Mag. Dr. Dr. Constanza Cordoni, Privatdoz.
Research Interests
Rabbinic literature, Jewish literature and cultural history; reception history; historical narratology; rabbinic hermeneutics
Current Research
The Land of Israel in Geonic Times (FWF stand-alone grant). Dept. of Medieval Research, Austrian Academy of the Sciences
Enduring Job: The Book of Job in Early Medieval Jewish Literature. Department of Jewish Studies, University of Vienna
Job in Early Medieval Jewish Literature (FWF stand-alone grant). Dept. of Medieval Research, Austrian Academy of the Sciences
Employment: Research and Teaching Positions
Since 4/2023 Post-doc researcher, Institute for Medieval Research, Austrian Academy of the Sciences
4/2023-9/2024 Rothschild Fellow, Department of Jewish studies, Univ. Vienna
4/2022–3/2023 Visiting professor, Department of Jewish studies, FU Berlin
3/2018–6/2022 Lecturer, Department of Jewish studies, Univ. Vienna
10/2021–3/2022 Rothschild Fellow, Department of Jewish studies, Univ. Vienna
3/2020–3/2022 Post-doc researcher, Institute for Medieval Research, Austrian Academy of the Sciences
11/2019–2/2020 Post-doc Fellow Jewish theology, Department of Old Testament Studies, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz
11/2016–10/2019 Post-doc researcher, Department of History and Art History, University of Utrecht
10/2010–10/2016 Prae-doc assistant, Department of Jewish studies, Univ. Vienna
4/2008– 9/2010 Doctoral candidate, Department of German Philology, Univ. Vienna
Qualifications
23.9.2021 Venia legendi in Jewish studies; Univ. Vienna
28.9.2016 Doctorate in Jewish studies, Univ. Vienna
11.2.2011 Doctorate in German philology, Univ. Vienna
12.12.2005 Master in German Philology, Univ. Vienna
Awards/Fellowships
2022 Protestantse Theologische Universiteit Amsterdam/Groningen, Senior Research Fellowship, Center for Early Jewish Hermeneutics
2021 Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS) Cofund Post-doc Fellowship (declined).
2021 Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe: EUR 79.530 for research project: Enduring Job: The Book of Job in Early Medieval Jewish Literature.
2021 FWF (Austrian Science Fund) Stand-alone project: The land of Israel in Geonic Times (P 34307-G; sum granted: EUR 394.952)
2020 Vienna City, MA 7 Wien Kultur. Award: EUR 4,000 toward the organisation of conference: Ancient and early medieval religious homelands.
2019 Post-doctoral Research Fellowship Jüdische Theologie, Institut für Alttestamentliche Bibelwissenschaft, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz.
2019 European Association for Jewish Studies Conference Grant Programme in European Jewish Studies. Award: GBP 5,900 toward the organisation of conference: Ancient and early medieval religious homelands.
2007 FWF (Austrian Science Fund) Stand-alone project: Barlaam und Josaphat in der europäischen Literatur des Mittelalters (P 20738; sum granted: EUR 120,000; project proposal co-authored with Prof. M. Meyer).
Publications / Talks
Current book projects
- Monograph: The Land of Israel of Geonic Times
- Edited volume: On Jewish Multilingualism in Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages (with L. V. Rutgers; in preparation).
- Edited volume: Ancient and Medieval Religious Homelands: Collected Essays (with L. V. Rutgers and G. Langer; in preparation).
Monographs
- Cordoni, C. Reconfiguring the land of Israel: A Rabbinic Project. The Brill Reference Library of Judaism 76. Brill: Leiden, 2024. (DOI: doi.org/10.1163/9789004696761).
- Cordoni, C. Seder Eliyahu: A Narratological Reading. Studia Judaica 100. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2018 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110531879).
- Cordoni, C. Barlaam und Josaphat in der europäischen Literatur des Mittelalters: Darstellung der Stofftraditionen, Bibliographie, Studien. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2014 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110341898).
Edited volumes
- llan, T., R. Nikolsky, L. Miralles Maciá, eds. Rabbinische Literatur. German edition supervised by C. Cordoni. Die Bibel und die Frauen 4.1. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2021.
- Cordoni, C., and G. Langer, eds. “Let the Wise Listen and Add to Their Learning” (Prov 1:5): Festschrift for Günter Stemberger on the Occasion of his 75th Birthday. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110435283).
- Meyer, M., and C. Cordoni, eds. Barlaam und Josaphat: Neue Perspektiven auf ein europäisches Phänomen. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/crm.13772).
- Langer, G., and C. Cordoni, eds. Narratology, Hermeneutics, and Midrash: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Narratives from the Late Antiquity through to Modern Times. Göttingen: V&R unipress, 2014 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110435283).
