02/07/2026 09:00
- 12:20
HALL: Pola - Aula Magna
Contact:
De Lorenzo L.
Chair:
Badini F.
This panel seeks to gather contributions exploring how the sacred scriptures have been employed in the tradition of the three Abrahamic religions, to construct the figure of the enemy in contexts marked by crisis, rupture, catastrophe, or collapse. The aim is to examine how exegetical and scripturally informed narratives in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam transform external or internal adversaries into meaningful agents within broader theological interpretations of history. Particular attention will be given to the link between enemy representation and divine punishment: crises are often reframed as consequences of communal transgression, with the enemy functioning as an instrument—willing or unwitting—of divine judgment, a dynamic that simultaneously explains catastrophe and admonishes the community toward repentance, reform, or renewed cohesion. Contributions may explore a wide range of historical phenomena and sources, such as: the reactivation of scriptural motifs after a military defeat or a political collapse in narrative and exegetical texts; the redefinition of adversaries during periods of sectarian conflict in theological textual controversies or in political discourses; the role of eschatological expectations and elaborations in shaping perceptions of threat; or the deployment of enemy imagery in response to migration, economic disruption, pandemics, or environmental crises through sermons, theological treatises and commentaries. The panel also encourages attention to the material and social dimensions of scriptural interpretation, including how textual transmission, communal leadership, performative settings, or institutional contexts shape the construction of the enemy in moments of upheaval.
