Upcoming Events
Upcoming events will be posted here once scheduled - check back to see what’s coming up!
Past Events and Programs
Lectures
- “Musical Theater and Nazi-Era Stories: Understanding an Uncomfortable Pairing”, Dr. Judah M. Cohen, Lou & Sybil Mervis Professor of Jewish Culture and Associate Professor of Musicology, Indiana University
Recounting the Nazi period presents to many a nearly sacred boundary of artistic taste, especially when it comes to musical theater. In this talk, Dr. Cohen approaches musical theater as an artistic language that has engaged deeply with the politics of Nazism since the 1930s. His accounts of these works help forge a deeper portrait of the form and its artists, while addressing the postwar shift into moral tension with institutions devoted to Holocaust memory.
- “On Different Grounds: Jewish and Christian Understandings of the Middle East”, Dr. Amy-Jill Levine, University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, Vanderbilt University
- “Jesus the Jewish Storyteller: Of Pearls and Prodigals”, Dr. Amy-Jill Levine, University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, Vanderbilt University
- “What Are Jews For?: The History of the Idea of Jewish Chosenness”, Professor Adam Sutcliffe, Kings College London
The biblical ‘election of Israel’ – the setting apart of the Jews by God, as recipients of divine protection, and bearers of special holiness – has been the focus of fascination and repeated reappraisal by both Jews and non-Jews throughout the modern era. This theological concept lies at the heart of a broader question: what is the particular purpose of Jews in the world? In this lecture Professor Sutcliffe will trace the history of the ‘Jewish Purpose Question’ from its biblical and medieval roots, through key early modern thinkers such as Spinoza and Moses Mendelssohn, and up to the twenty-first century.
Religion Studies Colloquium
- “A Time to Break Down and a Time to Build Up: Luther, Lutherans, and Jews at 500 Years”, Peter Pettit, Ph.D.
- “From the Esoteric to the Environmental: A 20th-Century Religio-Philosophical Journey”, Professor Christian Wiese, Goethe University, Frankfort
- “On Dinosaurs and Jews at the Creation Museum”, Dustin Nash, Ph.D.
- “Finding the World & Bringing it Home: Incorporating Travel Experience into Classroom Pedagogy”, Sharon Albert
- “Comparative Textual Criticism and the Problem of Internal Evidence”, William “Chip” Gruen, Ph.D.
- “Hindu Missionaries in America”, Abhishek Ghosh, Ph.D.
- “World War I Military Service and the Evolution of Religious Pluralism”, Jessica Cooperman, Ph.D.
- “Can We Evaluate the State of the 2nd Century Pauline Corpus?”, William “Chip” Gruen, Ph.D.
Capstone Discussion with Dr. Jessica Cooperman
The Wise Bean Coffee Shop, 634 North New Street, Bethlehem, PA
| Legacy Heritage Fund Series | |
|---|---|
 |
Men, Money and Materiel: 1948 as a Jewish World War Lecture by Professor Derek Penslar Moyer Hall, Muhlenberg College |
 |
Traders, Translators and Tax Collectors: Jews and the Economic Life of the Ottoman Empire Lecture by Professor Mark Stein Jewish Day School, Allentown, PA Co-Sponsored by the History Department, Jewish Day School |
 |
Supporting Jews Transforming Judaism: Jewish Charitable Organizations in Medieval Spain Lecture by Professor Hartley Lachter Third Street Bistro, 117 North 3rd Street, Easton, PA |
 |
Who is the Real Merchant of Venice? Shakespeare’s Mystery Man of the Rialto Lecture and Presentation by Professor Thomas Cartelli Muhlenberg College Hillel Co-Sponsored by the English Department, Muhlenberg College Hillel |
 |
Screening of the Classic Yiddish Film “Uncle Moses” Followed by a discussion with Professor Jessica Cooperman ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, Bethlehem, PA |
