Heather Ohaneson

Heather C. Ohaneson received her Ph.D. from Columbia University in Philosophy of Religion, having earned her B.A. in Philosophy and Religion from Barnard College. An enthusiast of the humanities writ large, she is an assistant professor in the William Penn Honors Program at George Fox University. Dr. Ohaneson’s varied research interests include the philosophy of play and playfulness, nineteenth-century philosophy (especially Kierkegaard), and Jewish philosophy (especially Rosenzweig).

Paper:

Teaching From Zion: Where Heaven Touches Both City and Mountain

Abstract:

This paper seeks to extend and even advance the discourse concerning the reality of the revelation on Mount Sinai through consideration of later, Temple-centered revelations. Focusing in particular on the representation of Zion in Isaiah 2:1-3, I examine how Zion and divine instruction are associated with the house of the LORD—which is deemed the highest of the mountains—as well as the city of King David. Does such a symbol of Zion (as unifying mountain and city spaces) signify the straddling of heaven and earth? Through the refraction of the account of revelation in Exodus, we see in this passage in Isaiah such factors as political theology, the past and the future, and the Jewish people and the nations converging in Jerusalem.

Presenters

Young Scholars Workshop