Berge co-founded the research centre вЂњBible and Cultural MemoryвЂќ, Copenhagen University and was co-leader of the research program вЂњCultural memory in biblical exegesisвЂќ (European Association of Biblical Studies). KГҐre Berge, is Professor of Old Testament, NLA University College, Bergen and has had teaching experiences from MF School of Theology, Oslo Aarhus University Faculty of Theology, UiO.

KГҐre Berge, Professor of Old Testament Studies, NLA University College, Bergen, The Interaction between Elite Culture and Popular Tradition in the Creation of the Pentateuch. Berge has published on cultural memory studies in biblical literature and culture, and will visit LDG for shorter periods contributing his studies of the formation of ethnic and religious identity as mirrored in the biblical Pentateuch. He was visiting scholar at Vanderbilt University, USA (1991//9) and is present participant of the University of Munich - University of Alberta Old Testament symposium (2011-2012. BergeвЂ™s on-going studies that have resulted in a number of articles, such as: 'National Identity and Popular Sentiment in Genesis and Exodus' (2010), and вЂњIs there a public teaching in Deuteronomy? Literacy, Utopia and Memory in Deuteronomy.вЂќ Thus, a study of these texts represents not only an example of the local-global problem it also shows how central elements of Jewish-Christian religious tradition originated as вЂњhybrid culture.вЂќДЇinally, this project is a follow-up of Prof.

The rationale of this project within the LDG agenda is that it deals with texts that have served as uncontested resources for sustaining identity on local as well as global ground (Judaism and Christian tradition). By focusing on the texts as вЂњethnic charter mythsвЂќ for an ethnic or national identity in the Persian period, Berge investigates the relation between the elite construct and вЂњthe populace.вЂќ The project focuses on two issues: a) the role of the Exodus rituals (Pesah, Massot) in construction of ethnic identity, and b) вЂњthe bookвЂќ in Deuteronomy as an object of ethnic didacticism.ДЄs a part of the LDG project, the project interprets certain central, biblical texts as the result of local-global negotiation in cultural identity-making, and their function in the relevant culture. A problem that has not been very much investigated, however, is that this construct was an elite product, within a mainly illiterate culture. White 1991), now presented in the Pentateuchal books.

At the same time they made use of local traditions and appealed to some kind of вЂњfolk sentiment.вЂќ Resulting from this, the вЂњIsraeliteвЂќ identity was created as a вЂњmiddle groundвЂќ (R. This appears in, e.g., notices about the invasions of other nations in Deuteronomy 1-3 вЂ“ which are similar to Ancient Near Eastern royal reports on military campaigns вЂ“ and in comprehensive concepts of, e.g., monotheism and the notion of a вЂњbook religionвЂќ as well. The scribal elite (the вЂњliteratiвЂќ) who produced the Pentateuchal books drew from resources in the ancient Eastern Mediterranean and Near Orient culture. Special attention is paid to the cultural significance of the so-called exodus tradition, and to the formation of Deuteronomy as a book. This project deals with the production of вЂњthe Israelite PastвЂќ as a cultural memory of the Persian Yehud.

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