The conference will mark the 100th anniversary of Heschel's birth in Warsaw. The conference will gather several distinguished scholars of Heschel thought and life from America, Israel, as well as European and Polish scholars interested in the following topics: the philosophy of religion and of the inter-religious dialogue in relation to Heschel's achievements; Heschel's connections to Poland; other topics directly related to Heschel's work and heritage.

Abraham Joshua Heschel was a distinguished theologian and philosopher of religion who came from a traditional Jewish background, received academic education in Germany, and from 1940 till his death in 1972 he lived in the USA, where he gained fame as theologian, philosopher, and social activist. He can be called the "prophet" of inter-religious dialogue.

The conference is organized by the Institute of Philosophy of Warsaw University in cooperation with Jewish Theological Seminary (New York), Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Jewish Historical Institute, Kollegium Jüdische Studien of Potsdam University; it is sponsored by Fritz Thyssen Stiftung.

Academic Committe:

Tadeusz Gadacz (Polish Academy of Sciences),  Ewa Geller (Warsaw University),  Neil Gillman (Jewish Theological Seminary), Arthur Green (Hebrew College),  Karl Erich Grözinger (Universität Potsdam),  Susannah Heschel (Dartmouth College),  Edward K. Kaplan (Brandeis University),  Harold Kasimow (Grinnell College),  Stanislaw Krajewski (Warsaw University),  Michael Marmur (Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem),  Alan Mittelman (Jewish Theological Seminary),  David Novak (University of Toronto),  Jerzy Ochmann (Jagiellonian University),  David G. Roskies (Jewish Theological Seminary),  Stefan Schreiner (Universität Tübingen),  Michael Signer (University of Notre Dame),  Byron Sherwin (Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, Chicago),  Waldemar Szczerbiński (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań) 

Organizing Committee:

Monika Elliott, Stanislaw Krajewski (chair), Adam Lipszyc, Jakub Mach, Teresa Śmiechowska

Program

All sessions except session 2 take place in Sala Brudzińskiego,

on the ground floor of Pałac Kazimierzowski at the main campus of Warsaw University;

Session 2 is at the Żydowski Instytut Historyczny, ul. Tłomackie 3/5 off Plac Bankowy

Monday, 25 June

10:15   Opening

11:00 - 13:30  Session 1: Heschel and inter-religious dialogue

Alon Goshen-Gottstein (Elijah Interfaith Institute, Jerusalem, Israel)

No Religion Is An Island: Following the Trail Blazer

Edward K. Kaplan (Brandeis University, USA)

"Reaching out for God": Heschel's Depth Theology as Common Ground

Michael Signer (Notre Dame University, USA)

Engagement and Solitude: Abraham J. Heschel's Concept of Interreligious Dialogue

Stanisław Krajewski (Warsaw University, Poland)

Abraham J. Heschel and the Challenge of Interreligious Dialogue

17:30 - 19:30  Session 2 (at the Jewish Historical Institute): Heschel's life and impact

Jerzy Ochmann (Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland),

Heschel in the United States (1940-1972). Clash and Synthesis of the European and American Mentality.

Michał Galas (Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland)

Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Krakow (PAU) as a Center for Jewish Studies in the 19th and the Beginning of the 20th Century Poland.

Magdalena Stańczuk (Warsaw University)

The Presence and Absence of Heschel in Warsaw Jewish Press: 1938-1939

Stephan Schreiner (Universität Tübingen, Germany)

Remarks on Heschel's Impact on Theology

David G. Roskies (Jewish Theological Seminary, USA)

My Encounters with Abraham Joshua Heschel

Discussion

Tuesday, 26 June

9:00 - 11:15    Session 3: Heschel, theology and Judaism

 David Novak (University of Toronto, Canada)

Heschel's Phenomenology of Revelation

Michael Marmur (Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem, Israel)

Heschel Early and Late - Reading the Earliest Traces of Heschel

Gabriel Moked (Beer Sheva University, Israel)

Heschel and Leibovitz

Annette Aronowicz (Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, USA)

The Yiddish Kotsk:  Reflections on Inwardness

16:30 - 19:30 Session 4: : Heschel and inter-religious relations

Harold Kasimow (Grinell College, USA)

Heschel's View of Other Faiths: A Reconsideration

Waldemar Szczerbiński (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland)

Poland and Christianity in Heschel's Life and Thoughts

Stanisław Obirek (University of Lodz, Poland)

Is Christology an Obstacle for Jewish Christian Understanding?

Paul Fenton (Sorbonne, Paris, France)

Henri Corbin and Abraham Heschel

Seth Ward (University of Wyoming, USA)

Implications of Abraham Joshua Heschel's Ecumenicism for Muslim-Jewish Dialogue and the West's Encounter with Islam in the 21st century.

Wednesday, 27 June

9:00 - 11:15    Session 5: Heschel, philosophy and Judaism

Agata Bielik-Robson (Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Warsaw, Poland)

Divine Aesthetics. A. J. Heschel and the Religious Use of the Sublime

Adam Lipszyc (Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Warsaw, Poland)

The Marks of Question: Heschel and Jabès on Divine Presence and Absence in Question

Luiz Felipe Pondé (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, Brazil)

Philosophy Standing Before God

Andrzej Leder (Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Warsaw, Poland)

The Problem of Legitimization. The Position of Emanuel Levinas and A. J. Heschel

11:45 - 13:30  Session 6: Heschel and religious philosophy

Karl Erich Grözinger (Universität Potsdam, Germany)

The Jewish Heritage in the Philosophy of A. J. Heschel

Dror Bondi (Beit Morasha, Jerusalem, Israel)

Heschel's Dialogue with the Modern Thinking: Questions Replacing Questions

Milan Lyčka (Prague University, Czech Republic)

Heschel's Philosophy of Judaism as the Inspiration for a General Philosophy of Religion

16:00 - 18:30  Session 7: Heschel and the impact of history

Bernhard Dolna (The International Theological Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family, Gaming, Austria)

Keeping God and Man in a Single Thought Perpetually - Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel - A Prophet of Prophecy

Anna M. Szczepan-Wojnarska (Cardinal Wyszyński University, Warsaw, Poland)

Between Speaking and Experiencing Suffering - A. J. Heschel's Imperative of Religious Engagement.

Shoshana Ronen (Warsaw University, Poland)

The Absolute Good or All-Powerfulness: God after Auschwitz in the Theology of Abraham J. Heschel and Hans Jonas

Anna Banasiak (Warsaw University, Poland)

Martyrdom and the Sublime in the Depth-Theology of A.J. Heschel. Hermeneutical and Theological Revision in the Thought of E. Fackenheim and A.J Heschel