Articles in journals
- Cordoni, C. “Send men to spy out the land” (Num 13:2) Rabbinic Readings of the Spies’ Episode”. Review of Rabbinic Judaism (forthcoming).
- Cordoni, C. “‘Have you noticed My servant Job?’ (Job 1:8): On the Gentile, the Patient, the Righteous and the Protester Job in premodern Jewish tradition”. European Journal of Jewish Studies (forthcoming).
- Cordoni, C. “On Seder Eliyahu, Wisdom, and Job“. Frankfurter Judaistische Beiträge 44 (2022): 1–25.
- Cordoni, C. “‘For they did not change their language’ (MekhY Pischa 5): On Early Medieval Literary Rehebraicisation of Jewish Culture.“ Medieval Worlds 11 (2020): 165–86 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1553/medievalworlds_no11_2020s165).
- Cordoni, C. “Inheriting and Buying a Homeland: The Land of Israel and the Patriarchs“. Journal for the Study of Judaism 49 (2018): 551–580 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/15700631-12493216).
- Cordoni, C. “The Book of the Prince and the Ascetic and the Transmission of Wisdom“. Cahiers de Recherches Médiévales et Humanistes 29 (2015): 43–70 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/crm.13772).
- Cordoni, C. “Die weißen Tage oder warum die Frau immer noch als unrein gilt, nachdem ihre Unreinheit aufgehört hat“. Protokolle zur Bibel 21 (2012): 1–17.
- Cordoni, C. “o favole o parole o istorie: Zum Parabelkorpus in der Barlaam-Legende“. Fabula 52 (2012): 207–27.
- Cordoni, C. “Körperkonzeptionen in der Barlaam und Josaphat-Legende“. Hagiographica 17 (2010): 301–24.
- Cordoni, C. “The Desert as locus Dei in Barlaam and Josaphat?“ Cahiers de Recherches Médiévales 18 (2009): 389–400.
Book chapters
- Cordoni, C. “Hebräisch als Utopie? Sprache und jüdische Identität in Exegese und Erzählung”. In Sprache – Religion – Grenzen: Spätantike und Frühmittelalter; Verläufe und Vergleiche, edited by Johannes Heil, forthcoming.
- Cordoni, C. and L. Teugels, “Early Jewish Readings of Job”. In Job and Early Christianity, edited by A.-K. Geljon, P. Rose, and N. Vos. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae. Leiden: Brill, forthcoming.
- Cordoni, C. „Seder Eliyahu“. In Targums and Early Rabbinic Literature, herausgegeben von B. Chilton und A. Avery-Peck, 375–380. Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies 7, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
- Cordoni, C. “‘If You Keep Silent in This Crisis’ (Esth 4:14): Esther the Medieval Biblical Heroine”. In The Jewish Middle Ages, edited by Carol Bakhos and Gerhard Langer, 35–54. Bible and Women: An Encyclopedia of Exegesis and Cultural History 4.2. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.1176891.7)
- Cordoni, C. “The Diasporic Topos of the Land of Israel in Rabbinic Parables”. In The Power of Parables: Essays on the Comparative Study of Jewish and Christian Parables, edited by E. Ottenheijm, M. Poorthuis, and A. Merz, 432–53. Jewish and Christian Perspectives Series 39. Leiden: Brill, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004680043_022 )
- Cordoni, C. “Jewish literary responses to the Arab conquest of the Land of Israel”. In Late Antique Responses to the Arab Conquest, edited by J. van den Bent, F. F. van den Eijnde and J. Weststeijn, 214–46. Leiden: Brill, 2021 ( https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004500648_010)
- Cordoni, C. “Identity and Sense of Place in Rabbinic Literature: The case of the Land of Israel”. In “Written for Our Discipline and Use”: The Construction of Christian and Jewish Identities in Late Ancient Bible Interpretation, edited by A. Siquans, 123–42. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2021 (https://doi.org/10.13109/9783666522192.123)
- Cordoni, C. “‘Wenn du in diesen Tagen schweigst’ (Est 4,14): Zur mittelalterlichen biblischen Heldin Ester”. In Die Bibel und die Frauen 4.2: Das jüdische Mittelalter, edited by C. Bakhos and G. Langer, 37–56. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2020.
- Cordoni, C. “Biblical Interpretation in Seder Eliyahu”. In “Let the Wise Listen and Add to Their Learning“ (Prov 1:5): Festschrift for Günter Stemberger on the Occasion of his 75th Birthday, hg. v. C. Cordoni and G. Langer, 413–30. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016 (https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110435283-023).
