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What does it mean for Israel to be a Jewish state?

What do we mean when we refer to the State of Israel as 'the Jewish State'? What does it mean for the politics of the state to be identified as 'Jewish'? And what does it mean for an academic and intellectual field to study Israel as a Jewish state?

Loving Animals: Historical Reflections on Bestiality, Zoophilia and Post-Human Love

What is meant by ‘love’ between human and nonhuman animals? Why is sex with animals such a taboo? It is only in very recent years that some people have begun to undermine the absolute prohibition on zoosexuality. Are their arguments dangerous, perverted, or simply wrongheaded?

Gender, Marriage, Divorce and Human Sexuality

This lecture examines the relevant references in the New Testament (which are surprisingly fewer than references to money or violence) particularly in the context of ancient Jewish and Roman assumptions. Can a ‘biblical’ view of sexuality and gender assist today’s ethical debates?

Patterns of Looting in Syria/Iraq and the Western Art Market

As part of the symposium entitled ‘Cultural Heritage and War’, Dr Mark Altaweel discusses the situation in Iraq and Syria since the Fall of Mosul in 2011 and the looting of historical objects and artefacts coming into the Western Art Market and being sold illegally.