2003
ISSUE 62
19
Marc Lee Raphael, C ’68
Sophia and Nathan Gumenick Professor of Judaic Studies; Professor of
Religion; Chair, Department of Religion, The College of William and Mary
|
Judaism in America
|
He has just published
Judaism in America
,
(
Columbia University Press, 2003) and is working on an autobiogra-
phy/memoir,
Diary of a Los Angeles Jew, 1942-1972.
David Ruderman, N ’71
Joseph Meyerhoff Professor of Modern Jewish History; Director, Center
for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania
|
Jewish intel-
lectual and cultural history of modern Europe, from the Renaissance to
the Haskalah
|
He is working on two books on early 18
th
century inter-
actions between Jews and Christians in England and the Netherlands
and a synthetic book on the cultural history of early modern Jewry.
Norbert M. Samuelson, C ’62
Professor of Religious Studies and the Harold and Jean Grossman Chair
of Jewish Studies, Arizona State University
|
The history of the interac-
tion between Judaism and science
|
He is beginning research on the
history of the concept of light in western scientific and religious tradi-
tions as it may relate to a constructive Jewish theology of redemption.
Marc Saperstein, N ’72
Charles E. Smith Professor of Jewish History; Director, Program in Judaic
Studies, George Washington University
|
History of Jewish preaching
|
He has just completed his book on
Rabbi Saul Levi Morteira and the
Portuguese Jewish Community of Amsterdam,
based on Morteira’s over
600
manuscripts and printed sermons. His current research is on 19
th
and 20
th
century preaching in times of crisis, especially responses to
war and Jewish persecution.
Robert Seltzer, C ‘61
Professor of History, Hunter College and Graduate School of the City
University of New York; Director, Jewish Social Studies Program, Hunter
College
|
Modern Jewish intellectual history
|
His next book,
What is
Modern about Modern Judaism,
will study the ideology of Reform and
other branches of liberal Judaism against the background of modern
intellectual history to understand the current swing to greater tradition-
alism within Reform and the limitations of that tendency.
Michael A. Signer, C ’70
Abrams Professor of Jewish Thought and Culture, Department of
Theology; Director, Notre Dame Holocaust Project, University of Notre
Dame
|
Medieval Jewish and Christian biblical commentaries and
Jewish-Christian relations from antiquity to the modern period
|
His
forthcoming book is on
Journeys to Reconciliation: From II Vatican to
the Third Millennium.
discussions between Christians
and Jews, and for organizing an
international theological sym-
posium at the Center for
Dialogue and Prayer near
Auschwitz that brought togeth-
er Poles, Germans, and
American Jews and Catholics.
While
Greenspahn
is proud of
his programs of Judaic studies
and Hebrew that offered other-
wise unavailable educational
opportunities for the Denver
Jewish community, he is espe-
cially proud of his book,
When
Brothers Dwell Together
,
which
explores the Bible’s portrayal of
sibling relations against the
backdrop of Israelite and ancient
Near Eastern law and custom;
“
its major focus is on the Bible’s
consistent preference for the
youngest offspring, which reflects
important elements of Israel’s
own history and circumstances.”
Norbert Samuelson
’
s greatest
pride is in his ongoing relation-
ships with his former students,
some of whom have gone on to
their own academic careers, and
in their achievements, while
Raphael
notes, “I am most
proud that I have done my best
to be a university professor and
a congregational rabbi at the
same time, and have enjoyed
the stimulation of balancing
two challenging professions.”
The relationship between the
seminary and the academy con-
tinues to preoccupy these alumni.
Michael Morgan
recalls the late
1960
s and 1970s, during the
recovery of ethnicity on the
American college campus, “when
the study of the Jewish past and
the Jewish experience was given a
certain kind of public credibility
–
that it could be studied the way
any other cultural, religious, or
ethnic tradition could be studied,
that it could be studied by any-
body, and that it could be
studied in a secular university.
These programs have enriched
our understanding of the Jewish
experience. There’s been a real
fertilization of the fields of Jewish
studies by the humanities and
social sciences. Where would we
be without the development of
new approaches in historiogra-
phy, interdisciplinary approaches
between literature, history, and
intellectual history or cultural
studies and Judaism?”
Hass
stresses that the academy as
a center for advanced Judaic stud-
ies is extremely important in that
“
it addresses Judaism not as an
‘
in-house’ theology problem, but
as a part of the human experi-
ence, on both a religious and
cultural plane.”
Signer
notes,
“
The academy provides an inter-
disciplinary and interreligious
environment that encourages the-
oretical speculation, without
being accountable for any partic-
ular practical application. People
who become scholars are often
very committed to improving the
quality of Jewish life and Jewish
knowledge; they constantly look
for the novel approach that moves
against the consensus or chal-
lenges the mainstream.”
Michael Morgan, N ‘70
Rabbinical Alumni in Universities
|
Areas of Specialization
|
Newest Research
|
(
continued from page 17)
(
continued on page 21)
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continued on page 20)