Jacques D Berlinerblau
Title
Professor
Department
Faculty - SFS
Research
Research
PRESENT AND RECENT ACADEMIC POSITIONS
Georgetown University, 2005-
Director, Program for Jewish Civilization, 2006- Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
Professor of Jewish Civilization, 2014-
Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
Associate Professor of Jewish Civilization, 2007-2014 Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
Visiting Associate Professor of Jewish Civilization, 2005-2007 Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
Hofstra University 1997-2007
Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and Languages, 1997-2003
Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Languages, 2003-2005
Associate Professor of Religious Studies, 2005-2007
Director of Jewish Studies, 1997-2007
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Drew University, 1998-2002
Affiliated Faculty,
Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, Program in Religion and Society Program in Official/Popular Religion in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
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EDUCATION
Ph.D. (Sociology), 1999
New School for Social Research
Ph.D. (Hebrew and Judaic Studies), 1991
New York University
M.A. (Sociology), 1993
New School for Social Research
M.A. (Hebrew and Judaic Studies), 1988
New York University
B.A. (Psychology), 1986
New York University
PUBLICATIONS
Books
How to Be Secular: A Call to Arms for Religious Freedom (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012). (Paperback version released 9/17/13).
Thumpin’ It: The Use and Abuse of the Bible in Today’s Presidential Politics (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008).
The Secular Bible: Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
Heresy in the University: The Black Athena Controversy and the Responsibilities of American Intellectuals (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1999).
The Vow and the “Popular Religious Groups” of Ancient Israel: A Philological and Sociological Inquiry. JSOT Supplement Series 210 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996). (Re-released in paperback in 2009 by T and T Clark)
Edited Books
Secularism on the Edge: Church and State in the United States, France and Israel, Eds. Jacques Berlinerblau, Sarah Fainberg, Aurora Nou. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan; 2014).
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Peer-Reviewed Articles and Scholarly Book Chapters
23. “Political Secularism,” in The Oxford Handbook of Secularism, Eds. John Shook and Phil Zuckerman (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014).
22. “Philip Roth and the Profanity Loop,” in Profane: Sacrilegious Expression and the Challenge of Modernity, Eds. Christopher S. Grenda, Chris Beneke, and David Nash (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2014).
21. “Secularism and Its Confusions,” in Secularism on the Edge: Church-State Relations in the United States, France and Israel, Eds. Jacques Berlinerblau, Sarah Fainberg, Aurora Nou. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan; 2014).
20. “Secular America: Nones, Atheists, and the Unaffiliated: A Conversation between Phil Zuckerman and Jacques Berlinerblau,” in Secularism on the Edge: Church-State Relations in the United States, France and Israel, Eds. Jacques Berlinerblau, Sarah Fainberg, Aurora Nou. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan; 2014).
19. “America: A Christian Nation or a Secular Nation? A Conversation between John Fea and Jacques Berlinerblau.” in Secularism on the Edge: Church-State Relations in the United States, France and Israel, Eds. Jacques Berlinerblau, Sarah Fainberg, Aurora Nou. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan; 2014).
18. “‘Imagine That!’: Philip Roth’s Threshold Scenes: The Case of ‘Femme Fatale,’” Philip Roth Studies 10: 35-58.
17. “Jewish Atheism,” in The Oxford Handbook of Atheism, Eds. Stephen Bullivant and Michael Ruse (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013) pp. 320-336.
16. “The Bible in the Presidential Elections of 2012, 2008, 2004 and the Collapse of American Secularism,” in Interested Readers: Essays on the Hebrew Bible in Honor of
David J. A. Clines, Eds. James Aitken, Jeremy M. S. Clines and Christl M. Maier. (Atlanta, Ga.: Society of Biblical Literature, 2013).
15. “Let the Study of American Secularisms Begin!,” Critical Research on Religion: An
Interdisciplinary Journal 1 (2013) pp. 225-232.
14. “Academic Roundtable: Harold Bloom’s Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine,”
Expositions 1 (2007-2008) 71-77.
13. “Durkheim’s Theory of Misrecognition: In Praise of Arrogant Theory,” in Teaching Durkheim, Ed. T. Godlove (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005) 213-233.
12. “The Bible as Literature?” Hebrew Studies 45 (2004) 9-26.
11. “Free Will and Determinism in First Isaiah: Secular Hermeneutics, The Poetics of Contingency, and E?mile Durkheim’s Homo Duplex,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 71 (2003) 767-791.
10. “The Delicate Flower of Biblical Sociology,” in Tracking The Tribes of Yahweh: On The Trail of a Classic, Ed. R. Boer (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2002) 59-76.
9. “‘Poor Bird, Not Knowing Which Way to Fly’: Biblical Scholarship’s Marginality, Secular Humanism, and the Laudable Occident,” Biblical Interpretation 10 (2002) 267- 304.
8. “Max Weber’s Useful Ambiguities and the Problem of Defining ‘Popular Religion,’” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 69 (2001) 605-626.
7. “Toward a Sociology of Heresy, Orthodoxy, and Doxa,” History of Religions 40 (2001) 327-351.
6. “Ideology, Pierre Bourdieu’s Doxa, and the Hebrew Bible,” Semeia 87 (1999) 193- 214.
5. “Preliminary Remarks for the Sociological Study of Israelite ‘Official Religion,’” in Ki Baruch Hu: Essays Submitted to Baruch Levine in Honor of his 65th Birthday, Eds. R. Chazan, W.W. Hallo, and L.H. Schiffman (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1999) 153-170.
4. “The Present Crisis and Uneven Triumphs of Biblical Sociology: Responses to N. Gottwald, S. Mandell, P. Davies, M. Sneed, R. Simkins and N. Lemche,” in Concepts of Class in Ancient Israel, Ed. M. Sneed (Florida: University of South Florida Press, 1999) 132-150.
3. “Some Sociological Observations on Moshe Greenberg’s Biblical Prose Prayer as a Window to the Popular Religion of Ancient Israel,” Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 12 (1995) 1-14.
2. “The ‘Popular Religion’ Paradigm in Old Testament Research: A Sociological Critique,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 60 (1993) 3-26.
1. “The Israelite Vow: Distress or Daily Life?” Biblica 72 (1991) 548-555.
Articles in Scholarly Anthologies
“Introduction: Epistemological Canyons: The Anomic Academy,” in Problems in African History: The Precolonial Centuries. Ed. Ruth Iyob (New Jersey: Markus Weiner Publishers, Forthcoming 2014). Reprinted from Heresy in the University. “Secularists and the Not-Godless World,” in
“The Unspeakable in Biblical Scholarship,” in Secularism and Biblical Studies, Ed. Roland Boer (London: Equinox, 2008) 20-24.