- Cordoni, C. “Es geschieht in den besten Familien: Barlaam und Josaphat und das Problem der Familie”. In D’Orient en Occident: Les recueils de fables enchâssées avant les Mille et Une Nuits de Galland (Barlaam et Josaphat, Calila et Dimna, Disciplina clericalis, Roman des Sept Sages), edited by M. Vuagnoux-Uhlig and Y. Foehr-Janssens, 165–90. Turnout: Brepols, 2014 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1484/m.celama-eb.1.101991).
- Cordoni, C. “The emergence of the individual author(-image) in late rabbinic literature”. In Narratology, Hermeneutics, and Midrash: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Narratives from the Late Antiquity through to Modern Times, edited by C. Cordoni and G. Langer, 225–50. Göttingen: V&R unipress, 2014 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.14220/9783737003087.225).
Third mission
- Cordoni, C. “Hiob, der Gott sucht”. Dein Wort, mein Weg: alltägliche Begegnung mit der Bibel 4/23 (2023): 34–36.
- Cordoni, C. “Land of the Sages”. ÖAW: Historical Identity Research Blog, 2021 (https://www.oeaw.ac.at/imafo/read/land-of-the-sages)
- Cordoni, C. “Die Unterwelt in der antiken jüdischen Literatur”.In Einmal Unterwelt und zurück: Die Erfindung des Jenseits (Ausstellungskatalog; Residenzgalerie Salzburg 21.7–4.11.2012), edited by Thomas Habersatter, Astrid Ducke and Gabriele Groschner, 69–77. Salzburg: Residenzgalerie Salzburg, 2012.
Reviews
- Jason Kalman. The Book of Job in Jewish Life and Thought: Critical Essays. Cincinatti, OH: Hebrew Union College Press, 2021. In Journal for the Study of Judaism 55 (2024): 124–27 (http://doi.org/10.1163/15700631-12511385)
- Ronit Nikolsky and Arnon Atzmon, eds. Studies in the Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature. The Brill Reference Library of Judaism 70. Leiden: Brill, 2021. In Journal for the Study of Judaism 54 (2023): 137–41 (https://doi.org/10.1163/15700631-12511361).
- Isaac Kalimi. Fighting over the Bible: Jewish Interpretation, Sectarianism and Polemic from Temple to Talmud and Beyond. Leiden: Brill, 2017. In Journal for the Study of Judaism 52 (2021): 604–7 (https://doi.org/10.1163/15700631-12511332).
- Suleiman A. Mourad, Naomi Koltun-Fromm, and Bedross Der Matossian, eds. Routledge Handbook on Jerusalem. London: Routledge, 2019. In NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion 75,2 (2021): 284–86 (https://doi.org/10.5117/NTT2021.2.010.CORD).
- Klaas Spronk and Evelyne van Staalduine-Sulman, eds., Hebrew Texts in Jewish, Christian and Muslim Surroundings. Studia Semitica Neerlandica 69. Brill: Leiden, 2018. In Journal for the Study of Judaism 51 (2019): 140–44 (https://doi.org/10.1163/15700631-12504501).
- Ze’ev. Safrai. Seeking out the Land: Land of Israel Traditions in Ancient Jewish, Christian and Samaritan Literature (200 B.C.E.–400 C.E.). Jewish and Christian Perspectives Series 32. Leiden: Brill, 2018. In Journal for the Study of Judaism 50 (2019): 284–89 (https://doi.org/10.1163/15700631-12502002)
- Görge Hasselhoff and Meret Strothmann, eds., Religio licita? Rom und die Juden. Studia Judaica 84. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016. In NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion 73,2 (2019): 126–8 (https://doi.org/10.5117/NTT2019.2.004.REVI).
- Marion Uhlig, Le prince des clercs. Barlaam et Josaphat ou l’art du recueil. Publications romanes et françaises 268, Geneva: Droz, 2018. In Zeitschrift für französische Sprache und Literatur 129,1 (2019): 108–10 (https://elibrary.steiner-verlag.de/article/99.105010/zfsl201901010801)
- Eyal Ben-Eliyahu. Identity & Territory: Jewish Perception of Space in Antiquity. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2019. In Journal for the Study of Judaism 51 (2019): 306–8 (https://doi.org/10.1163/15700631-12511290).
- Moulie Vidas. Tradition and the Formation of the Talmud. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014. In Journal of Ancient Judaism 7 (2016): 283–4 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.13109/jaju.2016.7.2.269)
Talks (*invited)
- "Cherem/Anathema in der rabbinischen Literatur: Der Fall Achan". Conference: Verdammt! Zur Vorgeschichte, Genese und Anwendung der Gattung der Anathematismen des Nizänums (325). Berlin, September 2024.
