Medieval Fair Free Lecture Series
"Who Is Able to See? Heavenly Journeys from Baghdad to the Rhine"
By Dr. Tyson Putthoff, Lecturer, College of Professional and Continuing Studies, Associate Faculty, Schusterman Center for Judaic and Israel Studies
EAST Norman Public Library, 3051 E. Alameda Street
Friday, October 15th, 2026, 6:15pm CST
(Seating at 6:15, presentation begins at 6:30)
If you can’t be there in person, the presentation will also be available on Zoom at https://oklahoma.zoom.us/j/91497925617
Around the year 1000, students in Baghdad wrote to one of the leading rabbis of their day with an unusual question. Had the old masters really fasted, put their heads between their knees, and journeyed through the seven palaces of heaven to stand before God's throne? In this talk, Dr. Tyson Putthoff (University of Oklahoma) follows those heavenly-journey traditions from the Babylonian academies to the Rhineland. Set against the wider medieval world of Sufi mystics and Christian visionaries, the talk asks how a fragile human body could get near an overwhelming God and live.
The Medieval Fair Free Lecture Series is cosponsored by the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies University of Oklahoma.
Come learn more about the middle ages just for the fun of learning! No papers, no test, just interesting information about life long ago.
This event is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Norman Arts Council Hotel Tax Grant Program.