“The ‘Popular Religion’ Paradigm in Old Testament Research: A Sociological Critique,” in Social-Scientific Old Testament Criticism: A Sheffield Reader, Ed. D. Chalcraft (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997) 53-76. Reprint of No. 2 Above.
Encyclopedia Entries
“Sociology of Ancient Israel,” in Encyclopedia Judaica, Rev. Edition, Ed. David Sperling (New York: MacMillan Reference, 2006).
Other Articles
“The Crisis in Secular Studies,” The Chronicle Review (September 8, 2014). “Do We Know Philip Roth?” The Chronicle Review (April 7, 2014).
“You Can’t Talk People Out of Religion,” Response to Kenan Malik, The New Humanist (October 2012).
“The Death of American Secularism,” The New Humanist 127 (May/June 2012).
“The Bible Goes to Washington,” Reform Judaism (Summer 2008) 66-70.
“The Candidates’ ‘God Talk,’” The Chronicle Review (February 15, 2008) B12-14.
“What’s Wrong with the Society for Biblical Literature?” The Chronicle Review (November 10, 2006) B13-B15.
“On Philosemitism,” Georgetown University Program for Jewish Civilization, Occasional Papers.
“Official Religion and Popular Religion in Pre-Exilic Ancient Israel,” The Twenty-third Annual Rabbi Louis Feinberg Memorial Lecture in Judaic Studies (Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati Press, 2000).
Interviews
“A Public Interview with David Bezmozgis,” Occasional Papers on Literature and the Arts, Program for Jewish Civilization (Fall 2010).
“A Public Interview with Gary Shteyngart,” Program for Jewish Civilization (Fall 2009).
“A Conversation with Cynthia Ozick,” Occasional Papers on Literature and the Arts, Program for Jewish Civilization (Fall 2008).
“God is My Running Mate,” Interview with Daniel Berger of Jewcy.com, (February 13, 2008).
“Ignorance in No Excuse: Interview with Jacques Berlinerblau, Author of The Secular Bible: Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously,” Free Inquiry 26 (2005-2006)
Book Reviews and Responses
“Review of Bernard Avishai, Promiscuous: ‘Portnoy’s Complaint’ and Our Doomed Pursuit of Happiness (Yale University Press, 2012)” Studies in American Humor 28 (2013) Pp. 75-77.
“Recent Scholarly Books on Life After Death,” The Chronicle Review (May 2010). “Review of No One Sees God: The Dark Night of Atheists and Believers, by Michael
Novak,” Washington Post Book World (September 28, 2008) 3.
“Review of God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, by Christopher Hitchens,” The Chronicle Review (June 1, 2007) B6-B9.
“Review of Heresy in Transition: Transforming Ideas of Heresy in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, (Eds.) Ian Hunter, John Christian Laursen, Cary J. Nederman,” Church History Reviews (2007).
“Response to Basit Koshul,” Conversations in Religion and Theology 4 (2006) 73-77.
“The Observer Observed,” (Hebrew) Review of Saul Bellow’s The Actual. Ha-Doar
(March 5, 1999) 19.
“To Our Enemies, Confusion!” (Hebrew) Review of Salman Rushdie’s The Moor’s Last Sigh. Ha–Doar (September 20, 1998) 37-38.
“We Scholars,” Review of Mary Lefkowitz’s Not Out of Africa: How Afrocentrism Became an Excuse to Teach Myth as History and Black Athena Revisited, Eds. M. Lefkowitz and Guy MacLean Rogers, The Nation (October 28, 1996) 42-48.
?Articles Posted on Scholarly Websites
“The Unspeakable in Biblical Scholarship,” SBL Forum (http://www.sbl-site.org/Article.aspx?ArticleId=503).
“Official Religion and Popular Religion in Pre-Exilic Ancient Israel,” on bibleinterp.org.
INVITED LECTURES AND CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Invited Scholarly Lectures
“Atheism and Catholicism,” Saint Mary’s University, Twickenham, UK. June 16th-18th, 2014.
“Secularism and the American Future,” Center for Global Humanities, University of New England (March 31st, 2014).
“Evangelicals in a Pluralistic Society: Evangelical Engagement, Interfaith and Ecumenical,” Saint Mary’s Seminary & University, Baltimore. March 21-22, 2014.
“Understanding Secularism and Its Implications for American Foreign Policy,” Council on Foreign Relations. January 23rd, 2014.
“Political Secularism in the United States: Lessons for Canada From an Unstable, Unfinished, and Unpopular Ideology” McGill University, Canada (October 23rd 2013).
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“The Secular Prospect,” Discussion of How to Be Secular: A Call to Arms for Religious Freedom, New York Public Library (April 11th, 2013).
“What’s the Point of a Philip Roth ‘Biography’?” Roundtable: Roth and Literary Biography, Roth@80 Conference, Philip Roth Society (March 18th, 2013).
“How to Be Secularish,” Public Values Seminar, Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture, Trinity College (November 27th, 2012).
“Ten Biggest Misconceptions about Secularism,” Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture, Trinity College (November 26th, 2012).
“Are American Jews the Most Secular People on Earth?” Jewish Studies Center, Baruch College (October 15th, 2012).
“The Use of Religion in the 2008 and 2012 Presidential Elections,” and “Secularism: What Is It and Is It Dead?” Allen-Head Lecture Series, Austin College (October 9th, 2012).
“The Bible in the Presidential Elections of 2012, 2008, and 2004,” Plenary Address, “The Bible in the Public Square” Conference, Duke University (September 11th, 2012).
“Is Secularism Dead? Religious Moderates, Religious Extremists, New Atheists & the Fight for America’s Soul,” Center for Religion and Civic Culture, University of Southern California (November 15th, 2011).
“Are Jews the Most Secular People in America?” Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles (November 15th, 2011).
“The Paradox of Atheism,” Plenary Address, International Association for the History of Religions, University of Toronto (August 20th 2010).
“Secularism and the Return of the Sacred,” Princeton University Theological Seminary (May 6th 2009).
“Faith and Values in the 2008 Presidential Election,” Thiel College (March 26th, 2009).
“Martin Bernal’s Black Athena Revisited,” Department of Classics, Miami of Ohio University (March 5th 2009).
“Faith and Values in the 2008 Presidential Election,” Department of Political Science, Miami of Ohio University (March 6th, 2009).