- “On dividing and binding scrolls, creating and authoring Torah: bBB 13b-16b”. Conference: The Authority of the “Writings” (Ketubim). Ebernburg, Bad Münster am Stein, September 2024.
- “A land that flows with milk and honey and devours its inhabitants: On the land of Israel of the Geonic period”. Guest lecture. Princeton, April 2024.
- “The Land of Israel of the early Middle Ages”. XIIth EAJS Congress. Goethe-Univ. Frankfurt, July 2023.
- “Spatial aspects of Jewish apocalypticism”. Comparative approaches to apocalyptic literature
- in Judaism, Islam & Christianity c. 600–c. 900. St Andrews, June 2023.*
- “Rabbinic Exegesis to Psalm 14 and 53”. Commentaries on Psalms: International Workshop. Vienna, June 2023.*
- “Reimagining the land of the Spies: Rabbinic Readings of Num 13–14”. The new Children of Israel International Congress. Newcomers in movement. From Constantine to Muhammad and beyond. Oxford, May 2023.*
- “On the shoulders of scriptural giants”. 18th World Congress of Jewish Studies. August, Jerusalem 2022
- “’Have you noticed My servant Job?’ (Job 1:8): On the Gentile, the Patient, the Righteous and the Protester Job in premodern Jewish tradition“. International Jewish-Christian Bible Week. Münster, July 2022.*
- “Enduring Job: The use of Job in Pesiqta Rabbati”. NAPH 2022 International conference on Hebrew Language, Literature, and Culture. Austin, June 2022.*
- “Hebräisch als rabbinische Utopie? Überlegungen zum Verhältnis von Sprache und Identität in ausgewählten Midraschim”. Kolloquium: Sprache – Religion – Grenzen. Spätantike und Frühmittelalter. Verläufe und Vergleiche. Historisches Kolleg, Munich. May 2022.*
- “The Land of the Future and the Future of the (Home)Land”. Ancient and early medieval religious homelands. Vienna, November 2021.
- “Rabbinised Job: Revisiting the Job of the Sages”. Lustrumcongress Job in het vroege christendom. Stichting Oudchristelijke Studiën. Driebergen, September 2021.*
- “Reconfiguring the land of Israel: Habilitationskolloquium”. University of Vienna, September 2021.
- “La Tierra según los Sabios”. Gastvortrag am Instituto Multidisciplinario de Historia y Ciencias Humanas (IMHICIHU) – CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina, April 2021.*
- “Die Literatur des klassischen Judentums: Ein Überblick über das erste Millennium unserer Zeitrechnung”. Guest lecture, Dept. Old Testament Studies, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, January 2020.*
- “Reconfiguring Erets Yisrael: A Late Antique and Early Medieval Project”. Guest lecture, Dept. Old Testament Studies, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, January 2020.*
- “Keeping the Land Jewish: On not selling and buying back land in the Land of Israel”. Seminar on the Land of Israel. PThU Amsterdam, December 2019.*
- “The meaning of (territorial) borders in Rabbinic Judaism”. Mainzer Akademietagung Fragmentierte Welten: Entflechtung in der Vormoderne, March 2019.*
- “It is Like a King who had a Vineyard: The Land of Israel in Rabbinic Parables”. Konferenz The Power of Parables: Narrating Religion in Late Antiquity. Utrecht, June 2019.*
- “Identity and Sense of Place in Rabbinic Literature: The Case of the Land of Israel”. Symposium: The Construction of Christian and Jewish Identities in Late Ancient Bible Interpretation. Univ. Vienna, November 2018.*
- “Individual and Collective Emotions in Esther Rabbah”. Workshop: Social and Personal Emotions. Univ. Groningen, May 2018.*
- “The land of Israel in Rabbinic Literature: Methodological Questions”. Doctoral colloquium. Dept. Jewish studies, Univ. Vienna, January 2018.*
- “Shaping an ancestral homeland”. XIth EAJS Congress. Krakow, July 2018.
- “The land of Israel in Late Midrash”. Jews on the Move: Exploring the Movement of Jews, Objects, Texts, and Ideas in Space and Time (BAJS Conference). Univ. Edinburgh, July 2017.
- “Know how to make answer to an unbeliever (Av 2:14): The response of Seder Eliyahu to proto-Karaism”. Xth Congress of the European Association of Jewish Studies. Paris, July 2014.
- “Framed Families: On Barlaam and Josaphat, its Apologues and the familia”. Colloque International D’Orient en Occident: les recueils de fables enchâssées avant les Mille et Une Nuits. Univ. Geneva, May 2010.*