconography, Ritual Violence, and Secret History in the Crafting of Tibetan
Buddhist Culture”
17.00‐17.30 ‐ Luigi Corrias (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam): “Imprescriptibility and the
Legal Imagination of Inhumanity: Reflections on how the Law deals with
‘Evil’”
17.30‐17.45 Coffee break
17.45‐18.30 Philipp Stoellger (Faculty of Theology, University of Heidelberg): “Thou
shalt make an image … or: can images lead us not only into temptation,
but deliver us from evil?”
18.30‐19.00 Discussion

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October 7 Købmagergade 44‐46, 1st floor, aud. 7

9.00‐9.45 Jennifer Geddes (Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of

Virginia): “The Perils and Possibilities of Verbal Images during/of
(In)Humanity: The Seductions and Salves of the Literary”
9.45‐10.15 Discussion
10.15‐10.30 Coffee break
10.30‐12.00 PhD session:
10.30‐11.00 ‐ Grace Whistler (University of York): “Evil and Empathy: The Dialogic
Novel as a Means of Ethical Guidance”
11.00‐11.30 ‐ Peter Søes (University of Copenhagen): “Nothingness in Karl Barth’s
Theological Understanding of the Human Being”
11.30‐12.00 ‐ Anna Westin (St. Mary’s University, London): “Can Demons Create?
Levinas’ Useless Suffering in Conversation with Tikkun Olam and
Kierkegaard”
12.00‐13.30 Lunch break
13.30‐14.15 Søren Holst (Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen): “Images of
Overcoming Persecution in the Book of Psalms”
14.15‐14.45 Discussion
14.45‐15.00 Coffee break
15.00‐16.00 Rounding off
Comments by the conference organizer and plenary discussion: “Facing
the Problem of Evil: Visual, Verbal, and Mental Images of (In)Humanity”

Købmagergade 44‐46, basement café: Kældercafé

16.15‐17.00 CJMC book launch: Claudia Welz, Humanity in God’s Image – An
Interdisciplinary Exploration (Oxford University Press, 2016)
17.00‐18.00 Continued conversation and reception