“Faith, Values, Evangelicals and the Race for President,” Annual Batey Lecture, Rhodes College (October 28th, 2008).
“Political Theologies,” Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, Georgetown University (October 15th, 2008).
“Religion, Politics, Secularism and the Election of 2008,” Annual Colliver Lecture, University of the Pacific (September 25th, 2008).
“Religion and Religions,” Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, Georgetown University (September 4th, 2008).
“Votes, Values and Religion Go to the Primaries,” Wolfson Center for National Affairs, New School for Social Research (April 16th 2008).
“Forum on Religion and the Presidency,” Stanford University (February 21st, 2008).
“The Fate of Secularism,” Department of Religion, Stanford University (February 20th 2008).
“Religion, Politics and the 2008 Election,” Wolfson Center for National Affairs, New School for Social Research (November 1st, 2007).
“A Foreign Policy in Christ?” Departments of Religion and Political Science, Bowdoin College (April 20th, 2007).
“The Bible and Contemporary American Politics,” Program for Jewish Civilization, Georgetown University (September 5th, 2006).
“How Jews and Christians Invented the Bible,” with Provost James O’Donnell, Mortara Center for International Affairs, Georgetown University (March 15th, 2006).
“Is Secularism Dead?” Program for Jewish Civilization, Georgetown University (January 25th, 2006).
Panel Discussion, Jacques Berlinerblau’s The Secular Bible: Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously. Respondents: David Clines, Michael Fox, Philip Davies. Presented by the Social Sciences and the Interpretation of Hebrew Scriptures Section of the Society of Biblical Literature (November 19th, 2005).
“On Philosemitism,” Program for Jewish Civilization, Georgetown University (September 28th, 2005).
“Is Secularism Dead?” Sponsored by the Wolfson Center for National Affairs of the New School for Social Research (September 27th , 2005).
“On Alan Wolfe’s The Transformation of American Religion,” (Moderator/Discussant) Panelists: Alan Wolfe, Michael Lind, Peggy Steinfels, Juan Williams. New School for Social Research (November 19th, 2003).
“Who Wrote the Bible? Some Heretical Responses Based on the Archaeological and Inscriptional Evidence of Seemingly Orthodox Israelites,” Distinguished Faculty Lecture, Hofstra University (February 28th, 2001).
“The Goddess and Ancient Israelite Popular Religion,” The Twenty-Third Annual Rabbi Louis Feinberg Memorial Lecture in Judaic Studies, University of Cincinnati (May 11th, 2000).
“Martin Bernal’s Black Athena and the Field of Classics,” Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati (May 12th, 2000).
“What Does Martin Bernal’s Black Athena Teach Us about Heresy in the University?” The New School for Social Research (December 8th, 1999).
“An Inquisition at Brooklyn College: Martin Bernal's Heresies,” The Ewen Lecture in Civil Liberties, Sponsored by the Wolfe Institute for the Humanities at Brooklyn College (December 10th, 1996).
“Martin Bernal's Black Athena and the Sociology of Knowledge,” Sponsored by the Department of Sociology of the New School for Social Research (December 10th, 1996).
“Politics and History in Martin Bernal's Black Athena,” Center for Historical Studies Annual Conference, The New School for Social Research (April 30th, 1993).
“Sociological Perspectives on Israelite Religion,” Columbia University Hebrew Bible Faculty Seminar (October 13th, 1992).
Conferences Directed and Scholarly Panels Organized
Organizer: “Secularism on the Edge: Church and State in the United States, France, and Israel,” Georgetown University (February 20th-22nd, 2013).
Organizer: “Evangelicals, Israel and American Foreign Policy,” Georgetown University (October 14th, 2008).
Organizer: “So Who Will the Jews Vote For in 2008? Movers and Shakers Weigh In.” Georgetown University (October 30th 2008).
Organizer (with Dr. Jorunn Buckley): “Secularism and the Study of Religion,” Wildcard Session of the American Academy of Religion (Washington DC, November 20th, 2006).
Organizer (with Dr. Daniel Varisco): “Islam, Hermeneutics and Secular Humanism,” Providence Rhode Island, Society for the Anthropology of Religion (April 2003).
Organizer, Moderator, Respondent: “Durkheimian Collective Representations and Religion: Possibilities and Problems,” Regional American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature (New Brunswick, March 2000).
Symposium Director: “Israel at 50," Hofstra University (Fall 1998).
Papers Delivered at Scholarly Conferences
SBL=Society of Biblical Literature
AAR=American Academy of Religion
ASA= American Sociological Association
ASR=Association for the Sociology of Religion AJS=Association for Jewish Studies
“Secularism, Jewish Literature and the Return of the Sacred,” American Comparative Literature Association, New York University, N.Y. March 20-13, 2014.
“The Great Jewish-American Secular Novelist? Rethinking the Ideology of Secularism in Philip Roth’s Fiction,” AJS (Boston, December 15th, 2013)
“The Bible, the Public Schools, and American Secularism,” SBL (Baltimore, November 17th, 2013).
“Jazz Improvisation and Social Theory,” Response to Professor Arnold Davidson, AAR (Chicago, November 17th, 2012)
“How to be Secular: A Call to Arms for Religious Freedom,” Responses to Professors Kathryn Lofton, William Arnal, Susan Thistlethwaite,” AAR (Chicago, November 17th , 2012).
“Why Do So Many Jews Refer to Themselves as Secular?” AJS (Washington, DC, December 18th, 2011).
“Rhetoric and the New Testament” and “What is the Future of Biblical Studies in Academia? Questions, Challenges, Visions,” SBL (San Francisco, November 20th, 2011).
“Barack and the Bible,” SBL (Boston, November 20th, 2008).
“The Bible and the 2008 Presidential Election,” AAR (Chicago, November 1st, 2008).
“The Use of Scriptural Allusions in Contemporary Political Rhetoric,” SBL (November 19th, 2007).
“Secularism and the Study of Religion,” AAR (Washington DC, November 18th, 2006).
“The Bible in Contemporary American Political Rhetoric,” SBL (Edinburgh, July 4th, 2006).
“What’s Wrong with the SBL?” SBL (Edinburgh, July 3rd, 2006).
“The Secular Study of the Qur’a?n: Prospects and Problems,” SBL (Philadelphia, November 2005).
“Ecumenicism and the Scholarly Study of Islam,” AAR (San Antonio, November 21st, 2004).
“Textual Self-Consciousness, the Hebrew Bible, and the Qur’a?n,” SBL (San Antonio, November 22nd, 2004).
