Pilar Bertuzzi Rivett

Research Topic

My research focuses on the use of Hebrew divine names in Christian and Jewish religious and magical texts between Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. I am interested in the transmission of these names from Jewish and Coptic late antique communities to the Rites of Scrutiny that appear in the liturgy of Baptism of the early medieval Latin West.

Since my sources vary widely both geographically and linguistically, I apply an inter-disciplinary approach borrowing comparative methods from history, anthropology and archeology. I combine textual criticism with Austinian concepts of performative language to compare texts across ritual types, and follow the development of adjurations using Hebrew divine names in exorcistic contexts. My analysis challenges traditional Saussurean models of language and hypothesises a sharing of space across cultures, in an area of Jewish-Christian relations that is often neglected owing to the dearth of primary sources and the perceived language barriers.

Supervisor: Professor Matthew Kempshall and Professor Judith Olszowy-Schlanger