“The Bible as Literature? Against ‘Mono-Authorism,’” SBL (Atlanta, November 24th, 2003).
“The Bible, The Quran and Secular Hermeneutics,” SAR (Providence, April 3rd 2003).
“The Book of Genesis as Collective Representation,” SBL (Denver, November 2001).
“Determinism and Freewill in Isaiah and Jeremiah,” SBL (Rome, July 10th, 2001).
“Why Has a Tradition of Secular Humanism Never Developed in the Field of Biblical Scholarship?” SBL (Nashville, Nov. 20th, 2000).
“Race, the Hebrew Bible, and Martin Bernal’s Black Athena,” SBL (Nashville, November 21st, 2000).
“Bourdieu and Bible,” AAR (Boston, November 22nd, 1999).
“The Doxa of Scripture,” SBL (Orlando, November 20th, 1998).
“Northwest Semites in the Aegean?: Evaluating the Gordon-Astour-Bernal School,” SBL (San Francisco, November 23rd ,1997).
“The Sociology of Israelite Religion After Twenty Five Years: A Critical Appraisal,” SBL (New Orleans, November 20th, 1996.
“Israelite 'Official Religion': Some Preliminary Sociological Observations,” SBL (Philadelphia, November 19th,1995).
“Gender and Genocide: A Response to Professor Helen Fein,” ASA (Washington, DC, August 21st, 1995).
“The Sociology of Israelite Religion: Introducing a New Paradigm,” SBL (Louvain, August 5th, 1994).
“The Sociology of Sacred Texts: The Concept of Power From Nietzsche/Weber to Michel Foucault,” AAR (Washington, DC, November 20th, 1993).
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“Max Weber's Ancient Judaism and the Study of'Popular Religion,” ASA (Miami, August 15th, 1993).
“'Official Religion': The Other Side of 'Popular Religion,’” ASR, (Miami, August 12th, 1993).
“'Official Religion' and the Study of Ancient Israel,” SBL (Philadelphia, March 5th, 1993).
“The 'Popular Religion' Paradigm: Where Do We Stand? Where Do We Go?” ASR (Pittsburgh, August 18th, 1992).
“'Popular Religion' in the Sociology of Max Weber,” SBL (Washington, DC, February 27th, 1992).
“'Popular Religion' in Studies of Ancient Judaism: A Sociological Reading and a Methodological Critique,” SBL (Kansas City, November 23rd, 1992).
“The 'Popular/Official' Paradigm in the Study of Israelite Religion,” SBL (Rome, July 17th, 1991).
“The Israelite Vow as a Window to the So-Called 'Popular Religion,'” SBL (New York, March 19th, 1991).
Professional Reviewing and Responsibilities
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Sociology of Religion.
Book review editor Philip Roth Studies.
Professional Consulting
“Briefing on Political Religions and Secularism to Members of the Department of Defense,” CENTRA (February 18th, 2010).
“Briefing on Jewish Voting Patterns, “ American Jewish Committee (December 3rd, 2008).
“Briefing on Global Anti-Semitism with Gregg Rickman, Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, United States State Department of State,” Hosted by President Jack DeGioia, Georgetown University (April 10th, 2007).
TEACHING
Georgetown University (2005-)
The Bible and Contemporary Politics
Philo-Semitism and Anti-Semitism
How Jews and Christians Invented the Bible (team-taught with Provost James O’Donnell)
Introduction to Jewish Civilization
Jewish-American Literature
Secularism, Atheism, Agnosticism
Senior Honors Thesis
Secular States and Political Religions
Philip Roth: Secular Jewish Fiction
American Secularism (SFS Proseminar)
Fiction of Politics and International Relations (SFS Proseminar)
Hofstra University (1997-2005)
Modern Jewish Intellectuals
Secularism: History and Prospect
Blacks and Jews: Interrelations in the Diaspora (team-taught with Dr. Heather Parker) Women in the Hebrew Bible
The Bible as Literature
Who Wrote the Bible? (team-taught with Dr. Stephanie Cobb)
The Book of Genesis
Judaic Perspectives on the Hebrew Bible: Ancient and Modern
Biblical Hebrew I and II
Jewish-American Literature
Judaism and Islam
Approaches to the Study of Religion
Drew University Graduate School (1998-2002)
Durkheim, Religion and the Functionalist Tradition Official Religion and Popular Religion in Ancient Israel History of Social Theory
Social Theory and Religion
Sociology of Ancient Israel
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Hebrew Union College (2003)
The Sociology of Ancient Israelite Religion
UNIVERSITY SERVICE AND MISCELLANEOUS PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
University Service
Georgetown University (2005-2014)
Faculty Senate (2013-2016)
Georgetown College Executive Council (2014-2015)
Executive Committee, Center for Security Studies (2013)
Search Committee for Jewish Chaplain (2010)
Faculty Library Advisory Committee (2009-2015)
Chaired Search Committee, Visiting Professor of Jewish Civilization (2009) Moderated Televised Debate for Lauinger Library Associates (October 21st, 2008) Public Lecture with Dr. Michael Eric Dyson for Lauinger Library Associates (March 26th, 2008)
Search Committee for CULP Assistant Professor (2008)
Prelude Program (2006)
Parents Weekend (2006)
Hofstra University (1997-2006)
Chair, Departmental Personnel Committee, 2005
Faculty Policy Review Board (2004)
Ad Hoc Tenure Committee (2003-2004)
Departmental Representative, AAUP (2000-2005)
Chair, Faculty Search for Hebrew and Judaic Studies (2003, 2005) Chair, Departmental Tenure Committee (2004)
Curriculum Proposals Committee (2000) Hofstra University Honors College (2001, 2005)
Professional Activities
Co-Chair, Critical Theory and Discourses on Religion Section, American Academy of Religion (2012-2015)
Member Steering Committee: “Social Sciences and the Interpretation of Hebrew Scriptures” Section, Society for Biblical Literature (1999-2004)
?External Referee of Book Manuscripts:
Cambridge University Press Oxford University Press Duke University Press.
Professional Associations
Society of Biblical Literature American Academy of Religion American Sociological Association Association of Jewish Studies
Languages
Modern Hebrew, competency (speaking, writing, reading) French, near native fluency (speaking, reading)
Italian (reading and speaking ability)
German (reading ability)
Biblical Hebrew Canaanite Dialects
Awards and Grants
Georgetown University Reflective Engagement Initiative, $15,000 for “Faith Complex” Distinguished Faculty Lecture (Hofstra University) 2000
Stessin Prize (Best Publication by a Faculty Member at Hofstra University) 1999 Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship, New York University, 1990
Georgetown University, 2005-
Director, Program for Jewish Civilization, 2006- Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
Professor of Jewish Civilization, 2014-
Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
Associate Professor of Jewish Civilization, 2007-2014 Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
Visiting Associate Professor of Jewish Civilization, 2005-2007 Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
Hofstra University 1997-2007
Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and Languages, 1997-2003
Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Languages, 2003-2005
Associate Professor of Religious Studies, 2005-2007
Director of Jewish Studies, 1997-2007
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Drew University, 1998-2002
Affiliated Faculty,
Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, Program in Religion and Society Program in Official/Popular Religion in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
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EDUCATION
Ph.D. (Sociology), 1999
New School for Social Research
Ph.D. (Hebrew and Judaic Studies), 1991
New York University
M.A. (Sociology), 1993
New School for Social Research
M.A. (Hebrew and Judaic Studies), 1988
New York University
B.A. (Psychology), 1986
New York University
PUBLICATIONS
Books
How to Be Secular: A Call to Arms for Religious Freedom (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012). (Paperback version released 9/17/13).
Thumpin’ It: The Use and Abuse of the Bible in Today’s Presidential Politics (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008).
The Secular Bible: Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
Heresy in the University: The Black Athena Controversy and the Responsibilities of American Intellectuals (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1999).
The Vow and the “Popular Religious Groups” of Ancient Israel: A Philological and Sociological Inquiry. JSOT Supplement Series 210 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996). (Re-released in paperback in 2009 by T and T Clark)
Edited Books
Secularism on the Edge: Church and State in the United States, France and Israel, Eds. Jacques Berlinerblau, Sarah Fainberg, Aurora Nou. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan; 2014).
??
Peer-Reviewed Articles and Scholarly Book Chapters
23. “Political Secularism,” in The Oxford Handbook of Secularism, Eds. John Shook and Phil Zuckerman (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014).
22. “Philip Roth and the Profanity Loop,” in Profane: Sacrilegious Expression and the Challenge of Modernity, Eds. Christopher S. Grenda, Chris Beneke, and David Nash (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2014).
21. “Secularism and Its Confusions,” in Secularism on the Edge: Church-State Relations in the United States, France and Israel, Eds. Jacques Berlinerblau, Sarah Fainberg, Aurora Nou. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan; 2014).
20. “Secular America: Nones, Atheists, and the Unaffiliated: A Conversation between Phil Zuckerman and Jacques Berlinerblau,” in Secularism on the Edge: Church-State Relations in the United States, France and Israel, Eds. Jacques Berlinerblau, Sarah Fainberg, Aurora Nou. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan; 2014).
19. “America: A Christian Nation or a Secular Nation? A Conversation between John Fea and Jacques Berlinerblau.” in Secularism on the Edge: Church-State Relations in the United States, France and Israel, Eds. Jacques Berlinerblau, Sarah Fainberg, Aurora Nou. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan; 2014).
18. “‘Imagine That!’: Philip Roth’s Threshold Scenes: The Case of ‘Femme Fatale,’” Philip Roth Studies 10: 35-58.
17. “Jewish Atheism,” in The Oxford Handbook of Atheism, Eds. Stephen Bullivant and Michael Ruse (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013) pp. 320-336.
16. “The Bible in the Presidential Elections of 2012, 2008, 2004 and the Collapse of American Secularism,” in Interested Readers: Essays on the Hebrew Bible in Honor of
David J. A. Clines, Eds. James Aitken, Jeremy M. S. Clines and Christl M. Maier. (Atlanta, Ga.: Society of Biblical Literature, 2013).
15. “Let the Study of American Secularisms Begin!,” Critical Research on Religion: An
Interdisciplinary Journal 1 (2013) pp. 225-232.
14. “Academic Roundtable: Harold Bloom’s Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine,”
Expositions 1 (2007-2008) 71-77.
13. “Durkheim’s Theory of Misrecognition: In Praise of Arrogant Theory,” in Teaching Durkheim, Ed. T. Godlove (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005) 213-233.
12. “The Bible as Literature?” Hebrew Studies 45 (2004) 9-26.
11. “Free Will and Determinism in First Isaiah: Secular Hermeneutics, The Poetics of Contingency, and E?mile Durkheim’s Homo Duplex,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 71 (2003) 767-791.
10. “The Delicate Flower of Biblical Sociology,” in Tracking The Tribes of Yahweh: On The Trail of a Classic, Ed. R. Boer (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2002) 59-76.
9. “‘Poor Bird, Not Knowing Which Way to Fly’: Biblical Scholarship’s Marginality, Secular Humanism, and the Laudable Occident,” Biblical Interpretation 10 (2002) 267- 304.
8. “Max Weber’s Useful Ambiguities and the Problem of Defining ‘Popular Religion,’” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 69 (2001) 605-626.
7. “Toward a Sociology of Heresy, Orthodoxy, and Doxa,” History of Religions 40 (2001) 327-351.
6. “Ideology, Pierre Bourdieu’s Doxa, and the Hebrew Bible,” Semeia 87 (1999) 193- 214.
5. “Preliminary Remarks for the Sociological Study of Israelite ‘Official Religion,’” in Ki Baruch Hu: Essays Submitted to Baruch Levine in Honor of his 65th Birthday, Eds. R. Chazan, W.W. Hallo, and L.H. Schiffman (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1999) 153-170.
4. “The Present Crisis and Uneven Triumphs of Biblical Sociology: Responses to N. Gottwald, S. Mandell, P. Davies, M. Sneed, R. Simkins and N. Lemche,” in Concepts of Class in Ancient Israel, Ed. M. Sneed (Florida: University of South Florida Press, 1999) 132-150.
3. “Some Sociological Observations on Moshe Greenberg’s Biblical Prose Prayer as a Window to the Popular Religion of Ancient Israel,” Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 12 (1995) 1-14.
2. “The ‘Popular Religion’ Paradigm in Old Testament Research: A Sociological Critique,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 60 (1993) 3-26.
1. “The Israelite Vow: Distress or Daily Life?” Biblica 72 (1991) 548-555.
Articles in Scholarly Anthologies
“Introduction: Epistemological Canyons: The Anomic Academy,” in Problems in African History: The Precolonial Centuries. Ed. Ruth Iyob (New Jersey: Markus Weiner Publishers, Forthcoming 2014). Reprinted from Heresy in the University. “Secularists and the Not-Godless World,” in
“The Unspeakable in Biblical Scholarship,” in Secularism and Biblical Studies, Ed. Roland Boer (London: Equinox, 2008) 20-24.
“The ‘Popular Religion’ Paradigm in Old Testament Research: A Sociological Critique,” in Social-Scientific Old Testament Criticism: A Sheffield Reader, Ed. D. Chalcraft (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997) 53-76. Reprint of No. 2 Above.
Encyclopedia Entries
“Sociology of Ancient Israel,” in Encyclopedia Judaica, Rev. Edition, Ed. David Sperling (New York: MacMillan Reference, 2006).
Other Articles
“The Crisis in Secular Studies,” The Chronicle Review (September 8, 2014). “Do We Know Philip Roth?” The Chronicle Review (April 7, 2014).
“You Can’t Talk People Out of Religion,” Response to Kenan Malik, The New Humanist (October 2012).
“The Death of American Secularism,” The New Humanist 127 (May/June 2012).
“The Bible Goes to Washington,” Reform Judaism (Summer 2008) 66-70.
“The Candidates’ ‘God Talk,’” The Chronicle Review (February 15, 2008) B12-14.
“What’s Wrong with the Society for Biblical Literature?” The Chronicle Review (November 10, 2006) B13-B15.
“On Philosemitism,” Georgetown University Program for Jewish Civilization, Occasional Papers.
“Official Religion and Popular Religion in Pre-Exilic Ancient Israel,” The Twenty-third Annual Rabbi Louis Feinberg Memorial Lecture in Judaic Studies (Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati Press, 2000).
Interviews
“A Public Interview with David Bezmozgis,” Occasional Papers on Literature and the Arts, Program for Jewish Civilization (Fall 2010).
“A Public Interview with Gary Shteyngart,” Program for Jewish Civilization (Fall 2009).
“A Conversation with Cynthia Ozick,” Occasional Papers on Literature and the Arts, Program for Jewish Civilization (Fall 2008).
“God is My Running Mate,” Interview with Daniel Berger of Jewcy.com, (February 13, 2008).
“Ignorance in No Excuse: Interview with Jacques Berlinerblau, Author of The Secular Bible: Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously,” Free Inquiry 26 (2005-2006)
Book Reviews and Responses
“Review of Bernard Avishai, Promiscuous: ‘Portnoy’s Complaint’ and Our Doomed Pursuit of Happiness (Yale University Press, 2012)” Studies in American Humor 28 (2013) Pp. 75-77.
“Recent Scholarly Books on Life After Death,” The Chronicle Review (May 2010). “Review of No One Sees God: The Dark Night of Atheists and Believers, by Michael
Novak,” Washington Post Book World (September 28, 2008) 3.
“Review of God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, by Christopher Hitchens,” The Chronicle Review (June 1, 2007) B6-B9.
“Review of Heresy in Transition: Transforming Ideas of Heresy in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, (Eds.) Ian Hunter, John Christian Laursen, Cary J. Nederman,” Church History Reviews (2007).
“Response to Basit Koshul,” Conversations in Religion and Theology 4 (2006) 73-77.
“The Observer Observed,” (Hebrew) Review of Saul Bellow’s The Actual. Ha-Doar
(March 5, 1999) 19.
“To Our Enemies, Confusion!” (Hebrew) Review of Salman Rushdie’s The Moor’s Last Sigh. Ha–Doar (September 20, 1998) 37-38.
“We Scholars,” Review of Mary Lefkowitz’s Not Out of Africa: How Afrocentrism Became an Excuse to Teach Myth as History and Black Athena Revisited, Eds. M. Lefkowitz and Guy MacLean Rogers, The Nation (October 28, 1996) 42-48.
?Articles Posted on Scholarly Websites
“The Unspeakable in Biblical Scholarship,” SBL Forum (http://www.sbl-site.org/Article.aspx?ArticleId=503).
“Official Religion and Popular Religion in Pre-Exilic Ancient Israel,” on bibleinterp.org.
INVITED LECTURES AND CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Invited Scholarly Lectures
“Atheism and Catholicism,” Saint Mary’s University, Twickenham, UK. June 16th-18th, 2014.
“Secularism and the American Future,” Center for Global Humanities, University of New England (March 31st, 2014).
“Evangelicals in a Pluralistic Society: Evangelical Engagement, Interfaith and Ecumenical,” Saint Mary’s Seminary & University, Baltimore. March 21-22, 2014.
“Understanding Secularism and Its Implications for American Foreign Policy,” Council on Foreign Relations. January 23rd, 2014.
“Political Secularism in the United States: Lessons for Canada From an Unstable, Unfinished, and Unpopular Ideology” McGill University, Canada (October 23rd 2013).
“
“The Secular Prospect,” Discussion of How to Be Secular: A Call to Arms for Religious Freedom, New York Public Library (April 11th, 2013).
“What’s the Point of a Philip Roth ‘Biography’?” Roundtable: Roth and Literary Biography, Roth@80 Conference, Philip Roth Society (March 18th, 2013).
“How to Be Secularish,” Public Values Seminar, Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture, Trinity College (November 27th, 2012).
“Ten Biggest Misconceptions about Secularism,” Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture, Trinity College (November 26th, 2012).
“Are American Jews the Most Secular People on Earth?” Jewish Studies Center, Baruch College (October 15th, 2012).
“The Use of Religion in the 2008 and 2012 Presidential Elections,” and “Secularism: What Is It and Is It Dead?” Allen-Head Lecture Series, Austin College (October 9th, 2012).
“The Bible in the Presidential Elections of 2012, 2008, and 2004,” Plenary Address, “The Bible in the Public Square” Conference, Duke University (September 11th, 2012).
“Is Secularism Dead? Religious Moderates, Religious Extremists, New Atheists & the Fight for America’s Soul,” Center for Religion and Civic Culture, University of Southern California (November 15th, 2011).
“Are Jews the Most Secular People in America?” Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles (November 15th, 2011).
“The Paradox of Atheism,” Plenary Address, International Association for the History of Religions, University of Toronto (August 20th 2010).
“Secularism and the Return of the Sacred,” Princeton University Theological Seminary (May 6th 2009).
“Faith and Values in the 2008 Presidential Election,” Thiel College (March 26th, 2009).
“Martin Bernal’s Black Athena Revisited,” Department of Classics, Miami of Ohio University (March 5th 2009).
“Faith and Values in the 2008 Presidential Election,” Department of Political Science, Miami of Ohio University (March 6th, 2009).
“Faith, Values, Evangelicals and the Race for President,” Annual Batey Lecture, Rhodes College (October 28th, 2008).
“Political Theologies,” Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, Georgetown University (October 15th, 2008).
“Religion, Politics, Secularism and the Election of 2008,” Annual Colliver Lecture, University of the Pacific (September 25th, 2008).
“Religion and Religions,” Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, Georgetown University (September 4th, 2008).
“Votes, Values and Religion Go to the Primaries,” Wolfson Center for National Affairs, New School for Social Research (April 16th 2008).
“Forum on Religion and the Presidency,” Stanford University (February 21st, 2008).
“The Fate of Secularism,” Department of Religion, Stanford University (February 20th 2008).
“Religion, Politics and the 2008 Election,” Wolfson Center for National Affairs, New School for Social Research (November 1st, 2007).
“A Foreign Policy in Christ?” Departments of Religion and Political Science, Bowdoin College (April 20th, 2007).
“The Bible and Contemporary American Politics,” Program for Jewish Civilization, Georgetown University (September 5th, 2006).
“How Jews and Christians Invented the Bible,” with Provost James O’Donnell, Mortara Center for International Affairs, Georgetown University (March 15th, 2006).
“Is Secularism Dead?” Program for Jewish Civilization, Georgetown University (January 25th, 2006).
Panel Discussion, Jacques Berlinerblau’s The Secular Bible: Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously. Respondents: David Clines, Michael Fox, Philip Davies. Presented by the Social Sciences and the Interpretation of Hebrew Scriptures Section of the Society of Biblical Literature (November 19th, 2005).
“On Philosemitism,” Program for Jewish Civilization, Georgetown University (September 28th, 2005).
“Is Secularism Dead?” Sponsored by the Wolfson Center for National Affairs of the New School for Social Research (September 27th , 2005).
“On Alan Wolfe’s The Transformation of American Religion,” (Moderator/Discussant) Panelists: Alan Wolfe, Michael Lind, Peggy Steinfels, Juan Williams. New School for Social Research (November 19th, 2003).
“Who Wrote the Bible? Some Heretical Responses Based on the Archaeological and Inscriptional Evidence of Seemingly Orthodox Israelites,” Distinguished Faculty Lecture, Hofstra University (February 28th, 2001).
“The Goddess and Ancient Israelite Popular Religion,” The Twenty-Third Annual Rabbi Louis Feinberg Memorial Lecture in Judaic Studies, University of Cincinnati (May 11th, 2000).
“Martin Bernal’s Black Athena and the Field of Classics,” Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati (May 12th, 2000).
“What Does Martin Bernal’s Black Athena Teach Us about Heresy in the University?” The New School for Social Research (December 8th, 1999).
“An Inquisition at Brooklyn College: Martin Bernal's Heresies,” The Ewen Lecture in Civil Liberties, Sponsored by the Wolfe Institute for the Humanities at Brooklyn College (December 10th, 1996).
“Martin Bernal's Black Athena and the Sociology of Knowledge,” Sponsored by the Department of Sociology of the New School for Social Research (December 10th, 1996).
“Politics and History in Martin Bernal's Black Athena,” Center for Historical Studies Annual Conference, The New School for Social Research (April 30th, 1993).
“Sociological Perspectives on Israelite Religion,” Columbia University Hebrew Bible Faculty Seminar (October 13th, 1992).
Conferences Directed and Scholarly Panels Organized
Organizer: “Secularism on the Edge: Church and State in the United States, France, and Israel,” Georgetown University (February 20th-22nd, 2013).
Organizer: “Evangelicals, Israel and American Foreign Policy,” Georgetown University (October 14th, 2008).
Organizer: “So Who Will the Jews Vote For in 2008? Movers and Shakers Weigh In.” Georgetown University (October 30th 2008).
Organizer (with Dr. Jorunn Buckley): “Secularism and the Study of Religion,” Wildcard Session of the American Academy of Religion (Washington DC, November 20th, 2006).
Organizer (with Dr. Daniel Varisco): “Islam, Hermeneutics and Secular Humanism,” Providence Rhode Island, Society for the Anthropology of Religion (April 2003).
Organizer, Moderator, Respondent: “Durkheimian Collective Representations and Religion: Possibilities and Problems,” Regional American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature (New Brunswick, March 2000).
Symposium Director: “Israel at 50," Hofstra University (Fall 1998).
Papers Delivered at Scholarly Conferences
SBL=Society of Biblical Literature
AAR=American Academy of Religion
ASA= American Sociological Association
ASR=Association for the Sociology of Religion AJS=Association for Jewish Studies
“Secularism, Jewish Literature and the Return of the Sacred,” American Comparative Literature Association, New York University, N.Y. March 20-13, 2014.
“The Great Jewish-American Secular Novelist? Rethinking the Ideology of Secularism in Philip Roth’s Fiction,” AJS (Boston, December 15th, 2013)
“The Bible, the Public Schools, and American Secularism,” SBL (Baltimore, November 17th, 2013).
“Jazz Improvisation and Social Theory,” Response to Professor Arnold Davidson, AAR (Chicago, November 17th, 2012)
“How to be Secular: A Call to Arms for Religious Freedom,” Responses to Professors Kathryn Lofton, William Arnal, Susan Thistlethwaite,” AAR (Chicago, November 17th , 2012).
“Why Do So Many Jews Refer to Themselves as Secular?” AJS (Washington, DC, December 18th, 2011).
“Rhetoric and the New Testament” and “What is the Future of Biblical Studies in Academia? Questions, Challenges, Visions,” SBL (San Francisco, November 20th, 2011).
“Barack and the Bible,” SBL (Boston, November 20th, 2008).
“The Bible and the 2008 Presidential Election,” AAR (Chicago, November 1st, 2008).
“The Use of Scriptural Allusions in Contemporary Political Rhetoric,” SBL (November 19th, 2007).
“Secularism and the Study of Religion,” AAR (Washington DC, November 18th, 2006).
“The Bible in Contemporary American Political Rhetoric,” SBL (Edinburgh, July 4th, 2006).
“What’s Wrong with the SBL?” SBL (Edinburgh, July 3rd, 2006).
“The Secular Study of the Qur’a?n: Prospects and Problems,” SBL (Philadelphia, November 2005).
“Ecumenicism and the Scholarly Study of Islam,” AAR (San Antonio, November 21st, 2004).
“Textual Self-Consciousness, the Hebrew Bible, and the Qur’a?n,” SBL (San Antonio, November 22nd, 2004).
“The Bible as Literature? Against ‘Mono-Authorism,’” SBL (Atlanta, November 24th, 2003).
“The Bible, The Quran and Secular Hermeneutics,” SAR (Providence, April 3rd 2003).
“The Book of Genesis as Collective Representation,” SBL (Denver, November 2001).
“Determinism and Freewill in Isaiah and Jeremiah,” SBL (Rome, July 10th, 2001).
“Why Has a Tradition of Secular Humanism Never Developed in the Field of Biblical Scholarship?” SBL (Nashville, Nov. 20th, 2000).
“Race, the Hebrew Bible, and Martin Bernal’s Black Athena,” SBL (Nashville, November 21st, 2000).
“Bourdieu and Bible,” AAR (Boston, November 22nd, 1999).
“The Doxa of Scripture,” SBL (Orlando, November 20th, 1998).
“Northwest Semites in the Aegean?: Evaluating the Gordon-Astour-Bernal School,” SBL (San Francisco, November 23rd ,1997).
“The Sociology of Israelite Religion After Twenty Five Years: A Critical Appraisal,” SBL (New Orleans, November 20th, 1996.
“Israelite 'Official Religion': Some Preliminary Sociological Observations,” SBL (Philadelphia, November 19th,1995).
“Gender and Genocide: A Response to Professor Helen Fein,” ASA (Washington, DC, August 21st, 1995).
“The Sociology of Israelite Religion: Introducing a New Paradigm,” SBL (Louvain, August 5th, 1994).
“The Sociology of Sacred Texts: The Concept of Power From Nietzsche/Weber to Michel Foucault,” AAR (Washington, DC, November 20th, 1993).
12
“Max Weber's Ancient Judaism and the Study of'Popular Religion,” ASA (Miami, August 15th, 1993).
“'Official Religion': The Other Side of 'Popular Religion,’” ASR, (Miami, August 12th, 1993).
“'Official Religion' and the Study of Ancient Israel,” SBL (Philadelphia, March 5th, 1993).
“The 'Popular Religion' Paradigm: Where Do We Stand? Where Do We Go?” ASR (Pittsburgh, August 18th, 1992).
“'Popular Religion' in the Sociology of Max Weber,” SBL (Washington, DC, February 27th, 1992).
“'Popular Religion' in Studies of Ancient Judaism: A Sociological Reading and a Methodological Critique,” SBL (Kansas City, November 23rd, 1992).
“The 'Popular/Official' Paradigm in the Study of Israelite Religion,” SBL (Rome, July 17th, 1991).
“The Israelite Vow as a Window to the So-Called 'Popular Religion,'” SBL (New York, March 19th, 1991).
Professional Reviewing and Responsibilities
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Sociology of Religion.
Book review editor Philip Roth Studies.
Professional Consulting
“Briefing on Political Religions and Secularism to Members of the Department of Defense,” CENTRA (February 18th, 2010).
“Briefing on Jewish Voting Patterns, “ American Jewish Committee (December 3rd, 2008).
“Briefing on Global Anti-Semitism with Gregg Rickman, Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, United States State Department of State,” Hosted by President Jack DeGioia, Georgetown University (April 10th, 2007).
TEACHING
Georgetown University (2005-)
The Bible and Contemporary Politics
Philo-Semitism and Anti-Semitism
How Jews and Christians Invented the Bible (team-taught with Provost James O’Donnell)
Introduction to Jewish Civilization
Jewish-American Literature
Secularism, Atheism, Agnosticism
Senior Honors Thesis
Secular States and Political Religions
Philip Roth: Secular Jewish Fiction
American Secularism (SFS Proseminar)
Fiction of Politics and International Relations (SFS Proseminar)
Hofstra University (1997-2005)
Modern Jewish Intellectuals
Secularism: History and Prospect
Blacks and Jews: Interrelations in the Diaspora (team-taught with Dr. Heather Parker) Women in the Hebrew Bible
The Bible as Literature
Who Wrote the Bible? (team-taught with Dr. Stephanie Cobb)
The Book of Genesis
Judaic Perspectives on the Hebrew Bible: Ancient and Modern
Biblical Hebrew I and II
Jewish-American Literature
Judaism and Islam
Approaches to the Study of Religion
Drew University Graduate School (1998-2002)
Durkheim, Religion and the Functionalist Tradition Official Religion and Popular Religion in Ancient Israel History of Social Theory
Social Theory and Religion
Sociology of Ancient Israel
?
Hebrew Union College (2003)
The Sociology of Ancient Israelite Religion
UNIVERSITY SERVICE AND MISCELLANEOUS PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
University Service
Georgetown University (2005-2014)
Faculty Senate (2013-2016)
Georgetown College Executive Council (2014-2015)
Executive Committee, Center for Security Studies (2013)
Search Committee for Jewish Chaplain (2010)
Faculty Library Advisory Committee (2009-2015)
Chaired Search Committee, Visiting Professor of Jewish Civilization (2009) Moderated Televised Debate for Lauinger Library Associates (October 21st, 2008) Public Lecture with Dr. Michael Eric Dyson for Lauinger Library Associates (March 26th, 2008)
Search Committee for CULP Assistant Professor (2008)
Prelude Program (2006)
Parents Weekend (2006)
Hofstra University (1997-2006)
Chair, Departmental Personnel Committee, 2005
Faculty Policy Review Board (2004)
Ad Hoc Tenure Committee (2003-2004)
Departmental Representative, AAUP (2000-2005)
Chair, Faculty Search for Hebrew and Judaic Studies (2003, 2005) Chair, Departmental Tenure Committee (2004)
Curriculum Proposals Committee (2000) Hofstra University Honors College (2001, 2005)
Professional Activities
Co-Chair, Critical Theory and Discourses on Religion Section, American Academy of Religion (2012-2015)
Member Steering Committee: “Social Sciences and the Interpretation of Hebrew Scriptures” Section, Society for Biblical Literature (1999-2004)
?External Referee of Book Manuscripts:
Cambridge University Press Oxford University Press Duke University Press.
Professional Associations
Society of Biblical Literature American Academy of Religion American Sociological Association Association of Jewish Studies
Languages
Modern Hebrew, competency (speaking, writing, reading) French, near native fluency (speaking, reading)
Italian (reading and speaking ability)
German (reading ability)
Biblical Hebrew Canaanite Dialects
Awards and Grants
Georgetown University Reflective Engagement Initiative, $15,000 for “Faith Complex” Distinguished Faculty Lecture (Hofstra University) 2000
Stessin Prize (Best Publication by a Faculty Member at Hofstra University) 1999 Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship, New York University, 1990